I Will Touch the Skies - A Pokemon Fanfiction (OC)

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 79

"Of course, it's you. I thought I heard the sound of fighting," Chase said, looking at Pastel splayed out on the ground. She stared at him one last time before going limp, and he sighed. "Just my luck. The one I find can't help."

Her Pokemon were all over the place too. Her Togetic was crying and desperately shaking Pastel's shoulder to wake her up while Elekid clamored in her ear, hoping to do the same. Plus, it was spinning its arm around, generating constant electricity for some reason. Chase wasn't worried about those two, though.

The girl's Tangela whipped the ground in a threatening manner while Frillish just stared right into his soul. Chase wasn't the type to get easily scared, but the fact that the water type's face was torn open wasn't helping. And then there was also a Larvitar standing to the side, hissing and roaring at him. That was a new one. Houndour started to growl, but Chase clicked his tongue.

"Chill out," he said to his Pokemon and Pastel's. "We aren't fighting. Your trainer was sick when we were up there, and she looks unscathed from the fall, so I'm going to assume her sickness got worse?"

Frillish nodded, but kept glaring.

"Alright then," Chase said, before frowning. Houndour was still growling, making him suspicious. "Is there something there? Your face got pretty torn up. The thing that attacked you did this? Did you take it down?"

"Fri…"

"Yeah, I don't know what the fuck that means. Nod or shake your head," Chase said. The Pokemon's glare somehow worsened, but he shook his head. "Got it. The cave is fucking with Riolu's aura, so he can't sense living beings, but Houndour seems to know where it is, for some reason. I thought it fucked with your sense of smell?"

The dark type just kept growling.

"Ah, whatever, just go get it," Chase sighed. "Ri, help him out."

With a burst of speed, Houndour jumped forward, making Grace's team flinch. The fire type spat out a stream of flames toward a darkened wall. The cave lit up, but a circular spot in the wall stayed dark until a Sableye crawled out of the shadow, screaming in agony from the burns. Riolu summoned one of his bones, rushed toward the ghost type, and slammed it in the head repeatedly until it stopped moving and knocked it away.

"Ah, it was a Sableye. Good. Looks like you can still use your affinity with the dark." Chase said before looking at Grace. He started approaching her, causing Tangela to strike the ground next to him so hard that it tore it open. "Tell your pal to stop acting like a moron unless he wants his trainer to die."

Frillish touched Tangela with one of his tentacles, his intense stare softening for a split second. The grass type wriggled around and wrapped one of his vines around the water type before blinking twice.

"So… yeah?" The trainer said tentatively. Frillish nodded. "Finally. Houndour, stay next to her. She's a little wet, so dry her up and keep guard."

Chase took a step, and when he saw that there was no reaction, he finally made his way to Grace and crouched next to her. Togetic stared at him with Lilipup eyes as if she was begging him to save her, while Elekid just stared intently, observing his every move. He rolled her body and laid her on her side to unstrap her backpack. His arm hurt while doing all of this, but he just pushed through the pain like it was nothing in order not to appear weak.

"Alright… towel… that's useful. Food, battery… Tepig plushie? Why even— you know what, whatever. Ah, there you go," the trainer exclaimed. "Sleeping bag."

Chase unfurled the sleeping bag and laid Grace on top of it so that she wouldn't have to lay on the cold, hard, ground. Then, he grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat off her face, and then got a fresh one that he doused with fresh water to place on her forehead.

Been a while since I did this, Chase thought.

"Good thing about it being so damn cold in here is that it'll help with the fever, I think," he said. "But you don't seem to have any medicine in here. She needs to drink a lot of water, but she can't exactly do that when she's unconscious," Chase sighed. "Her breathing seems fine… doesn't seem like pneumonia or anything fatal with her lungs. I guess the only thing I can do is stick around and swap her towel once in a while. I'm no doctor."

But I did help out whenever my dad got sick from working in the mines too much, he thought again.

"Could never bother learning any of that, even though they give classes for first time trainers. Never thought I'd need it," he lied.

Silence filled the air for a few seconds before he stared at Frillish. "You seem to be the leader. I'm releasing my Zangoose so that we have more manpower in case some wild Pokemon shows up."

He hadn't been asking. Chase didn't ask people, but he still felt the need to warn the water type. Zangoose's hair stood up, and she immediately got up on two feet, thinking there was a fight.

"Chill out. They're our allies," Chase said. "After I recalled you, I fell down a huge chasm, and now we're stuck in the depths of Arceus damned Mount Coronet."

Zangoose relaxed, but kept a weary stare at Frillish, who did the same to her. His eyes settled on Larvitar. A small part of him wanted to catch it, but Pastel might have had her eyes on it, since it was traveling with her. Chase was no thief. Trainer etiquette had always been first come first serve.

Plus, raising a baby Pokemon sounded like a pain in the ass.

"You fell down here too, huh? Grace catch you yet?" Chase asked, looking at Larvitar. The rock type had now stepped closer and was standing behind Tangela and Elekid, still letting out threatening cries. "Couldn't you tell your parent to not fucking open up a giant hole in the earth?"

Larvitar's air of fearlessness disappeared, and the Pokemon started to cry. Togetic immediately got on the ground and hugged the rock type. Elekid awkwardly did the same, and Tangela rubbed a vine on its head. Riolu jumped and hit Chase's head— not hard enough to injure but hard enough to hurt, and he sucked in air through his teeth before realizing how insensitive he had just been. That Tyranitar… that Tyranitar was its parent, and it probably hadn't made it.

Larvitar had just lost its parent. Now wasn't the time to air grievances.

"Fuck. Sorry."

The apology came out of his mouth before he even realized it, surprising even himself. Still, Pastel's Pokemon ignored him and kept comforting the Larvitar.

Chase brought his cap down to his eyes. "Guess there ain't anything else left to be said."

——

I woke up in the middle of a battle.

My forehead felt wet, and I brought a hand to it, grabbing the towel off of me. Had my Pokemon… oh. It took me a few seconds to even remember that Chase had found me just when I was passing out.

A fiery explosion rocked me to my core and made my head pound.

"Fucking ram that bone down its eye, Ri! Houndour, Incinerate! Zangoose, keep it off the Larvitar!"

What was happening? I tried moving, but every muscle in my body ached. My heart sank when I saw Tangela fly above me and into a wall, and Frillish sent a Water Pulse toward whatever they were fighting. I tried moving my head, but it hurt too much.

And the noise hurt more. If I could have clenched at my head right now, I would have. There was a booming roar reminiscent of the Rhydon.

"Get its other eye!"

A series of stars flew above me and toward the wild Pokemon, and I saw pink mist gather out of the corner of my eye— Elekid's Swift and Togetic's Fairy Wind. There was another yell, and the ground shook.

"Serves you right, motherfucker!" Chase spat. "Holy fucking shit, that was close."

"What's going on?" I asked weakly. "Ah—"

My Pokemon let out a collective gasp and grouped up around me to celebrate my return to consciousness.

"Okay, you guys are hurting me," I said with a small laugh. "Is everyone alright?"

"Good to see you're up," I heard Chase say. "This cave is hell. The Pokemon here are fucking awful. It started with just Gravelers and Ryhorns, and now we just had to fight off a fucking Nidoqueen. Riolu blinded the motherfucker."

"A Nidoqueen?" I said weakly. "Must be a Moon Stone somewhere down here."

I saw that Tangela had a large portion of his vines missing, giving him a lot less mass than usual, but they'd regrow within a few hours. The rest of the team seemed unscathed, apart from Frillish's claw mark on his face. Chase's Pokemon, on the other hand, had looked better. Zangoose's blood was mixing with the red patches on its fur, and its claws were almost completely gone. The skull-like bone structure on top of Houndour's face was caved in and cracked, and Riolu seemed to have taken a bath in poison.

"Tried to see if you had any potions, but apparently, you gave all of 'em to Pauline before we fell, and I don't have any," Chase said. "Saw you had an Antidote though, so I'll use it on Riolu. He got hit by a Sludge Wave."

"Uh, yeah, sure," I said. "Thanks for helping out. I don't think my team would have stood up to a Nidoqueen alone."

"It wouldn't have," Chase said as he searched the inside of my bag. "Oh, here, some water."

Now that he said it, my throat felt incredibly dry. "I… I can't move. Or barely. It's like I just had the most intense workout of my life, and now I'm all stiff."

Chase sighed. "Hold on." He grabbed an Antidote and sprayed Riolu's entire body down with it. The fighting type nodded to thank him and then hurriedly pushed him toward me. "I got it! Arceus."

Chase opened the bottle and placed it in my mouth, carefully tilting it to not overwhelm me. I downed the entire contents down in one go, and sighed in relief.

"One more, please?"

"Don't say please, it's your fucking water," Chase snapped out of nowhere, surprising me. "You have enough water and food in here for days anyway— weeks if we find your pal Williams on our way out and we ration it."

Suddenly, my eyes bulged. "That's right! Did you find any of them?!" I asked, feeling hope. Now that I saw that Chase had made it, the odds were that Cece and Denzel had too.

"I just implied that I didn't," he sighed as he made me drink another bottle. I drank half of it and motioned for him to stop.

"Sorry," I said. "I guess I just got excited—" I winced. "Fucking headache."

"You feeling better or worse?" The boy asked.

"Well, the headache is the same," I said after the pain subsided slightly. "But like I said, I can't move, so I'm guessing it's worse."

"Sounds like we're going to have to stay here for a few days until you get better," Chase sighed. "Plus, this position is good and defensible. We're against a wall, we can't get sneaked up on."

"But the others—"

"I'm not leaving to look for them, and you sure as hell aren't either," Chase said. "Now that I know Pokemon like Nidoqueen are out and about, I'm not going to throw my life away looking for a needle in a haystack. We met by pure luck, and we should use that to our advantage. Combine our forces and get out somehow. If we meet them on the way, fantastic. If we don't, well, too bad. They're… good trainers, so they'll figure it out."

"They're my friends," I said. "What if they're both alone out there, facing Pokemon like Nidoqueen? I need to make sure they're safe."

The trainer clicked his tongue. "You won't change my mind, but feel free to dip when you're back to normal."

"Then I guess I'll do that then!" I spat.

"Be my guest."

I glared at him and huffed.

"Larvitar," I said before hearing her approach. "This might not be the best moment for me to tell you this since I don't have the strength to even grab an empty Pokeball, but I think you should come with me."

"Tar…"

"Frillish, please translate," I said.

"Frillish. Lish." The water type said, waving his tentacles and bobbing his head.

"You're not sure, huh?" I sighed. "You want to try finding your parent? Well… Feel free to think about it. I won't force you either way. Just know that we can become your family if you want to."

I didn't have the strength to tell her that her parent was dead.

"What the fuck?" Chase asked in disbelief. "You understood that?"

"Obviously I did, he's been my Pokemon for months," I rolled my eyes. "Say…" I started hesitantly. "When we were running up there, you froze up. Why?"

"What's your deal? Want me to just ask you personal questions out of the blue too?"

"I mean, I just know that you're not the type to freeze up when scared. You know that expression, fight, flight or freeze? You seem like a fighter to me, so I was wondering if I got it wrong."

"Why does it matter to you what I am? Not like we're sticking together anyway, so you don't need to know about how I operate."

"Would it kill you to be just slightly less of an asshole?" I hissed.

"Would it kill you to leave me the fuck alone?"

"Whatever, man," I said. I wanted to say much more. To tell him to enjoy being a loner for the rest of his life. To fight him. But he was the one nursing me back to health. It wouldn't be fair to him after having helped me and my team stay alive. "It'd be better if we didn't talk, I think."

"Uhuh."

Chase Karlson was like the worst aspects of Pauline and Louis combined. He snapped at the most minor infractions and clapped back tenfold, but he also had an enormous ego to boot. At least with the other two, I had gained their respect. We had found common ground and become good friends, but him? I doubted that I'd ever get along with Chase, even though I did consider him a rival of some sort. Less than Denzel and Cecilia were to me, but I had to acknowledge his skill as a trainer. He had gotten two badges and survived Mount Coronet.

I just wished I didn't have to spend all of this time with him. If it had been Denzel and Cece instead of him here… no. I shook my head. These thoughts would only serve to deepen the metaphorical rift between us, and I had to do everything in my power to keep it closed. If we didn't have any teamwork, there was no way we'd survive down here, especially without any potions.

And things worse than that Nidoqueen were coming. I was sure of it.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 80

Stand still, stay silent.

Denzel swallowed and kept completely still. He blinked to get the cold sweat out of his eye and stared at Cecilia, who had turned off her flashlight. Eevee was flat against the ground with his ears twitching, ready to signal them at the slightest sound, and Budew was silently using Growth. Slowpoke simply stood by quietly, and so did Deino, although doing so was pissing him off. Luckily Cecilia seemed to hold the dragon on a tight leash these days, so he had no quarrels with listening to her orders.

Denzel clenched and unclenched his fist before slowly peeking beyond the boulder they were hiding behind and toward the lake. His heart jumped in his throat, and his stomach dropped again. A Gyarados was savagely tearing a Seaking apart and eating its remains. It was the fourth water type the monster had killed, and they were forced to stay here, hiding until the Gyarados finally decided it had had its fill.

There was no way they could ever stand up to a Gyarados. Denzel had studied up on Craig Goodwill's team too much to even think they stood a chance at their current level. None of their attacks would get past its hardened scales or even tickle it. It had used an immensely powerful jet of water— probably a Hydro Pump— to cut the Seaking in half. That amount of water pressure was unsurmountable. Yet they could not run away from the underground lake's shores either. There wasn't enough space for that, and even if there was, Gyarados would notice them without a doubt.

Then there was also the fact that it could also hover and fly in the air. Not well, but it could.

And so they hid, desperately clinging onto this rock for survival. Denzel winced as another wave of pain coursed through his body from the right side of his ribs, but he bit his lip to not make a sound. This cave was by far the worst thing Denzel had ever experienced. It served as yet another reminder that even though Pokemon could be befriended, they could also be powerful enough to cause untold amounts of damage. Luckily rangers usually nipped anything that strong in the bud, but this was an unexplored slice of Mount Coronet that humanity probably had never set foot in, and the Pokemon here were ruthless because of it.

Hopefully Grace is fine, he thought. No, she is fine.

Another two minutes, and Denzel could no longer hear the Gyarados crushing Seaking's bones with its powerful jaw. He looked again, and it seemed to be gone, but he gestured at Cecilia to stay where she was. They'd need to wait at least another ten minutes to make sure it wasn't bringing back another one of its kills to the surface to eat. Once he made sure that wasn't the case, he finally carefully stood up, making sure not to make any sudden movements to avoid hurting himself. There was nothing left in the water. Gyarados had eaten all of it, bones and all. They silently stepped as far away from the blood-stained water as they could, and Denzel could finally breathe again when they had gotten far enough away.

"Close one," he said, trying to keep the mood up. He was fucking terrified. He wanted to curl up into a ball and cry for help. But there was no help, and Cecilia was in a terrible mental state. He stared back at her, and she didn't seem worried one bit. He smiled thinly. "I never thought I'd have to face these kinds of threats so early in my career, but I guess it's better if I get 'em out of the way now."

"Are you alright?" Cecilia asked.

Not at all, he thought. "I'll deal. But let's… let's try to get back to what we were talking about. There's still a long way to that lit-up part of the cave," he said, pointing forward.

"If you want."

Her answers were quick and devoid of any kind of tone. Lifeless. Denzel restrained himself from sighing. Grace was better at this stuff than he was.

"Um. You said that your death would stop us from 'immense suffering,'" Denzel started hesitantly. "I won't press you to ask what that suffering is, since you won't answer me, and you seemingly think that nothing can be done to help. But what about us? What about… your Pokemon? Did you even ask them about coming here?"

Denzel clenched his fist. Was that tone too aggressive? Too accusatory? Should he rephrase? Apologize?

Cecilia shook her head and looked away. "The only one I told about this was Deino, at the foot of the mountain. Slowpoke didn't know about it, even though he put you to sleep, and Fletchinder would never have approved. Scyther might have," she smiled. "To get me killed."

"Hm."

Hm? Was that the only response I could come up with? I'm such a fucking dumbass, he screamed internally.

"Sorry," Denzel apologized right away. "Didn't know what to answer to that, which might be stupid because I asked the question."

"No need. You apologize too much. No need to talk to me like you're walking around eggshells."

But how could he not? Denzel feared that any wrong sentence could cause her to just lose her will to live again—

"I'm committed to getting out of this cave," Cecilia said. "You've been trapped here because of me, so I have to help. I have to save Grace."

"And then? What happens if— when we get out?"

"I don't know."

"Cecilia…" Denzel started.

"Yes?"

"Nevermind. Just know that no matter what it is you're facing, we will help you. We'll come out of Mount Coronet stronger than we ever were. Whatever they throw at us—"

"It's not something you can face. You can't just throw a Hyper Beam at it and call it a day," Cecilia said, raising her tone slightly. "Let's not even talk about it. I don't want to think about it. I don't. I don't."

"Okay! I'm— I'm sorry," Denzel grimaced. Suddenly, Eevee's ears twitched, and they all stopped. A Dreadnaw was staring at them, seemingly considering if it could take them or not. Deino let out a low growl, and his mouth started to glow blue with draconic energy. The water type yelled and walked into the water, letting them through.

"That went about as good as it could have," he sighed. "I didn't even know those lived in Sinnoh."

One of the teenager's favorite things was information gathering about a route or area, its conditions, and its wildlife, but nothing could have prepared him for what he'd be facing here. If he had to guess, however, dealing with a Dreadnaw would be similar to how Eevee had dealt with Gardenia's Grotle. He committed the idea to memory in case they needed it later. Always Double Kick in the belly, not anywhere else.

"Let's keep going. Any second spent idling is a second Grace could be desperately needing our help."

Denzel nodded to agree, and they kept going. He was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to lie down and take a break, but he had to push through. Soon enough, his legs would become numb, and the pain would fade, becoming a dull ache instead.

"Cecilia," Denzel said again. He was probably annoying her now, but he had to try. "In your letter, you said we hadn't spent as much time together as you would have liked. When we get out of here, I want to remedy that. You also said you want to spend more time with Grace, right? She'd be incredibly happy if you could."

Cecilia stared at the lake in silence. Was he too insensitive? Could it be considered guilt-tripping? Had he stepped on a shell again? Better apologize to make sure—

"I want to spend more time with her too," she said, covering her eyes with her hands. "With everyone. I want to continue on our journey together. I want us to realize our dreams."

Cecilia was sobbing now. Denzel exhaled and tapped her shoulder.

"So you want to do all of these things," he said. At least he had confirmed that. She could still be brought back. "Look, I know you told me not to talk about it, and that you wouldn't tell anyone, but I have to ask, and I'm sorry," he paused. "If it puts us in danger, I'm willing to take the hit. I won't tell anyone else, not even Grace. I promise you. Talking about it— getting the weight off your shoulders will help. I won't say it'll make everything right, but it'll help."

"I… I'll… think about it."

That was progress, at least. Denzel smiled at her and nodded. They went through a few battles, defeating a Lairon, two Ryhorn, and a Graveler. They had been tough, but nothing compared to the Gyarados they had seen earlier. Eevee had mastered Double Kick so well that he made quick work of any rock or steel types, and he was supported by the others. Still, the problem was that they had no potions, so every hit their Pokemon took would weaken them until they rested.

Which they probably should be doing, but Grace was alone out there. They'd rest as soon as they found her.

"Hey, just spitballing and trying to lighten the mood a little," Denzel started. "Tell me if you want me to shut up, okay?"

"Alright."

"How was your afternoon with Grace? Before everything went to shit, I mean."

The corner of Cecilia's mouth rose, which was a good sign.

"It was wonderful," Cece said. "I bought her clothes. She was so shy about it, too. It was very endearing. Then we went to eat at her favorite fast food restaurant… I forgot the name—"

"Arlyle's? Yeah, she loves that place," Denzel said. "Took me there all the time when we were in Jubilife— both times!"

"I never thought I'd enjoy fast food out of all places, but it was amazing! Then we went bowling, which was another riveting experience. The games were… close, but she eventually won. And then she… um…"

"Ah. Got to the hotel?"

"No. She revealed something to me that helped me find out something about myself, too," Cecilia said.

"Told you to keep it a secret?"

"Well, I'm not sure if she told you, so I'd rather not say."

Denzel was pretty sure she either meant that Grace told her she was gay or she confessed. He was pretty good at reading between the lines, but on the off chance that he was wrong, he opted not to say anything else.

"To be honest, a part of myself was relieved when I heard her say it, but I was… confused as well," Cece said. "I never thought I could… I could… it's hard to explain."

Hey, you're revealing way too much, Denzel smiled. It's so obvious now, you're not even hiding anything.

"Were you happy?" Denzel asked.

"I wasn't at the time… it came as such a shock, but now… now that I had time to reflect, I feel incredibly happy about it. I just wish I had more time."

"You'll get it," Denzel said. "I'll make sure of it."

She didn't answer.

The trainer sighed. Another dead conversation, but maybe staying silent was the better idea. The attacks were growing more frequent after all, albeit the Pokemon were seemingly getting weaker. At least he could rest easy now that his job as a wingman was almost over. When they got back to civilization, all it'd take was a slight push from him, and they'd probably start dating. Arceus knew that Cecilia needed someone to love— not love as friends, but love deeply. She had no family for that. Hopefully, Grace would help her stay afloat.

Then again, emotional dependency wasn't great, but it sure as hell beat being suicidal. One step at a time—

A red eye stared at them from above. Denzel felt every hair on his body stand on edge, and he felt fear.

It was primal. It was a fear that was all-consuming, filling his every thought and telling him to run. The eye made him feel vulnerable and exposed, as if it wasn't staring at him, but through him. Like it could understand and know everything about him in the mere seconds they had just crossed paths, and he was just a mere insect. Denzel's breaths grew short and shallow, his lungs pushing across his broken ribs. Dark visions filled his thoughts, and he saw himself die. Again. And again. And again. Once, his head detached from his body by psychic energy. Another time, his limbs unnaturally twisted and broken until they were ripped apart. Denzel screamed, but no sound came out. Instead, he fell on all fours, and dry heaved, his drool slowly dripping onto the ground.

The rock type floated downward and let out a booming sound that echoed across the cave. Denzel's eye stared at it, but every time they met its eyes, he was transfixed with fear, unable to even think. Cece was in slightly better shape, but she too was gripped with terror and unmoving. Only their Pokemon seemed to be only slightly affected, and Deino seemed immune.

Lunatone hovered over the ground, appraising them, but Deino stepped forward and sent a Dragon Breath toward the moon-like Pokemon. The blue draconic attack illuminated the entire cave and hit the rock type, who seemed barely hurt. That seemed to have set Lunatone off, as its eye shined and rocks all around them were crushed and gathered around the Pokemon. Budew hit it with Bullet Seed, still powered up from her Growth earlier, and Lunatone finally felt something, because it let out a sound that could only be described as an alien cacophony of deep, resonating booms and whistles. It was hurt.

That was good news. That meant that Denzel hadn't been completely paralyzed by fear because it was just out of their league as Gyarados had been, but because it was an ability Lunatone had, no doubt powered by its psychic type. There was no time to grab his Pokedex to check. Lunatone let out an enraged, booming cry, and the sharpened rocks flew toward them. Slowpoke sprung to life and its eyes glowed pink, stopping the rocks that would have hit both Denzel and Cecilia. The others hit most of their Pokemon, although Eevee nimbly dodged. The boy panicked when he saw that one tore straight through Budew's bulb, but the grass type looked fine as long as it didn't hit her face directly.

"Budew," Denzel breathed out, finally able to get a word out. "Get behind Deino. His scales are tough enough to—"

Denzel was racked by visions of his death once more, and his entire body froze up and flew in the air. He tried opening his mouth, but everything was locked in place. He couldn't even breathe. Denzel felt tears form in his eyes when he felt one of his arms start to twist. It was like that vision—

"Deino, Slowpoke, save him!" Cecilia yelled, and they both launched a Dragon Breath and a Water Pulse. Budew screeched as she attacked with another Bullet Seed.

Eevee barked and leaped up from a rock, then onto his floating body and kicked Lunatone. Denzel dropped to the ground and sobbed as he gripped his arm. It was fine. It was fine. He was fine. He crawled away until his back reached a wall.

They said your life flashed before your eyes when you were about to die. Nothing had flashed before his eyes. It had just been pure terror.

"Hit it again!" Cecilia yelled, before running toward Denzel. Lunatone ripped another set of rocks from the ground and sent them toward their Pokemon, but Eevee, Budew, and Slowpoke all hid behind Deino, who let out an enraged roar before readying his attack. "Denzel! Denzel, look at me!"

"I'm fucking— I can't. That fucker was about to kill me just like it showed me—"

Cecilia grabbed his head and stared into his eyes.

"Look at me! Is your arm okay?"

A miniature moon appeared in front of Lunatone and flew at Deino, and the dragon type was actually hurt by it.

"It is. It hurts, but it's not broken."

"Thank the Legendaries," she sighed. "We can beat it. Release your Buneary and I'll release Fletchinder. We have no choice."

Denzel winced. He hadn't released Buneary because he had no doubt she'd be terrified of the cave, but he needed every Pokemon at his disposal to beat Lunatone, or at least convince it to leave.

Denzel swallowed, clenching and unclenching his fists before grabbing Buneary's Pokeball.

"Good. You can do this, I'm right here. Fletchinder will maneuver around it and harass it from the air," Cecilia said.

He nodded and released his Buneary just as Cecilia released her own Pokemon, and she began ordering Fletchinder. Denzel focused on Buneary, who was already trembling in fear.

"Listen," Denzel said. "I'm sorry. I know I said I'd try not to take you out in Mount Coronet, but I need you. I know it's scary— I— I know," Denzel firmly said, staring into the rabbit's eyes. "But I think we can do something, you and I."

Fletchinder sang, and it spat out an Ember toward Lunatone from afar, away from the range of its psychic powers. Lunatone let out an angry sound and sent sharp rocks toward the flying type, whose body loosened and dropped to the ground before stopping herself right before hitting it to avoid the barrage.

Buneary gave him a shaky nod, and he caressed her ear.

"The gears are moving," Denzel said as he shakily stood up. His legs felt like sticks. "I'm going to need you to coordinate with Eevee and Budew for this. Watch for my signal and give me a Quick Attack jump like you did against Gardenia's Hoppip."

Buneary followed him closer to the site of the battle.

"Budew," Denzel said. She was still hiding behind Deino, and she stared at him, angry that her bulb had been torn away. "I'm going to throw you up to this Lunatone."

The grass type screeched in protest and slammed her small foot against the floor.

"You're going to Stun Spore midair, and Eevee, you're going to catch her on the way down. When it's frozen in the air from paralysis, Buneary and Eevee can give the finishing blow. Two Double Kicks."

Eevee agreed right away, and Budew finally did so as well, although reluctantly.

"You catch that, Cece? Tell Fletchinder to stay away."

The girl nodded and immediately gave the order just as Deino took another Moonblast to the face. It was disconcerting how much damage the attack was actually dealing. Denzel had never seen Deino get tired so quickly, and he had only been hit by that twice.

Denzel grabbed Budew, and Eevee immediately blurred forward, anticipating the arc that the grass type would take. Denzel waited for another Stone Edge to finish, and then threw Budew at Lunatone just at the right angle and strength. The grass type screeched and released glowing, yellow spores in the air as it passed next to Lunatone. The wild Pokemon's red eyes dimmed, and it began to stay still in the air. Deino hit it with another Dragon Breath, and Slowpoke another Water Pulse.

Eevee jumped in the air, catching Budew with his mouth and landing gracefully.

"Now!" Denzel yelled.

Buneary slammed her feet against the ground, creating a small crater and soaring through the air. Eevee jumped as well, slightly slower than she was, but that was ideal. Buneary slammed Lunatone with both of her ears, and Eevee did the same with his rear legs. The reason Eevee being slower was good was because they could both hit the same spot, one after another, and Lunatone's rocky surface cracked. The rock type tried to float away, but it collapsed from exhaustion and the paralysis, crashing to the ground with a heavy impact.

They had won. Denzel gripped his arm, still aching from Lunatone's twist. That had been close, but they had come out the victors. Budew waddled toward the Lunatone's unconscious body and kicked it.

"You're not dealing any damage," Denzel smiled thinly. Smiling was good. Smiling helped him forget that his arm had been almost ripped away. "But it's a funny sight nonetheless."

"Bud!" She screeched.

"It'll regrow eventually," Denzel said, looking at the missing top part of her body. "Although it'd be way faster in the sun."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Cecilia asked with a worried look.

"No. I'm not alright at all," Denzel breathed out. "I want to cry, to curl up into a ball, and to wake up from this nightmare. I don't want to die."

Do you know how many trainers die out there? Poor kids that get lost going through Mount Coronet, or Eterna Forest? I don't want that to happen to you!

The trainer's eyes widened as he recalled his mother's words on that day he had met Grace.

He needed to… he needed to call her when he got out of here. And tell her he loved her despite their differences.Denzel wiped away a tear from his eye and sniffled. He had told her speaking would feel better, and he was putting money where his mouth was. Crying felt good.

"You… I'm sorry."

"No, it's good that you asked," Denzel said. "I'm alright now, we have to keep pushing. Budew, I'm recalling you so you can rest a little."

Budew screeched as he recalled her, but it was one of her good ones.

"I should tell you. I should tell you what Amy told me," Cecilia said as she recalled Fletchinder.

"Feel free to. Like I said, if you don't want me to tell Grace, my lips are sealed."

"I'll tell Grace when we find her… thank you. It's not that telling you would put you in more danger than you are now, it's that I thought that you would all leave me if you found out. That you'd be too scared to stick with me even if we somehow escaped."

"But you—"

"Wanted to die," Cece said. "I know. I wasn't… I think I just wasn't thinking straight."

Wanted, Denzel thought. Progress.

"I knew my father to be evil, but I never thought him to be capable of finding my worst fear. Worse than dying," she continued. "But I suppose he does know me well enough for that."

"Your worst fear?"

"What Amy told me was—"

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 81

According to my Poketch, an entire day had passed since falling down to this level of the cave. Twenty-six hours to be exact. Yet it felt longer, especially since I was anxious about getting on the move again, and there was absolutely nothing to pass the time. The good news was that my cold, or whatever it was that I had, was getting better. My headaches were no longer as pronounced, although they were still debilitating, and I could at least move around now, albeit still painfully.

I slowly inched my way up to my backpack, wincing and sucking air through my teeth from the pain. Togetic had her arms on my back, pushing me forward and hoping to help somewhat, but I didn't have the heart to tell her it was doing nothing.

"Just lay down," Chase said. "What're you even trying to do in such a pitiful state?"

His tone irritated me. It was as if he was above me and deigned that I should even try to move.

"You didn't need to say it in such a shitty way," I spat. "My Pokemon need to eat."

"Just sit down, I'll feed 'em. Hey, I'm just gonna assume that I can feed mine too, since they haven't eaten anything."

"Fine," I said. I disliked him, but his Pokemon were innocent. They had been wounded defending me, so I'd be a terrible person to say no. I sat back down and took in short, shallow breaths. Just crawling had exhausted me.

"Sounds good," he said before grabbing my bag.

"Frillish," I called out. "Come and eat."

The water type had been our lookout since Houndour was resting in his Pokeball. He spun around and quickly made his way toward me. Chase only had Riolu out now, and to be honest their dynamic was sometimes… strange. Most of the time, it was a normal trainer-Pokemon relationship that I'd learn to expect from my time as a trainer, but sometimes, all of the sudden, the veil lifted it and revealed that Riolu was the one in charge.

Not that I minded. At least Riolu seemed like a nice Pokemon who was nothing like Chase.

"Why's the ghost type eating? We should save for the Pokemon who actually need the food," Chase said.

"He's been working the hardest out of anyone here. Give him a break."

"Arceus, with you in charge, we'll have to keep our Pokemon in their balls so they don't starve in five days," Chase said. "Whatever. It's your stuff, not mine."

Yeah, you better, I thought with a frown. Chase took some canned kibble from my bag, and poured it into a metallic bowl.

"But I will say you're fucking dumb."

"Shut your fucking mouth," I hissed, and Elekid complained loudly at Chase. Togetic cried out hesitantly, trying to lower the tension. "Sorry, princess," I sighed. "Larvitar, wake up. It's time to eat."

The rock type got up from her curled-up position, shook her head wildly, and got into a fighting stance, waving her arms wildly.

"No fights," I said. "Food."

"The dex says it can eat dirt—"

"Chase, if you say anything more to me right now, I'm going to go insane."

"That makes two of us," Chase said, passing a bowl to Riolu. "Eat, but leave some for the others."

"What?" I said. "That's not even that much. You can feed him more."

"Well, if you're going to feed your team frivolously like we're in an Arceus damned restaurant," the trainer started. "I'd better start rationing for two."

I sighed. "Fine. You were right, we should save food. Still, Frillish deserves a reward, so I'll give him some, and Larvitar should taste at least a little bit, but that'll be the exception. After that, we're rationing."

Chase raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised you agreed. You seem like the emotional type," he said as he poured more food into Riolu's bowl. The fighting type happily scarfed it down.

"So, a normal person, you mean?" I asked sarcastically, squinting as a new headache assaulted my senses.

Chase seemingly saw that I was in pain and stopped himself from retorting, but he gave the rest of his team the same kibble. He passed some to Larvitar, who smiled and practically dove into the bowl after tasting it, causing me to smile. I interrupted when he passed it to Togetic, however.

"Not for her," I said. "She doesn't like it."

"What do you mean she doesn't like it?" He asked incredulously. "Just give it to her anyway."

"No. There's sliced-up Oran somewhere in there. That's her food. She's very picky," I specified. Chase shook his head, looking at me like I was insane, and rolled his eyes, passing the kibble to Frillish instead. "No!" I exclaimed. "Not him either, he eats Mago berries. Give it to Elekid."

"I'm going to have a stroke."

"Just do what I say and call it a day! You're wasting time."

"Wasting time, how? We're waiting for you to get better."

Elekid grabbed his food and wolfed it down, while Frillish and Togetic enjoyed their berries. I extended a hand toward angel, and he did the same to me, only with his vines instead.

"Sorry, you're being left out," I said. "I promise I'll get you to eat one day."

He wriggled his vines and blinked twice, caressing my forearm.

"I'm glad you believe me. I don't make promises lightly!" I smiled. "Enjoying your food, princess?"

"Toge!" She yelled.

"Shhh," I said. "Quietly. Don't be an Elekid."

"Kid…"

"Sorry, that was uncalled for," I said. "Hey Togetic, remember how scared you were when we passed through Oreburgh gate? Our first cave? Look at you now. You're brave enough to go anywhere."

Togetic nodded and clapped her hands— quietly, after Frillish tapped her on the shoulder. Chase had gone to one of the corners of our 'hideout' to work out with Riolu, finally giving me some peace and quiet. Elekid finished up his food, and I called out to him.

"Honey," I whispered as I beckoned. "C'mere."

Elekid strode up to me proudly.

"See Larvitar?" I said, looking at the lonely rock type. She was butting her horn against the wall, trying to damage it. "She's shy, I think. Why don't you bring princess and get her accustomed to the group? I think you'll do good as a pair. Try to not overwhelm her—"

"Elekid!" He said, clapping a hand on his chest. "Kid, kid, kid…"

He carefully walked up to Larvitar, calling out Togetic on the way. She followed behind him, her head barely above his horns. Larvitar heard them come and turned toward them, eyeing Elekid suspiciously. The poor electric type had wanted to befriend her so bad, but right now, he was probably her least favorite Pokemon. If I had to guess, her favorite was either Tangela or Frillish, but Frillish didn't really count. He commanded respect from the entire team.

Elekid hesitantly waved his arm around, and Togetic mimicked him. The electric type hurriedly told her something to the effect of 'we maybe got off on the wrong foot, let's start over,' but Larvitar frowned, hissing and lowering her horn. Elekid sighed and easily weaved to the side as she tried to run him through, and Tangela stopped her from going too far with his vines. Togetic laughed, mocking Elekid, who let out a sad groan.

"You tried," I said. "You'll get through to her eventually. Hey Larvitar," I called out.

"Tar!" She said.

"You don't have to sit alone all the time," I told her. "I know you want to appear strong, but try to get along with us. We're here for you. Elekid's the most outgoing Pokemon you'll ever meet, and Togetic's the friendliest. No need for all that… ramming with your horn."

Larvitar relaxed slightly, approaching angel and me. She didn't seem to mind me whatsoever, at the very least, which made sense since she let me carry her. I saw a hint of a smile as Tangela rubbed her with a vine.

"Angel's the one you like, huh?" I said. "You're shy, but you're pretty open with him."

She huffed— imitating Frillish, and settled next to Tangela. Togetic sat on my lap, and I pet her back, and Elekid slowly inched his way to Larvitar to see how close he could get without provoking her. Frillish, meanwhile, went back to observation duty. He really needed a break when we got out of here.

I don't know when, but I eventually drifted off to sleep.

——

I woke up screaming until there was no more air in my lungs. Chase was hitting my shoulder, and my Pokemon were all looking at me with worried gazes. It had been another nightmare. Another vision of Mars and Dusknoir.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Chase hissed. "You scream like an Arceus damned Loudred. You must have alerted everything remotely close to us, we have to move."

I had been foolish, falling asleep like that without telling Togetic to use her powers. But a part of me hated still being shackled by Mars and what she had done to me. When would I ever be free from her? When?

"I'm sorry," I said as I struggled to my feet. He pulled me up with more strength than was necessary. "I have nightmare problems. Don't ask."

"I wasn't going to. I already packed up everything while you were sleeping, are you good to walk?"

"I think so…" I breathed out before taking a step. "I can't run."

"Better than nothing. Let's get a move on," he said, clicking his tongue and releasing Houndour. "We're leaving. Help Frillish look out for any danger. Ri, you're with me in front."

We made it about thirty seconds until the ground shook all around us. For a second, I felt dread trickle down my spine, believing another Pokemon was going to open up another chasm for us to fall into, but that wasn't what we were facing.

It was arguably worse. We could escape from a hole opening up in the ground— if Chase held me and pulled me along, I could maybe push myself and run. Hell, he might have been able to carry me, even. Unfortunately, we couldn't run away from this.

An Onix tunneled through the wall, and chunks of rocks and rubble flew everywhere around us. Togetic used Extrasensory to stop most of the rocks, and the others were blown apart by Tangela's Vine Whip or Frillish's Bubblebeam. The Onix's body was chipped, deformed, and scarred— a sign that it was old and had lived through many battles. The rock type's eyes locked onto us, and it let out a low growl that shook me internally and reverberated throughout the room. It was as big as a freight train— and bigger than Roark's by a slight margin.

"Well, let's fucking do this then," Chase said. "Riolu, get its eyes."

Chase's confidence snapped me out of my fear-induced daze, and I audibly gulped.

"A—angel, Leech Seed!"

Tangela whipped his vines, and a seed flew onto the huge Onix, and thorny vines wrapped around him, seemingly adapting to its size. The rock type surged forward, its body so large that we couldn't hope to dodge. Riolu blurred onwards, rushing toward the Onix, and Frillish hit it with a Water Pulse.

"Angel, your vines! Togetic, Extrasensory!" I screamed.

Tangela extended a dozen vines toward the Onix, and Togetic's eyes shone brightly as she altered the biggest area she had ever done around the ground type. Extrasensory couldn't ever hope to stop a monster as big as Onix, but it slowed him slightly, and that was enough for Tangela to alter its path. The Onix's body slammed on the ground to our right, and Elekid hit debris away from me with Ice Punch. Riolu used the opportunity to climb onto the Onix's body, but the rock type wasn't down for long, and it quickly started to roll toward us.

"Slow it!" Chase yelled at me. "Riolu'll get it!"

I nodded and ordered Tangela to Vine Whip it, along with Togetic using Fairy Wind and Extrasensory to slow it as long as possible. I doubted a Pokemon that powerful would ever be affected by Sweet Kiss, so I didn't even bother wasting time issuing the command. Every second was precious, and a move ordered at the wrong time could be the difference between life and death.

Tangela extended more vines and pushed against the Onix with all he could, leaving me time to get away, and Riolu navigated toward the Onix's head with incredible agility. A bone grew out of his hand, and he rammed it right into Onix's eyes. The rock type let out a booming cry full of agony and anger, and began thrashing around, causing the ground the shake once more. Riolu jumped back toward Onix's body, grew another bone, and rammed it in between its segments, holding on for dear life. All while this was happening, Frillish kept hammering at Onix with water type attacks, and Houndour used Incinerate with very little effect.

Still, any attack that landed was another step toward convincing Onix that we weren't worth the trouble, even if I had angered it with my scream.

Onix jerked its head, finally throwing Riolu off, and snaked toward us again. Tangela's vines were growing thin, and Frillish's attacks, who were the best we had against Onix, were hurting it, but it wouldn't be enough. Togetic was already exhausted from having even slowed such a large Pokemon for so long, and even though he had Ice Punch, Elekid couldn't do anything lest he get crushed to death by the rock type. He was fast, but nowhere near as agile as Riolu was.

I felt my throat close up. Onix was a few seconds away now. Would it be painful?

I was leaving so many people and Pokemon behind. Would my team be able to escape—

A stream of draconic energy traveled down the Onix's open mouth, causing it to writhe around and divert its path into a wall, and then seeds flew at high speeds, hitting all along the rock type's body. A Water Pulse that wasn't Frillish's hit its head, and when Onix tried to go toward us again, it was surrounded by a Confusion and stopped for a few seconds, leaving Chase enough time to drag me away again.

These attacks. It could only be—

"Dragon Breath again," Cecilia said.

"Eevee, Buneary, stand back. Budew, keep Bullet Seeding."

My heart swelled with relief and joy, but the battle wasn't over yet. Onix was feeling the heat now. Four trainers and their Pokemon were finally enough to make it feel the pain. Togetic's job had been relegated to Slowpoke, but she still helped with Fairy Winds whenever she could, and Tangela's Leech Seed was pulling its weight. Deino roared out another Dragon Breath, hitting the same spot as Houndour's incinerate and charring Onix's flank, causing the stones to turn red hot. Riolu was back on its feet, hitting the wild Pokemon with Force Palms and Bone Rushes wherever he could.

Houndour whined, and Chase's head turned toward the fire type as light surrounded him. His body shook and convulsed, growing more than twice its original size. The skull on his head split, turning into curved horns, and his tail grew thinner and longer. Chase grinned.

He had a Houndoom now.

"Incinerate! Give it everything you've got!"

Houndoom let out an eerie howl before spitting out white-hot flames toward the Onix. The rock type's body caught fire somehow, and it screamed out in pain, making me cover my ears. The fire wasn't going out, it was spreading, burning away Tangela's Leech Seed. Riolu jumped off Onix's body in the nick of time, and the ground type finally ran off toward the darker side of the cave.

I turned toward Cecilia and Denzel, who both ran toward me and hugged me so tightly that I thought I would asphyxiate.

"I was so scared," Cecilia cried. I hugged them back. "I was— I thought— the only thing that kept me going was me thinking you were alive."

"I was scared too," I sobbed. "I'm so glad you're both safe. I'm so happy."

"Everyone's back together," Denzel smiled. "Now let's find a way out of this hellhole."

I nodded and wiped Cecilia's tears away. Right now, for this single moment, in the depths of Mount Coronet where every Pokemon wanted us dead, everything was right again.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 82 - The Whole Truth

Seeing that Cecilia and Denzel were safe and sound had filled a hole in my heart I hadn't quite realized was there. I was whole again. Full. With teary eyes, I hugged them again for good measure. Eevee jumped on my shoulder and licked my cheek, and Togetic grabbed at Denzel's hair.

"I missed you too, little guy," I told Eevee. "Is everyone fine? Denzel, you look like you…"

"Like I was hit by a truck?" He chuckled. "Yeah, I know. I think I cracked a few ribs or something. I can handle it, I think. If I don't think about the pain, it becomes a dull ache."

"More importantly, what about you?" Cece asked, holding my arm tightly. "You look pale, Grace. You need to rest."

"I'll rest when we're further away from here," I sighed. "Wild Pokemon will probably be swarming here after all this noise."

"She's right," Chase spoke up for the first time. Even now, he kept his distance. "Scavengers will be hoping to get a quick meal from whatever fought that Onix— which in this case is us. We need to leave."

We all agreed, some more reluctantly than others, and started moving. It was my first time walking with this many Pokemon out at once. We all almost had our entire teams out, but I supposed a show of force was what was needed to dissuade potential attackers, especially in this well-lit part of the cave where tracking everyone wouldn't be confusing. I used the opportunity to introduce Larvitar to my friends, but the rock type didn't seem to like them one bit, and she especially seemed to dislike Budew. She walked closely behind my legs, reminding me of Togetic when she had been a Togepi.

"I hope he wasn't too harsh with you," Cece whispered to me as she nodded toward Chase. His limp was better now and barely noticeable.

"He was nice enough, all things considered," I said, deciding to omit the times when he had definitely gotten on my nerves. "Protected me when I was passed out—"

"You were what?"

"I, uh, passed out, and he found me just in time. He took care of me and nursed me back to health— if you can call my state healthy, I guess. We didn't talk much, though."

And he saved your life as well, I thought.

"Very well," she said after pausing, clearly burying the matter. "I missed you."

I turned my head away slightly as I felt my face heat up. "I missed you too."

Cecilia seemed to be in good spirits, which surprised me. Her state now and back at the top of the cave was like night and day, but I didn't want to step on her toes and ask her tough questions.

"How did you and Denzel find each other?" I decided to ask.

"We fell at the same spot, into an underground lake," she said. "We were together from the start."

I looked at my best friend, who was leading the group and talking to his Buneary. He must have talked to her and cheered her up somehow. I'd need to thank him later.

"And Grace… I'm sorry for putting you through this. All of you. The only reason we're in this situation is my fault. I don't know how I'll ever atone—"

"Don't you dare," I said. "You're the victim! Your father and Amy, they're the ones who I'm blaming."

"I still feel guilty."

"Well, we can talk you through that," I said softly. "I promise you, none of us ever blamed you for even a second."

Cece bowed her head. "I don't know what I did to deserve you and everyone else."

"You were a good person and a good friend. Kindness rewards kindness."

I almost froze when I felt her fingers intertwine with mine. It was cold, but her hand felt hot on my skin. She held my hand tightly.

"I must tell you something when we get out of this cave," she said, practically whispering in my ear.

"Okay," I swallowed.

We walked another two hours before finally deciding to take a break. There were a few fights on the way, but nothing as threatening as Onix had been, and our entire arsenal was far enough to deal with anything. Still, our lack of potions was being felt. Tangela, Eevee, Riolu, Elekid, and even Deino had to be recalled into their Pokeballs from taking so many hits, which was a part of why we had stopped so soon in the first place after finding a good, defensible spot. It was like a miniature cave. An indentation into a wall that we had decided would be perfect for protecting ourselves from threats. Cecilia and Denzel had forced me to stay down while they prepared dinner.

Well, prepare dinner was a bit of an exaggeration. It was salted crackers and water, but I supposed it was better than nothing. Denzel and Cece sat next to me, and Chase leaned against one of the walls of the cave, his Houndoom lying down closeby and watching out for any threats along with Frillish. Riolu was out of his ball again, as Chase was seemingly uncomfortable without him there, or at least that was my hypothesis.

"So," Denzel sighed. "It's about time we start planning how to get the fuck out of here."

"Agreed," Chase nodded. "Where did you guys come from?"

"Further up the cave— there was a lake, and it was just as dark as it was at the top level. I'm a bit surprised at how bright everything is here," Denzel said, staring up at the crystals. "It took us… a day and a half to get to you? Yeah, I think that's correct."

"Slightly more than that," Cece specified. "But I did notice one thing on the way here."

"Which is?" Chase asked in an impatient tone.

"The Pokemon here are weaker than where we came from," she said.

My eyes bulged. Stronger Pokemon than that Onix?

"She's right," Denzel nodded. "Faced some crazy shit on our way here, but as we got closer it got more and more manageable."

"Well damn," Chase grinned. "I might have underestimated you, Williams."

Denzel rolled his eyes and continued. "But does that mean anything?"

"Just a theory I have," Cece said. "On the upper floor, the deeper into the mountain one gets, the tougher the wild Pokemon become, right?"

I slammed a fist into my palm. "Ah, yeah, I see where you're coming from. You're saying we need to head deeper into the crystalized area."

She nodded.

"Well, that's the best working theory we have, so I won't complain," Chase said. "Still, what'd you face that was so tough? I'm curious."

Denzel's eyes darkened. "Don't feel like telling."

"Alright, alright, calm down, brother," Chase said. Riolu stomped a foot on his shoe. "Ow, fuck! Arceus, sorry! Ok, so we go back from the way Pastel and I were coming from, then?"

I frowned. "This is starting to make more and more sense," I said slowly. "When I had just fallen down, I remember thinking that Pokemon here were way too weak for being this deep into Mount Coronet— or at least I thought it was deep. That means that I should have fallen the closest to the exit," I finished, feeling renewed hope. Getting out was becoming more and more of a reality.

"We don't know where we'll get out, or if the exit will even be accessible, but it should be there," Denzel said.

"In theory," Cece added. "Let us not get our hopes up. That'll only make the disappointment that much more potent."

We settled down after hearing her words.

"If it doesn't work," I said. "What else do we got? I want all of our bases covered."

"We can try finding that chasm that Tyranitar opened up," Denzel said. "Climb up, somehow, maybe?"

"Not possible," Chase declared, crossing his arms. "Mount Coronet is an affront to anything logical. I doubt we'll ever be able to find that hole again."

"Damn it," I groaned. "He's right. I was… stuck in a certain area for at least twenty minutes. I kept walking forward, but the cave kept bringing me back to where I had just been, just like—"

"That mansion in Eterna Forest," Cece completed my sentence.

"Mansion?" Chase frowned.

"Don't even think about making some snarky comment," I warned. "It was abandoned, and it was a terrible time. Either way, the cave can do the same thing that Mismagius did, or at least some form of it, which means we might not even be able to reach this theoretical exit in the first place."

"How much food you got, Williams?" Chase asked.

"Enough for, like, a week, I think, both for us and the Pokemon. We couldn't pack that much, we had to hurry."

"Right, right, you were saving her ass," he said, nodding toward Cece. "Pastel has the same amount as you, then?"

"Slightly less," I winced. "I was so stressed out that I was barely thinking when I packed."

"Sorry," Cece said.

"Don't apologize," Both Denzel and I interjected at the same time.

"Okay, so we have what, less than two weeks left? Maybe more if we ration like I already told Pastel. If we don't get out by then, we're dead."

The straightforwardness of his statement washed over me like cold water.

"Could have used a bit more tact," Denzel said. "But yes, you're right."

"Actually, we're probably even more fucked than I thought," Chase continued after a pause. "If we get out, we'll probably end up somewhere off-route in the middle of nowhere, with no reception or anything to guide us. We have less than two weeks. We're on borrowed time, and even though I wouldn't be against eating wild Pokemon, nothing down here is even edible."

"I won't eat any Pokemon or kill them," I said firmly.

"Keeping to your ideals even though that'll get you killed," Chase smiled at me. "Dumb as hell. But I respect that, Pastel."

Denzel shook his head. "We won't need to consider that choice in the first place—"

"You don't know that," he interrupted. "Positiveness for the sake of positiveness is fucking stupid. Quit it."

"You don't need to be negative either," Denzel said.

"Why? We were already all thinking about it. And if you weren't, well, you'd have to eventually, down the line. It's better to come to terms with the choice now."

Denzel was about to retort, but he just groaned and turned away, conceding the argument. I finished my 'dinner' in peace, and when Cecilia went to pee further along the cave, accompanied by her Pokemon, I used the opportunity to talk to Denzel.

"Hey," I said. "How is Cece? She gives me the impression of being better, but how is she really?" I asked.

"She… she has a lot on her plate, but she's managing," he said. "I managed to pull her up from the depths when we were together, and now that she's seen you, it's like she's soaring."

"Thank you for helping her," I said. "But she was happy to see both of us."

"Yes, but she was especially happy to see you," he said.

I rolled my eyes.

"Don't believe me? I think you'd be surprised at how close you are to dating already. You should probably just shoot your shot. If you don't, there'll be what, months of this will they won't they bullshit? Just get on with it already."

"Wait, they aren't dating already?" Chase said. "What was with all the hugging and the handholding and the whispering together then?"

"Quiet down," I hissed. "No one was talking to you."

"Fuck you too, Pastel."

"See what I'm talking about? Even he thought you were together. Just say something, I promise you it'll work out."

"Now's not the time," I said. "I'll do it later."

"If I was in love with someone and we were in the middle of a cave where we might die any minute, I'd probably say something now," Chase shrugged. "Granted, I think romance is a waste of time in general."

"Shut up!" I hissed. "If you say anything to her, I will kill you."

"You can't, I'm the better trainer. I toughened up a lot since our battle, and you still owe me a rematch. I'll wipe the floor with you next time."

"I'm not interested," I said.

"I'm making you my rival whether you want it or not."

I entertained his idea, happy that the conversation had steered away from Cecilia, who returned a few minutes later. She sat down next to me again. Denzel started grooming Buneary's fur with his brush— something that he had picked up from Emilia. He would have done it to Eevee too, but the normal type was still resting in his ball. Larvitar was playing with Togetic, chasing her around and trying to jump at her. Unfortunately, she was heavy and couldn't get off the ground that well, but Togetic still gave her hope, often coming down just slightly enough to be almost in her range. Chase was sitting next to Houndoom, basking in his heat. The fire type's new strength meant that his heat radiated much farther, and Riolu was dozing off against him. Cece and I were comfortably sitting on a sleeping bag. My illness was seemingly almost gone, having strangely disappeared as fast as it had come. Maybe the stress I no longer felt was a factor.

"Are you not tired?" Cecilia asked me.

"A little," I answered. "I'm scared to sleep, even with Togetic here to help."

"Your nightmares?"

"Hmhm. I had one earlier— that's what provoked the Onix to attack us," I said.

"I wish I could help you somehow," she sighed.

"I don't think they'll ever go away, to be honest. Maybe if— when Mars is finally arrested and put behind bars for good, but I doubt it."

Cecilia placed a hand on my head and pushed it down to her lap. I almost choked, not finding any words to say. She began stroking my hair gently.

"Is this okay?" She asked.

"Y—y—of course! It is!" I stuttered.

"My father might believe us to be stranded or dead, but when we get out of this cave and we return to civilization, we'll be back on his radar. If I was naive, I would have said that me wanting to die in Mount Coronet would have scared him off, but I know he'll only redouble his efforts."

"Uhuh," I said, barely able to breathe. Still, I paid attention to every word, even though it was very difficult.

She looked down at me and smiled. "I'm ready to tell you what he threatened me with," she said quietly enough so Chase wouldn't hear. "I already told Denzel. But you have to promise me not to panic."

"Obviously, I won't," I said. "It doesn't matter what it is."

"My father is an evil man, but he knows me well," she began, still stroking my hair. "He knows what I yearn for the most. Freedom. And so he knows my biggest fear."

"Losing that freedom?" I asked.

"Worse than that. Becoming a mindless puppet," Cecilia said. She paused for a few seconds before continuing. "He hired a trainer with… a Malamar."

I held back a gasp. Malamar was a Pokemon synonymous with mind control. I believed that no Pokemon was inherently evil, but trainers with Malamar tended to air on the criminal side of things, which gave the Pokemon a terrible reputation through no fault of its own.

"And I assume your dad can skirt around the laws about mind control, since he's rich."

She shook her head.

"Why did you think that would make me freak out?" I asked.

Her hands stopped. "If he can control my mind, he can control all of yours, too," she said, avoiding my eyes. "To me, that's a fate worse than death itself. But that wasn't all. Amy told me that my father had already flown to Sinnoh with her— although he was still in Jubilife— and that the trainer with Malamar was already in Eterna city."

I held my breath. That was why her reaction had been so sudden. To her, it seemed like the enemy had already been at the gates.

"So she was essentially telling you to surrender right now," I sighed. "I'm so sorry."

"And if I somehow ran away, he'd cut off access to all of my money and everyone else's until I came back. Still, I've decided to hope for the best instead of giving up," Cecilia sighed. "My situation is like a double-edged sword. There's the potential to live my life and be the happiest I've ever been, but I could also fall under Malamar's influence and never think for myself again."

"There's… there's protections against that kind of stuff, right?" I tried. "We have a bunch of psychic types. You can shield your mind, or something."

I remembered vaguely hearing that League members with important information always had mental shields on them put by Lucian's team, but they had to be renewed every few weeks. Protecting yourself against mind control was easier than protecting yourself against memory extraction, however. That was almost impossible, although I was sure that the League had some countermeasures. Memory extraction was like metaphorically grabbing a hammer and smashing it against your brain. It was traumatic, brutal, and could leave someone crippled for life. Mind control, however, required finesse. It was extremely difficult, and only Malamar or Beheyeem could do it with relative ease, but shielding against it was possible with enough practice.

"It takes years for a psychic to learn. I don't have years, and I wouldn't even know where to start. Plus, I'd have no more money, so hiring someone— either a teacher to teach me or a psychic expert to do the job— would be impossible."

"How long does it take for Malamar to take control of someone?" I asked. "Can we beat it before then?"

"The trainer my father hired is a well-known criminal in Unova. He calls himself Abel. He was a trainer that went rogue after realizing how powerful he could get once his Inkay evolved, and he's been avoiding authorities for years. League authorities."

"Which means he's way more powerful than us."

"And he has more Pokemon than Malamar. Probably more than six, since he isn't beholden by the rules, but that remains a theory."

"Alright… okay," I said, taking a deep breath. "We'll figure something out, I just need to think for a bit."

The biggest priority was preventing the mind control from ever happening. That meant that we either needed a way to knock out Malamar quickly, or just stay under the radar until we could. But if Cece got captured, it'd be over, so taking too much risk was off the table too. Would Malamar's mind control procedure be interrupted if it was hurt badly enough? If we focused all of our attacks on it, we could possibly make that happen. I'd need to look this guy up when we got access to the internet again. There was also the possibility of just staying undercover somewhere. That meant no more gym battles and probably staying holed up in a Pokemon Center, avoiding any attention. Cece's safety was more important. If one person took a picture of her and exposed her being alive, it would be over. It hurt to say, but there was always next year. It was safe to say that Eterna city was crawling with her father's agents already, along with Abel, so going back there wasn't an option, but Celestic could be a good alternative. It was rather isolated from the rest of the region. Unfortunately, I couldn't choose where we would come out from. And there was also the fact that our friend's phones might have been seized and bugged, so we wouldn't even be able to call them to confirm that we were safe—

I felt a hand caress my cheek, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Your face is wrought with worry," Cece whispered. "I hate that you work yourself so hard for me."

"I'm trying to find a solution," I said. "And I will."

"My heart is beating so quickly it hurts," Cece started. "My time with free will might be limited," she said before pausing. "So I've decided to make the most of it and take a leap of faith. I won't wait until we get out of Mount Coronet after all. Tell me if you want me to stop."

Huh?

Cecilia leaned down and slowly brought my face toward hers until our lips met. My eyes fluttered in surprise, and I let out a soft sigh, giving into her as excitement and happiness swelled and buzzed inside of me. Her lips were dry, and the kiss was short, but it still felt amazing. When we parted, she looked at me, still cupping my cheek. Even in the dark, not having showered in days and being what most people would consider unkempt, she was still gorgeous.

"I'm— I'm in love with you," she said, panting slightly.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 83

My eyes widened, and I tried to respond, but it was like I had a foot in my mouth. My heart danced in my chest, my head was still buzzing, and I still felt the shape of her lips on mine.

Her lips had been on mine.

"I— yes!" I managed to get out.

"Yes? Do you feel the same way?" She asked.

"Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!" I said. My face felt dangerously hot. "I think I'm going to pass out."

Cece smiled, and I felt her hands trace down toward mine. I stared back at Denzel and Chase, who were acting like they couldn't see anything. I had completely forgotten they were still there.

"I'm so happy," she giggled. I laughed in turn, and she placed her forehead against mine. "I'd like to hear you say it."

"I love you," I stammered. "Please date me."

"I thought I was the one asking," she smiled. "I suppose we're officially together then."

"Hmhm," I said. "We're… dating. You're my girlfriend."

We both giggled again, and euphoria enveloped me completely. It was like we were the only people in the world, and all of our worries about the challenges ahead had disappeared. Unfortunately, the blissful ignorance could only last for the night, and tomorrow came faster than expected. With all of the excitement, I had barely slept, but at least that meant that I could be of help keeping an eye out, and Frillish kept me company. I opened my Poketch and saw that it was seven in the morning. The damn thing was already at thirty percent battery, and I needed to save some if I was going to call or message someone when we got out, but that was still a big if.

Denzel surprisingly woke up first and gave me a thumbs-up while wiggling his eyebrows. I stuck my tongue out in response. Yeah, he had told me that Cece liked me literally minutes before she kissed me, but he didn't need to rub it in my face! Chase and Cecilia were up soon after.

"Mornin'," I told everyone. "Hope you slept ok," I said to Cece.

"Better than I had in a long time," she said. "You?"

"So and so," I replied.

We stared at each other for a few seconds, and questions swam in my mind. Would it be appropriate to kiss her good morning? Was that too forward? I wanted to, but I hadn't even brushed my teeth yet! Okay, I needed to do that, but maybe a light peck would be okay?. I grabbed my toothbrush and lazily started brushing. I was finally settling down again. I needed to think about getting out of here first and foremost, not the etiquette of kissing! That would be best saved for later.

"Enough dilly-dallying," Chase declared. "Let's get the fuck out of here."

——

"That's right, keep it away!" I told Tangela, who was finally rested up enough to be used in battle. The grass type slammed two vines against the Excadrill's chest in quick succession, staggering it.

Excadrill spun around and jumped into the ground.

"It's coming!" Denzel yelled.

"Houndoom, now!" Chase ordered.

The dark type barked, jumping from the shadows and spitting out a vicious Incinerate in the hole Excadrill had left. The ground type screamed and was forced to tunnel up to escape the flames, ending up right in front of Tangela. Multiple Water Pulses and a Bullet Seed hit it, and angel once again hit it with a Vine Whip, but the flames started spreading onto his vine and toward his main body.

"Get it off of you!" I said, feeling a surge of panic. He shivered and detached his vine from his body, and I watched it writhe on the ground like it was a living thing.

Excadrill collapsed, and the fire on it was still burning, which was apparently a new thing, and incredibly dangerous, since the newly evolved Pokemon had no idea how to control it yet. I ordered Frillish to spray the ground type with as much water as he could, and after a lot of attempts and cooperation from Houndoum, the flames finally went out. Not only was the fire incredibly hard to extinguish, but according to the Pokedex, they'd also hurt a Pokemon for months or years after the fact since Houndoom didn't know how to hold back yet. I felt awful for the Excadrill, but it had attacked us first.

"That's going to get a Pokemon killed," I said.

"Motherfucker shouldn't have attacked us then," Chase shrugged. "Good job, Houndoom. Sorry about your grass type, Pastel."

I rolled my eyes at him. We'd been traveling for eight more days, and what I noticed was that Chase's Pokemon were packing a serious punch. Houndoom was definitely his most powerful now that he had evolved, but Riolu was the one who always helped the most by distracting the bulky rock types. Even though Zangoose wasn't doing much, her Metal Claw couldn't be underestimated either, and Charjabug's String Shot helped a bunch to lock the less large Pokemon down. Ideas swarmed my head, and I was subconsciously crafting different scenarios I'd use to beat him— even though I had refused to call him my rival. I'd need to start up training again when we got out of here, especially if we were ever going to stand up to this Abel guy.

Wait. This whole experience through Mount Coronet was technically training.

I had also developed a fighting strategy to take down the wild Pokemon here with Denzel's input, and it was working wonders. Since we had no potions left, we'd have Tangela, and Slowpoke, who could restrain a Pokemon at a distance, and Riolu, who could distract them and easily dodge their attacks as our vanguards while we blasted them with everything we had. Our hit rate had gone down drastically now that we had a concrete plan in place, and that meant our progress was faster, especially since the wild Pokemon were getting weaker.

Still, they weren't actually weak. They were definitely stronger than the ones we had faced in Eterna forest. We were simply more organized and had a working strategy this time, along with just being better trainers.

"I won't lose any sleep over wild Pokemon dying because of us," Denzel said. "But I'd like to avoid it. Plus, you'll have to teach him how to control it if you ever plan on using him on gym battles."

"Yeah, I don't remember asking for your input," Chase spat. "Let's stop wasting time and keep going. The less time we waste here, the better our odds are of surviving when we get out."

"Would it kill you to be nice for a change?" I said.

"Yes."

I frowned at the unexpected answer. I had, unfortunately, overestimated Chase. The truth was, I had really expected him to warm up to us somewhat due to our shared terrible circumstances, and I thought he was, but he had been getting worse these past few days. The cave was getting on his nerves. Sometimes, he'd stay quiet, which was more than I could ever ask for, or apologize when Riolu asked for it. Still, I begrudgingly respected his skill as a trainer, even though I disliked how he treated his Pokemon like he was in the damned military. Even down in the cave, he didn't forego their intense training, and apparently, it was a softer workout than what they usually did.

"Pay him no mind, Grace," Cece said. "You can't reason with the unreasonable."

"I thought that too, but… I'd like to at least give him a chance," I whispered to her. "He looks like he's hurting. Emotionally, I mean."

"You're too nice," she smiled. "That's why I love you."

I blushed at the unexpected affection and grabbed her hand. The words felt so good they made me feel light-headed. "I'm just good at noticing the small stuff," I said. "It's like he's anxious. More anxious than a guy like him ought to be."

"Perhaps. Or perhaps he's just been hiding his weaknesses behind a wall of fake confidence like I attempted to do early in my journey."

"Hm, maybe," I said. "Either way, I probably won't figure it out."

We kept going for a few hours, and the attacks grew less and less frequent. The crystals that lit up the cave's ceiling were now so abundant that it didn't feel like we were in Mount Coronet any longer.

"Ri," Riolu said.

"What's up?" Chase asked as he stopped us. "Feel something?"

I had no idea how Riolu's aura worked, but it had started working again around two days ago, and it was apparently getting sharper at sensing wild Pokemon, a sign that we were getting closer to the exit. Apparently, Chase had trained hard to get the fighting type to that level after going through Eterna forest, and he couldn't stop boasting about it. Slowpoke could also do the same with his psychic powers now, but his senses were still somewhat muddled, and his range was nowhere near Riolu's, even at full power.

"Riolu…" The fighting type mumbled.

"Feels weird?" Chase asked.

Riolu nodded, and we started looking around. We couldn't find anything out of place though, and nothing attacked us, so we started walking again. A few hours later, we stumbled upon Excadrill… it had died. The swarm of Zubat that was feasting on its soft bits fled when they saw us come, no doubt terrified at the amount of Pokemon we had at our disposal, revealing how fast they had utterly consumed the ground type. I could even see its bones stick out in some places. I lurched and turned away.

"What the actual fuck?" Chase said, stepping forward.

"Not this again," Denzel groaned.

"Again?!" He quickly said, his head jerking toward us. "What do you mean again?"

"Something similar happened to us in Eterna Forest," I explained. "A Mismagius trapped us in an illusion that repeated forever. We already told you, remember?"

"Ah… right, I honestly thought you were bullshitting," he said.

"But this is no illusion," Cecilia sighed. "This is reality."

"We're trapped. I said this days ago, but this happened to me when I was alone down here, except that it was on a much smaller scale. It didn't take hours for me to end up where I had just been. It took a few minutes at most."

"Hold on, this doesn't make any sense," Denzel said, raising a finger. "We're closer to the exit, we should be getting less mind fuckery, not more."

"Well it happened anyway, big guy," Chase frustratingly said. "I think that's what Ri felt earlier, but how?"

Riolu nodded, but he seemingly struggled to answer the second question, not because he couldn't but because it was too complex to explain to us. The language barrier was stopping him.

"Okay," I crouched, getting closer to him. "How about we throw ideas at you, and you nod when we get it right, okay?" I asked.

"Don't talk to him like he's a kid," Chase complained. "He's more than twice your age."

My eyes almost fell out of their sockets. "W—what?"

"He's forty-eight. He's your senior, show some respect."

I stared back at Riolu, and he sagely nodded with his arms crossed. I audibly gulped and stood up. It wasn't like I had never seen an old Pokemon before. Dad's Herdier was close to that age. But I hadn't expected someone my age to own a Pokemon that old that wasn't a ghost or a pet, because a Pokemon surviving that long in the wild meant that it would be incredibly powerful. Plus, he knew the fighting type's exact age. That meant that Riolu wasn't a wild Pokemon. It had belonged to someone else, and most likely been given—

"You're thinking. I can see it in your eyes. Stop trying to figure me out," Chase spat, narrowing his eyes.

"Watch it," Cece warned.

Denzel nipped the argument in the bud. "Let's chill out. Grace's idea was a good one, let's try throwing stuff at the wall and see what sticks."

"Okay, let's think about this," I started. "We were walking, and then Riolu felt something strange using his aura. First, did Slowpoke feel anything?"

Slowpoke stared at me with empty eyes.

"He didn't," Cece translated.

"Okay, I guess that might be because his power's still getting messed with. Cross that out. So Riolu's aura feels… living things, right?"

"It doesn't only do that, but it's one of its functions. Each living being has a different aura signature," Chase explained. "So yes."

"Alright, so he feels living things," Denzel said. "Then what?"

"Hmm, perhaps he felt us move a large distance too quickly?" Cece asked. Riolu shook his head, but moved his arms around.

"You're on the right track," Chase said.



"Okay, not us. That would make sense, depending on how the mountain's power works. If it's teleportation, he wouldn't have felt a thing," I said with my hand on my chin. "But if it's teleportation, then why didn't we realize we were transported…" I muttered.

"What about feeling other things around us just… winking out of existence?" Denzel asked.

I snapped my fingers. "Yes! That's it! We were transported somewhere, which means that wild Pokemon around us looked like they all disappeared and were replaced by new ones!"

"Ri!" The fighting type nodded.

"Okay, so Riolu can feel when we're getting screwed by the mountain. That doesn't help us get out," Chase said, bouncing his leg.

"Okay, okay, let me think…" I whispered.

In both instances of getting trapped by the mountain, both before Chase had found me and now, we hadn't teleported, or at least it was unnoticeable. Was that possible? Probably not. So I could scratch that out, or leave it at the back of my mind. What else was on the table? How would the mountain transport us somewhere without us even realizing it?

My eyes widened.

"Ah, she's got it," Denzel said.

"It didn't teleport us. It teleported the entire fucking area we were in— maybe teleport is the wrong term for it, but that's the closest I can— wait, maybe shift is better? We shifted back deeper in the cave along with this entire section, and then we ended up walking across Excadrill again, I think."

"That sounds right," Cecilia nodded with a smile. "So what now? Do we try going again?"

"When I was trapped, it took four tries to finally make it through. We might be able to brute force it."

"I like the sound of that," Chase said. "Not like we can try anything else."

Seven attempts later, we were back to Excadrill's corpse, which was now just thick, metallic bones. It had taken us the entire day, and we had made no progress whatsoever. Chase was growing more irate and frustrated by the hour, and we were all stumped. We decided to make camp nearby and sleep there, but as we huddled close to Houndoom for heat and I lay down with my head on Cece's lap, we were theorizing again.

"This is fucked," Chase hissed.

"And it makes no fucking sense," my best friend frowned. "We know the exit's close, but the mountain is keeping us trapped here… like it's sentient."

"The mountain ain't sentient," Chase replied instantly. "Stop it with the batshit theories."

"No, it isn't, but it's like something… like it has mechanisms implemented to confuse people who venture too deep inside," I said. "Like Mismagius, but on a much grander scale and in the real world. To get them trapped in here so they could starve or get killed by a wild Pokemon or something."

"But how?" Cece asked. "What would even be powerful enough to do such a thing?"

"I dunno. Seems way too powerful to be your average ghost type, since it's not an illusion, but I've never heard of anything capable of doing this," I said.

"Okay, and why would this— or these theoretical Pokemon want people to be stuck in one place in the mountain?" Denzel asked.

"I don't know. This phenomenon's also been seen on top of the mountain, right?" I said.

Denzel nodded. "Yeah, but it's only at a specific spot, and people haven't been there in decades. The place is too harsh to study anyway, and they were just burning cash and lives up there. Scientists never figured out what makes the mountain do that, but they might have figured out how it works. Either way, I've never read up on it, so we have to do this on our own."

"So it's a specific spot on the surface, but everywhere when we're actually inside?" Chase asked.

"Not everywhere. Only deep in the mountain and in certain sections that lead to other places," Denzel said.

"This makes no sense to me," I groaned. "Maybe it's hiding something? Some old Hisuian temple? I didn't pay much attention in history class. Not in any classes, actually."

"How'd you even graduate?" Denzel raised his eyebrow.

"I coasted. Barely passed everything. couldn't bother putting much effort in something I wasn't passionate about. Anyway, regardless, we'll never come up with a concrete answer. Let's just figure out a way to get out."

"Agreed. Enough with the nonsense," Chase said. "What if we go at it from another angle? Try to take a different path?"

"You try finding a different path, and you let us know how it goes," I dryly said. "You saw. There was no other way through."

Chase groaned and clicked his tongue. "Fuck it. I'm going to sleep, I'll be in top form tomorrow."

"G'night," I told him. "What about you, Denzel?"

"I'll stay up and try to figure something out."

"Sounds good. Cece?"

"I feel out of my depth here," she sighed. "No ideas are coming to mind, so I suppose I'll just sleep."

"Okay," I smiled at her. "I'm going to stay up."

I got up from her lap pillow, and we both stood up, but I felt her hold my sleeve.

"Kiss me goodnight?" She said, averting her eyes.

Ahhhh, she was so cute I wanted to die.

I nodded, and she placed her hands around my waist, pulling me close and kissing me. I lifted a leg and smiled against her lips. How was she doing this to me? Even now that we were dating, I was just as nervous about being around her, and I still couldn't believe that she was my girlfriend. I kissed her again for good measure, and she left, entering her sleeping bag. I took a seat next to Denzel.

"Nice one," he smiled.

"Ugh, don't even start. It's you and me, we have to figure something out," I said before cracking a smile. "But yes, it is very nice."

"Alright, alright…" He smiled in turn. "Like you said, it's you and me. Let's get thinking, then. First, let's review what we know."

I took a deep breath, and we went over everything that we had found out about the cave, refreshing our memories. With all of the facts laid out, we were bound to find out something.

"Okay, so we have… a mountain that shifts its insides around to trap and starve the people inside of it, or maybe keep them away from something. Does it affect the wild Pokemon?" Denzel started.

"Yes, I would think? The area affected is way too big for it to have only plucked us out. Why?"

"No reason, it's how I think. I need a constant flow of conversation and ideas going in and out of my head," he said.

"I can certainly help you with that. Do you think brute forcing it might still be possible? Maybe Mount Coronet will run out of whatever energy it uses to keep us trapped."

"Hmm, doesn't seem likely. It's been doing this since the dawn of recorded Sinnohan history, and there are no signs of slowing down."

"Separating the group into two and going in pairs could maybe work to free two of us, but I don't want to try that," I said. "Too dangerous, and there's a chance that the other two would be trapped in here."

"Yeah, but I like that train of thought. You're thinking we could trick the system somehow? By making it shift two of us back so the other two can be free to progress."

"That's right," I said. "Mount Coronet isn't sentient, it looks to me like a set of systems meant to keep people away from something. Systems can be tricked, now we have to figure out how to do it."

"Okay… it works on wild Pokemon, but humans are the trigger, correct?"

"Looks to be that way to me," I nodded. "So using a wild Pokemon to trigger the shift wouldn't work."

I inhaled sharply, and my eyes widened.

"Ah, you have it," he said.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think so," I said, licking my lips. "Okay, remember this is just theory—"

"Everything we've been saying so far is theory."

"Yeah, but this'll require wasting a lot of time. Chase is going to be pissed."

"That asshole's always pissed. What'd you find out?"

"So we were talking about triggers. What if the trigger is delayed somehow? The shift seems to be affecting the same area over and over, but in every instance, it took a different amount of time to reach the Excadrill's… corpse. And thinking back, it was the same for the first area I was trapped in. Since the amount of time varies, the shift seems to be on a randomized delay or something— but it's not long enough to ever let us through. Even if we account for our different walking speeds, that's the only way it makes any sense. So we could find its delimitations, step onto it, run off, and then watch it swap with another area."

Denzel hummed. "Ahh, that makes sense. It's worth trying out, but I see why you said it'd take a lot of time. Finding how big the area is is going to take—"

"A lot of time, which we might not have."

"Wait," he frowned. "Wait. We can easily— well, easily might not be the right term, since it might be hard to tell still, but we can do it without trial and error."

"How?" I asked, shaking in anticipation.

"No matter how powerful this shifting power is, the area that's actually being moved is going to look unnatural, no? Maybe a small fissure in the ground demarcating it, or strange rock formations…" He trailed off.

Denzel's mouth opened. He had found something out.

"Wait, we can use the fucking crystals on the roof!"

"Holy shit, you are a fucking genius," I exclaimed as I clapped my hands. I quickly froze and checked if Cece had woken up.

"I'm not sleeping yet," she said. "But I enjoy hearing you two think. Keep going."

I could tell from her tone that she was smiling.

"Sorry," I said, twiddling my thumbs. "But you're right. The closer we got to the exit, the more crystals were on the cave's ceiling, which means that theoretically, there should be a spot that has way fewer crystals than normal. That's the area we're looking for."

"Yeah, this is good shit," Denzel smiled.

"But remember, this only works if there's a delay with the shift like we think," I warned. "Let's not get too enthusiastic yet."

"Are you kidding me? You're more enthusiastic than I ever was. I should be the one warning you."

"Okay, dude," I said smugly. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"Okay, dude," Denzel imitated me.

"That's not how I sound at all!" I complained. "Ugh, whatever. We should start making plan B's and plan C's in case this delay idea doesn't materialize. Still, at least we'll know where the trap is now."

We planned all night until I fell asleep, and I somehow woke up in a sleeping bag with Togetic right next to me, imbuing me with happiness.

How had Denzel put me in here without waking me up? Damn, he was good.

---

A/N: Houndoom's Pokedex entry has been retconned slightly here.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 84

Cecilia was sitting next to me, dozing off against the cave's wall, but she snapped back awake when she saw that I had opened my eyes.

"Grace," She smiled. "You slept like a log. We're almost ready to head out."

"Huh?" I said, still half asleep. I pet Togetic's head as she chirped softly.

Chase was seemingly training, doing some situps with Riolu, and Denzel was packing.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" I asked as I hurried out of my sleeping bag.

"You're more tired than you know, Grace," she said. "I worry about you."

I smiled. "You sound like Amanda."

"Well, she's good at her job then," Cece said before pulling me close and softly kissing my cheek. "Did you finish your planning last night? I fell asleep."

"We did," I said, ignoring the fact that I was blushing. Cece obviously noticed since she grinned. She enjoyed seeing me be shy in front of her. "I talked about a lot of stuff, but I think we covered all of our bases. Denzel didn't tell you?"

Cecilia shook her head. "He said you'd enjoy explaining it more than he did. You do like talking about plans," she teased.

"Erm, not that much," I lied. "Let me get ready then."

I folded up my sleeping bag, brushed my teeth, and quickly ate. I smelled terrible, but I had gone through all of my clothes already. I sighed. I couldn't wait to get out of here and take a warm shower. After around ten minutes, we were all ready, and I released Elekid and Tangela, who had been resting in their Pokeballs. I explained the plan to Chase and refreshed Cece's memory, probably in a more convoluted way than was needed. She caught on and understood quickly, and Chase… Chase had gotten the gist of it. He was just irritated and wanted to get out, which I definitely understood.

Soon enough, we were on our way with almost all of our Pokemon out. We quickly made work of any enemies foolish enough to attack us, which at this point weren't many. It seemed that the wild Pokemon living in this region of the cave had learned who we were, and that we should be avoided at all costs, which meant that we progressed faster. As awful as our experience through Mount Coronet had been, I would be lying if our Pokemon hadn't improved at a much faster rate in here than they would have outside doing normal training. As Cece had told me during our first training in Floaroma, Pokemon improved the fastest in tough situations, and there was no situation that was more difficult than being stuck in this death trap with no potions to heal their wounds.

We stared up at the cave's ceiling and noticed that there was a sudden lack of crystals like we had theorized yesterday. In fact, it was so egregious that it was incredible that we had never noticed.

"How did we never notice this?" Chase said, enunciating my thoughts.

"I heard a saying once," Denzel said. "Humans rarely ever look up."

I slowly stepped forward and squinted at the ground. "That looks to be it," I said. There was the smallest, tiniest fissure that demarcated the area that shifted us backward so many times.

"That's basically invisible unless you know exactly what you're looking for," Denzel said. "And incredibly unfair."

"Well, we found it, so do your thing," Chase stressed, clearly impatient.

"I'll do it," I said.

"No, you won't. Not alone," Cece interjected. "Let's all step on and run back at the same time, just in case there are any… mishaps."

I nodded.

"Okay, let's recall our Pokemon for this," Denzel said. "Much easier to make sure none of them are separated."

"Good thinking," I agreed.

We recalled our Pokemon, and I labored to lift Larvitar into my arms. Then we jumped into the shifting zone and immediately scrambled back to safety.

"Now what?" Chase asked.

"Now we wait and hope that we were right," I nervously said. "Should take anywhere from… a few minutes to a few hours."

We released our teams again as we waited. It was slightly underwhelming to have to wait so long. I wanted to have confirmation that the plan was working now, and I wouldn't be able to relax until it did.

It was honestly astonishing that I had somehow learned to relax in Mount Coronet. The human mind could truly adapt to anything if it was given enough time.

Two hours had passed, and the area ahead of us just… suddenly changed. There wasn't even a sound. No shaking ground, no rumbling, no wind, just nothing. It was disturbingly fast and silent. Teleportation was one thing, but to see it applied to such a huge chunk of the cave was just terrifying. It made me feel so tiny, so insignificant, that I felt my palms start to sweat. There were forces at play here that had been implemented by beings I couldn't even begin to understand.

"Holy shit," I breathed out.

We stared at the new terrain ahead of us in silence. It was smoother than the previous one had been, and now that I could take a good look at it, it definitely fit more. Rock formations stuck together properly, and the crystals on the roof were at an appropriate number, shining more light onto us.

"You said it," Chase said. "Let's get out."

I nodded. There was a chance that this spot would shift too, as Denzel and I had theorized late last night, but we had come to the conclusion that it was likely for one reason. We had never seen this area before, which meant that at some point, they always switched back together for some unknown reason. That might have meant that we could have waited it out and swapped back here, but I didn't want to waste the only chance we might have. Luckily for us, this fact came with a silver lining. Since the two areas would swap back, that meant that the shift had a downtime of some sort that would last at least a few hours at most.

Which meant we only had a few hours to get past this. We all broke into a frantic run, recalling our Pokemon who couldn't run as fast as us. Larvitar could barely keep up, and I feared that she would fall behind. She was too heavy to run that fast, her legs were too short, and she was just a baby, so she tired out quickly. I tried carrying her for some of the way, but all that did was exhaust me. She was too heavy. I couldn't run with her in my hands.

I stopped in my tracks and looked at the rock type.

"Grace, we have to go," Denzel said.

"No. I'm not leaving without her."

"Then fucking catch her already!" Chase yelled.

"Shut it!" I yelled before grabbing an empty Pokeball and crouching. "Larvitar, you can't run. I have to catch you if we want to make it out of here."

"Larvi!" She yelled back. "Tar!"

"I'll care for you. I know you're hurting, and you've been so strong this entire time. You haven't cried since we found you. If you don't come with me, something in here will get you."

"Toge!" Togetic cried out. "Togetic!"

Larvitar hissed, looking sideways.

"I've had time to learn about you in our short time together. You're a tough girl, Larvitar, but you're hopeful too. You're hoping to find your parent back, aren't you? That's why you don't want to leave."

Larvitar's eyes widened, and she stared right at me.

"I… I'm sorry. You know deep down that it's not possible. I haven't told you this because I didn't want to hurt you, but your parent is… gone."

The rock type shook her head as small tears began forming in the corner of her eyes. Frillish hovered over her and let out a comforting hum.

"Tyranitar sacrificed herself for you. Don't throw your life away. I know it hurts to let go, I know it hurts that you won't see it again, but I promise you that we'll take care of you. We'll be partners, we'll travel together, we'll support each other, and you'll grow to be strong. Stronger than you can even imagine," I said, pausing to wipe away some of my tears. "And I won't say that we'll ever replace your parent, but we sure as hell will be your family. And… it would really hurt me," I sobbed. "If I left you here to die."

Larvitar hesitated for a few seconds, but she lowered her head and rubbed her rough horn on my leg.

"Ow," I said before letting out a sad laugh and sniffling. "That hurts, but I still appreciate it."

I placed the empty Pokeball in front of her head.

"Last chance," I said. "If you want to come, bump your head against the Pokeball. It'll take you inside, and if you don't try to resist, you'll be caught."

Larvitar took one last look behind her— back deeper into Mount Coronet— and then hit her head against the device. The ball shook three times in my hand before chiming.

"Thank you, sweetheart," I smiled, clipping the ball to my belt and standing back up. Chase was turned away from us and rubbing his face. "Are you… crying?" I asked him.

"Shut the hell up. I don't cry," he snapped. "Her story just resonated with me, alright?"

I ignored his lie, and we began running again. Pokemon were attacking us again, but that was because they had never actually seen us before in this section of the cave, and they probably believed us to be vulnerable. Instead, we completely battered them, especially since they were actually weak in this section of the cave, because this was the part that was supposed to lead to the exit. Geodude, Zubat, Bronzong— no matter what they were, they fell one by one. There was no actual way to know when the shifting zone began and where it started anymore, since the areas were actually in the right spots now, so that meant we could only run. Our sprint slowly turned into a more sustainable jog and then a fast-paced walk when we were too tired to go on. We had been running for more than an hour, having been on a diet of crackers and energy bars for more than a week, and we were battling at the same time. This was taking everything we had.

I gasped and my heart jumped when I saw light. Not light from the cave, but from the outside world. It was debilitating to look at. I had spent so much time without so much as a lick of sunlight that just seeing some blinded me. I squinted and placed a hand in front of my eyes as I redoubled my efforts and broke into another sprint. We were out! We were out—

Snow.

The world was draped in a blanket of pure white that almost reached up to my knees. Trees were covered in a pristine, untouched coat of snow, and their branch sagged under the weight of the icy flakes. It was actually slightly less cold than it had been inside of Mount Coronet, but whenever the wind blew, it pierced through my coat and chilled me to my core. The air was crisp and clear, however, with not a single sound to be heard.

The silence was deafening.

The sun was high up in the sky, and there wasn't a single cloud to be seen. Its light was bouncing onto the snow and back into our eyes, blinding me further. Togetic dove into the snow and rolled in it, laughing like she was having the time of her life. Eevee did the same, and they began playing together.

"Where the hell are we?" I finally said. I could see my breath.

"We're definitely somewhere off-route," Cece said.

"Told you we'd end up stranded," Chase groaned.

"Yeah, we're off route," Denzel said. "Snow would have been cleared to manageable levels if we weren't."

"So where are we?" I asked again.

"This much snow at this time of the year?" Denzel started. "This has to be… somewhere near route 216."

 

[Soussouni1]

INTERLUDE - HOUSE ARREST

Pauline could still hardly believe it.

Cecilia, Denzel, and Grace were gone. They had fallen to the depths of Mount Coronet.

They had tried to find a safe way to climb down or to send Emilia's Beldum down the chasm, but there hadn't been any way to do so safely, and the psychic type would have died down there alone. The rangers had come and quickly found them an hour later, and they had scaled down the hole with their specialized caving equipment. Pauline and the others had waited with their eyes full of tears and bated breaths to see them come up with their friends. They would probably be wounded, but hopefully alive, and they would be able to put this behind them.

The rangers came back up empty.

There's nothing down there, one of them had said. Just dead ends without any bodies. Are you sure they fell down?

Pauline almost slapped that man right then and there. The tone they employed had been so nonchalant. They hadn't cared enough. And the truth was, they didn't. Some had been rattled or sad, but this was work for them. They had probably heard the same story about dead trainers plenty of times before. The rest of that day had been a blur that Pauline could barely even remember.

The young girl got up from her bed and instinctively grabbed at a Poketch on her bedside table that wasn't there anymore. It had been two days since her friends had fallen down into Mount Coronet's depths, and the news had picked up the story and declared them missing. It wasn't the first time trainers had sneaked into Mount Coronet since the entrance closed, but it was the first time someone might have actually died—

Pauline's body jerked. They weren't dead. There hadn't been any bodies. Just like the news said, they were missing. She had to hold onto that thin layer of hope, otherwise she didn't know if she would be able to stand up in the morning. Harvey and Clarence's agents had picked them up at the ranger station after they had been brought there to treat any injuries. Maybe they could have tried to run that day, but no one had the energy to do anything. They would have gotten caught eventually anyway.

Pauline sighed. It wasn't like her to think like this.

They had been brought back to their hotel, and they were now under house arrest. When they got back, both of Cece's letters had already been taken, and since they had no phones, there was no way to contact the outside world. They still had their Pokemon, but starting a fight with the hundreds of trainer guards that littered the building would never end well.

Plus, they had Pauline's mother, whose traitorous intentions had been figured out somehow. She still hadn't spoken to her, but she had been assured that she was safe. Today, she would learn more about what was going to happen to them.

Pauline stopped her foot from bouncing and got into the shower. There… there had to be a way out of this somehow. Even if— Arceus forbid— her friends were gone, she wanted to fulfill Cece's last wish. To ruin her father's reputation, and Louis' father as well, for good measure, but how? They weren't allowed to go out, and there were two experienced adult trainers standing at her door at all times that were on Louis' father's payroll.

Her arms slumped, and she leaned against her shower's wet walls. It was hopeless.

"Come on, Pauline. We've gotten out of bad shit before, we can do it again."

Her head snapped toward her bathroom door. There was nothing there.

Pauline knew she was going crazy. Sometimes, she randomly heard her friends' voices as if they were still there, right next to her, but it seemed that she heard Denzel's voice the most. The girl could almost picture his stupid childlike grin that came with the words, and he was trying to cheer her up, as he always did when the situation appeared desperate.

Pauline let out a sad chuckle that turned into a cry. "They're not real," she sobbed as she crouched in the shower. "They're gone."

She wanted the voices to stop. She felt that if they kept going on like this, then she would end up like Emilia or Justin. Her best friend had cried until she ran out of tears, and now just stayed in her bed all day, while Justin often sat on his balcony and just… stared off into the distance. He hadn't spoken even once since.

Together with her, Louis was the only one left. He hadn't even cared that she originally joined their group to sabotage his engagement. His mind was elsewhere. He had demanded to speak with his father so many times and with such rage that she thought he would try to fight off a dozen guards at the same time, and he was finally getting his wish. Harvey and Clarence were here, and they were both going to meet him in thirty minutes. They had flown to Eterna city today.

The redhead finally stepped into the cold and out of the shower to get dressed, and she opened her room's door. She stared up at the guard who awaited her. He wore a suit with sunglasses and an earpiece, as did all the others.

"Only you today?" She spat with her unending hate imbued in her words. There were usually two of them. "What even is your name? You all look the fucking same."

"No Pokemon are allowed when meeting Mr. Bianchi," he said, ignoring her question.

Pauline stared at the two Pokeballs on her belt and cursed. Was Harvey so paranoid that he thought they would attempt a suicidal attack to kill him? She sighed, realizing that she might have, depending on what they said. Pauline placed her Pokeballs back inside of her bedroom and followed the guard into the elevator.

"Do you realize you're helping one of the most fucked up humans on the planet?" Pauline asked him. He ignored her. "Does that make you feel good, motherfucker? Do you like the fact that Harvey and Clarence drove a girl to such torment that she thought the only option she had was to kill herself?"

Pauline noticed his fingers twitch.

"How do you sleep at night? How do you do it, knowing that three children might be dead because of the man you work for, you piece of human filth? I see you have a ring on your finger. Does your wife know how much of a sociopath you are? I truly wonder what it takes for someone to go home and kiss their wife after a hard day's work causing children to be murdered—"

"Stop."

"Or what, you little bitch? You're going to hit me? Hurt me like you hurt Cece—"

"What is the point of this?" he hissed.

"I don't know, maybe I wanted you to think about the consequences of your actions. Real consequences. It feels good to just keep your head down and pretend you're just following orders, doesn't it? That nothing you do would change anything anyway? I hope the guilt eats you up and spits you out like a discarded hump of trash. You already know what Cecilia looks like, but since their faces are all over the news, you know what Grace and Denzel look like too. I want you to imagine them when you fall asleep at night. I want you to imagine their lives getting interrupted early. Fifteen and sixteen years old. You seem old enough to have a child that age. When you close your eyes, I want you to imagine their corpse having been mangled by some wild Pokemon. Imagine them having died alone and scared."

The elevator opened on the ground floor, and the bodyguard led her to where Harvey and Clarence would be, which was a restaurant he had completely bought out for the day. His stride was faster this time. He was jittery. Less confident.

Good, Pauline thought. I hope you fucking choke on the guilt.

The redhead could see the press in the distance, begging to be let in, but they weren't allowed to. They were obsessing over this story— so much so in fact that it was going toe to toe with the fact that Team Galactic's base in Eterna City had been successfully raided yesterday by Cynthia, the League, the Elite Four and the International Police.

She was frisked before being allowed to enter the restaurant. Louis was already in the entryway, waiting for her. Pauline stared at the wound running from the corner of his lip to his ear and winced. It still wasn't completely healed, and the scar would always be there, but Louis insisted on showing it. Pauline agreed with this decision. They wouldn't let the assholes that worked for Harvey and Clarence ignore what they were doing. What they had caused.

"Pauline," Louis said. Gone was the innocence on his face. He wore a perpetual frown now. "They say my father's waiting for his meal first, so he's going to be late."

He clenched a fist tightly at the last word.

"He's treating this like some kind of vacation?" She spat. "I want to gouge his eyes out."

"So do I, but we have questions to ask first—"

Louis' face contorted into a look of rage when he saw Amy walk out of the restaurant. Her eyes were red like she had been crying, and she looked like she hadn't slept. Pauline let out a hearty chuckle that died in her throat.

"Amy," she started, her voice trembling with anger. "Why are you crying?"

"Why do you think," she sniffled. "I've been crying since learning that Cece was gone."

Louis slammed his fist against a wall, and his knuckles started to bleed. She flinched.

"Excuse me?" he asked, his voice dangerously calm. "Could you repeat that for me?"

"I— I didn't know that she would go that far! I was trying to save her. Grace and Denzel must have manipulated her somehow—"

Pauline stepped forward and slapped her so hard that her hand felt numb. Amy fell to the ground, placing a hand on her reddened cheek, and guards rushed in to put some space in between them before she could beat the shit out of her.

"You still don't understand?!" Pauline screamed so loudly that her throat hurt. "You fucking did this! You're a fucking monster!"

"No! I was just trying to help! If your mother hadn't tried to derail everything, it would have been fine!"

"Your words," she hissed. "Your words are the ones that pushed her over the edge. You can't pretend to be innocent in all of this. In fact, you're one of the biggest culprits. You killed Cecilia, Amy. You killed her."

Tears streamed down Amy's face, and Pauline smirked. "Don't you even dare act like the victim. You are inhuman. You could have helped Cece with her issues. You were her best friend, who she loved. Instead, you chose to be a collaborator. You dealt with evil, and now you can never be redeemed. I hope you can never get a wink of sleep again and that you get nightmares so bad that you go through one-tenth of what Grace went through. I hope you know that you caused Denzel's death, who was the brightest and most positive person I knew. I hope you know that even though you weren't the one holding the metaphorical knife, you killed Cece, who, despite her circumstances, was the most ambitious, most—"

The bodyguards dragged her away before she could finish her sentence. She tried to follow her, but they held her back.

"That was for Cece," she whispered. "And it still wasn't enough."

"We'll see her again," Louis said, clenching his hand in pain. "She's going to be here a while."

"I'm going to fucking grill her every time I see her," Pauline hissed. "She doesn't get to pretend nothing is her fault. She doesn't get to wash the blood off of her hands."

"Good."

Seven minutes later, they were led deeper inside of the empty restaurant. Pauline scoffed when she saw that every utensil had been taken away. That's how paranoid they were. Louis' father, or Harvey, was almost a carbon copy of him. Their hair was exactly the same shade of blond, they had the same eyes, nose and face shape. The main difference came in eye color, which was light brown for Harvey and light blue for Louis. Still, even though it wasn't Pauline's first time seeing the older man, it was disconcerting to see how alike they were. Clarence, on the other hand, couldn't look more different than Cecilia if he tried. He shared her brown skin and appeared a lot younger than he actually was. He had a small nose with thin lips.

Pauline was surprised to see that Clarence actually looked shaken. His daughter was dead or missing, so it was obvious that a normal father would be stricken with grief, but he was anything but normal. He had directly caused her death. He was the one that held the knife and had been pressing it against her throat the entire time.

Still, that wasn't it. There was another man sitting on another table, with ten Pokeballs on his belt, and a Malamar standing at his back. Pauline flinched when she saw the dark type stare at her and give her a wicked grin that sent a shiver down her spine. Malamar were the most evil, most depraved species of Pokemon on this planet, and to Pauline, any trainer that owned one must have been just as perverse.

Mind control, Pauline thought. It was all beginning to click now. Cecilia had been threatened with mind control, and the reason this trainer was here was to intimidate them. The Malamar's trainer wiped his mouth and gave them a respectful nod. He looked so unassuming that she would never have guessed that he owned a Malamar.

"Louis, Pauline," Harvey started after sipping on some red wine. He motioned to two chairs on their table facing them. "Take a seat."

"What's that Malamar here for?" Pauline said, already knowing the answer. "Gonna mind control us?"

"No, of course not," Harvey shook his head. "Abel is just here for some protection."

"You already have hundreds of trainers on your payroll," Louis hissed. "But enough of that. Do you fucking—" he started, slamming a fist against the table. The plates shook and Clarence's glass of wine fell on his suit, causing him to groan and call a server. "—know how many times I've been trying to reach you until today?"

"Calm down, Louis. A man of your status must not employ such language needlessly."

"I will not calm down! What is this, dad? Why are you treating us like prisoners after our friends died?"

"Calm down," he repeated more forcefully. "Allow Clarence to explain."

Clarence took a short breath as he wiped his suit. "Let us address the obvious first," he said. "You associated yourselves with poison, and they made my daughter not be in the right state of mind."

"You have to be fucking kidding me—" Pauline exclaimed. Amy had said the same thing. Was that the narrative they were fucking creating? They wanted to ruin Denzel's and Grace's reputation, even in death!

"I miscalculated. I thought a good scare would get her on the right path again, but it did not. The news are all over this since we couldn't shut the story down in time. Reporters," he spat. "Both of our companies' stock prices have taken a slight dip, and our boards want this story out of the news cycle as fast as possible. You know what that means, right?"

Pauline's eyes widened. This man… this man wasn't shaken because his daughter was possibly dead. He was shaken because his company was taken a slight fucking hit.

"Who cares about money?!" Louis asked. "The company could go under today and we still would have enough to last generations!"

"You are too shortsighted. I raised you better," Harvey said. "A man's life should always be about the legacy he leaves behind."

Clarence nodded. "Getting back to my point, that means that you must stay silent. Do not speak to any reporters. You shall stay inside until the story dies down. Justin's father and Emilia's parents agree with this."

"Funny, because they haven't even spoken to their kids once. Do you know how depressed they are? They barely ate anything since—" Pauline said, but Clarence interrupted.

"Regarding your mother, Pauline. We have decided to give her another chance to redeem herself. We could have pressured her by funding her competitors, and she would have been out of business within five years, but I believe that everyone deserves a clean slate. Still, any more action from you and her, and you will pay. Understood?"

Pauline said nothing.

"I don't understand," Louis stammered. "You're acting like nothing bad happened. Like it's just business as usual."

He had a look of disbelief on his face. The last threads of hope that he had held of his father somehow still being a normal man were being torn apart in front of his eyes, revealing the monster for who he actually was. It was one thing to hear about it in Cece's letter, but it was another to finally see it with his own eyes. The veil had finally been lifted.

"I believe we've said everything that needed to be said," Harvey nodded.

"So what about your pet project about sending us all to the Conference?" Pauline smiled harshly.

"Sacrifices will have to be made. We now have different priorities, and we have to negotiate with the new government about potentially giving more us… business-friendly terms." Harvey simply answered.

Pauline shook her head and spat into the man's food. They looked at her with more disdain than they had while talking about dead children.

"You," she called out to the man called Abel. "You're a piece of shit too, I hope you know that."

"It's just business," he said with an exaggerated bow.

"Malamaaaar," The psychic type said, imitating his trainer's gestures and intonation.

Money. Stocks. Investments. Business.

Pauline was sick and tired of hearing about it.

——

"Emi," Pauline said, shaking her friend. She was under layers and layers of covers, and she couldn't even see her face. "Emi, have you eaten today?"

"I'm not hungry," she sobbed.

Pauline caressed her friend's body through the thick layers of fabric. "I can make you anything if you need, just say the word," she said, trying to keep her tone positive. "I'm here for you."

Her friend just continued to cry. Beldum hovered over her, ever vigilant, while Aimpom and Rockruff had fallen asleep next to her.

"Drink lots of water, okay? I'm going to go, I'll be back in an hour."

"Hmhm," she answered weakly.

Pauline stepped out of her best friend's room, walked to hers with an escort, and collapsed on her knees.

Stay strong, she thought to herself. The King family is strong.

"If you need to cheer up, we can play a round of Old Maid. You're terrible at it, but I'll even let you win if you want," She heard Denzel say.

"Shut up!" Pauline yelled, waving her arms. "You aren't real! Leave me alone!"

She had to do something. Her friends' reputations were going to get ruined because of two men's greed, but how? If she could somehow escape, she would have to get to the nearest Pokemon Center to use one of their public computers and post something on the forums. That would be the quickest way to do it. But getting out of here was a task in and of itself. Say she went for broke and decided to fight her way out of here anyway. Two Pokemon weren't enough, and even if she combined her forces with Louis, they wouldn't even make it close to the exit. A trainer almost always got their start in the League Circuit, but not all of them retired. If they were good enough, some went into the League and started working there to become a League trainer, while the weaker ones or people with ambitions of becoming a gym leaders became gym trainers. That wasn't what paid the most, however. The private sector hired a lot of retired trainers and lined their pockets with more money than they could ever dream of.

So she would have to go through bodyguard after bodyguard, who would fight to the last to protect their salary, and she wasn't even guaranteed to be a better trainer. She hadn't seen any of them use their Pokemon yet, and there was still Abel—

Pauline heard a knock on the door. She composed herself before opening the door and saw that a bodyguard was waiting for her.

"What is it?" She asked. "Don't bother me."

"My name's Cedric," he said.

"What?"

"You asked what my name was earlier. It's Cedric."

Ah, he was the one that had escorted her to the restaurant downstairs.

"Well, fuck you, Cedric," Pauline spat. "Are you done?"

"I'm not," he said. "Your words… they struck a chord. I know I do a lot of fucked up shit. I've known all along, of course, but when I heard you say it out loud… I truly realized what it is I was contributing to. I have a kid."

"So?" She said, crossing her arms. "Want me to feel bad for you?"

"No. I don't expect forgiveness, of course, nor do I need it. But I do want to make things right— as right as they can still be," Cedric corrected himself. He grabbed a Poketch from his pocket and gave it to her. It was hers. She recognized it instantly.

"What if I rat you out and get you fired?" She asked.

"I'm quitting anyway," he sighed. "Can't keep doing this."

"Well, Cedric," Pauline said. "You've been promoted from a piece of shit to a piece of trash. Thank you."

Somehow, her verbal beatdown of this guard had made him become a better person, and he was potentially ruining his life for her. As her mother sometimes said, tact was the ability to tell someone to go to hell and make them look forward to the trip.

The bodyguard nodded and closed the door. Pauline immediately ran to her bedroom door, locked it, and opened up her phone. She was going to type a statement— no, first, she was going to call all of the news organizations and tell her story, and then type a statement on the forums. That way, both civilians and trainers would learn how fucked up the Obel Energy Company and the Bianchi Conglomerate were.

But her mother… her mother would suffer the consequences. And so would she after this. Her finger hovered over the call button, trembling like a leaf. She didn't want to risk calling her mother beforehand to warn her either because she was sure her phone had been bugged. Once she started the first call, it would only be a matter of time until the guards realized something was wrong and stopped her. There was no time to waste.

"Mommy would respect my choice no matter what," Pauline exhaled. "She'll understand."

Pauline pressed the call button and began talking to the first reporter. She was risking everything, but what could they do to even counter her? When the Meowth was out of the bag, there was no way to put it back in. She would fulfill Cece's last wish and burn these companies to the ground if it was the last thing she did.

Pauline talked to seven reporters and typed out a long statement on the forum that day.

The very next hour, the new story broke. Harvey and Clarence's lies were revealed, and the truth of the story came out. They had abused a girl so badly that she had decided to die in Mount Coronet, and Grace and Denzel were heroes who tried to go save her. She threw Abel under the bus too, saying that they had hired a trainer that threatened the use of mind control. Hopefully, with all the media attention this would get, law enforcement wouldn't just ignore this one. Just tying down Harvey and Clarence in legal battles would be enough, even though they would eventually win. Pauline breathed a sigh of relief and smiled when she heard the bodyguards breaking down her door.

That day, the Bianchi Conglomerate's stock price crashed by 19%, and the Obel Energy Company's crashed by 26%.

And hopefully, it would only be down from there.

 

[Soussouni1]

A/N: Let me add an important content warning for this chapter. It's about Team Galactic and therefore gets very dark. If you hate it when the story gets dark, I recommend not reading this, but there'll be an author note at the end about why I wrote it.

---

INTERLUDE - Grunt

Two years earlier

"...although Carla battled addiction her entire life, which was filled with struggle and setbacks, we choose to remember the moments of joy that brought smiles to her family and loved ones. She was a sister, a friend, a mother…"

Émile Cartwright stood there, his eyes downcast and his teeth grinding against each other so hard it felt like they were about to fall off as one of his uncles read his mother's eulogy. She was dead. He had found her overdosing in her bathroom, foaming at the mouth, her waste all over the floor and with a dirty needle in her arm. He had tried to get her help so many times, but there was never enough money, and she kept relapsing again and again. He had begun with odd jobs and started to delve into petty crime, robbing small stores with his Trubbish to try to get her into a proper rehab facility.

Still, it hadn't been enough. There wasn't much a street rat from the poorest corner of Jubilife could have done. He stared at his uncles and his mother's friends, who looked on with dead eyes. Where had they been to help? All those times, he had begged them for money, and they just brushed him off. Yet they dared show up here to her funeral? When he had paid for most expenses out of pocket?

The system had failed Émile and his mother. The government didn't care about any of them. Every day, they would hear about a new stadium opening up, a new rising star trainer or coordinator, pointless debates and arguments about who was the strongest Champion, or who would win the Arceus damned Conference this year. Things that just did not matter when a huge part of Sinnoh was wallowing in misery. Instead of looking at the rot in society, people just chased the newest shiny object. The trend of the month. Émile was forgotten. A nobody.

Jubilife had killed his mother. It watched her struggle, die, and spat on her corpse. Now the entire world would move on, unaware that she had even existed in the first place.

He left the funeral early. He couldn't bare to talk with his family and act like he didn't hate their guts. Today, he would mourn, and tomorrow, he'd need to get back to work. He had spend all of his money on getting her a proper farewell—

"You," he heard behind him.

"What?" Émile answered with a trembling voice. He grabbed Trubbish's Pokeball. "I might not look like it, but I'm a trainer, so go rob someone else."

"I'm not here to rob you. You've been left behind, haven't you, Émile Cartwright?"

His stomach dropped. Giving the man a closer look, he was rather average looking, with short brown hair and brown eyes, although slightly older than Émile was. He looked like he'd fade into any background. Someone you would never pay any attention to or give a second look.

"How the hell do you know my name?"

"Don't you wish you could stick it up to the government who failed you? Who doesn't give a fuck about people like you and me?"

Émile paused and licked his dry lips. "What do you suggest? Do you think we're taking down the fucking League? The only reason I'm not in jail is because I keep taking from people like me. People who don't have anything. If I targeted the shit that mattered to them, I'd already be in prison."

"I used to think that too," the man said. "But then someone approached me and gave me hope. Like I'm doing now with you. We're small right now, but we have potential. Potential to finally give the little guy like you and me a voice."

Émile somehow didn't ignore the man, surprising even himself. Still, he was in no mood for idealism. Words were nice. They were gentle and could make you daydream about your ideal world for a few seconds before you snapped back to reality. Taking action was another thing altogether.

Still, Émile was intrigued.

"What's your group? What do you do?"

"I'm afraid you can only learn more if you come with me, my friend."

He sighed and rubbed his face, pinching his nose. This was shady as hell, but at this point, what did he even have to lose? Eventually, Émile would strike at a target too big, and he'd be locked up for years. So why not try something new?

"Okay," he exhaled. "I'm in."

The man grinned. "I'm Gabriel. Welcome to Team Galactic."

——

Émile squinted as he walked past two large men into the blinding white building, a huge contrast to the dreary streets that they had just come from. He couldn't believe such a trashy-looking exterior hid this kind of building. From the outside, it had looked like one of the hundreds of abandoned factories and storage facilities that littered the northeastern side of Jubilife, but it was a hub of activity. People filtered in and out, all with determined looks on their faces, a far cry from what he was used to seeing in his neighborhood, and some of them wore weird uniforms that resembled spacesuits.

"Eyes in front, Émile," Gabriel said. "You'll get acquainted with everything else later."

"I'm just so surprised," he gasped. "I thought you were some rag-tag group, since you said you were small, but you look… legit."

"Of course we are," he laughed. "If we weren't, I wouldn't be a part of it. And this is just one of our bases. We have a few right now, and we're looking to start up a new one in Veilstone."

Gabriel led him to a small storage room that apparently functioned as an office. Another man, this time way older and with greying hair, stared at them exasperatedly.

"Gabriel, another recruit? I thought we told you to slow down on those," he said. Émile knew that he must have been a smoker from how raspy his voice sounded and how black his teeth were. "We're growing too fast for my liking."

"If we want to achieve anything, we need numbers, Vedran. You put me in the recruitment force, and I got good at it. Don't complain."

"Did you check his background properly, at least?" Vedran asked, eyeing Émile from head to toe.

"He's a nobody. We'll be fine."

"What the hell?!" Émile exclaimed. If he was going to get insulted, then—

"You misunderstand, young man," Vedran interrupted. "That is the number one thing we look at when we recruit someone. We are all nobodies."

"Why?"

"You don't have anything to lose but have everything to gain, so you won't quit and rat us out. And even if you do, no one will believe you. Have you seen Jubilife's cops on the northside? Short staffed, incompetent as hell, and with a touch of corruption to boot."

"I know," he said, clenching his teeth.

"We're doing a lot of illegal shit, as you could probably guess," Gabriel explained. "So that's why we look for people like you."

"Fine… but you could have worded that better."

"This is Team Galactic, boy," Vedran spat. "We do not coddle. Get used to it."

"But I guarantee that you'll feel more at home here than anywhere else," Gabriel quickly added with a warm smile.

Émile was filled with a sense of… it was hard to explain. There was a pinch of worry. He felt that if he truly joined this organization, it would be difficult to leave. But at the same time, excitement overwhelmed him. This felt good. Being a part of something larger than himself that was finally aiming to stick it up to the system? He was all in. He nodded at Vedran.

"Good. Let me add your information to the system…" the old man said, "Gabriel?"

He sprung up. "Émile Cartwright, twenty-two, poor as sin. His mother was a crackhead who died of an overdose, and his father's in the slammer for attempted murder. Owns a Trubbish and is actually rather decent at battling, from what I've seen. Good instincts and strategizing, but lack of move variety."

Émile stared at Gabriel with wide eyes.

"I said I was good at my job. Been watching you a while."

Vedran typed on his computer extremely quickly and smiled. "Okay… I wish he'd been adept with technology or science, we're lacking in those," he sighed. "Still, you own a Pokemon, so you'll be of use."

"What's my job, then?"

Vedran smirked and tapped on the enter key.

"You're a grunt."

——

"Give us the code," Émile yelled in the woman's ear. "Now!"

The bank's employee whimpered as he pressed the knife tighter to her throat. She cried out a series of numbers, and then begged not to be killed. Émile nodded at his fellow grunts, and they went down to the vaults.

"Good! The rest of you stay nice and quiet unless you want my Trubbish here to poison you. You'll die in minutes."

"Tru!" The poison type belched, releasing a terribly foul odor. That was a good way to sell the threat.

There had been a few trainers in the bank as well, but they had made quick work of their Pokemon. No one could stop them anymore.

It had been two months since Émile had joined Team Galactic, and he had gotten a lot of work done. He was a grunt, but he specialized in gathering funds for the organization. He had already been an amateur robber before joining, and now he had just moved on to bigger fish. Instead of small convenience stores, he robbed jewelry stores and banks. Of course, they didn't do this under the Team Galactic insignia. To bystanders, they were just normal bank robbers with masks. Cyrus still wanted the organization to stay under the shadows until they were ready to strike.

Cyrus… Émile had never even seen the man or any of the Commanders, and neither had Gabriel or Vedran. Still, they all admired him. He gave them another chance at life. A chance to be someone. A chance to matter.

"The pigs are going to be here soon!" his friend said beside him.

"I know, Naomi," Émile said. "Just give Lars, Riley and the others a few minutes so that they can come back with the money."

Funny how the cops always rushed to protect the big banks, but never to solve the gang violence that plagued his neighborhood and Jubilife's northeast as a whole. Émile scoffed.

He had made friends here. Connections. People in Team Galactic were harsh, but they were real, unlike his family. He felt like he finally belonged. This was his new home, and he actually got paid here. He was so happy Gabriel had found him that day. He always worked with his squad, of which he was the leader. Lars, Riley, Naomi, and Paul were his closest friends, along with Gabriel and Vedran, but he often worked with other groups of grunts for bigger jobs like today as well. If they succeeded… it would bring back millions of Pokedollars to Team Galactic. He was sure to get noticed by Cyrus if he did.

A few minutes later, Lars, Riley, and a dozen other grunts walked back, dragging bags full of cash on the ground. There were many for them to be even able to carry, but that was fine.

"Let's get the fuck out!"

Riley released her Abra, and suddenly, the entire group was back at headquarters with the money. Émile grinned. Commander Charon owned a Hypno who knew the move Teleport, and he often lent him throughout the entire organization so that their psychics could learn the move. They didn't need a getaway vehicle or a plan of escape. As long as Riley and her Abra were here, they were invincible, even though he could only use the move once every few days. Any more would exhaust him to the point of near death.

People around the HQ cheered when they noticed that they were back with the money. Of course, it would have to be laundered so that it couldn't be tracked, but they had people for that. Team Galactic wasn't only made up of grunts. Money launderers, scientists, trolls who spread misinformation and conspiracies online about the government, recruiters like Gabriel, administrators like Vedran, street thugs, informants, infiltrators, engineers, fucking accountants.

Émile was just a cog in the machine that kept it going. A small part out of thousands. And it gave him a sense of belonging he had never felt before.

——

"I'm so fucking nervous," Émile said as he adjusted his uniform's collar. It felt too tight. He hated the space theme they had going on, but at least he only had to wear it when he walked around HQ.

"Just sit up straight, and you'll be fine," Lars said, his tone giddy.

"I can't believe it's finally happening," Riley laughed. "We're meeting a Commander."

"The newest one, though," Naomi said. "She joined after us, and she's already a Commander? Must be something special."

"Vedran called her Mars. All I know about her is that she's an upbeat woman," Émile said. "Now, quiet down. We want to make a good impression."

Émile had been right. His bank robbery had propelled him from being an unnamed grunt to meeting a Commander. He was moving up in the ranks. Maybe he would even be a Commander too, one day.

An incredibly pale young woman with hair too red to be natural and an incredibly strange haircut walked into the room. Émile stared down at her and felt a flash of disappointment, although he didn't let it show. Mars didn't look like much. She didn't command his immediate respect as he had expected before meeting her.

"Pffft, I hate Jubilife," she groaned, stretching before sitting down on the ground. "You guys like it here?"

Émile's eyes darted left and right toward his friends. What should they answer? Was this a test of some kind? Would their answer determine if they worked under her or not?

"Come on, answer me!" She said, pouting like a child.

"I dislike it," Émile said, making sure his voice did not waver. "It's the region's capital, and people act like it's this shining jewel. The pride of Sinnoh. But if you peel back at the layers, you see that it's rotten to its core."

Mars shot up— it was almost disturbing how quickly she had gotten on her feet— and grinned.

"Good answer! Although that's the world in general. Hey, what's your name, my man?" She asked.

"Émile Cartwright, Commander!" He exclaimed.

"Relax, relax, this isn't the League! I'm a laid-back kind of boss, no need for all that performative stuff," she said, waving her hand. "Call me Commander still, though, I like that!"

"Yes, Commander!" They all answered at the same time.

"Sheesh! You guys are fun," she laughed. "Well, you grunts distinguished yourselves from the rest, so you're going to be working under me from now on, along with the rest of my unit."

Émile waited for further explanation, but Mars didn't say anything.

"What? Expecting something else?" She smiled as she approached them. Émile suddenly felt a chill, as if the temperature was dropping all around him. He stared into Mars' eyes and had to remind himself to breathe. "I don't particularly care for anything we do here. I'm just a girl in love. All I want is for Cyrus to praise me. So we're going to be doing the most dangerous jobs possible. I don't care what happens to you. Just make sure you don't fail, because if you do and it reflects badly on me… well, I'm going to be having a lot of fun, but you certainly won't!" She said before giggling.

She was… she was pretending, right? Surely she wasn't actually insane. To risk everything Émile had built for a crush?

"Now, what are the rest of you called? Émile, introduce us!"

——

Émile was the last one standing.

It had only taken six months for all of his friends to disappear. Naomi and Paul had been arrested. Lars had died to a misfire from another grunt's Pokemon, and he rarely spoke to Gabriel and Vedran these days, since Mars dragged him all throughout the region on a whim. And Riley…

Émile shuddered. He preferred not to think about what the Commander had done to Riley after she blew up at her for letting their friends die or be captured.

He was a much better trainer now. He had four Pokemon, and his Trubbish had evolved into a Garbodor. He had more money than he could ever have dreamed of, but Émile wasn't having fun anymore. This wasn't how it had been when he had just joined. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. He wanted out.

And yet, he was stuck in Team Galactic. The higher he went, the harder it was to leave. And he was on the way up. Mars had recommended him for a promotion, which she forced him to accept, and he was finally about to meet Cyrus in Team Galactic's Veilstone HQ, along with around a hundred other grunts. He was going to give a speech about the future of Team Galactic, which was incredibly too vague for Émile's liking. Were they finally going to strike at the government, which had failed him and his mother? If they could just do that, then it would at least have been worth it.

Émile groaned as a grunt bumped into him. They were packed like a pod of Wishiwashi in this room, and this uniform made him incredibly hot.

Team Galactic's leader stepped onto the stage, followed closely by his Commanders. Mars was giddy, as usual, and skipped across the stage while Charon scowled at her and limped to the center of the podium. The other woman, who must have been Jupiter, just walked forward with her chin up and a slight smile, and Saturn's expression was hard to gauge. Émile wasn't good enough with faces to tell if he was excited or angry— he somehow walked the uncanny valley between the two emotions.

Cyrus had spiky blue hair and no eyebrows, which was strange, but he commanded Émile's attention straight away. His face held a perpetual frown, and he had his hands behind his back. Mars perked up and adjusted his microphone, touching his torso in the process, but he paid it no mind. In fact, it looked like Cyrus hadn't even noticed. His mind was elsewhere.

"You are here today because you are the best Team Galactic has to offer," Cyrus said, getting straight to the point. "You have risen above the riff-raff and proven yourself unique. Worthy."

Émile let out an audible gulp. Cyrus' voice was emotionless. There was no intonation. He disturbingly kept it still and unwavering the entire time he spoke, no matter what words were being said.

"You joined Team Galactic thinking that we were simply trying to be a thorn in Sinnoh's side, but the truth is that we are much more than that. The human spirit is weak and incomplete. There is too much conflict and too much suffering in the world. Team Galactic will harness the power of Sinnoh's old myths and science to create a brand new world without strife. We will start from zero. A blank slate. That means that this world will be wiped away. Rejoice, for you have been selected. You are part of the chosen few thousand who will survive and be a part of this perfect new world."

It took everything Émile had not to throw up. The organization he had joined… didn't exist. Team Galactic was run by crazies. This new world idea was impossible, but that somehow wasn't the worst part. Everyone who had joined and was still joining… was doing so for a fucking lie. His entire goal had been brought to naught. It had never been about helping the forgotten. Still, he looked around him. They were all cheering. Clapping. Celebrating. They had been brazenly lied to for months or years, and yet, they didn't seem to care. They were completely taken by Cyrus with such fanatical devotion that Émile felt like he was in a cult. He was alone. There was no one to speak up with him, so he decided to stay silent.

It was too late to go back. Cyrus kept droning about his new world, and Émile stopped listening.

——

Émile carefully stepped down the stairs and saw Mars leaning against one of the walls. They were holed up in Eterna city HQ since the League was closing in on them, but he actually liked that. That meant that he wouldn't have to do dangerous work for a goal he didn't believe in any longer, although they were planning on abandoning the base in a week. His trip through Eterna Forest to catch that Rotom had been horrible, but he had gotten it easy compared to the others. When he heard that all of the grunts had been left at Valley Windworks, his stomach dropped. Their memories had all been ripped away. The camaraderie that he had seen at the start of his career was gone. Now Team Galactic was all about results, no matter the sacrifice.

Still, Team Galactic exploited that and began a campaign of misinformation, accusing the government of tyrannical action and trying to balloon the already ongoing protests. A year ago, Émile would have been fully on board, but now, he just couldn't bring himself to care about anything. He was hollow.

"How goes my favorite grunt Émile?" Mars smirked at him.

"I'm good, Commander," he answered before eyeing the knife in her hand. She was hiding it behind her back, but it was barely showing. It was bloody, and so were her white shoes.

"Ah, you noticed!" She laughed. "Come here."

He shambled across the basement, and she pointed at a door.

"Open it."

"Why?" He gulped.

"Open it."

Émile's hand trembled as he gripped the handle. He pushed down, creaked the door open, and he felt a pit form in his stomach. It was… a mutilated body. He was missing his nails, and lacerations and cuts ran across his entire torso, arms, and legs, but the face had been left completely intact. Some cuts were so deep that they had reached the bone, and blood had seeped all across the floor. He still wore the Galactic uniform.

"Not my best work," she continued, uncaring at the horror they were looking at. "But not my worst either."

"Who… who was that?" He stammered as fear crawled down his spine. He bent over and almost threw up on the floor, but nothing came out.

"Calm down, Émile! I wouldn't do that to one of us. Come on, you know me better than that!" She said. "He was a League agent that had been sent to join and infiltrate the organization. Caught him right away. He was down here for a few days while I was working on him."

So she had tortured him for days? Émile stopped himself from lurching.

"He died an hour ago. He wouldn't spill anything, though, even after I threatened his Pokemon," she sighed. "And when I tried to get Hypno to extract any memories, his mind came up blank. That's how I figured out he was a League guy, actually. Some kind of mental shield they use that we haven't figured out yet. How annoying. But his screams were decently fun, although there's one particular girl I want to play with soon."

"But we got all the information we needed from the League with Rotom," he said, his throat tight. "We even know that they found another one of the lakes by Sunyshore— you didn't need to keep torturing him."

Mars stared at him blankly, and then her face split into a grin. "Oops. I guess you found me out! The truth was that it was too much fun. Don't tell anyone else, okay? They'll get mad at me. Especially that old gruff Charon, ugh, I hate him."

How… how had she become this way? There was no life in her eyes. Mars was a monster. Émile couldn't believe it had taken so long for him to realize it. He had often tried to guess what kind of childhood she must have had to turn out this way, but the truth was, it didn't actually matter. She just… she wasn't human. She just looked the part.

"Why're you stepping away from me, Émile?" She pouted. "Come on, I got you promoted! You're going to live past the end of the world!"

I never wanted any of this, he thought as his breathing quickened.

"But of course, you didn't want it, did you?" She continued as if she was reading his mind. "I knew, Émile. I knew all along. You were my pet project, you know? I wanted to see how long I could keep stringing you along toward a fate you hated. It was decently fun, but you just took it and never reacted, I mean, come on! Blow up at me or something. Get mad! Attack me! It's too late now, though. I'm bored of you."

Émile couldn't even register the words he had just heard.

"What?"

"You heard me," she said. "No hard feelings though, right?"

"You—"

Suddenly, the entire building was rocked by an explosion.

"Ah, must be the League," Mars smiled. "About time."

About time? He thought. They hadn't been expecting to be found for another two weeks!

Émile clenched at his Pokeball. Could he pretend to be helping and strike Mars down so that she'd be arrested somehow? Killed would be better, but he would take anything he could get at this point. He didn't care what happened to him. Mars ignored his bubbling rage and skipped up the stairs as she released her Seviper and her Clefable.

"Let's go fight them off, shall we?" Mars smiled.

"Yes, Commander," Émile hissed, grinding his teeth together.

——

"Sludge Bomb!" Émile yelled. "Double Edge!"

"Protect and Disarming Voice!" The League trainer ordered in quick succession.

Garbodore belched and spat out a huge lump of poison at the opposing Delcatty while Linoone's body tensed and rushed toward the normal type. Delcatty summoned a thick barrier that protected it from both attacks, before quickly screaming at Linoone, causing him to writhe on the ground.

Everywhere around him, fights were erupting, ending, and ongoing. Parts of the ceiling had collapsed, there were holes in the walls and the floors, and a part of the building was on fire. There were so many battles going on at this point that Émile didn't even know where Mars had gone, but he knew one thing. They were losing. The League had brought everything they had, and he caught a glimpse of Aaron from the Elite Four at one point. Linoone fainted, and he recalled him. His other Pokemon were also down. He only had Garbodore left.

Émile cursed, contemplating his options. Running was impossible. All exits had been blocked off, and League trainers had the building surrounded from all sides, along with the International Police. The only place he could go was deeper into the base.

"Surrender," the League trainer said as he covered his mouth and nose from the putrid air blowing his way.

Émile ordered Garbodore to spit out another lump of poison, giving him an opening, and then booked it anyway. If he was going to get arrested, then he'd make sure the monster that called itself Mars would go down with him. He quickly recalled Garbodore once he was far enough and ran away. He needed to find her. He needed to—

She was there, mowing down League trainers with just two of her Pokemon and giggling like a girl. She wasn't even using her Dusknoir, and yet she was standing up to three trainers at once. Clefable laughed maniacally as she struck down a trainer with a Thunderbolt that flew from the tip of her finger, and Seviper stabbed a Manetric's throat, its sharp tail dripping with poison and blood. Émile bit his tongue, waiting for the exact moment that he needed to strike, which was right after Clefable sent another Thunderbolt forward.

"Sludge Bomb," he whispered, pointing at Mars. Garbodore hesitated, but he hissed out the order again, and he finally listened, spitting out another ball of poison—

The world drained of its color and became cold, and smoke immediately coalesced into a solid shape. The Sludge Bomb washed over Dusknoir's body, and the ghost type shot Émile a look that caused him to collapse on his knees and desperately crawl back as he soiled himself.

"I finally broke you," Mars laughed. In the middle of this battlefield, her words still rang clear in his mind. "You were fun after all, Émile. Leave him be for now, Dusky."

Émile didn't have the energy to keep going. He stayed there, on the ground and staring at the ceiling for minutes, hoping to die from a stray attack or a collapsing roof. He didn't. He felt someone grab his arms and handcuff him, and then he was dragged out of the building.

——

Émile sat in one of Eterna city's jail cells with two other grunts, awaiting his fate. His Pokemon had been taken, and hundreds had gotten arrested, but he was sure Mars had made it out somehow. Hypno had been in the building before the fight erupted. Again, she was going to get off scot-free after all of the suffering she had inflicted.

The door to his cell opened, and two League trainers walked in, accompanied by a police officer. He recognized the one who owned the Delcatty, and he lowered his head.

"I didn't want to— I'm sorry, I never knew it would get this bad—"

"Shut it," he said as he beckoned a Kadabra into the room. "You didn't want to do it, you didn't know it would go this far, you're sorry. I've heard it all before, and I don't care. Your terrorist organization caused the death of a lot of good people and Pokemon today, and I'm not in the mood to hear your sob story—"

He paused for a few seconds, wincing.

"Yes, you can start working on them now," he told the Kadabra before another pause. Another pained expression from what Émile assumed was telepathy. "Yeah, yeah, sorry for wasting your time. Go ahead."

Émile's breathing turned harsh and loud as he watched Kadabra approach his fellow grunt. Its spoon bent, its eyes flashed, and the man began to convulse, biting down so hard on his tongue that his mouth started to bleed. The process took around five minutes. Five minutes of torture. They weren't even asking them questions before the extraction process. There was no out.

It was going to happen to him too.

Émile felt a sudden chill run down his spine as color died around the room.

"Ghost!" One of them yelled.

"What the fuck are the dark types doing?!"

The two League trainers cursed and released their Pokemon as the police officer ran out of the room. Émile frantically pulled at his restraints, but he was tied down. There was no escape. Dusknoir appeared behind him, opening his mouth as thousands of screams rang out throughout the room. The two trainers clenched at their heads, and Émile fell to the ground. The headache was agonizing. He couldn't think about anything.

His body was so cold. His fingers trembled as the smoky mouth closed around him, and the world went black.

Émile's body was gone, and he felt nothing any longer. Just that he was falling closer and closer to the screams. It had been hours now, or maybe days? He couldn't tell. Everything was so dark here, and there was no way to know how much time had passed. The further he fell, the more he thought that he could hear someone laugh down here. A distinct giggle he had learned to fear.

Much later, the giggle was all-encompassing. It was unmistakable. Mars was down here somehow. Eventually, he slowed and stop falling.

"What are you doing here?" He asked with a trembling voice. He could somehow speak, even though he held no physical form. "How are you even in there? What are you?"

"It's a piece of me," she said. Her voice reverberated through the screams. "Dusky and I are linked forever."

"You— you let it eat a part of your soul?" He said, his voice full of terror.

"Something like that," she said. Even without his eyes, he could tell she was grinning. "I messed up and made you hate me too much, so I couldn't save you, but I couldn't let your memories get stolen by the League either. You knew too much, Émile. Cyrus would hate me for letting that knowledge into the League's hands, but that doesn't matter. You've reached the bottom now."

"The bottom of what?"

"Dusky's soul receptacle."

"What does that mean?"

Mars didn't have to answer. Émile felt an indescribable agony flare up and began to scream, adding to the thousands of other voices. He was a piece of something grander. One part out of thousands. A cog in the machine.

And he would be for all of eternity.

---

A/N: Okay, let me say a few things.

I wrote this interlude for three main reasons. The first one was, how the hell does an organization does Team Galactic function and get new members? Some people use the mind control theory, but that seems like a cop-out to me, especially when you'd need to control thousands a people at once. Now you learned how they do it. They lure vulnerable young adults/teenagers that feel like the whole world is against them and lie about their actual goal until they've distinguished themselves as an important member. I feel like that's a more realistic way of looking at it, but feel free to tell me your opinion in the comments. The second reason was to show off Mars again and give some more information about her. She might be a bit controversial after this because of how evil she is (some people don't like antagonists with literally 0 redeeming qualities), but hey, this is how I envision her, and this is how she'll be. The third and more minor reason was to show a snippet of Cyrus and the other Commanders.

So now, let's speak about Émile for a second. This interlude wasn't really meant to make you feel either way about him. He was born and raised in terrible circumstances, and his life was a reflection of that, but he was also a terrible person who threatened/caused the death of people, and at the end of the day, he valued his life more than others, because he could have tried to run, although don't get me wrong, that doesn't warrant what happened to him at the end. It was more meant to showcase how much of a slippery slope Team Galactic is and how difficult it is to actually leave when you get high up in the ranks, and how it becomes more and more like a cult. Thanks for reading the author note, we're done with the interludes for a bit, next chapter will be back to Grace's PoV.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 85

"Route 216?" I almost choked. I hadn't even contemplated that we would end up there. "So we should get to Snowpoint, then?"

"No… this is a problem," Denzel said. He placed a palm on his forehead and let out an exasperated sigh. "It takes a long time to get to Snowpoint from route 216 and 217, and we're not even on the route yet. We don't have enough supplies to last out there."

I shivered, squinting as another gust of wind blew past us, and sniffled. Breathing in this dry cold air was deeply uncomfortable.

"The cold's going to get worse as we travel and winter truly settles in, too," Denzel continued. "Right now, it's less cold than it was inside, but it'll get colder."

"We're lucky we didn't get here in February. That's when surviving outside is impossible unless you really know what you're doing," I said.

"You're right, but we still have to hurry either way," Denzel agreed.

"We have fire types for the cold," Chase said. "And we can hunt for food after we run out. Melt and boil snow for water, maybe? Some wild Pokemon here are bound to be edible."

"Not me…" I started, shaking my head. "No."

"Grace…" Cece said. "There's no choice."

"I won't do it."

"We've already had this conversation, let's stop wasting time," Chase said. "Here's what we can do. Pastel, you'll eat the remaining food while we eat whatever we find out there."

I sighed. "Thank you."

"That works," Cece agreed.

"I said I respected your choice, but I've got to ask you," he asked. "You do know that you've indirectly caused the death of many wild Pokemon, right? What do you think happens after you knock 'em out? That they just wake up a few hours later and go about their day?"

I clenched a fist. "Do you think I don't know that? I try my best to do good. That doesn't mean everything I do meets that standard. Sometimes, the rubber has to meet the road and there isn't any choice."

"Alright," Chase said after a pause. "Just wanted to see where you stood on things."

"I'm not stupid. I'm just trying to get by with causing the least damage possible," I said. "Now, let's figure something out."

"Wait," Cece stopped me. "That still doesn't solve the Pokemon food. They have to eat if they're going to keep being out of their Pokeballs."

Denzel nodded. "I was going to bring that up."

"Deino and Fletchinder can eat whatever they kill in the wild," Cece said. "So can Scyther, but I'm not planning on bringing him out any time before we at least get situated on a route. Slowpoke can only eat premade food, so he'll have to eat what we have."

"Good thinking, Obel," Chase said. "Houndoom can do the same here, along with Zangoose. Ri can eat anything too."

Denzel and I stared at each other awkwardly.

"Um… none of our Pokemon do that…" he said.

"I knew that already, and I didn't expect you to change," she replied with a nod. "But that's still a lot of food we're cutting out. Plus, Budew, Tangela, and Frillish don't have to eat."

"Okay, that should last us until Snowpoint," I said. "Now, to find the route. Cece, can Fletchinder do it?"

"She's never flown that far away before, but I suppose she could," she answered, anxiously grabbing her flying type's Pokeball and releasing her. Fletchinder happily spread her wings and flew around us, ecstatic to be out of Mount Coronet, causing Cece to smile softly. "Fletchinder darling, we're out of the mountain, as you can see, but we're still lost. I'm going to need you to find route 216 for us. Denzel, what should she look out for?"

"Just anywhere where the snow is less deep than this and looks like some sort of canyon— the route is nestled in between two ridges. Think route 205. Or alternatively, anywhere with a ranger outpost. There's supposed to be one at the mountain's entrance on route 216, and if we can get there, our worries about food can be put to rest, and we can get help and reception for our phones."

Fletchinder nodded and flew off before taking one last look at us. The bird was probably anxious to be separated from us, but we'd stay put and wait for her. I would have liked to send another Pokemon with her, but nothing we had flew as fast as she could. In a few seconds, Fletchinder was already gone from view.

"That's a fast one," Chase said, raising an eyebrow. "Would be interesting to face with the new anti-flier techniques I've developed after my fight with Pastel."

"Why are you even thinking about battling me still?" Cecilia frowned. "I still am not interested and will never be—"

"Let's not fight, guys," Denzel interjected. "Take it in for a second. Yeah, we're still in a precarious situation, but we were stranded in Mount Coronet, and we lived. Not many trainers at our level can claim that."

I nodded, breaking into a smile. Thinking back, the one thing Mount Coronet had taught me as a trainer was multitasking my team and fighting with all of them out at the same time, which was something I would have been incapable of doing before, like when we had to hold back the number of Pokemon we used in Eterna forest. I thought faster, responded better to threats, and my Pokemon were the same, able to often make the best decision independently in most situations, leaving me more time to think. I had no doubt the others were all thinking the same thing. I would even go as far and say I was ready for the third gym—

I caught myself. I couldn't face the gyms for the time being, or at least until we reached civilization and found out what was going on back in Eterna. The battles were always recorded, and our location would inevitably get back to Cece's father. I'd have to talk to Denzel and Cece about coming up with a plan of action tonight or maybe tomorrow to give them one night of rest.

Looking further around, it looked like we were on the slopes of the mountain still, albeit it didn't look to be too high. I had no difficulty breathing, and I could see the terrain in front of us gradually slump.

"Route 216, huh?" Denzel said again. "I actually want to catch something here or on route 217, although honestly, I didn't think I'd be getting here until I had seven badges."

"Really?" I perked up. "Who is it? Wait, let me guess! Cece, help me out."

"Looking at the other members of his team… maybe a Smoochum?" She said.

Denzel grimaced, and I broke into laughter.

"A Smoochum! That's— that's a good one," I giggled.

"Hey, let's not make fun of Pokemon's appearance, alright! Grace, you're not the type to do that!" Denzel said, shaking his head.

"I'm sorry, I just find its evolution really funny," I said. "It wasn't malicious."

"So, was I right?" Cece asked, smiling to herself.

"No! No, you weren't."

"Okay, what about a… Snom?" I asked. "Their evolution's beautiful. You only have that kind of Pokemon."

"I do," he said, clearly stopping himself from smiling. He had taken it as a compliment. "But wrong! Last guess before I just tell you."

"Vanilite!" I yelled.

"Vanilite aren't beautiful…" Cece crossed her arms.

"They totally are! You're cuter, though."

She started fanning her face with her hands and averted her gaze. I walked up to her and placed my hands around her waist.

"You like it when I call you cute?" I muttered.

"Who wouldn't like the girl she loves to do so?" Cece replied, her breathing ragged. "You're treading dangerous waters, Grace."

I felt blood rush to my face. "Um, that sounds great to me, if that means what I think that means?" I asked.

"Guess the game's over," Denzel sighed. "I really liked it too, and you barely tried. I want a female Snorunt."

I turned toward him.

"That turns into a Froslass, right? Lots of scary stories about that one," I said.

"Lures men into a cave and turns them into ice statues, knocks on the doors of small villages at night to kidnap people that are never seen again, reincarnated women that die on the slopes of Mount Coronet," Denzel listed. "Researched 'em all. There's probably a hint of truth to them, but I don't really know how accurate those are. Doesn't matter anyway, though, since I'm catching its pre-evolution."

"Your way of catching Pokemon is deficient, Williams," Chase said.

"Oh yeah? Why don't you tell me why?" He replied, rising to the challenge.

I rolled my eyes and prepared to watch what would probably be turning into a verbal fight, because Chase was incapable of disagreeing with people in a nice way. He had to be right, and he wouldn't entertain any other ideas.

"Planning your team to a T, that's inefficient," Chase clarified. "What if the Pokemon you catch is incompatible with you? Then you've got a team member that will hold everyone back."

"There are workarounds," Denzel said. "You can adapt the way you do things. You think too rigidly."

"Hm," he said. "That doesn't work for me. I have a rigid training regiment, and if the Pokemon can't keep up, then I wouldn't catch them."

My eyes widened slightly. That had been less aggressive than I expected.

"How do you even know if a Pokemon will be compatible with you before you catch them? You have to learn to know them, to befriend them. That takes months, at the very least," Denzel countered.

"No, there's one easy way to tell," he said. "The way they behave in the wild."

"Which is?"

"There has to be a fierceness— a drive to get stronger behind them that just jumps at me the moment I lay my eyes on 'em. I don't care if they're weak so long as they can keep up. We were all weak once. I just need ambition. Take my Charjabug, for example. When I met him, he was just a weak Grubbin getting harassed by a pack of Spearow right out of Jubilife, but even though he had no chance to win, he fought. He's a fighter. That's what I look for."

We all stared at him in silence for a few seconds. That had been surprisingly… deeper than I had anticipated. Maybe it was my bias, but I thought that he'd prioritize strength above all. In a way, he did, but he didn't care what level the Pokemon he caught were at, which was unexpected.

"What? What is it?" He asked.

"Good job, Chase," I said.

"What the fuck?"

"Okay, you have a point I guess," Denzel conceded. "But I've seen the way you train. I work less rigidly than you, and I'm willing to adapt, so I don't mind catching Pokemon that are hard to work with. My Budew used to hate my guts, and she did for a long time— it was my fault. But I worked hard to gain her trust, little by little."

"I think that's a waste of time. You could have caught another Budew and made more progress," he said. "But fair enough. We're different," he finished with a shrug.

I took off my gloves and grabbed my Poketch to tell the time. It was a little past noon, and there was obviously no reception, but it was worth the try. Even calling rangers to let them know that we were stranded would have been a good move. I exhaled into my hands to warm them up.

"So how long will that Fletchinder take to come back?" Chase asked.

"That depends on how far we are from the route, but it shouldn't take more than an hour or two, I would guess. We can't be too far, and she's fast, as you saw before," Cecilia explained.

"Alright," Chase said. "All that catching talk made me want to catch something, so I was thinking about dipping for a bit to see if anything caught my eye."

"Absolutely not," I said. "You're the guy in the movies who separates from the main group and dies a horrible death."

"No," he said, his expression suddenly darkening. "I'm the one who's left alone at the end."

"Ahem," Denzel said, breaking the silence. "We might as well settle down for now, then? Make a fire, and finally feel warm after so long. Fire type Pokemon aren't as good as the real thing."

"I didn't grab my axe when we left," I said. "I only have my knife."

"Neither did I, but we have Pokemon. Can Zangoose do it?" Denzel asked.

"Yeah, she can cut up wood, alright," he smiled.

Chase and Denzel went to gather wood while Cece and I stayed behind to watch our fire types melt the snow down to a manageable level so that we could sit down and place the logs correctly. Now that we were out of Mount Coronet, we'd be able to sleep in tents again as well, which would be crucial in protecting us from the wind, but we didn't want to set them up just for two hours. Cece crossed her arms and anxiously glanced at the sky every few minutes.

"She'll come back, don't worry," I said.

"She's never been so far away. What if she gets attacked?"

"She's part fire, so she's resistant to ice, and she's fast enough to dodge and run away," I softly said.

"I can't help but think… what if, you know? She was our only option since she's the fastest, but I can't help but be scared."

"You seem close to her. Closer than your other Pokemon, at least. When did you get her?" I asked. I knew Fletching could be found on Sinnoh's southern shores, but they were still incredibly rare in the region due to disliking the cold.

"I caught her in Sunyshore during the summer," she said.

"You were in Sunyshore?" I exclaimed. "I thought you were in Jubilife before the Circuit started."

"I was there in secret to get engaged with Louis… officially. She was the first Pokemon I caught after being given Deino, and we bonded instantly," Cece sighed.

"I'm glad," I said.

"Glad?"

"I'm glad that you've got Pokemon who love you, I mean. I'm not sure about Slowpoke— I can never tell with him, but even Deino seems to care for you."

"Slowpoke appreciates me in his own way, but I'm not sure it can be defined as love," Cece said. "Deino… Deino's different as well. He respects me, and he thinks that I'm his key to getting stronger, but I wouldn't call it love either."

"Come on," I said. "He clearly cares for you."

"Perhaps," she said.

"What about Scyther?" I asked in a not very smooth way. "Any progress?"

"Slightly, but he'll probably be furious when I release him, and he realizes that so much time has passed. At least he doesn't try to kill me that much anymore, albeit he definitely would strike me down if he had the chance."

"Seems to me like you need to apologize and reset the whole relationship," I said. "I know you value gaining a Pokemon's respect through power and all, but it won't work."

"Chase's words resonated with me, you know?" She said. "Wasting time."

"Are you… thinking of releasing him? Because if you are—"

"No. It hasn't come to that yet. I am thinking about all the time I wasted beating Scyther up, however. If I had him by my side, and he was at my other Pokemon's level, then I'd be more prepared to stand up to Abel. His type counters Malamar perfectly."

I nodded. "I'll help you out."

"No. I must do it alone."

"What?" I frowned.

"You work too hard, Grace. You ask about my worries, but what about yours? How are you?"

I felt my legs shake. "You know what crushes me the most right now?" I asked. Cece shook her head. "The fact that our friends don't know we're alive. And Denzel and my parents."

"I… I had been trying to keep that at the back of my mind," she sighed, grabbing my hand. "We need to get to civilization as fast as possible to let them know."

"I have to talk to you about your dad first," I said. "Tonight. For example, is he the type to bug phones, or other devices?"

Cecilia sighed. "Yes… he is."

"Then we have to figure another way. Through your brother, maybe? I'll bring Denzel too, we have to work out our next steps."

I leaned my head against her shoulder. Every time it looked like we were finally reaching the surface and that we were about to finally take that gasp of air, it turned out that we were even deeper than we thought. If we didn't watch out, we would all drown.

Denzel and Chase came back with the wood, which had been neatly cut into logs by Zangoose, and stacked some of them up. Cecilia ordered Deino to light it up with Incinerate, but nothing happened. The wood wasn't catching on fire.

"What the hell?" I said confusedly. "What's going on?"

"Deino, try it again."

The dragon did the same, using a stronger flame this time, and the wood still didn't catch fire.

"Your dragon is defective," Chase smiled.

"Wait!" Denzel exclaimed as he facepalmed. "The wood is wet. It's soaked up snow for years. That's why it won't catch fire. We're so fucking dumb."

"Watch and learn, Williams," Chase said. "Houndoom, light it up."

The dark type snorted and used his own Incinerate, which was more powerful than Deino's by a wide margin. The wood caught fire instantly, thanks to his unextinguishable flames. The smoke emanating from the fire was terrible, causing me to cough and fan the air around me.

"Better than nothing," Denzel sighed as he took off his gloves and placed his hands close to the fire.

We waited around the fire, talking amongst ourselves. An hour and a half later, Fletchinder was back. She gently landed on Cecilia's shoulder and squawked. She seemed unharmed— although her feathers were damp. That meant that it was snowing further ahead, and that the snow had melted on her. Cece breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed the flying type's neck, and she let out a satisfied cry.

"I'm so glad you're safe," she smiled. "Did you find the route?"

Fletchinder let out a hoot and nodded.

"Great!" Denzel said. "Did you find the ranger building? Any building, actually?"

The fire type shook her head.

"Ah, we must be closer to route 217 than I thought, then," Denzel sighed.

"Can you show us the way, darling?" Cecilia asked. Fletchinder extended her wings and took flight, circling above us.

"Okay, let's get going," Chase said.

It was only my second time off route, but it was easy to tell that wilderness reigned here. Walking through this knee-deep snow was exhausting, especially after the marathon we ran to escape from Mount Coronet. I had to recall Elekid and Tangela because they were simply too short to stand in the snow, and the others also recalled their shorter Pokemon, although Eevee and Riolu were perched on their trainers' shoulders. The Pokemon here would be stronger overall than on the route, as Budew had been when Denzel caught her near Jubilife, but I was confident that we'd be able to take whatever nature would decide to throw our way. Now it was all about minimizing the damage our Pokemon took, and we'd be fine, just like in the cave.

Luckily, we were traveling downward, too, giving us an easier time. This part of Mount Coronet had more gentle inclines since it was far away from the mountain's summit, where the terrain got really steep, so we wouldn't have any problems getting off of the mountain.

I exhaled in awe at a humongous ice formation ahead of me. It was so large that it didn't register as a living lifeform to my brain. an Avalugg was slowly trudging its way through the snow with a few Bergmite on its back. It moved incredibly slowly, and its eyes were protected by an encasing made of transparent ice. Houndoom began to growl, and Avalugg's glacier-like body shifted, grinding and creaking loudly to threaten us.

"Stand down," Chase said with a shaky breath. Houndoom sat, and we watched as Avalugg slowly passed ahead of us, knocking the sparse trees out of the way like twigs.

"Sometimes, I think I'm making a lot of progress, and then I see shit like that," Denzel sighed. "Some things just aren't meant to be fought."

I nodded, my previous confidence having evaporated, and we continued on our way. We encountered a few Pokemon that gave us trouble, but they seemed less aggressive here than in Eterna Forest and Mount Coronet, so as long as we didn't give them any trouble, they'd continue along with their day and we would as well, after a few awkward stares.

Not that there weren't any problems.

"Ember," Cece ordered.

"Burn it!" Chase yelled.

Houndoom and Fletchinder both sent out a stream of flames toward an aggressive Piloswine who had attacked us, but our fire type attacks seemed to have less effect than they should have on an ice type. Piloswine grunted, shaking off the pain and burns as some of its fur caught on fire. Sharp shards of ice materialized all around the ground type and flew toward us.

"Princess—"

I didn't even have to finish my command. Togetic's eyes lit up and stopped the first barrage of shards, but Piloswine had already summoned another one, and Chase and I had to dive to the side not to get hit. Frillish rushed in front of Togetic, taking the hit for her. The shards of ice tore through his body, but caused less damage than they would have since he had managed to use Acid Armor in the nick of time. It hadn't been a perfect one, but it did the job.

"Riolu, now!"

"Eevee!"

Riolu and Eevee jumped up next to Piloswine. They had been hiding in the snow, slowly making their way to the ice type. Riolu's palms glowed with an ethereal blue and slammed Piloswine's side while Eevee Double Kicked it right in the muzzle. The ice type roared and the ground shook, but the two Pokemon were already gone, having hidden in the snow again. Houndoom spat out one last stream of hot white flames, and Piloswine finally went down.

"Grace! Are you alright?!" Cece asked, panicking as she hobbled toward me.

"I'm alright," I choked. "I wasn't hit."

She sighed in relief and helped me up. I patted down the snow from my clothes.

"That was a tough one," Chase said. "But Piloswine seems edible."

"You try carrying a Piloswine while we travel," Denzel rebuked him. "We can't carry it. That means we'd have to stop. Plus… I know I said I'd eat wild Pokemon, but I don't feel comfortable skinning anything."

"I'll handle the skinning. You don't even know how to do it," Chase said. "But you have a point. I don't want to waste any time here."

I stared at Frillish and grimaced. One of his tentacles was barely hanging by a thread, and an Ice Shard had tore through his face, leaving a gaping hole where his eye should be. Togetic was crying out to him and apologizing desperately, but he huffed and patted her head to tell her it was fine.

"Don't worry, princess," I told her gently. "Frillish knows it would have been worse it you got hit. That Piloswine was no joke."

"Toge…"

"You feel guilty, still?" I asked, and she gave me a sad nod. I extended a hand and brought her head to my chest. "It wasn't your fault. You tried your best, and you know I'll never ask for more."

I was trying my best not to tear up, but it killed me to see her like this. I was just starting to realize how much of a mental toll this was having on Togetic, but she still tried to pretend like everything was fine for me. I hugged her tightly, gently rubbing her back, and Frillish gave me a sage nod.

"I love you, princess," I said softly. "I promise that we'll get to a city soon. Here, why don't you go back into your Pokeball and have a break? Your brother and I can handle the rest."

"Ge! Getic!" She yelled.

"We'll be fine," I insisted. "I'll use you if we need to. Just relax for a bit, okay?"

Togetic stared at me for a few seconds and nodded. I placed my forehead against hers and smiled as I recalled her.

"Sorry for the wait," I said. "Let's keep going."

They nodded, and we began walking again. I had expected a mean comment from Chase, but he said nothing.

"That was very sweet of you," Cecilia said. "Are you alright?"

"I've got to try my best," I answered. "For her and the others. Frillish knows a bit more, but the rest of my Pokemon all look up to me for reassurance. If I start breaking down, they'll do the same."

"The worse is behind us, Grace. By this time next week, we'll be at Snowpoint, and this'll all look like a bad dream."

"I hope so," I sighed. "This might be a little bit nonsensical, but… Togetic and my other Pokemon… I see them as my kids, you know? Even Frillish, although I rely on him the most. I guess that's a weird thing for a fifteen-year-old to say, but it's the truth."

"Every trainer has a different relationship with their Pokemon," Cece said as she grabbed my hand. "Yours is special. You're closer with yours than most trainers would be after years of owning their Pokemon."

"I just want this to be over," I honestly said. "Just being in a real room would probably make me break down. I'm tearing up just thinking about it, it's so stupid."

"Grace, there's nothing stupid about any of your worries. We all think the same. We want to get to a city, and we will. Don't ever think that something is too strange or silly to bring up to me, alright? I want you to rely on me as much as I've been relying on you."

"Hmhm," I sniffled. "Can I cry?"

"Yes."

The dam broke.

Cece called out for the group to stop, embracing me and letting me cry into her arms. I had tried my best. I had been strong, holding myself together throughout our entire time in Mount Coronet, but I just couldn't anymore. It was strange that the closer we got to civilization, the more discouraged and exhausted I felt when it should have been the opposite.

Still, at least I had people here with me to help.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 86

"Seriously Grace, I want you to talk to me about this stuff, alright?" Denzel said. "I didn't know you needed help. It's fine to call out."

"I'm sorry," I replied, petting Togetic's head and basking in the fire's warmth. She was sleeping on my lap while Tangela was at my side, dozing off with his vines wrapped all around me. Elekid was a few feet away, playing with Larvitar in the snow. The rock type ran clumsily, slipped, and Elekid tried to help her up before being hit away with her horn. She sniggered at him and let out a small roar to celebrate her victory. "Not too hard, sweetheart!" I yelled out. She stared back at me and nodded, but Elekid used the opportunity to throw a snowball at her, and the fighting resumed.

"Don't apologize," he said.

"We all apologize too much in general when it isn't needed," Cecilia said.

"That's right," Denzel smiled. "We're among friends. Let's lean on each other and help each other out."

"I don't know what happened," I said before letting out a half sigh. "I was fine, and then I saw that Togetic was so worried, and I couldn't hold anything back."

Chase came back with his hands covered in blood, and I grimaced. I didn't know where he learned to skin Pokemon, and I certainly didn't want to ask, but he had brought back a small Swinub to roast on the fire.

"The job's done. Here's your knife, Pastel," he said, extending his hand toward me.

"Just… leave it," I said.

"I'll clean it for you," Denzel said. "The snow needs to finish melting, though."

We had filled all of our empty water bottles up with snow and had set them up by the fire so that they could melt. Denzel said that it still wouldn't be safe to drink unless we boiled it for ten minutes, but we had pots for that, and we could also use them to finally wash ourselves and clean other stuff, like my knife.

"Thanks," I nodded.

"Oh, by the way, I don't have a tent, so…" Chase started. "I need to sleep in yours," he told Denzel.

"What? It's going to be so fucking crammed in there, man!" He complained.

"Yeah, well, not my problem."


"It's my tent, so it is my problem—"

"I'll give you mine," Cecilia interrupted. "Just set it up yourself."

"Great. I'll just look through your bag. Williams, you get cooking."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he snapped. "This guy, I swear."

"He's gotten better," I tried.

"Barely!"

"Barely is a win in my book," I said. "Think about it, at this rate, he'll be a nice person in six months," I continued sarcastically.

"Six years," Cece laughed.

"We'll get there!" I smiled.

"Guys!" Chase called out. "Ri senses something."

All of the fun we were having evaporated in a split second, and we stood up. I woke up Togetic and Tangela and called Elekid and Larvitar to my side. Houndoom had melted the snow around us like last time, so angel and honey would be usable, at least. Riolu closed his eyes for a few seconds and pointed to our left, and our heads spun toward there. Now that no one was talking, I could hear something. A faint sound, almost like leaves rustling, but it wasn't coming from the trees. I hissed in pain as a piece of hail fell on my shoulder. Then another. Then another. Togetic used Extrasensory above us, altering the path of the hail. The sounds were getting closer, and I held my breath, expecting the worst. My heart pounded against my chest as I took a small step back.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that the sound came from two Snover duking it out. Their fight had somehow brought them here, and one of them had the ability Snow Warning, or maybe both. Snow below one of the Snover rose and pelted the other, who responded by just hitting the ice type with its green fist. It was almost refreshing how low-stakes the battle was. There were no moves capable of causing untold amounts of damage, just two weaker Pokemon fighting one another. After a few minutes, the larger Snover hit its opponent with Razor Leaf, slammed its fist against its chest, and let out a victorious cry, which sounded like rustling leaves.

Chase started to approach it slowly, ignoring the pain from the hail.

"Chase! What are you doing, you idiot," I yelled.

"I feel it. The pull," he simply said, beckoning his Riolu and Houndoom to follow.

Snover watched suspiciously, but it wasn't capable of much more. The previous fight had exhausted it, but it still gathered snow and threw it at Chase, but Houndoom completely neutered the attack with his flames.

"Hey," Chase said, pointing his thumb at the unconscious Snover. "I see you took down your rival here."

Snover stared at his previous opponent and gave a wary nod.

"The truth is that you're still weak," he continued, much to Snover's protests, who slammed his fists against his chest menacingly. "It's true. You can't win against me, but I see potential in you. I see a drive to get stronger. Am I right?"

Snover nodded, keeping his eyes on Houndoom. The hail finally stopped, and Togetic canceled her Extrasensory.

Chase grabbed a Pokeball.

"Then come with me, and I'll make you more powerful than you've ever imagined. I'll put you through the wringer to bring you up to the others' level, but I guarantee you that you can reach it with enough work. I would have challenged you to a battle one-on-one, but even if you hadn't just been in a battle, I would have destroyed you."

The grass type tilted its entire body, and after a pause, he gave a hesitant nod.

"Good," he smiled, bumping the Pokeball on Snover, who let itself be caught. "Welcome to the team."

"Well," Denzel said. "That was something."

"Are you okay?" I asked. "That was a lot of hail that fell onto you."

"I'll be fine, just some bruising," Chase said. "I'll be off bringing Snover up to speed and checking its moves. Call me when dinner's ready."

That reminded me that I hadn't even checked Larvitar's moves yet! I grabbed my Pokedex and scanned her with it.

Moves: Leer, Tackle, Horn Attack, Rock Throw, Payback.

"Not bad!" I smiled. I genuinely hadn't been expecting Rock Throw or Payback to be there, since Larvitar hadn't used those moves during our entire time together. She seemed to be a fan of Horn Attack, though, since she liked attacking Elekid with it so much to play.

"Larvi!" She said proudly. Was Elekid rubbing off on her? She had already adopted Frillish's huffing too.

"Don't get too excited. We've got to let you grow up a little first before we get you in any battles, alright?"

Larvitar hissed and angrily turned away from me. Tangela gently petted her head, and she smiled, but her smile turned to anger when Elekid laughed at her.

"Don't bully her, hon," I said. "You'll catch up, don't worry," I told Larvitar, rubbing her hard cheek. Togetic was already back to sleep on my lap. She was too exhausted to even play with the others, which hurt me like an invisible stake was being driven through my chest. I knew how much she liked to fool around with the family.

We ate dinner, and I was content with my two granola bars. We stayed awake for a few more hours, and then set up our tents. It finally sunk in that I was going to sleep in the same tent as Cece. Of course, we had already slept close together, and we'd probably be in different sleeping bags, but now that we were dating, it was more nerve-wracking somehow.

Still, before going to sleep, there was one more topic to discuss. Denzel stepped past Frillish and into our tent.

"Did we have to do this in here? It's so cramped…" he sighed.

"Maybe you shouldn't have grown up so big, then," I snarked, making him roll his eyes. "This is important. It's about what we're doing when we get to Snowpoint."

"Right," he said, his tone growing serious. "I was starting to think about that as well."

"First thing's first," I said. "Calling the others is off the table for now, but I had a question for you, Cece. Your father's a fucking sociopath, and we've established that he'd most likely bug the other's phones—"

"What?" Denzel gasped.

"—but would he go after our parents too?" I finished. "Because the first thing I want to do is call mine."

"I… I don't know. A part of me thinks so. If he believes us to be dead and he wants to salvage his reputation, he might try to pay them a settlement to stop them from talking, depending on how much information has gotten out."

"They wouldn't accept," I said. Denzel nodded.

"Still, I could ask Mark about it."

"I thought about your brother too. Is that safe?" I asked.

"My father holds no power over him, and he only tolerates him because the company supplies Unova with a lot of its energy. Calling him would be safe," Cece said. "He could have a few contacts in Sinnoh to check with your dad, although I don't think he could send anyone to Twinleaf."

Denzel let out a trembling sigh.

"I'm sure we can find out!" Cece stammered. "It'll just take longer."

"Sorry," I told Denzel. "Look, if he hasn't bothered my dad, odds are he hasn't sent someone to your mom's either, so let's keep our spirits high."

"You're right," he said. "Still, thinking about it, the other's phones will definitely be compromised since they'll want to control their communication either way."

"Yeah, they're probably living under house arrest right now," I sighed.

"Still, I'll also ask him for help about our Abel problem, but I don't expect much," she muttered.

"Why?" I asked. "I know you said he's indifferent to your situation, but this is mind control we're talking about!"

"Maybe he will help, I've just learned not to expect much when it comes to him," she said. "But don't expect him to come flying to save me. Like I said, father controls a lot of Unova's energy, and trying to arrest him would open a whole can of worms, especially since he's in Sinnoh right now. The situation isn't as one-sided as it seems."

"Fine," I sighed. "I suppose that's better than nothing. We'll get more informed when we get to a city. Next up, we need to figure out where we're going."

"Staying in Snowpoint might be wise," Cece said. "It's the most isolated city in Sinnoh. My father will never look for us here, and we can use the opportunity to train."

"Agreed, I just wanted to bring it up," I said. "But you won't be able to get any of your money from your account, otherwise your father will find out. That means money will be a bit of an issue for potions and stuff, but we can stay in Pokemon Centers. Nurse Joys are sworn to medical secrecy, I think they won't expose us being alive."

"Snowpoint will be pretty empty, too. Most trainers leave before the Circuit starts," Denzel said.

Cece nodded. "That's fine. I would rather be poor and free than rich and held by chains."

I smiled and held her hand. "No gym battle is obvious, even though I would have liked to see what Candice was all about," I said. "Unless we can find a way around the publicity it would bring. But when we finish training, we'll have to go back into the world and expose your dad for the scumbag he is."

Cecilia's face broke into an evil grin. "When we're ready, I'll retract as much money as possible into my trainer card, and we can take the ferry to Canalave and then book a flight somewhere."

I nodded. We'd have to break one of the taboos of being a trainer, but at this point, I couldn't really bother caring. If people wanted to trash-talk us after we made it out of Mount Coronet, they were free to. Their words wouldn't affect me.

"We'll figure that out. Circumstances might change which city we go to," I said. "But right now, Sunyshore or Hearthome seem to be our best bet."

"Why?" Denzel asked. "I would have said stick around in Canalave."

"Canalave could work, but those two are huge and easy to hide in if needed, but there are also a lot of people. They're Sinnoh's second and third largest city. That means that doing something illegal and hiding it, like, you know, pulling out your Malamar and mind-controlling children in the middle of the street is going to be a hell of a lot harder. So long as we stay in public as much as possible, we'll be fine, but that's not it."

"Stop teasing us!" Denzel groaned. "You like doing this too much."

"Cece's going to reveal herself to be alive. That means that she'll get a lot of publicity— publicity that makes it impossible to hide, even if you're laying low in a Pokemon Center. And so will we, to a lesser extent. More than she had even at the start of the Circuit. That means that when she speaks to the camera, she can expose her dad for the piece of shit he is like she tried to do in that second letter."

"I love you and your devilish ideas," Cece practically squealed. "They probably got their hands on that letter by now and are stopping the others from talking, but they can't stop me from saying anything. I'll make his stock price tank so much, oh Arceus, it's going to be glorious."

"What about Chase?" Denzel asked. "What's he going to do?"

"Well, he's not involved in any of this…" I said. "So he'll probably stick around in Snowpoint for a bit, challenge Candice, and leave. We'll talk to him about that when we get there."

"I doubt he would care that much about our issues," Cece said. "And even if he did, we can't expect him to hold back his entire journey for us."

I nodded. "It sucks to say, but you're right. He's been a great help, but we might not be together for much longer."

"So now it's about how good we can get, and how fast," Denzel said. "Mount Coronet's made us improve a whole bunch, but we need something to push ourselves to the next level."

"The answer to that is simple," Cece said. "Evolutions. If we push our teams to the next level, some of them are bound to evolve. Deino is on the cusp. I can feel it."

"Yeah," Denzel awkwardly said, scratching his head. "Eevee might have to wait, but you're right for some others. Grace can finally start teaching Tangela Ancient Power so that he can evolve."

"Excuse me?" I faltered, almost falling over.

"Um… Tangela evolves into Tangrowth by learning Ancient Power? Did you… did you not know this before wanting to catch him?" Denzel asked.

"I… did not," I blushed before covering my face. Cece chuckled. "I thought he evolved normally!"

"How can you be so smart and thorough about stuff and yet fail at the most simple tasks?" Denzel joked. "That's a superpower."

"Shut up! How does that make any sense? How was I supposed to know?"

"Research, you idiot," he said. "But anyway, I know Eevee could evolve any time now, but he's still holding himself back. He's uncertain. I'll have to figure out something with him."

"Have a heart-to-heart with him," I nodded. "Oh, and one last thing! Cece, you said your brother could at least be trusted not to leak that you were alive when you called, so that got me thinking. Can he help us out… more? By sending money, I mean? Just enough to stock up on potions to train as much as we could."

"He might. I'll see when I call, nothing is set in stone."

"Sounds good. All of this might become irrelevant depending on what happened back in Eterna anyway, I just hope the others are safe. Meeting's over, now shoo!" I yelled at Denzel.

"Okay, okay, I'm leaving!" He exclaimed as he fumbled out of the tent. "You kids have fun, alright? Don't make too much noise, or—"

"If you finish that sentence, I will kill you," I said.

Arceus… it wasn't like we were going to do anything. And it wasn't like I wanted anything to happen! Totally not! We were just going to go to sleep, and—

"May I?" Cecilia asked, gently pushing me down.

She stayed atop of me, and we stared at each other until we both averted our eyes out of embarrassment. My heart was beating so quickly I thought it was going to jump out of my throat.

"Yes…" I whispered.

She lowered herself and started kissing my neck.

——

I woke up once I felt Cece shift around the sleeping bag that we had spontaneously decided to share. I stayed unmoving, unwilling to wake her up or Togetic, who I had released after we finished fooling around. She was hugging me from behind, and it felt so warm.

That certainly helped with the cold.

Around twenty to thirty minutes later— I wasn't sure since I couldn't count— Cece yawned and stretched, signaling that she was up.

"Morning," I said, turning toward her.

"Grace, you're already up?" She asked.

"I waited for you. I don't think the others are up."

We waited for a few seconds and heard no sound coming from outside.

"Yeah, they're not up. Denzel sleeps like a log anyway, we'll have to wake him up," I continued.

"Um… sorry about last night. I said some… embarrassing things," Cece said with a bit of uncertainty.

"No! It was the first time anyone's ever complimented me so much before, I liked it a lot!" I hurriedly answered. "I mean… I like it when you call me h—hot."

"It was new for me too, the words just came out," she said. "Sorry about your neck too. There are… marks."

I awkwardly shuffled in the sleeping bag and rubbed my neck. "Hickeys?"

"Yes," she barely answered.

"That'll be awkward, but I'm sure Chase won't say anything. I hope. Denzel might make fun of us for it."

"Well, so long as Chase doesn't chastise us with an irritating comment, I'll call that a victory," she sighed. I kissed her and grabbed my Poketch to check the time. It was still barely nine in the morning.

"I only have twelve percent left in the tank," I said before quickly turning it off. "Not like it's much use out there anyway. There are some spots on routes where there's reception, but the odds of that being true on route 216 and 217 are rather low."

"Sinnoh really needs to invest into its route infrastructure," she said. "This isn't a problem in most of Unova."

"Wait, you can just call people and browse the internet in the middle of routes?" I asked surprisingly.

"In most of the routes. Some still haven't been built up enough. We pride ourselves on having the lowest trainer casualty rate, you know? Sinnoh is brutal in its nonchalance with trainer deaths."

"Denzel probably would take offense to that, but I think Sinnoh should learn a few things from Unova, and especially that."

"The weather, also," Cece joked. "It's still early…"

"Yeah," I said as I climbed out of the sleeping bag. "But we've got to get going. Princess, wake up," I said as I gently petted her.

"Prrri…" she lamented.

"I know it's hard, but you've got to eat breakfast. Three meals a day!"

"To…"

"You can go back to sleep after eating," I continued as I lifted her up. "Come on up!"

Togetic floated up for a few seconds with her eyes half-opened and then laid back down. At least she wasn't sleeping... yet.

"Maybe you should give her a few more minutes," Cece whispered as she grabbed me from behind.

"I don't know…" I said playfully.

Cecilia started kissing my neck again.

"Not in front of—"

I glanced down, and Togetic had fallen asleep again.

Ah, screw it.

——

I stood near Denzel's tent with Elekid and Larvitar in tow. Togetic was hanging out with Frillish and Tangela near the center of the camp, while Chase and Cece had started to pack with their respective teams close by. There was one reason I had brought honey and sweetheart here with me.

They were mischievous pranksters. Elekid was more on the playful side of things, while Larvitar was more vicious, but I'd slowly try to wean off her aggressiveness down to a more manageable level. She often still liked to attack others out of the blue. It was fine when they were members of my team, but I didn't want her to annoy the other Pokemon.

Still, we had a job to do.

"Ready?" I asked them.

"Tar!"

"Elekid!"

"You guys! Don't be so loud!" I hissed. "He'll wake up. Shhhh," I continued with a finger on my mouth. "Follow my lead."

I silently opened Denzel's tent, hoping that the cold rush of air getting in wouldn't wake him up. He looked so silly, drooling as he slept, and he had no idea what was coming. I motioned at my two Pokemon and grabbed a handful of snow. Elekid and Larvitar did the same, although they struggled to get a substantial amount. I wasn't going to mold it into a snowball and throw it at him, I was going to place it directly on his face.

Why?

Well, I felt happy this morning, which was almost a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn compared to yesterday. Having a girlfriend was kind of like magic, somehow. Still, that wasn't it. It was also a pre-emptive strike to all of the teasing that was no doubt going to be coming from him today. I could already see his goofy grin and his eyebrows wiggling.

I stepped into the tent, followed by my two accomplices, looked at them, and nodded before ramming all of the snow I had gathered on his face. He thrashed around and spat for a few seconds, and I broke down laughing. Elekid and Larvitar did the same, staring down at him.

"What the— Grace, what the hell?!" He screamed.

"Run!" I told my Pokemon.

We hurried out of the tent and ran toward the center of the camp, and I saw a snowball land right beside me.

"Learn how to aim, idiot!" I taunted.

"You're dead!"

I quickly made it to where Cecilia and Chase were, and they shot me a curious look. I hid behind my girlfriend and stuck out my tongue to Denzel, who was carrying two massive snowballs in both of his hands.

"Cece, let me through. She deserves it," he said.

"I don't even know what happened."

"She put snow all over my face when I was sleeping!"

"Where's your proof? You just started attacking me out of nowhere," I lied.

"This really isn't the time to be playing around," Chase complained.

"That's right, man, it's not the time to be playing. Go get ready already," I smiled maliciously.

"What's gotten into you today—" he started before stopping. "Oh. Oh. I see."

"Don't do it."

Denzel started to smirk.

"Don't."

He gave me a thumbs-up and then pointed at my neck. "Cece's more outgoing than I thought."

Chase frowned. "What? What's that on her neck?"

"Don't worry about it, kiddo," he replied.

"Don't call me a fucking kid! What is it?!"

"Erm…" she muttered.

I felt the blood rush to my face and immediately crouched to grab a snowball of my own, but Denzel used the opportunity to angle his body to the side and throw his own snowballs at me. I yelped as snow covered my hair.

"Gotcha," he smiled. "We're even now, right?"

"Ugh, sure," I groaned, crossing my fingers.

"Okay, I'm going to fold up my tent—"

I threw a snowball at his back, and Larvitar tried to imitate me. Hers didn't go nearly as far, though.

"Okay," he said, cracking his neck as he turned toward me. "You asked for this."

"Spare me from any collateral damage, please," Cece quickly added.

——

"Great job wasting so much time, idiots," Chase scolded. "One hour wasted."

"Sorry," I genuinely said. "It got out of hand."

"You got involved too by the end!" Denzel mocked.

"I did not, I was just hit by a stray shot and was forced into fighting back…"

We were back on the road, and getting closer to the route. According to Cece, Fletchinder had said we'd make it on route 216 by tonight or early tomorrow, which meant that we'd finally be able to relax and not face Pokemon way too strong for our level. That also meant I'd be able to start up training again, since we wouldn't spend all of our Pokemon's energy battling threats all day. Pokemon on the route would most likely be too scared to attack such a large group.

Of course, since we had no potions, I wouldn't go back to making my Pokemon fight each other yet. I did want to have them work on new moves, though. It had been too long since any of them had learned anything new. Sure, that meant that they were really good with what they currently had, and they were able to push their current movesets to their limits, but I was desperately lacking in versatility. Whereas Cece was content with having her moves pack the most powerful punch, my Pokemon weren't there yet. That meant I'd need a variable moveset to face upcoming threats, at least until my Pokemon evolved to be stronger. Right now, Tangela and Frillish were my heavy hitters, but Deino could easily overpower both of them.

I wanted to focus on angel first and foremost. Now that I knew he could evolve as soon as he learned Ancient Power, there was no way I'd let the opportunity slip past me. Of course, I already knew that it would take longer to teach him the move than it had taken with Togetic, especially since he was a little slow on new experiences, but I fully believed that we'd manage together. Plus, princess would be able to help him out this time, so we weren't going to start from zero. Hopefully, his evolution would give me the firepower I still lacked.

With Elekid, I wanted to work on Shock Wave. I had already wanted to do so, but with how harrowing Mount Coronet had been, I got sidetracked. I knew he wouldn't struggle much on the move though, so I also wanted to teach him Fire Punch, which, if we stuck around Snowpoint and its surroundings as we were currently planning, would be a great help.

Damn, I really wanted a fire type.

Next, I wanted Frillish to finally perfect Acid Armor and work on Shadow Ball and Recover. I knew I was giving him a lot of work, but I also knew he was up to the task. Acid Armor and Recover would allow him to gain an incredible amount of survivability in battle, and Shadow Ball would rival or even maybe beat Water Pulse in the amount of damage he could deal. It would take a long time, but hey, we were planning to stay here for a while.

For princess, I wanted her to work mainly on Air Cutter. We were severely lacking in flying type moves, and it would fill that gap. The move hit hard, was difficult to dodge, and would be quicker to use than a powerful Fairy Wind. Plus, I knew that it was a good segway into the devastating move Air Slash, which was still a far way off. Next, I wanted to work on Double Edge as well. I knew the move was so powerful that it hurt the user, but we desperately needed it as a last resort against Pokemon that were too fast for her, notably Fletchinder.

I did love Cece, but I wanted to beat her very badly, still.

Finally, Larvitar would just observe, eat, grow up, and run around with me and Elekid whenever we started those up again. She was too young to battle still, but I could still start getting her into shape and try out her current moves. I'd think about what new moves to work on with her later.

Riolu suddenly snapped me back to reality as he tapped on Chase shoulder and let out a warning.

"Another Pokemon?" Chase asked.

"Ri… Riolu."

"More? A lot?"

The fighting type nodded, and my eyes darted in every direction, trying to tell what direction the threat would come from. There were no signs of life, however. No noise, or Pokemon coming out from behind any trees, which was the only place where they could have hidden. It was still daytime, which meant we should have been able to spot them.

"Are you sure?" Denzel whispered.

"Ri's never wrong," Chase snapped. "Which direction?"

Riolu's eyes narrowed, and he began looking all around us.

I heard a hiss that made my neck hair stand on end, and I felt a bead of sweat trickle down to my chin. Then there were multiple. It was only now that I noticed the claw marks on the trees and the small rocks around us.

"Well, fuck," Chase breathed out as he released Zangoose.

I swallowed as twenty Sneasel suddenly appeared all around us. Some had been hiding on top of the trees, while others peeked their head out from the thick layer of snow. The largest Sneasel shot us a wicked grin and honed its claws together.

"Stay close," Cece told us.

"Chase," I said, biting the inside of my mouth. "Get Houndoom to melt the snow around us."

Chase nodded. "You heard her."

The snowy environment was going to screw us up big time. A lot of our Pokemon were short and weren't able to move around properly. We needed as many of them fighting as possible to survive the coming battle. Houndoom growled, and I felt sweat start to accumulate on my body as his body heated up, and he slowly used Incinerate, walking all around us to get the snow out of the way. The pack of Sneasel were incredibly fast, and adept at navigating through this terrain, so they dodged without much difficulty, but that was fine. We released our entire teams, except Larvitar and Snover, and waited for the coming attack.

It didn't come. The leading Sneasel let out a vicious hiss, signaling to his pack to stay put.

"Elekid, Thundershock," I ordered quietly. He grunted, spinning his arms and sent out a bolt of electricity toward the closest Sneasel, who got on all fours and clawed itself to the left before going to hide behind a tree.

"Burn that fucking tree down," Chase spat.

Houndoom nodded and spat out another Incinerate, but the Sneasel was too quick— only slightly slower than Fletchinder was in the sky. They still didn't attack.

"Okay, Grace," Denzel exhaled, clearly nervous. I was too. "We Swifting or what?"

I nodded. "Not much else we can do. Aim for the leader."

I ordered Elekid to send out an Electric Swift, and Eevee did the same, using the normal version of the move. Sneasel ran off, hissing at its pack. They all grouped up and blew an Icy Wind toward the flurry of stars, freezing them in place before clawing them apart.

I hadn't even known that was possible.

We spent another minute trying to hit any Sneasel, but none of our attacks were connecting, and we didn't want to risk sending our melee fighters. This group was clearly well coordinated and could employ strategy. This was my first fight of this kind. They didn't rush in and attack like other wild Pokemon. They had a plan, but I couldn't figure out what it was.

"What do we do?" Cecilia asked. Deino sent out another Incinerate their way, but the group just splintered and weaved out of the way. "Nothing is working. They aren't even attacking."

Denzel sighed. "I know what they're doing. They're waiting us out."

"Huh?" Chase said.

"We're stuck here. We can't outrun them through the snow, we can't hit them with any attacks."

"Ah," I said, finally understanding. "There isn't any point risking themselves in a fight if they can just tire us out."

"Won't they get tired as well?" Chase asked.

"Look closely," Denzel started. "They only move when they have to dodge an attack, and only use moves when they're out of options. Meanwhile, we've been using our attacks over and over," he explained.

"We shouldn't attack then," Cece agreed. "Not unless they rush in. Let's have our fire types forge a path through the snow, maybe? That way, we can stay on the move."

"I mean, I don't see any other option," I said. "If we stay here, nothing will change. Even though it'll take days, eventually we'll be exhausted, both mentally and physically, and someone will make a mistake. Someone, or a Pokemon, will slip up and get mortally injured or die."

"Let's do this properly, though," Cece warned. "Our most important assets here are our fire types. If we tire them out using fire moves on snow, they might sense weakness and strike."

"Exactly," I nodded. "Okay, let's do it like this. We have Fletchinder, Deino's Incinerate, Buneary's Fire Punch, and Houndoom. Buneary's Fire Punch is probably the slowest to melt snow, but she'll be of less use against the Sneasel, so let's start with her."

Denzel nodded. "She can go for a while, we trained a lot with the move before our fight with Gardenia—"

Houndoom and Deino both melted another Icy Wind with their fire type attacks, causing us to jump, expecting their assault to be imminent. The ice types hissed all around us, but didn't attack.

"They're keeping us on our toes. Can't get too relaxed," Denzel said. He noticed my face, which was probably full of fear, and clapped my shoulder as Cece held my trembling hand. "We've got this."

"We'll make it out," Cecilia added, clenching my hand tightly.

"I know," I said, my voice quivering.

It seemed that no matter how many near-death experiences I was going to be in, the fear was never going to leave me.

But I had learned to mold it and use it to sharpen my wit, as I had with my nervousness. As long as it were only wild Pokemon we were facing, I'd be on top of my game.

——

"Your turn to keep watch."

I woke up to Chase shaking my shoulder. I struggled to keep my eyelids open, but after a few seconds, I remembered the dire situation we were in and I woke up like he had just splashed me with cold water. I yawned as I stepped out of the tent, and I saw Denzel and Cece staring in the distance. The Sneasel pack had stalked us and harassed us the entire day, and they lurked in the darkness, ready to pounce at any sign of weakness. Riolu knew, and could let us know whenever they approached. We had come up with a system that at least let us sleep a little bit, by going on a rotational basis. One of us would sleep at a time, along with three of our Pokemon. Still, we'd be woken up every twenty minutes or so because the Sneasel would feint an attack on the group, making us yell at whoever was sleeping to wake up.

"It doesn't feel like sleeping," I whispered to them. "I feel like staying awake would probably get me less tired."

"We'll last longer like this," Denzel said as he munched on a protein bar. Since we were being followed so closely, any hope of hunting wild Pokemon had gone off the window.

"Which isn't long at all," Cece grimaced. "Sooner or later we'll have to make a move. Tomorrow morning, we reach the route. If they follow us, there will be less snow, meaning that we can cover more ground faster."

"Or have better options to fight," I nodded.

Denzel perked up. "Maybe we'll get lucky and find a trainer on the route to help us."

I sighed at the notion that we might have to involve someone else in this, but maybe seeing our numbers grow would make the Sneasel change their mind.

"I'd rather not, but we'll see," I said. "Either way we—"

Riolu barked, warning us that he sensed movement. Frillish's head whirled to the right and he released a Water Pulse toward that direction. I heard a small hiss, and saw that three Sneasel had circled around us toward the tent. They were jumping at it and tearing it open. Riolu rushed toward Chase and kicked a Sneasel's face in, staggering it and giving Charjabug the time to hit it with Thundershock. Chase rushed out of the torn-up tent, and a stream of fire type attacks consumed the other two Sneasel along with it. They were fast, but they weren't sturdy, so they immediately went down—

I heard Deino bellow out as an Icy Wind hit him, along with Slowpoke and Eevee, while the rest of the Sneasel surrounded us and were attacking from all sides. This wasn't just a distraction or a feint like the other attacks had been. They were making their play now.

"Elekid, light up the area! Togetic, help out with Ancient Power! Use it defensively!" I said in quick succession. I barely had the time to get the words out before Buneary took a Slash to the face, bloodying her, and Eevee kicked her assailant away with a Double Kick.

Elekid yelled and created a light source for us as he had done against Sableye in Mount Coronet. Light was crucial. The Sneasel were part dark type, meaning that even though they couldn't sink in the shadows as Sableye could, they were still incredibly difficult to spot in the dark, and with Riolu too preoccupied with defending Chase—

"Houndoom, light 'em up!" the trainer yelled, holding his arm. Two huge claw rakes had flashed across it, and he was bleeding profusely.

"Deino!" Cece screamed, now that the dragon had recovered from the icy type attack.

The two Incinerate combined into one, blasting away another Sneasel as its body turned into a smoking husk. I felt someone tackle me from behind and a snowy rock slammed into a Sneasel mid-air. It had been jumping at my throat. We continued to battle, using everything at our disposal. I was thinking so much, moving around, barely breathing— this was a test of everything we had learned so far.

I recalled Togetic when I heard her scream. Two Icy Winds had hit her in tandem, freezing her wings. Even though she didn't need them to fly, she panicked and fell to the ground. It was safer to recall her before she could get jumped by the remaining Sneasel—

"Ele!"

I spun around and stared at Elekid, who had stopped generating his light and was locked in combat with two Sneasel. Two out of the remaining twelve. They had singled him out, since he was the only one that kept the area lit up. Charjabug had gone down minutes earlier. I looked around, desperately staring at who could help. Frillish was already helping Tangela and Budew, who had the type disadvantage, and the rest of the Pokemon were all occupied. I fumbled with trembling hands at Elekid's Pokeball and—

Dropped it in shock. Sneasel had opened up a huge gash across his chest, barely missing his eye, and the other one was slowing him down with Icy Wind. I cursed, feeling tears stream down my face as I dropped to my knees and searched for the Pokeball. It was so dark, I couldn't fucking find the Pokeball why couldn't I find it where was it oh Arceus oh no—

Electricity rumbled across Elekid's two fists as he managed to punch a Sneasel in the cheek. It was convulsing on the ground, having been paralyzed by his Static ability, but the other was still a threat.

"Frillish! Tangela!" I shrieked. Tangela tried to get to me but was knocked down by an attack while a Sneasel jumped on Frillish's back, knocking him to the ground. I stared around blankly. Everyone was in the midst of their own life and death battle. Denzel was wrestling a Sneasel away from Buneary while Eevee kicked its arm, snapping it like a twig. Chase had already been wounded, and Cece's Deino had fallen to the ground from all the ice type attacks it had taken.

Elekid's muscle bulged as a blinding light surrounded him, revealing that a Sneasel had stolen his Pokeball and carried it away from me. I let out heavy breaths as I watched honey evolve into an Electabuzz. His face contorted into rage and he slammed a fist into the Sneasel's nose, faster this time. The icy type was knocked over and Electabuzz lifted it up with a fist around its neck, shocking it with an attack that was too powerful to be Thundershock. The Sneasel went limp and Electabuzz let him go before blurring toward the Sneasel Slashing at Frillish and knocking him away. He was just as fast as they were now, and he could easily keep up.

With Elekid's evolution, the tide had turned in our favor. It took another few minutes for Electabuzz and the rest of our remaining Pokemon to mop up the rest of the Sneasel, causing the rest of the icy types to cut their losses and flee. There were only five of them left, including the leader. We had knocked out all the rest, and two had apparently died to Houndoom's flames.

Electabuzz approached me, blood mixing with the thunder-like motif on his chest. He was only a head shorter than me now, which was strange to see. Being close to him made all of my hair stand on end, not because I was scared, but because of the sheer volume of electricity he had in his body. Frillish's face and body were barely recognizable, and Tangela appeared almost unscathed, except that he was running low on vines.

I sniffled and brought Electabuzz into a hug. I felt a small shock, and his blood got on my clothes, but I didn't care.

"I'm so glad you're okay," I cried. "I was so scared, I'm— I'm sorry, your Pokeball, I dropped it. You were wounded because of me."

Electabuzz returned my hug, awkwardly patting my back. He hadn't lost his patting habit. I ended the hug, but kept my hands on his shoulders to get a good look at him.

"Look at you," I sniffled. "My little honey's all grown up."

He was taller than an average Electabuzz, even though he had been average sized as an Elekid. Maybe it was because of the situation he had evolved in? It had been a life or death fight after all.

"Electabuzz," he answered, flashing me a sharp smile. "Buzz."

I let out a small laugh. "You're so silly," I smiled. "I told you that you've always been pulling your weight. There was no reason for you to feel… inadequate. Promise me, no more taking risks, alright? You should have stayed close to the group."

He hung his head and let out a small sound to agree.

"Larvitar and Togetic are going to have to do a double-take the next time they see you," I smiled. "But now it's time to rest up in your Pokeball, alright? You were great."

"Buzz!" He laughed.

"Of course, you're always great," I said as I walked toward his fallen Pokeball. I recalled him. "Get some sleep."

I turned to Frillish. "You too, buddy. You've been out of the Pokeball for too long. I know you don't sleep, but I also know you won't let yourself relax if I leave you out of the ball. You took a beating."

He was about to protest, but I already recalled him before he could. "Angel, you did great too. You're with me. It's going to be a long night."

The grass type wriggled, blinking twice.

"Thanks," I smiled.

I looked around, and it seemed like the others had finished talking to their teams and had recalled them. As it stood, we only had Houndoom, Riolu, Tangela, Fletchinder and Eevee well enough to fight. The battle had taken everything we and our teams had.

Cece was unharmed, but she pulled me into a warm hug and kissed me. She had been crying like I had, and was seemingly as rattled from the battle as I had been. Denzel sighed and stared at his palm, which had been cut by a Sneasel. It wasn't that deep, however, and he'd recover rather quickly.

Chase was the one with the biggest problem. The entire length of his arm had been torn open by a Sneasel, and he was wobbling around from the loss of blood. Denzel sat him down and grabbed a towel to clean to wound, then a bandage to wrap his arm up and stop the bleeding. We went to sleep soon after, too exhausted to even have someone stand guard in case the Sneasel showed up again. The only Pokemon that was watching out for threats was Houndoom. We were being spread dangerously thin.

Luckily for us, the next morning, Togetic carefully lifted us down a cliff, and then we stepped through a thick tree line. We were finally on route 216.

The worst was finally behind us.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 87

I stared at Chase, who was clenching tightly at his bandaged arm. From our time together, I had learned that he usually hated to show that he was in any kind of pain, so I was sure that if he couldn't ignore the wound on his arm, it had to be terrible.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked, getting slightly closer.

"Yeah, I just feel a little lightheaded. I'll be fine," He answered. His tone wasn't as boastful as usual, which worried me further.

"Do you need a break?" Denzel asked. "We're in no danger, so it's fine if we stop for a bit."

"No, we keep going. The sooner we get to Snowpoint, the better," he said.

"Well, I definitely agree with that, but let us know if you need to stop, alright?" I said.

"Don't coddle me. I can handle it."

There were no two ways about it, route 216 was a walk in the park. Houndoom walked in front of us, occasionally stealing worried glances at his trainer and scaring off any wild Pokemon while Fletchinder flew high overhead, stretching her wings. Eevee was on Denzel's shoulder as usual, and I had all of my Pokemon in their Pokeballs. They deserved a break, and it wasn't like anything was going to attack us here.

Still, the route was rather eerie. In every other route, there would always be the occasional trainer that we'd come across or signs of an old campsite that had been recently abandoned. There were no signs of human life here— not even footprints in the snow. I shivered as a strong gust of wind blew past us, jostling my hair wildly. Even Houndoom's heat wasn't enough to stop the cold winds from affecting me.

"We're really underdressed for this," I said, my voice stammering. "The wind makes it worse than inside of Mount Coronet somehow."

"Well, we certainly didn't expect to end up here, did we," Cece grimaced. I shot her a knowing look, preemptively stopping her from apologizing. "How much longer until Snowpoint?"

"Well, going through all of route 216 and 217 takes a week and a half, so slightly less than that, depending on where we ended up? It also depends on the weather too— wait!" Denzel exclaimed, cutting himself off.

"What?" I asked.

He pointed toward a small, snow-covered green sign and ran toward it. We quickly followed suit, and Denzel wiped the frost off of the sign. It read 'Route 217'.

"Holy shit," he said. "We were so much further along than I thought we were."

"So how much does that cut the journey by?" Cecilia asked, smiling slightly.

"Snowpoint's less than a week away!" Denzel grinned. "Six days at most, and we're back to civilization."

I sighed in relief. "Isn't that great, Chase?"

I frowned when I heard no answer. Houndoom turned back before letting out a distressed yelp, and I gasped. Chase had fallen to the ground, headfirst into the snow. We all rushed toward him, and Denzel flipped him over. I took off his coat and looked at his bandage— blood and pus were seeping from the wound and through the cloth.

"W—what do we do?" Cece stammered. "It's infected!"

I swallowed. "We need to clean the wound, but that won't be enough. This is worse than what happened to Emilia in Eterna Forest, way worse."

"Okay, you guys take off the bandage, I'll grab a new one and a towel," Denzel said.

I winced as the bandage clung and stuck to the wound like they had been stuck together. Cece helped me unwrap it, and I gently bumped Chase's face a few times to keep him awake. He was still breathing, but his face was dangerously hot, and he wasn't even coherent. Through the word salad, I could only make out one word.

"Riolu," he whispered. "Riolu."

"You want to see Riolu? That's okay, just hang in there, alright?" I asked as I nodded at Cece. Houndoom licked his trainer's face as Denzel crouched next to us with a wet towel, and he started to clean the gash running across Chase's arm. Cecilia grabbed Riolu's Pokeball and released him. The fighting type screamed and grabbed his trainer's face before shooting us a judging look.

"I'm sorry. I knew he was pushing himself, but I didn't know that he was doing it to the point of collapse."

"Rio!"

"I'm sorry," I said again.

We swapped his bandage, but we had no antibiotics to give him. Still, this would hopefully prevent his condition from worsening.

"We need to let him rest and stay here for now," Cece said. We agreed with a nod.

"With some luck, someone will pass through here. The transition point between route 216 and route 217 is the most likely to have people."

"Okay," I exhaled. "He'll be— he'll be fine."

Denzel and Cece started to set up the tents while I stuck by Chase with Houndoom and Riolu. I put his coat back on and placed mine on top of him. We'd need to start a fire soon to keep him warm, but this was all I could do for now. Riolu closed his eyes and placed a paw on Chase's forehead, which started glowing bright blue. I didn't know what was going on, but I was sure he was helping somehow. I wasn't well-versed in aura enough to understand, but the fighting type shot me another worried look.

"Can you tell how bad it is?" I asked.

"Ri," he nodded with a grim expression.

I didn't have the strength to ask if it was fatal or not.

"Riolu," Denzel said from behind me. "Can we borrow Zangoose to gather firewood?"

Riolu nodded and grabbed Zangoose's Pokeball, releasing her and explaining the situation. Her perpetual frown turned to worry as she stared at Chase, who was barely holding onto consciousness.

"You stay," I told Denzel. "I'll go get the wood."

"Alright."

Followed by Zangoose, I made my way to the nearby tree line and watched as the normal type adeptly cut down branch after branch with Slash. I hurried to grab as many as I could. Luckily we had Houndoom to light the fire—

"You won't light a fire with that, girl," I heard to my side. "You've got to use old wood."

Zangoose hissed, and her fur stood on end. My head snapped toward the voice. It belonged to an old woman, either in her late fifties or early sixties. She was in a coat twice as thick as I wore with a furred hood, and she carried a heavy-looking axe and an enormous crossbow on her back.

"It's unusual to see trainers here this time of the year," the old woman said with a hint of disdain.

"Uh, hello, my name is Grace," I said after hesitating for a few seconds. "I'm— I'm traveling with my group further that way, but one of my friends is wounded and needs help. Please."

She groaned. "Another wounded? Is he a kid like you, at least?" she asked.

"Yes! He's fifteen, like me. Do you have a house nearby he could rest at? We don't have any medicine for him, and his wound is infected!"

"Well, first, tell your Zangoose to calm the hell down," she said. I only just noticed how tightly she was gripping her axe.

"Sorry!" I exclaimed. I tentatively placed a hand on Zangoose's shoulder, hoping she had gotten used to me enough not to mind the contact. She didn't. "Calm down, she'll help us."

Her hair stood back down, and she got back on all fours, which she always did whenever she didn't fight. The old woman placed her axe in a small holster.

"Okay. Are we good?" I asked.

"Lead the way."

When we got back to our just built-up camp, my two companions stared at the woman behind me with a mix of relief and confusion.

I preemptively spoke up. "She's… what's your name?" I asked.

"Savika," she simply said.

"Savika," I nodded. "I met her in the woods, and she said that she could help Chase."

"That's the boy?" Savika asked, leaning toward him slightly. "He looks worse than the other one I have with me. I live nearby, but if I'm to help you with this, you have to promise to never disclose that location. Am I understood?"

"Sure!" Denzel said, getting up right away. "Thank you so much. Um, let's hurry up and pack everything again."

Savika watched with a curious eye as we scrambled to put everything back into our bags. Riolu gave her a respectful bow, which she ignored completely. After we were done, she picked up Chase like he was nothing, carrying him in her arms, and led us back into the woods, back off-route. It took around fifty minutes or so, and the terrain grew more and more treacherous until we reached an enormous lake. The water in the distance was so clear and calm that it was as if it was covered in a thin sheet of ice.

I took a breath at the beauty of it all.

"Grace, this is like— this is like Lake Verity."

I nodded. Whereas Lake Verity gave me a sense of complete easiness and calm, this one made me feel… it was hard to explain. It was like I was smarter somehow. Like my thought process had been slightly sped up. I felt like if I ever had something on the tip of my tongue, the answer would come to me right away without fail. It was like I was more knowledgeable.

"Like?" Savika raised an eyebrow. "There's no other place like this," she said, nodding toward the left. Her house sat close to the lake's shore, and we followed her.

My breath was cut short when I saw a Salamence drinking water from the lake. Its scales looked tougher than steel, and some of them were discolored throughout its body. Scars from older battles. The dragon was at least eight feet tall— with a wingspan much larger than that. Cece stared at the dragon with a childlike smile on her face, as if she was completely enamored with it. She was probably imagining a future in which Deino was just as powerful. Salamence stared at us from afar as we entered Savika's home.

It was a… modest home that had clearly been handbuilt by Savika herself. The wood was rough, and it was somewhat small, but I supposed that was enough for one person. On its side was a small barn-like building where at least one hundred wooden logs sat arranged in a long pyramid, protected from any snowfall, and there were a few solar panels on the roof. Before entering the house, she stared back at us.

"No Pokemon in the house," Savika said.

I was about to ask why, but I held myself back. She was already helping us, and it was her house, after all, meaning that we would follow any rules she had. My companions recalled all of their Pokemon, and I recalled Chase's.

"Remember, not a word about this place to anyone. I've already had enough intruders for a lifetime."

We walked inside of the small foyer, wiping our feet on a rug.

"Coats on here," she pointed at a makeshift coathanger as she carried Chase further in. We took off our layers and followed her in.

The only thing that grabbed my attention was a hideous, giant yellow flag that read 'DON'T TREAD ON ME,' with an Ekans hissing threateningly at nothing in particular. It was so big that it practically took half of one of the walls.

"We have a lot of those in Unova," Cece whispered.

"Weird," I said.

The fireplace was prominent as well, but other than that, it was a basic home. She had kept it going the whole time, so the house was warm. I dragged my hands against one of the rugged wooden walls and let out a hearty chuckle. I was in a house. After so many harrowing experiences, it felt so relieving to finally be in one that I was tearing up. Cece and Denzel shared my amazement and were all smiles.

Savika went into her bedroom, and I heard her speak to someone.

"I thought I told you to watch for more threats," Savika said, her voice muffled. "I have a wounded kid. Get off my bed."

"My bad, I was just really tired," a male voice said back. "It still hurts to stand up."

"Don't be a child."

It took me a few seconds to recognize the man who walked through the bedroom door. He had wavy, jet-black hair that went down to his neck and a badly-trimmed beard. He was usually always clean-shaven.

Denzel's mouth was agape.

"Are— are you Craig Goodwill?!" He yelled.

The man scratched his head. "Yeah," he said with a small grimace. "Sorry if I don't live up to the reputation. I can't bother putting on my usual confident act right now. As you can see, my leg's been in better shape," he said, pointing at his bandaged member. He limped slowly toward us, barely able to put any weight on it.

"You… um, sorry, I'm just a really big fan, I— I heard you were going to Snowpoint. What happened to you?" Denzel asked, fidgeting nervously.

Craig sighed before sitting down on a chair, and Savika walked back in, searched through her cabinets, and grabbed a few bottles full of pills. I could only steal a glance, but she had a motherload in there, as if she was going to hold out here for years.

"Savika, can I tell them?" he asked loudly.

"Go ahead."

"I was flying on Roxie— that's my Salamence— on my way to Snowpoint to challenge Candice, but she noticed a group of individuals down on the ground. Usually, I would have just chalked it up to being trainers, but there are no trainers here at this time of the year, especially not in a group that large. The people from Snowpoint either take the ferry to Canalave during the summer to start there, or they fly out if they have a license. I got a bit suspicious, so I ordered her to follow them. They found this lake and started attacking Savika here, who is a wonderful, helpful woman," he said loudly so that she could hear. "So I swooped in to save the day. Unfortunately, something I often forget is that criminals don't abide by the rules of battle. I would have easily dealt with them, but I took a nasty Slash from a Purugly. I guess that's what I get for underestimating Team Galactic and only using Roxie for the fight."

My heart jumped into my throat. The nonchalant tone that he used when dropping the name of Team Galactic was disturbing, and I instinctively felt my teeth begin to chatter. My palms began to sweat, and my throat was so tightly closed that I could barely breathe. I— I couldn't even see straight. What was happening—

I felt Cece wrap her hands around me, and she brought me into a tight hug.

"Calm down. It's okay, they aren't here anymore," she whispered as she caressed my hair. "You're safe here."

"Did I say something wrong?" Craig asked. "I know they're a big threat, but… damn, sorry."

I felt my breathing calm, and I hugged Cecilia back tightly.

"Grace has had a traumatizing encounter with… with them," Denzel explained as he shot me a worried look. "The fact that they were here isn't helping. Will they come back?"

"Well, no, because they're dead," he said with a grimace, his face paling. He paused for a few seconds, clasping at his shirt and took a deep breath before continuing. "Roxie went crazy when she saw me bleeding on the ground and saw red. Savika buried them and cared for me since I saved her. I'm going to turn myself in when I'm better. I should be able to fly in a few days."

"So, will you go to prison?" Denzel asked worriedly.

"No, I'll be fine," he sighed. "I've worked with the League before for some jobs, and they know I'm planning on applying for a job if I don't win against the Elite Four and Cynthia this year. I'm one of the best trainers in the region, and they know they need me. The rules are…flexible. I want to feel bad for what happened, and I do, to some extent but… I mean, it's Team Galactic. I can't bring myself to. I just hate the fact that Roxie actually killed people. The League will probably bring me in for questioning and ask to be brought to the scene. Savika doesn't want that to happen, though, but there's no choice."

"What's with her?" I asked, finally well enough to speak now that I knew we were safe. "Why does she live alone here?"

"She's kind of a loony—"

"I'm perfectly sound of mind," she said behind him. "I'm just living off the grid. I don't trust anyone or any League. They're a sinister force."

I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. I could already tell from her flag that she was anti-government.

"How long have you lived here?" Cecilia asked.

"Twenty years or so," she said. "I didn't count, and I don't really keep track of the days here."

"Either way, thank you for helping Chase," Denzel said. "Will he be alright?"

"Yes, he will. He should wake up soon, and then I'll have him on antibiotics. I don't have a bed to house all of you, but I suppose you can make yourselves at home."

——

I stepped into Savika's bathroom, which had a giant human-sized pot that served as a shower. Apparently, all of the water she used came from the lake, and she'd heat it up with the electricity she gathered with her solar panels. I stepped into the pot and let out a sigh of relief as I felt the exhaustion wash off me. Cece and Denzel had already washed and had stepped outside to hang out with their teams.

Team Galactic… Craig just mentioning them being in the same spot that I was in had sent me into a full-blown panic. I clenched at the edges of the bath and swore internally. Craig hadn't hesitated. He had flown down on his Salamence and completely destroyed them, but I couldn't even hear their name without having a panic attack. I wanted to be like him. I wanted to be able to stand up to the people that had scarred me for life, and yet I couldn't. Of course, my team was probably good enough to beat a few grunts, at the very least. The ones that had been all over the power plant when I was held hostage there didn't seem like much these days. Mentally, however, I wasn't ready at all. It wasn't like I wanted to seek them out. I wasn't insane. But if I ever met them again, I wanted to do something, at the very least, as Chase had done. I didn't want to be powerless any longer.

Somehow, I'd need to overcome my trauma.

I took a deep breath and exited the bath. I didn't want to waste too much of Savika's electricity. It was strange to see a woman live off-route without any Pokemon, but that crossbow and those bolts had looked threatening enough. She had managed to survive somehow.

I dressed, walked back into the living room and saw that Craig was looking through his huge bags. Plural. He apparently carried at least five everywhere he went, because his team needed a lot of food, especially his Snorlax. It was still surreal to think that I was in the same house as last year's Conference finalist and the man I usually only saw on television. He acted differently in real life, though.

"Grace," he smiled at me, handing me potions from his bag. They were Hyper Potions. "Take it as an apology for earlier. I'm sorry for bringing up those terrorists like that without thinking… Denzel told me you were one of the hostages at Valley Windworks. Terrible, what they've done to you."

"I can't accept this," I said, shaking my head.

"I already gave a few to your friends. Come on, it costs nothing to me. I get more than I'll ever need from my deal with the Poketch Company."

"You're sponsored by the Poketch Company?" I gasped. "My dad works for them too."

"That's one of the companies that sponsor me, yes," he said before pausing. "You remind me of my little sister, you know? She's your age."

I raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Well, first, she's a trainer like you, but she also always refuses any help I want to give her."

"Is she? I haven't really heard about her. What's her name?"

I really thought I would have heard about his sister, since he was famous.

Craig grimaced. "Yeah, she's keeping a low profile, or at least trying to— She always asks for gym leaders to turn off their camera feed before they battle, she travels alone, and she never sticks around cities for long. Her name's Lauren. Last I heard, she was making her way to Hearthome, but she doesn't want anything to do with me," he sighed.

I let out a pensive nod. If I were the sister of a potential Champion in the making, I'd probably hate being in his shadow as well. Cece didn't seem to mind much, though, not that she was particularly close with her brother.

"So she's got two badges?" I asked. "What Pokemon does she have?"

"Three, not two," he corrected me. I refrained from making a face. It'd be stupid to compete with someone I had never met. "She beat Byron right after beating Roark, and then moved on to Gardenia. She owns a Duosion, Lairon, Magmar, Grovyle and Palpitoad. I offered to get her a Bagon at the start of her journey, but she refused. It would have been perfect to round out her team, too," he sighed again. He seemed to like doting on her.

My eyes widened at her Pokemon, however. That was an incredible team, and she would probably go toe to toe with Cece, or maybe beat her. For some reason, I did feel the need to compete with her, after all, even though it was stupid.

"Well, I'll look her up whenever I get to Snowpoint," I said.

"Damn it," he shuddered. "She's going to be pissed."

"Hey, how does it feel to be one of the best trainers in the world," I asked after a pause.

"Exhausting, but fulfilling. For some reason, the better you get, the less you actually get to battle," Craig sighed. "That's why I'm going off to Mount Coronet to train after I finish gathering all the badges again, I need to get my head back in the game. Speaking of Mount Coronet, you must have gone through there to get here, no?"

"It's a long story," I said with a sigh. "But we did."

"Well, you sure have potential, kid," he smiled. "But I digress. I know this is going to sound like some sob story, but it's the truth. When I first started my journey ten years ago, the point where I stand at now… I thought it'd always be out of reach. I started out with a Bagon, but I still failed over and over. I wasn't the best at anything, but I worked hard consistently to make up for my deficiencies, and now here I stand," he said. I could almost see his television persona now. I realized now that it wasn't completely an act. It was just how he must have been when passionate. "Atop of it all. I've almost reached the summit, and I'm sure that this year will be the one."

"The one where you beat Cynthia?" I asked. I honestly couldn't believe him, but he seemed confident in himself.

"Oh yes, but beating Cynthia's just reaching the summit. I want to go further. I want to touch the skies," he grinned. "Champions never battle each other. I want to change that. I want to beat every single one after I take Cynthia's seat."

Touching the skies, I repeated in my head. Something about the expression called to me, tugging at me like a rope. It was a feeling that I couldn't explain.

"I'll take your potions after all, Craig," I said. "Thanks a lot."

"Oh? Alright then."

I was afraid I couldn't swear off the League Circuit after all. I had just found a way to battle the gym leaders while staying out of the limelight— asking not to be filmed. I hadn't even known that was possible. This, plus the fact that Snowpoint was empty of trainers meant that it was going to be possible to battle Candice. A fire had been lit in me. A challenge I couldn't just ignore, as if I was starting my journey all over again.

"I'm off to train," I told him. "I'm going to beat you in the Conference, and then I'm going to beat everyone else. You just gave me more inspiration than you'd know."

Candice was next, then I'd crush the other gym leaders one by one. I had been looking for a goal beyond becoming the Champion for a while, but I felt like I had just grasped it. I would take Craig's goal and mold it to my liking. I wouldn't just beat Cynthia, I would defeat them all. And I wouldn't stop myself at the Champions. I'd beat all of the gym leaders too.

I'd be the one to touch the skies.

I'd become the best trainer in the world.

---

A/N: Yes... title drop, you'll have to indulge me, I waited almost 300k words for this. For those who don't remember, Craig being there was foreshadowed in Interlude - Forums II, although I had this chapter planned in my head from the start. Also, Lake Acuity's been moved slightly away from Snowpoint. It's still next to route 217, but it's no longer so close to the city, since it's supposed to be unknown and all I figured that made more sense. Lastly, yeah, Salamence is bigger than her in-game counterpart because I mean... 4'11 is kind of a joke when you think about it.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 88

I stepped out of the house— and far away from Roxie. She may have appeared docile, but she was definitely the most threatening-looking dragon I had ever seen after Cynthia's Garchomp—

Roxie roared and flapped her wings, blowing my hair all over the place even though I was at least one hundred and fifty feet away, and flew off into the distance somewhere. I ran back into the house.

"Craig, Roxie just— Roxie just left!" I yelled.

"Ah, she must be hungry," he said. "She hunts around here, which lets me save the food for Caleb— Caleb's my Snorlax, and feeding him actually takes most of my expenses. She'll be back in thirty minutes or so."

"Oh. Sorry," I said, feeling really awkward. I had never really seen someone be so nonchalant about their Pokemon leaving their side, but she was a Salamence. Nothing around here could hurt her, even with the type advantage.

I hurriedly left again and released my entire team. Electabuzz stood out now due to how tall he was, and Larvitar shot him an angry glare. Ever since he had evolved, she seemed to be jealous of his new strength and stature, even though she stood no chance of beating him in battle before his evolution anyway. The electric type let out a hearty laugh and easily picked her up, proving how strong he was now. She squirmed in his hands.

"Come on, hon, let her down," I smiled.

Electabuzz laughed again and dropped Larvitar on the ground, causing her to huff like Frillish did. The water type noticed and smiled slightly, but when he saw that I had caught him, he, well, huffed and stared away.

"Caught ya," I giggled. "And don't worry, sweetheart, we'll get you caught up to the rest in no time. You've got to finish growing first though, alright?"

"Tar!" She yelled.

"Okay, you're already the strongest," I humored her. Electabuzz clamored, demanding I call him the strongest now that he had evolved. "Let your baby sister have a win, alright?"

He sighed and nodded sadly at me, causing Larvitar to laugh and hit his leg with a stubby arm. He was about to retaliate, but angel hurriedly grabbed her with his vines and pulled her to his side.

"Okay, guys," I said, clapping my hands to get their attention. "Due to everything that happened, it's been a while since we had one of these, but it's time to train some new moves. Princess, you're first."

Togetic smiled and clapped her hands. She was happier now that we were finally out of dangerous areas.

"You're going to be learning Air Cutter, which is supposed to use the wind to, well, cut up your enemies. If I had to guess, you're going to need to use your wings for this one. I know it's going to be new, so don't push yourself, alright? That won't be it though, but I'll get back to you."

Togetic nodded, and I moved on to Frillish.

"Buddy, you're going to learn Shadow Ball and Recover," I told him. He immediately nodded without hesitation. "Shadow Ball should be pretty easy for you since you're smart—"

My Pokemon all joined and complained in unison except Togetic. Even Tangela wriggled in defiance.

"—you're all smart. I meant that he's the smartest. You've got to gather ghostly energy, condense it into a ball and send it off. It's easier when you're an actual ghost, I think, but you'll figure it out. Call out if you need any help. For Recover, I couldn't think of how to actually get you started on the move…"

Suddenly, I felt knowledge fill in the blanks in my head. The lake was helping, somehow, but it felt incredibly alien. Like thoughts were being forcefully put into my head. I didn't like it one bit, but at least it helped me figure out how Frillish could learn Recover in seconds. I probably would have figured it out eventually, but this just sped up the whole process. If I ever needed the answer to something, I was going to come back here somehow, although it would be easier if I got my flying license and evolved princess…

But I was getting sidetracked.

"I've got it. You're almost completely made out of water, right? You already heal passively from wounds by regenerating your body with water, which means that you just have to speed up that process to learn Recover. Fiddling with your body composition should help you with Acid Armor too, which is perfect."

"Fri…" he mumbled.

"Great. I'll get you some poffins when we get to Snowpoint. You haven't eaten any in too long."

His face lit up for a split second before returning to his neutral expression.

"Okay, you're next, hon," I turned to Electabuzz. "You're actually spending all of our training session with me. We've got to test your new limits since you evolved. We don't want to accidentally kill something when we start battling again," I said. He nodded. "But we're also going to be working on Discharge and Fire Punch. Originally, I was going to teach you Shock Wave, but you're strong enough to skip that step."

Electabuzz flashed me a sharp, toothy grin.

"Discharge should be easy, and Fire Punch probably…" I trailed off, waiting for more information to invade my brain again. "You need to use electricity to start a fire on your fist. Think you can manage that?" I asked.

"Buzz!"

"Of course, you can, I don't know why I even asked! Now angel, you're going to be focused on one move, and one move only. Ancient Power."

He blinked twice and snaked a cold vine around my ankle.

"You like how it sounds, huh?" I smiled at him. "You've got some innate psychic powers in you, and I think princess will be able to help you awaken them."

I waited a few seconds to see if I was going to get help from the lake, but it seemed that there was a limit to how much it could actually do. If I had to guess, the limit had to do with knowledge I could realistically acquire. I wasn't a psychic, so knowing the intricacies of lifting the earth with my mind was impossible.

"Take your time and go at your own pace, alright?" I told the grass type. "When you learn the move, you'll evolve."

His vines shook, and he jumped. Angel was so adorable when he let his emotions show.

"And princess, no playing around with Tangela, alright? Not even lifting him with Extrasensory. I've got eyes at the back of my head! They're called Frillish, and he'll snitch. Right?" I said, staring at the water type. Togetic pleaded with him, and he avoided my eyes. "Okay, maybe I'm being too harsh…" I sighed. "For every hour you work hard, you'll get twenty minutes of playtime. How's that."

"Prrrrri!" She celebrated.

"Sorry angel, looks like you'll be her plaything again."

He stared up at me and let out a series of blinks.

"Used to it already, huh? Well, as long as she helps you out," I sighed. "Sweetheart, you're with me and your brother. You're going to observe today," I said. She hissed in annoyance. "Don't be so moody, I'm also going to test out your moves. You've used Horn Attack, but do you know that you know Rock Throw and Payback?"

Larvitar's eyes shone in anticipation, and she stared up at me with a satisfied expression.

"Let's get to work then."

——

"Rock Throw," I ordered.

Larvitar yelled, waving her arms in a really cute and wild way, and a tiny rock slightly bigger than my fist was pulled from the earth and thrown toward a tree.

"Larvi! Larvitar!" She yelled proudly at me.

"Great job, sweetheart," I smiled.

Whenever no rocks were present, the move worked similarly to Ancient Power, except that psychic energy wasn't used. I assumed that it was some kind of type energy— in this case, rock type. Either way, since there wasn't the fine control that psychic energy usually had, the move was less precise. In the distance, Electabuzz let out a powerful Thunderbolt toward a tree, which promptly caught fire. I called Frillish over, and he exasperatedly extinguished the flames. It was the tenth time this had happened.

"Sorry," I apologized to him. "But Togetic's fully focused on teaching angel Ancient Power. I don't want to disturb her by asking for targets."

It was actually surprising how hard she worked when she got small breaks in between the bursts of activity. Whereas I was wholly focused on a task until I finished it, princess was the type who needed small breaks at regular intervals to stay on top of her game.

I grumbled when I realized that my hair was standing straight up again. Electabuzz had that effect on me now when he used an electric move, and he didn't know how to tone it down yet. At least I looked funny, since he kept making fun of me with his usual cackle.

"You better not use this to prank me in the future," I jokingly said. "You're incredibly strong now. It's actually ridiculous how powerful you got. Remember when you could only keep a Thundershock going for eight seconds back in Floaroma? You've come a long way."

"Ele!"

"But we're only just starting," I nodded. "Let's try out a Fire Punch now."

The electric type nodded, and sparks flew around his fists until it caught fire. The flames quickly disappeared, however, and he aired his hand around. They had also burned him somewhat.

"That's okay, it was a great first attempt," I said. "Let's try it again for a while, and then we'll start working on Discharge. Larvitar, let's try out two Rock Throws at the same time. Don't worry if it's too hard, alright?"

"Larvitar!" She boasted, clapping her hands like Togetic.

"At this rate, you're going to catch everyone's habit," I laughed. "If you start blinking or wriggling, though… I won't know what to say to that."

She huffed and easily lifted two small rocks out of the ground. I had apparently been underestimating her. Her species wasn't called pseudo-legendary for nothing.

"Give me five this time," I grinned.

Arceus, I loved training.

——

Cecilia swallowed as her hand hovered over the release button for Scyther's Pokeball. Deino, Fletchinder, and Slowpoke were all around her, waiting. It had been so long since she had even spoken to the bug type. Would he attack her this time? Why did she feel so anxious about it now when she never had before?

Cece sighed. She knew why.

She had been a terrible trainer to Scyther. She had beaten him repeatedly into submission to force him into fighting for her, just like her father had wanted to force her into marrying Louis. And just like her relationship with her father, Cece feared that Scyther would never give her another chance. Why should he?

Cecilia valued strength in her Pokemon above all, and her training style was more brutal than most trainer's, but that had been no reason to defeat Scyther over and over again.

And yet, he was her best hope against Abel's Malamar.

She took a deep breath.

"Don't attack him no matter what. You're only there to dissuade him from doing so," Cece told Deino and Fletchinder. "Slowpoke, keep him still if he does, then move him back and release him. Understood?"

Her Pokemon all nodded— although Deino gave her a half-committed, angry one. That was probably the best she was going to get. He was growing jittery and anxious about his coming evolution, and so was she. She'd need to call Mark about how to raise a Zweilous, along with all the other help she was already going to ask of him. More than him going berserk though, she feared that she didn't know how Deino's personality would develop. Would the two heads behave as he did? Would only one do, and the other be completely different? Or would he be lost forever?

The girl shook her head. Today was Scyther's day. Deino would come later. She released the bug type, who was very confused at how he had gotten from Eterna city to the middle of the snowy wilderness. He stared Cecilia down and started to bat his wings.

"I'm sorry," Cecilia immediately said with an apologetic bow. "I know that won't cut it, but I have to say it. I've been mistreating you. I've been a horrible trainer to you, and you have every right to hate me—"

Scyther let out an angry screech and sharpened his sickle-like arms as he stared around the lake.

"We went through a mountain and ended up here," Cece said, guessing that he was asking where he was. "I want you to know that I won't attack you anymore, no matter what—"

Scyther seemingly took that as a sign to attack, probably thinking that she would just let him kill her. Slowpoke sprung alive and restrained Scyther, lifting him up in the air and pushing him back around ten feet. Deino's mouth started to glow red, but Cece placed a hand on his hot neck, stopping him.

"I won't attack you, but I won't let you kill me. I've found a reason to live," she said, thinking of Grace and her friends. "I just want to get on civil terms… give me three months and if… if I can't get that from you, then when I can get back to Eterna city, I'll head into the forest and release you. You have my word."

Scyther smiled, probably thinking that he was going to be freed soon.

At least he wasn't attacking her.

"I have food if you want," Cece tried hesitantly. "Or you can go hunt something… I at least know you like that. I'll have to come with you though, since I know you'll try to escape. I'm sorry, but I'll need at least a chance to change your mind first."

"Scy, scy," he told her dismissively. "Scyther!" He screamed, pointing at the woods.

"Hunting it is," she sighed, looking back at her Pokemon.

In the forest, Scyther tried attacking her five times, thinking that the advantageous terrain would help him kill her.

Slowpoke stopped him every single time.

——

Denzel rolled his eyes at the current display of jealousy that was happening in front of him. Eevee sat in the middle of Budew and Buneary while the two practiced the new moves he had asked them to, doing their best to impress his starter. Budew needed more move variety, so he had asked her to work on Venoshock, which she was already excelling at due to her poison typing. Large swaths of snow in front of them had been stained purple, and Budew screeched at Buneary, trying to showcase her dominance. Buneary, meanwhile, was trying to get Power-Up Punch down. The move supposedly made your Pokemon more powerful the more they used it, but it was very physically intensive.

Which somehow had become a theme for his team. Beauty and endurance. From those two words, he had carefully theory-crafted his team at the ripe age of ten, revised it, then rerevised it again another thousand times before he finally came up with a final draft right before he turned fifteen with Eevee now by his side— although his slot had been left blank since he could evolve into anything. It had also been right before he had been supposed to start his journey. Of course, that had been delayed by a year due to his mother.

Either way, Buneary was giving the move a hearty try, although she was struggling more than Budew was. Her right ear shined brightly and extended right away in front of her. She was getting the punching part down rather well, but the powering up was still a mystery to them. Budew let out something of a snicker and a screech morphed together into a horrifying cocktail, clearly mocking her. The normal type cried out to Eevee indignantly.

The poor guy was stuck in the middle of a love triangle.

To be honest, Denzel didn't exactly mind. Eevee was just practicing his current moves today, and mostly trying to get better at Swift. He wanted Eevee to create the most amount of stars possible and throw them out in a wide shot instead of a line to make it harder to outrun. That meant that Eevee didn't really have to be focusing hard today. Denzel also felt that some of this battle for attention could be used for Budew and Buneary to push themselves further, which they were doing at a rapid pace. As long as it stayed a healthy competition, then he wouldn't intervene. He could tell that Budew still held back when fighting Buneary for training, even though they were around the same strength.

He did feel bad for Eevee, though. He clearly had no interest in the two romantically, but he didn't have the heart to reject them, so he just tried to appease the situation as best he could. Denzel sighed and leaned down toward his Feebas, who was swimming along the surface of the lake. He had caught up with the water type on everything that had happened in Mount Coronet and apologized for not letting him out of his Pokeball sooner. The cave's lakes had been too dangerous for him to swim in.

"At least you're not in love," Denzel told the water type.

"Fee…" he said, looking longingly at the rest of Denzel's team.

Denzel let out a sad sigh. It was true that Feebas was less close to the rest of the team through no fault of his own. The limitations of the water type meant that any time he was released outside of water, he'd suffer immensely and could only flop around. When he evolved into Milotic, all of that would be solved, but that was still somewhat far off.

The secret to evolving Feebas into Milotic was well-known, and it was simple in theory but hard in practice.

You simply had to make the fish feel beautiful. Not just tell them, take care of their scales, or bring them to Pokemon spas every day. No, it didn't matter what they looked like. You had to make them believe they were genuinely beautiful, and then they would evolve. Denzel did believe that Feebas was beautiful. If he hadn't, then he wouldn't have caught him in the first place, but he had been racking his brain to find a way to transfer that feeling onto the water type.

And it looked like he wouldn't figure it out today, either.

"Hey, guys!" He yelled out at his Pokemon. "Take a break and come hang out with Feebas."

Eevee smiled, happy that he was finally going to get some relief and ran to them as fast as he could. Buneary followed him closely, and Budew was lagging behind. The rabbit looked at Budew and stuck out her tongue to mock how slow she was, and Budew's permanent scowl somehow worsened.

At least Buneary had gotten out of her shell with the group.

"Bas…!" The water type exclaimed and smiled. Eevee jumped into the lake right next to him, splashing Denzel with ice-cold water in the process, and so did Buneary. Budew angrily stewed on shore, since she couldn't swim.

"Hey, you've hogged Eevee's attention a lot, let Feebas have some too," he said.

"Bud! Bud! Budew Bud Budew Bud—"

"Arceus, you woke up on the wrong side of the bed today," he said, interrupting her tirade.

His team played around for a while. Feebas kept splashing Eevee and Buneary with a proto-Water Gun from under the surface, blasting them up a few feet while Denzel kept Budew company. Ten minutes of playtime turned to thirty and then one hour. Their training had been cut short, but that was fine. Denzel didn't want to stop Feebas from having fun, especially when this looked to be the happiest he had been in a long while. When Eevee finally climbed out of the lake, Denzel saw Feebas sadly shoot a glance at the normal type. He then realized that his earlier longing stare at the rest of his team had only been for Eevee, not the others.

Wait…

Him too?

Was… was Eevee unknowingly building a… love quadrangle? A harem?

"What the fuck…" Denzel muttered. Even Feebas was in love? "Let's hope this doesn't balloon out of proportion."

Around another hour later, Denzel had recalled everyone since Savika didn't allow Pokemon into her home. He shot a glance at the huge Salamence that had only recently come back with a Piloswine. She was cooking it with flames so hot they altered the air around them and munching on it like a small snack. He gulped and made his way into Savika's house. The old woman was making lunch on her small electric stove. Now that she wasn't wearing layers upon layers of clothes, he could see that she was incredibly muscular— more than Chase was. Her life in the wild kept her in shape.

"Savika," Denzel said hesitantly. "I have a question, if you don't mind."

"Shoot," she answered right away.

"I'm looking for the next member of my team— a Snorunt. Would you know where to find them? Do they live around here?"

"Ah, those," she said with a certain… dislike. The same that she had when she spoke about any Pokemon. "They do live in the woods around the lake. They're not particularly uncommon either, so if you look, it's only a matter of time until you find one. Just make sure not to bring it inside."

Denzel smiled. "Thank you! And um, another question, please?"

"Don't ask me to ask a question, just ask the question."

"I'm looking for a female Snorunt, not a male. Is there any way to distinguish between the two?"

"It's a bit tough, but it's certainly doable. The females are slightly smaller, but other than that, they're virtually the same."

"That's good enough, thank you," the trainer smiled. "I'll be going then."

Even after all these months, Denzel still felt uncomfortable living in someone else's house, just like what had happened at Grace's place. He just felt so indebted that he thought he needed to be overtly polite, which probably made him come off as awkward, which he really wasn't. Savika was a tough woman, but she was nice. She had even given him ice to put on his ribs and painkillers while they healed. Apparently, they were fractured, not broken, which was a relief and meant that they'd heal faster.

Denzel felt his muscles loosen as he stepped outside and released his Eevee, who climbed on his shoulder.

"We're going to look for a Snorunt today," Denzel explained. "They should be pretty common, but keep an eye out."

"Vee!" The normal type exclaimed.

Denzel smiled and softly caressed his head. The truth was, he also wanted to have an important talk with Eevee about evolution. He had told Grace he would talk to Eevee about it, but he had kept putting it off again and again until he had gotten trapped in Mount Coronet. Now that he was finally safe, he figured that he needed to do it.

Denzel watched a group of Vanilite float past him and instinctively cursed, releasing his entire team before remembering that he was safe. The Pokemon around the lake weren't aggressive, and this was still relatively close to route 217.

That didn't stop his heart from drumming against his chest.

He apologized to Buneary and Budew before recalling them.

Getting back to his train of thought, seeing Chase and Grace's Pokemon evolve, and learning that Cece's Deino was close to doing so as well had made him more open to having a conversation with Eevee. Surprisingly, Denzel didn't feel inferior or anxious about falling behind any longer. He was going at his own rhythm, and that was fine. If Eevee still wasn't ready to evolve, he wouldn't hold it against him.

"Hey, Eevee," Denzel hesitantly started. "I think we should talk about your evolution."

He felt the normal type tense against his shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'm not about to force you into evolving or anything," he quickly explained. "I just think it'd be healthier to have the conversation, you know?"

Eevee nodded slightly.

"Okay. And don't force yourself to pick, alright? We've made it this far with you as an Eevee, we can easily go further," Denzel said before pausing. "So you don't know what to evolve into still, right?"

"Eevee," he said hesitantly.

"Is it because you're scared of not being able to go back if you don't like it? I'd understand that, it's scary to make a choice that final."

Eevee shook his head before warning Denzel to look left, and he tensed, his hand hovering over his Pokeballs. A group of Snorunt were traveling together and packed tightly. Even though there were a good number of females in the group, Denzel clenched his fist and let them through. He wasn't going to steal a Pokemon from their family. Not again.

"So it's not that then," he said. "You told me you wanted to evolve a long time ago. That's still the case, right?"

"Vee," he said, agreeing.

"Okay, then can you tell me? I won't mind, no matter what you answer."

Eevee took a deep, nervous breath before launching into a long tirade of noises and cries. Denzel wasn't as good as Grace at deciphering what Pokemon said, but he had owned Eevee for long enough to understand the gist of what he was saying.

"So you… you were waiting for me to decide?" Denzel asked in disbelief. "But I told you that I was fine with anything!"

"Eevee…"

"My list— my plan left your spot blank."

"Vee!" The normal type angrily raised his tone as he jumped down his shoulder.

"I'm not! I don't have a secret preference that I'm hiding from you!" Denzel desperately appealed. "I've been telling you the truth!"

Denzel had messed up royally. His plan for his team had been so rigid that Eevee truly believed that he also had a plan for him, and he had refused to evolve while he waited for Denzel to tell him what to do because Eevee had been there for more than a whole year of planning. Of course, he'd think that Denzel was secretly hiding what evolution he wanted for him. The trainer facepalmed and crouched toward his starter.

"I don't know how to prove it to you, but I truly haven't been hiding my intentions to make you feel better. I was never going to force you into doing anything. I'm giving you the freedom to choose. If you want me to get one of the evolutionary stones, I'll save up and do that. If you want to evolve into anything else, we can wait for the right time of day or travel to the mossy or icy rock. If you're already ready, then you can choose. I can tell that you've been holding back— since… since before Oreburgh, even!" Denzel said, pouring his heart out. He felt tears gather in the corner of his eye.

"Ee… Eevee," Eevee cried as he started to glow, and Denzel covered his eyes. His hair grew slicker, and ribbons began to grow out of his neck and right ear. After ten seconds, it was over. Bright blue eyes stared back at Denzel, still in tears.

Eevee had evolved into a Sylveon. He understood now that there was another reason he had held himself back so long despite wanting to evolve into one.

His sixth and final team member was supposed to be another fairy type, and Denzel valued type diversity. Eevee probably thought that he'd ask him to evolve into one of the evolutionary stone evolutions for that. That he would never budge on his planned team.

Denzel brought him into a warm hug and felt his ribbons wrap around his body, soothing him. His heartbeat calmed, and he looked at Sylveon again.

"Going to be weird not calling you Eevee anymore," Denzel laughed. "The rest of the team is going to fawn over your new look."

"Sylv," He complained.

"Wow, your voice is higher pitched than before. Cool," Denzel smiled. "Now, let's find that lone Snorunt, shall we?"

Sylveon nodded and climbed on his shoulder.

"Arceus, you're like, four times as heavy."

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 89

Electabuzz, Larvitar and I watched as Togetic carried Tangela with her Extrasensory toward us. I laughed as she plopped him on the ground, and he stared blankly like a Slowpoke. Frillish worriedly followed behind her, staring at the poor grass type.

"What is it?" I asked, smiling.

"Prrrri!" Togetic yelled at Tangela.

The grass type nodded, shut his eyes tightly, and his vines writhed. The ground below us shook slightly until he sat down, clearly exhausted.

"Arceus, you're doing amazing," I beamed. "It's only been what, four hours, and you've figured out how to use your psychic powers. That's a huge win in my book."

Maybe the lake didn't just have an effect on humans, but on Pokemon too? Angel lazily wriggled his vines and smiled with his eyes. I picked him up, spinning him around like a baby.

"I've got to do this before you evolve," I laughed. "You too, Togetic. You better get your Extrasensories in before he gets too big for you to lift."

"Toge…" she said sadly.

"Don't worry, I've seen that you can learn Psychic through a T.M., and I'm pretty sure that's powerful enough to lift a Tangrowth. So eventually, when I have a lot of money, you'll get to do it again."

She seemingly sprung up at the idea and picked up angel again, spinning him around like a ball.

"Not too fast, okay?" I said before turning to the rest of the team. "Today was productive, but we'll keep going until Chase gets better and we can get to Snowpoint, alright? Then, we can do a lot of fun things, like battling each other. Two on twos, and the like."

Electabuzz and Larvitar quaked in excitement, and I unfortunately had to break to rock type's heart and remind her that she wasn't going to be in our mock battles. Truth be told, I was already thinking about a strategy for Candice, even if I hadn't watched any of her battling videos yet. I knew Electabuzz was going to be the key to winning, especially after learning Fire Punch, but the rest of my team was dangerously weak to ice types. Frillish would be able to mitigate this weakness somewhat, but I did like a challenge.

The problem I was going to run into, however, was that since Candice was almost always challenged later into a trainer's Circuit, there was going to be a severe lack of footage of her fighting at the third badge level. That meant that aside from learning her broad fighting style, I was going to go in practically blind, which would push my stalling abilities to the limit, although with how good my team had gotten, I felt confident. Still, I was getting ahead of myself. I recalled my team to let them rest and made my way back toward Savika's house. I was starting to get hungry, and she was cooking food. It had been too long since I had eaten anything homemade.

I noticed that Craig was leaning against her house. He waved at me, and I approached him.

"Training hard out there?" He smiled. "Reminds me of my old days."

"Really?" I asked.

"The simpleness of it all, I mean. No offense, I know you're working hard, but this is nothing like training at the top."

I raised an eyebrow. "How do you do it, then?"

"The more powerful a Pokemon gets, the harder it is to actually make it get stronger," he explained. "And I've already taught my team every move under the sun. That means I have to get crafty," Craig said. "Combining moves, or just making new personalized moves altogether is how I spend most of my time when I'm training."

I knew about move combinations and new moves already— in fact, I had created one for Electabuzz's Electric Swift, but it was interesting to learn that older trainers put more stock into that side of Pokemon battling.

"I watched a tournament you won in August on T.V., and you didn't use any new moves," I told him, crossing my arms.

"Ah, the Sunyshore one? It sucked destroying all of those trainers, but I mostly did it because the Poketch company got on my back and told me I wasn't battling in public enough," he sighed. "But there's a good reason I don't use them. Why reveal my hand to potential enemies I'll face at the Conference, who are watching me like a hungry Talonflame? I'm watching them as well, of course, but you get the gist of it. That's why I practice in isolated areas, away from any prying eyes. Sometimes, though, you strike gold, and you create a move that can be easily used by your average Pokemon, then you can sell the rights to Silph co. and make bank."

I nodded. "Should I start working on them early, then? New moves, I mean," I asked.

Craig shook his head. "No, you're better off focusing on the fundamentals until you can get through every gym leader's personal team consistently each year. I'd say that's when you should switch your training mindset— but I don't want to help you too much."

"What? Why not?"

I felt a palpitation in my heart. Did one of Sinnoh's greatest trainers me as a potential rival?

"I don't want anyone to get one in over my sister," he said, and I deflated immediately. "Unlike me, Lauren has talent. She's going places, so I want her to get to the Conference in her first year. She'll get crushed by us older trainers, but she'll be the best-performing first year. It'll be an amazing showing nonetheless, and it'll jumpstart her fame. You can usually count the number of first years that make it to the conference in the dozens, you know? Although it'll probably be a lot more this year since there are more of you in general."

"I thought she didn't want you to help her," I remarked as I crossed my arms.

"Yeah, but I'm helping her out behind the scenes when I can. Gotta help out family, you know?"

I sighed. It looked like I wasn't going to get any more information from Craig, which frustrated me. He was a real treasure trove of Pokemon training knowledge, and I couldn't access it.

No shortcuts.

I froze up when I saw Salamence approach us. Her steps were so powerful that I felt the ground tremble below me.

"Roxie," Craig smiled. "What's up?"

The dragon smiled, lowering her head close to Craig, and he caressed her scaly chin.

"She's so… docile," I hesitatingly said. It was odd to see a dragon type behave like a cuddly Lillipup, and it was even stranger to imagine that such a laid-back Pokemon had killed people recently.

"Should have seen her when she was younger," he laughed. "And when she evolved into a Salamence. I honestly thought I'd never get her back under control for a while, but she came around."

"I have a friend that can't get his Gible under control," I said, thinking of Louis. "Any advice for him?"

"A Gible?" He said, frowning. "Ah yeah, that Bianchi kid. That seems like potential competition for Lauren, and like I said—"

"Fine," I sighed. "Oh, by the way, I didn't tell you this, but when you leave… not a word about us to anyone, please?"

"Sure, I wasn't going to tell anyone I was wounded and stuck in the middle of nowhere anyway, that would destroy my image," he shrugged. "I have a few contracts to renegotiate soon, so I want to be coming from a position of strength."

"I won't say anything about you either, then," I nodded before turning to Salamence again.

I stared at the magnificent dragon once more, who looked into my eyes. Was she appraising me? Now that I was close to her, I noticed a thin chain necklace going around her neck with a small red and blue ball embedded with a strange sign.

"What's that for?" I asked, pointing at the necklace.

Craig pulled out his own necklace with a similar symbol from below his layers of clothes. "That's a mega evolution stone, and she's got a Salamencite. Cost an arm and a leg, especially when I wasn't swimming in cash back then, but it propelled me to the next level."

My eyes almost fell out of their sockets. Mega evolution was something I honestly hadn't even thought of yet. The only one who could potentially do it on my team was Larvitar when she was fully evolved, but even then, I had heard that it took such a ridiculous toll on a trainer and Pokemon's body that it took years to perfect.

"Left you speechless, huh?" he said. "Don't want it to feel like I'm bragging. You'll get there eventually. Anyway, I was waiting outside to call for your friends, but they both went into the forest. Denzel wanted to catch a Snorunt if I remember correctly."

"Right," I said. "I wonder what Cece's doing— oh, speak of the devil."

I saw my girlfriend walk back to the house, and she looked distraught. I hurriedly ran up to her.

"What's wrong?" I asked, clasping one of her hands.

"Nothing bad," Cece said. "Just that I've made no progress with Scyther. I suppose I did train a lot, though."

I stared at her for a few seconds and smiled. "But you spoke to him, at least, right?"

She nodded.

"Then you've taken the first step. I'm sure he'll come around. Now come on," I said, dragging her by the hand. "Have you spoken to Craig yet?"

"Not much," she shyly said. It took me a few seconds to remember that despite how close she had gotten to Denzel and me, she was still distrustful of strangers.

"Cecilia Obel, huh?" Craig smiled. "I heard about you when I was looking up your brother and at the start of this year's Circuit. I want to beat him eventually. You've got a Deino, right?"

"Yes," she said calmly. Her mask was back on. "He was my first Pokemon."

"Ah, yes, I remember! It's not often that you find trainers starting out with a dragon type. It makes all the other kids jealous, but they don't know how much of a pain in the ass they are to raise."

Salamence growled, which made me shiver.

"Not you, though, Roxie. Who's the best dragon in the world? That's you— yes, that's you!" Craig exclaimed. "I've got to head back inside, though. I'll be back, okay?"

Salamence nodded and took off, almost making my coat fly off in the process. Craig grinned as he looked at his dragon and beckoned us into the house. Hopefully, Denzel would be back soon so we could eat. Whatever Savika had cooked smelled delicious.

"Hey," I called out to Craig, thinking of him. "Denzel's a huge fan of yours. I hope this isn't too much to ask, but do you have any merch of something you could give him? He'd be too scared to ask."

Craig beamed. "Of course. I always carry some samples in my bags— I can give him a mug— ah, wait, that isn't that useful for a trainer. He can have one of my shirts free of charge," he said before he began to look through one of his bags. The raven-haired man pulled out a plain white shirt with a stylized, painting-like version of him on the back and his Salamence on the front, in the same hyper-realistic style. I did have to admit, the art was well made.

"I had to haggle to make sure the clothing brand I work with— Denovo— used high-quality fabric and art. If I hadn't negotiated, they would have used the cheapest materials possible. Anyway, here," he said, handing me the shirt.

"Is your friend coming back soon?" Savika spoke up from the kitchen.

"Yeah, he'll be there," I answered. I turned to Cece, who was looking like an emotionless wall. "Come on, cheer up," I told her.

"I am already," she said in a haughty tone.

I smiled maliciously and pinched her arm, making her yelp in shock. Savika and Craig stared at her in disbelief.

"She's a bit shy, sorry," I laughed. I could feel her fuming next to me.

——

When Denzel came back, we had already started eating. Savika had made some vegetarian stew, since she apparently had her own garden that she used when the weather allowed it and a bunch of canned food she had in storage, which would last her years. Despite what I had thought from her owning that massive crossbow, Savika didn't actually hunt Pokemon, it was just for her own protection since she had none of her own.

Anyway, none of that mattered because Denzel came back with the biggest smile on his face, which could only mean that he had caught a Snorunt.

"Did you catch it?" Cece asked.

"Took a while to find one that was alone," he nodded, his grin widening. "She was abandoned by her group, I think, because Snorunt live in packs. I'll introduce you later, but that's not it," he continued as he sat on the table. "Guess what."

"How are you going to ask us to guess when you so obviously want to tell us?" I rolled my eyes. Cece laughed before coughing and restraining herself. Craig and Savika were sitting at the table.

"Okay, you're right. Eevee evolved into a Sylveon!" He excitedly yelled.

"Holy shit!" I beamed. "During the battle?"

"No, we just had a talk, and then he evolved. He was ready," he said.

"Fairy types certainly are a bi— annoying to deal with," Craig groaned. "But congrats, kid. It always feels good to see one of your teammates evolve."

"Thank you!" He said.

"You can swear around us, you know?" I rolled my eyes at Craig. "We're not kids."

"You are kids," Savika said.

"I'm very proud of you, Denzel," Cece said. "It was clearly weighing on you. You look like you've grown wings."

"I certainly do feel lighter. Hey, pass me some stew."

——

Savika walked out of her bedroom and stared at us.

"Your friend's awake," she simply said.

We all rushed into the room to see how Chase was doing. He was pale but alive, and he was sitting up on the bed, drinking a glass of water and taking some pills.

"Well, you guys look like you've seen a ghost," Chase said with a painful smile.

"Next time you're feeling so bad that you're about to pass out, say something," I scolded. "You could have died if Savika hadn't been there!"

"What are you, my mom?" He said.

"Maybe!" I replied.

He rolled his eyes. "How long was I out?"

"Um, it's around five in the evening, so eight hours or so?" Cece said.

"Thank the Legendaries," he sighed. "Only missed one workout."

"You're still worrying about those in your state?" I said. "Don't even think about it. You're staying in bed until Savika confirms that you're all healed."

"Ugh, how mediocre," Chase said.

"I don't care," I said. "It's for your own good."

"Where are my Pokeballs? I want Riolu here," Chase asked.

Denzel grimaced. "Savika doesn't want any Pokemon in her house, so you'll have to wait until you're healthy enough to walk again and go outside. Might take a few days."

Chase held the bedsheets tightly.

"I know it's hard, but we're here for you," I said.

"Whatever."

"Can't she make an exception?" Cecilia asked. "Even five minutes is fine."

"I'll go and ask her," I said. "Keep Chase company."

I exited the room and looked around for Savika, who had apparently gone outside. I followed suit and found her in her small barn, where she stored all of her firewood. She was probably gathering some to keep her fire going.

"Savika," I said before pausing. No use skirting around the subject. "My friends and I were wondering if Chase could possibly bring his Riolu out for a few minutes—"

"No."

My eye twitched. "I know that they're your house rules, but he's really attached to his Riolu, and I think that it'd help him recover if he was there—"

"I said no," Savika said.

"Could I at least know why? He's a small Pokemon, and he's nice. He won't break things around the house, or dirty it, or be too loud or—"

Savika finished grabbing her firewood and stared at me from the side of her eye. I swallowed. Had I pushed her too far?

"Want to know something, girl?" She asked. "I despise Pokemon and Pokemon trainers."

I inhaled sharply. "Pokemon, I could have guessed," I quietly said. "But trainers?"

"Do you know why Snowpoint was created? Why people chose live in that damned hell hole thousands of years ago, before the invention of insulation? Where even a fire couldn't keep you alive during the coldest winters?"

I shook my head.

"My people always lived around Snowpoint. In fact, we're the ones who settled the damn city in the first place, not the League or any trainers," Savika started as she leaned against a wall. She stared up at the ceiling, almost as if she was reminiscing. "I assume you're familiar enough with history to know about the mass migrations that took place when the League started invading Hisui to subjugate anyone that wasn't a trainer or submitted to their rule?"

I nodded. The truth was, I had forgotten most of it, but the lake was helping me fill the gaps.

"So… people from the south fled north to escape the League?" I asked.

"Tens of thousands of them, through Mount Coronet. Without Pokemon," she spat. "Only a few thousand were left by the end, and they arrived in an inhospitable hell. For them, it was either risk death and live freely, or be a servant to whoever the League sent to rule your settlement back then. Life was harsh. Still, my people took them in. We gave them everything, and we only heard rumors of the League forces rampaging down south from the occasional group that made it through Mount Coronet. Still, we hoped that we were far enough to avoid their lust for conquest."

I bit the inside of my mouth. "That didn't work."

"Twenty years later, the League came on their flying Pokemon and took everything we had anyway. Everything we had built, with their trainers. They enslaved us, destroyed our culture, worked us to death, and now they think I will forgive them for doing the bare minimum? No. I will never forgive. I will take care of you. I won't make a fuss. But my house, my rules," Savika firmly said.

"Okay," I exhaled. "I'm sorry."

"So long as you understand," she said as she began to walk toward her home. "It might seem foolish to you. I know that it's been thousands of years since. I know that you specifically had nothing to do with it, but it still burns. It burned more when I was still living in Snowpoint and acting like everything was alright, when we're still being run by that very same system, however changed it's been. I couldn't take it. I spent all of my savings on supplies, learned how to live in the wild, and never looked back."

"Well, I feel like I have to thank you again," I said. "You're helping us despite disliking what we do."

Savika sighed. "I can't turn back children," she said.

"Craig isn't a child."

"Oh, please. Twenty-five is still a child."

"Right," I said, forgetting that she was probably in her early sixties. "Doesn't it get lonely, though?"

The old woman's hand twitched around her wood. "I'm used to it."

I stared at the lake and took a deep breath. I was sad that Savika was going to die on her own here. What would happen when she couldn't take care of herself anymore? She was fit, but age would catch up to her eventually.

"I'd be terrified to die alone," I blurted out.

Savika stared at me and then laughed. It was the first time that I saw her smile.

"Aren't you straightforward?" She said. "I do worry about it, but I've made my choice. I'll end my life here. It's my home."

I nodded, and we entered her house again. Chase took another day to be able to stand again and another two to feel well enough to travel. We all used the time to train up, and to help him out, we took his Pokemon outside so that they could train, too, since he was too tired to do so. He acted like he didn't care, but I could tell he was glad. Craig left a day after that on his Salamence, bidding us and Savika goodbye. He told us to come see his battle against Candice if we had the time. Denzel was giddy about his new shirt and wore it all the time now. Another two days after that, we left Savika's home.

I left her an empty Pokeball hidden in one of her cupboards, just in case she ever changed her mind and wanted some company.

Five days later, we had finally reached Snowpoint. The city of snow.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 90

Strangely, the first thing that jumped at me in Snowpoint city wasn't the dull, brutalist architecture, how quiet and peaceful it felt, or how everything was blanketed in a thin layer of snow. Entering the city, there was a massive port to our right that took up the entire length of the city's coast. It was bigger than even Jubilife's, which made sense when you realized that the only way the city received supplies was through freight shipping, and of course, there was also the fact that civilians used the ferry to get to Canalave. Snowpoint city didn't have an airport. Huge ships packed to the brim with containers were all over the port, and the city was clearly stocking up. The month of February was brutal up there, and even the biggest Icebreakers wouldn't be able to get through the frozen waters. That meant that for one month of the whole year on average, Snowpoint was completely cut off from the world, unless you had a Pokemon that could teleport.

It was still relatively early in December, which meant that we needed to figure out if we were going to hurry up and leave, or stick around until February ended, but to do that, we needed information. Unfortunately, all of our Poketches were out of battery, and we struggled for a while to find the Pokemon Center. We kept our faces down and didn't ask for directions, since we didn't want to risk anyone finding out we were alive until we found out what was happening in Eterna.

After around thirty minutes of looking, we finally found a Center by using the large, looming gym in the distance. There were always a few Centers next to them, so looking there had been a good bet. We waited to cross the street as a huge snow-plowing truck passed through the street, clearing the city from the ever-falling snow. Cars here were way bigger than I was used to in general— and they needed to be to navigate through the city of snow— but people could occasionally be seen on snowmobiles or even skis and snowboards. I personally couldn't imagine sharing the road with skiers, but I suppose the people here were used to it. The city itself was rather small, but densely packed. It was probably just slightly more populated than Floaroma.

We stepped into the Pokemon Center, and as expected, it was completely empty. There wasn't one trainer in the usually packed lobby, which was perfect for us.

"Four rooms, please," Denzel hesitantly told the half-asleep Nurse Joy at the counter. She stared at us for a few seconds before her eyes widened.

"Um, sure! I— there usually aren't any trainers here at this time of the… wait, aren't you… you're the kids who died in Mount Coronet! How are you even—"

"Please, not a word of this to anyone. We're currently hiding," Cece said.

"Wait, you're hiding?" Chase frowned. "Guess that changes my plan a little bit."

Nurse Joy raised an eyebrow. "Hiding? Why even— fine. If you want privacy, we're obligated to give it to you, but don't expect that to last. You kids were all over the news… people are going to notice you. Still, I'm glad you're safe. Trainer ID, please."

We handed her our IDs, and she gave us four rooms next to each other on the first floor, since they were all empty. I had expected us to be in the news, but the fact that Nurse Joy had recognized us instantly didn't bode well for our plans. Staying undercover was going to prove harder than I thought.

"Well, I'm off to do my own thing," Chase said as he quickly entered his room. "Then I'll sign up to fight Candice. See ya," he said, raising a hand as he closed his door.

"I'm surprised he didn't ask about us hiding," Denzel said. "Thought he'd want to know."

"I feel bad for not telling him, but let's go. We've wasted enough time already," I hurriedly said as I opened my door. We all stepped inside, and plugged our Poketches in. I sat on my bed, not even caring that my clothes were dirty. It felt so good to be in a Center again. Something about the building made me feel safer than anywhere else.

I watched in anticipation as our Poketches slowly charged up. It'd take around five minutes for them to turn on, and then we'd finally find out what was going on.

——

Emilia Lussier was lying down on her bed quietly as she doom scrolled the Circuit forums while she had a news station on. Seeing Harvey and Clarence gain the ire of the entire public in Sinnoh, and by extension, Unova, was one of the few things that could still bring her any amount of joy, however minuscule it was. Emilia was weak, so she contented herself by seeing how others raged against the ones that had caused the death of her friends. Since Pauline had so magnificently exposed those two rats for who they were, the entire situation had turned up on its head. Anger from the public had been too much, and the League was breathing down Harvey and Clarence's necks for bringing even more attention to what psychic types could do to a person's mind. That meant that they had been freed.

The word tasted like ash in her mouth. They were free. The taps had been removed from their phones. Her parents, quick to get ahead of the situation to avoid any kind of negative attention had even called her to give her permission to follow her dreams of being a Pokemon coordinator. And yet, Emilia still felt like she was chained up to her bed. At least they were out of that hotel and staying at a Pokemon Center. That place had felt nauseating and was now the seat of too many bad memories for Emilia to even look at it. The downside, however, was that trainers filtering in and out of the Center kept asking her questions about how her experience through Mount Coronet had been. Pauline and Louis always shut them down quickly, but some always slipped through.

One particular post in the forums made her heart jump, however. The forums worked in such a way that posts that were garnering attention would be 'trending,' meaning that they would be on the front page. This particular one was from a civilian in Snowpoint city who posted a blurry picture of four trainers walking through the snowy city and toward a Pokemon Center, and the title read 'Chase Karlson, Denzel Williams, Grace Pastel and Cecilia Obel spotted in Snowpoint!'

Emilia felt sick to her stomach. This wasn't the first one of these posts. Some sick individuals liked to pretend that they had suddenly found her friends and Chase out of the mountain for attention. She had seen similar posts with pictures from Celestic, Hearthome, or even Eterna, which was the worst offender. Snowpoint was a new one, however. Emilia started furiously typing a long-winded response on her Poketch to berate the original poster, but she slowed down, sighed, and erased everything. Other commenters were already taking care of that anyway. These posts were getting old, and forum dwellers were starting to hate them. Still, there were actually a decent amount of people calling the picture more legitimate than the others, simply because one of these blurry people had a Riolu on their shoulder. Riolu were rare, but it wasn't as if only Chase Karlson could own one.

Emilia sighed and kept scrolling.

——

"It's on!" Cece squealed.

We all swarmed around her Poketch, which had turned on first. With trembling hands, Cecilia connected to the internet. The first thing she typed was her father's name, Clarence Obel. Her worried stare turned into one of disbelief, then a smile, and then a giggle. Cecilia collapsed on the bed as she laughed wildly, thrashing all over my bed with tears streaming out of her eyes. She had gone too fast for me to see what was going on.

"What happened?" I asked with a slight smile. If she was laughing, it was good news, at least.

"Oh, Legendaries, this is such perfection," she kept laughing. "Read it for yourselves."

Cece gave us the phone, and we read the headline of the article she had clicked on.

'Founders and CEOs of the Bianchi Conglomerate and the Obel Energy Company found to have caused the death of three young trainers, including Cecilia Obel.'

A grin split Denzel's and my face, but there was still a small thought at the back of my mind. The headlines were excluding Chase, for some reason, and only giving us attention. Scrolling further, Chase's name was mentioned deeper into the article, but they hadn't added his picture.

"So that means… that means what?" I said excitedly. "Are we fine?"

Cece grabbed her phone and smiled. "Oh, Arceus, he's lost so much money. But no, we aren't freed just yet. They're still in Sinnoh, and they've no doubt lawyered up. I doubt they'll suffer any legal consequences," she said, typing something on her phone. "Take a look at this."

Denzel and I stared at her screen and saw that the price of potions, vitamins, and other trainer supplies had jumped. I sighed. It made sense. Louis' father's company had a monopoly on most trainer supplies, so if his company was losing money, that meant that trainers would suffer.

"Yikes," I said.

"If we're being pragmatic, that's kind of a good thing. More people hating Louis' dad is a win in my book," Denzel added.

"It's the same for energy in Unova. People's energy bill is going to cost a lot more next month. It's not in Sinnoh's and Unova's governments' interest to let these companies fail. Still, they're going to lose a lot of money and influence, which is good for us."

"I think I'm starting to see Chase's point of view a little bit," Denzel groaned.

"What about Abel?" I asked. "Is he still around?"

Cecilia typed on her phone again, this time less enthusiastically. "He's escaped. The League wouldn't have hesitated to arrest him to extradite him to Unova, but he was already gone. He's on the loose in Sinnoh."

"And he's stuck here," Denzel nodded. "There's no way he'll be able to fly privately now that your dad's dropped him, and his face is known throughout all of Sinnoh."

"That means that he won't be after us, at least," Cece said with a relieved sigh. "I'm not seeing anything else. The last time he was seen was at the hotel we stayed at, and he's probably out of Eterna city already."

"Well, look at the bright side, there's no way that he's coming after us now," Denzel smiled. "He has bigger fish to fry. We can definitely head back to Eterna. If anything happens to us, it'll be obvious that your dad had something to do with it. He can't touch us right now."

Cece nodded. "There's something else that I think will soothe you Grace, at least slightly. Team Galactic's base in Eterna city was raided and destroyed."

I beamed. "What about Mars? Is she gone?"

"No, she escaped. But the walls are closing in for them, too," she said, caressing my arm.

"But how did your dad— and Louis' dad get exposed? What happened?"

Cece smirked. "It was Pauline."

——

Emilia desperately knocked on Pauline's door like it had personally insulted her. She didn't care that other trainers were staring at her as if she was crazy, or murmuring about how she was the kid that had gone into Mount Coronet with one badge and lived. Emilia had just seen the craziest— the most unbelievable— the most unimaginable thing posted on the forums. Pauline opened the door and quickly dragged Emi inside.

"What is it?" Pauline said with a sigh. She might have been the one who freed the group from their parent's clutches, but unlike Emilia, Pauline was getting more and more depressed. She had deep bags under her eyes, and her hair was disheveled, something that would have been unimaginable just a few weeks earlier.

"Pauline!" Emilia yelled. "Look at this."

She unlocked her Poketch, and scrolled up to the post she had just seen— a video posted by Chase Karlson himself. Pauline's eyes widened when she saw the thumbnail. The two girls stared at each other, and Emilia pressed play— it was also her first time watching the footage.

"Yo. Looks like I missed a whole shitstorm while I was traveling through Mount Coronet. You heard that right. I traveled through Mount Coronet and lived. Anyway, I made it to Snowpoint. It was pretty easy, and I'm tougher than ever, ready to challenge Candice," Chase said before pointing his camera toward his window. There was no mistaking it. That was Snowpoint. Did that mean the earlier photo… was real?

"You know what pisses me off the most, though? How is it that the media gave me no fucking attention whatsoever? I also fell down that chasm, you know? Is it because I'm poor? Do I need to start talking about how for-profit media is a scourge on fucking society and that they omitted my name from all the headlines because I wouldn't generate as many clicks—"

Emilia cut off the video before he could continue into his tirade. Chase looked a lot less smug and kid-like than he had before falling down the chasm. Even though he behaved similarly, there was a certain maturity to his tone and face now. Emilia and Pauline looked at each other, their bodies unmoving. He had fallen down the chasm with Cecilia, Grace, and Denzel. If he was alive, then that meant that… that meant that maybe, the others were too, and the commenters seemed to agree. They kept asking him what had happened to the others, but he never answered any of them, which was uncommon. Chase was one of the most active forum members of the year, who never hesitated to answer anything, even when unprompted. Something about this was fishy. Outside of the room, excited voices could be heard. Every trainer in the Center was probably talking about the same thing.

"Emi," Pauline said, her voice a whisper. "Call the others. This is— this could be big."

——

"So can we call our parents without waiting for Mark, then?" I asked Cece.

"I'd say that's safe for now, although I'd still wait before calling the others," she answered. "You guys call your parents, I'll call Mark and see what he has to say."

Great," I said. "Um, could I do this in… private? Let's meet in Cece's room in thirty minutes, maybe? Or one hour, I don't know how long this is going to take."

Cecilia smiled gently at me. "Of course. Take all the time you need, I'll be in my room."

Denzel and Cece left me to my own devices, and I turned on my Poketch. My finger hovered over the call button to my father. What would I even say? Hey dad, remember how all the news said I was dead? Well, surprise! I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants and sighed. This was supposed to be a beautiful moment. There was no need to be nervous. None of it had even been my fault. I called my dad, who somehow answered instantly.

"Who is this?!" He yelled. "Is this some kind of sick joke? How did you get my daughter's phone."

I took a few short gasps and felt tears stream down my face. Just hearing his voice… just hearing his voice after so long was enough to make me break down. I couldn't even speak.

"Is… Grace, is that you? Is that you?!"

"Dad," I cried. "I'm sorry for making you worry. I— I was alive. I made it through Mount Coronet, and I'm at Snowpoint right now."

I heard a few sobs from the other end of the call. "Oh, sweetie," dad cried. "Oh, I'm so happy you're safe. I thought— I thought I had lost you forever, and that it was my fault for making you start your journey. I was— I was planning the funeral."

"I'm okay," I sniffled. "I'm okay."

"You're okay," he said. "Let's call your mom, alright? Then you can tell us what happened."

——

Denzel clenched and unclenched his fists as he stared daggers at his Poketch. He had said that he wanted to call his mom after almost dying to Lunatone, but now that the moment had come, clicking the call button felt harder than anything he had ever had to do. Even before the incident, he hadn't spoken to his mother in too long— he had only called her once to let her know he had made it out of Eterna Forest okay. They didn't have the closest relationship, and Denzel had always felt like she wanted to hold him on a leash. She did send him money to help out sometimes like she had promised since he beat Roark and sent him a message once in a while, but that was the extent of their contact.

They obviously didn't have the best relationship. Even after all his success, she disapproved of his career choice, which is why calling was so hard in the first place. Would there be one of her usual reprimands? An annoying, out of place comment? Should he call his dad instead?

"Fuck it," Denzel said, wincing as he called his mother. "They're always together anyway, and they deserve to know at the same time."

The phone rang for a few seconds, and he heard his mother's familiar voice on the other end of the call.

"Denzel? Baby, is that you?!" She yelled into his ear.

"I… yes, it's me," he sighed. "I'm alive, mom. I'm sorry for worrying you—"

"Oh, by the Legendaries," she cried. "Ronald! Ronald, he's alive! Denzel's alive! I told you he was tough! I never stopped believing."

Denzel's eyes widened as he heard his father approach and cry on the other end of the call. Was… was that it? No 'I told you so'? No 'I was right'? No 'get back home right now'? Why had he even put off calling for so long, then?

Denzel let out a teary chuckle as he smiled. "I'm back."

"Welcome home, son."

——

Cecilia didn't hesitate as she called her brother. She stood there, her face stoic as she awaited his answer. She had to call five times before he finally picked up.

"Cecilia," she heard his voice. "I thought you… I thought you to be dead. I'm glad you're safe. Are you well?"

"Yes, Mark," Cece simply answered. Their relationship was no longer warm like it had been when they were both younger, and there was no need to pretend otherwise. Still, Cecilia was glad he at least cared. "And I've caught up on everything that happened with father. How is the situation back home?"

Mark sighed. He was clearly exhausted. "Terrible, which is why I took so long to answer. You'll have to forgive me, but I'm negotiating with congress about how to best tackle the looming energy price hike, so I'd appreciate it if we could keep this brief."

"Of course," Cece said. "This won't take long. You still have people in Sinnoh you can contact, correct?"

"Yes."

"Then I'd like for you to confirm if my friend's phones are still compromised. It would be like father to only pretend to remove taps from a phone, only to listen in on all of their communications anyway."

"Alright, I can do that," Mark said. She heard another voice complaining next to him, but it was too muffled to make out the words. "Not now. My sister is speaking to me," he said, his tone ice cold. "I apologize again. Do you need anything else?"

"One last thing," Cece said, more hesitantly this time. "It's about Deino. He is evolving soon."

"You want advice?"

"I need to know one thing first and foremost. Will his personality disappear?" The girl asked.

"No, but it will split. The way the split happens is different for every Deino, but expect for each head to be a different part of him," he said. He probably heard her trembling sigh, because he immediately continued. "But he'll still be him. Expect the heads to fight a lot, especially at the start, and he'll probably have problems listening again, just like when you first got him. Worry not, however. This is only a temporary split until he evolves into a Hydreigon and converges onto the main head. The other two can think slightly, and they can barely sense light, but the main head will be the one that controls them, and he'll be your original Deino. Although he will go berserk when he evolves into a Hydreigon. All of them do."

"Thank you, Mark. Expect a lot of my calls whenever he's finally evolved."

"Don't hesitate," Mark said. "And Cecilia. I'm sorry about father. I know how terrible he is to you, but I am the Champion. I must think of Unova as a whole before my family."

"I understood that from the start," she said. "Still, I appreciate the help."

"I'll check with my contacts in Eterna right away. It shouldn't take long."

He hung up, and Cecilia laid down on her bed, saddened to see that not even five minutes had passed.

Her brother was nice enough, but there was none of the warmth she felt with her friends. With Grace. And she couldn't blame him. They had both been raised that way, the only difference being that she had found people to teach her how comfortable that warmth was, and he never had. His entire journey had been solitary.

Grace…

She wanted to see Grace and kiss her.

——

Emilia finished showing Justin and Louis the video, and they stared at her with the same gobsmacked expressions that Pauline had had. Louis brought a hand to his scarred cheek and took a hopeful breath while Justin looked more alive and hopeful than he had in weeks.

"We can— we can call them to check," Louis said.

"We should!" Pauline nodded. "Emi, call Cece right now!"

"Wait!" Emilia said as fear suddenly gripped her. The fear of the unknown. What if they were wrong? What if they had been too hopeful? "Maybe we should contact Chase Karlson to be sure. Ask him if he saw them when he traveled through the mountain. His video doesn't say that he did."

"But it doesn't say that he didn't," Justin stammered, his usual cool tone now gone.

"Why not just rip off the band-aid?" Pauline said. "I know it's scary, but I'm tired. I've been hoping this entire time, and I just want to know."

"I agree," Justin sighed. "First, the picture, and now this? I don't want to be too hopeful, but…"

Emilia licked her lips, which were suddenly very dry, and gave a hesitant nod. "Fine. I'll call Cece."

Her thumb shook like a leaf over her contact list, but Pauline just snatched the phone from her hands and did it for her. The phone rang, rang, and rang.

No one answered.

——

Cecilia panicked as she saw Emilia calling her. She almost answered by reflex before remembering that it might be a trap from her father. She wouldn't answer any calls until Mark got back to her. Abel was gone, but that didn't mean that he was harmless. A cornered animal was always the most threatening.

Around thirty minutes later, Denzel stepped into her room with a wide smile on his face, and Cecilia returned it.

"I trust that your call went well?" She asked.

"More than well," Denzel said. "I think I just made up with my mom after being on pretty bad terms with her for years. It feels refreshing. What about you?"

"It went well enough. Mark is checking with our friends as we speak. Their status should be confirmed within the hour."

"Great," he sighed in relief as he sat. "I can't wait. I really want them to stop worrying."

"So do I," Cece grimaced. "I actually received a call from Emilia, but I didn't answer. I thought it might have been a trap."

"Can't ever be too paranoid with your dad," Denzel shrugged.

Twenty minutes later, Grace arrived. Cecilia beckoned her and sat her on her lap, hugging her from behind.

"What's with all the love?" She laughed. "Not that I mind. I like it."

"I love you," Cecilia said. And I realized how precious you are to me, she thought. "How'd your talk with your parents go?"

——

Emilia stared at the chaotic scene unfolding in front of her.

"We can't give up!" Louis yelled. "We're close to something, I can feel it!"

"Their phones might be dead or broken," Justin said. "It would make sense after making it through Mount Coronet."

"Fuck this," Pauline said, groaning in frustration. "I'm calling this Chase guy. Emi had the right idea."

"Do you have his number?" Emilia asked.

"No, but I'll just spam his DMs on the forums until he gives it to me. He knows who we are, he should answer," Pauline said as she furiously typed on her Poketch. "There… you… go… copy paste fifty times."

"You'll get muted for spam automatically if you do it too much," Justin warned.

"I can't be bothered to care— ah, he answered!"

"What did he say?" Emilia asked on the edge of her seat.

"He says that it's not his place to… what the fuck does that even mean? Not his place?" Pauline hissed. "I'll show you your place, you piece of—"

"Wait, that sounds like they're alive! At least, I think so!" Justin said. "Why would he say that unless they weren't?"

"Yeah… yeah, you're right, that would be absolutely psychotic," Pauline nodded, her tone brightening. "But we can't be sure unless—"

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"—ugh, I fucking hate these stupid clout chasing trainers," Pauline complained as she strode to the door. She opened it in one brisk motion. "Fuck off— you're not a trainer."

Emilia stared at the unassuming man. "Are you a doctor? What is it?"

"Mark Obel sent me. I thought you were notified I was coming?" He said.

"Cece's brother?" Emilia frowned. "Why?"

"To check if your phones are still compromised. He feels bad about what happened to you. Call it a favor."

Louis hesitantly handed the man his Poketch.

"Wait, Louis, it could be a trap!" Justin yelled.

Too late. The man grabbed the phone and browsed it for a bit before pulling out a tiny screwdriver and taking it apart. After a few minutes, the Poketch had been thoroughly checked, and the man put it back together and handed it back to Louis.

"It's clean. Now give me all of the others to check. I don't do my job half-assed."

——

I laid down next to Cecilia and showered her with kisses as we giggled like schoolgirls. Not only were we close to finally reuniting with our friends, but calling my parents had made me so incredibly happy that I felt the need to direct the feeling somewhere else. Even Togetic and Frillish had gotten to speak to dad, and I introduced him to the rest of the team too. He said that as soon as I got to Hearthome, he was flying out to see me, which was something I certainly looked forward to. I missed him too much.

"Get a room, please," Denzel complained as he awkwardly stared out the window.

"This is my room, you idiot," Cece laughed against my lips. "If you don't like it, you can wait outside."

"I know I was your wingman, but it feels really weird being here. It's like I'm seeing my two… adoptive children make out."

"Ugh, you had to make it gross," I said, rolling my eyes. "Whatever, we'll continue later," I told my girlfriend.

"But come on…" she grumbled.

"Later!" I laughed. "You're so cute when you're clingy."

"I'm holding back, though," she said. "And don't act like you don't get clingy when we're alone—"

"TMI!" Denzel interrupted. "Ah, Cece, your phone's ringing. Thank the fucking Legendaries."

Cece extended her hand to her bedside table and answered the phone, nodding and agreeing a few times. She got up from the bed and stared at us, suddenly more serious.

"Their phones are clear," she said. "We can call."

——

The man had left the room just as fast as he had come, and he had multiplied the confusion that Emilia felt tenfold. She fidgeted nervously as the group fought, debating what to do. Chase was still being vague and had sent Pauline into such a tirade that she got temporarily muted by a bot, and it felt like they were back to step one. The knowledge was right there, at her fingertips, and yet she couldn't know if her friends were alive or dead—

Suddenly, her Poketch rang. All of their heads turned.

Emilia hesitantly grabbed at it. "It says… Cecilia is calling."

She heard audible gulps throughout the room, and she answered the phone, putting it on speaker.

"H—hello?!" She shouted. "Who is it?"

"Emilia?"

Everyone around the room gasped. That was Cece's voice. It was her. Emilia had been in a state of constant worry and anxiety for days— weeks. It felt like a massive weight had just been lifted off her chest, and she burst into tears, overwhelmed with relief. Louis placed both of his hands on his forehead, like he couldn't believe it. Justin let out a huge sigh and sat down on a chair with trembling legs. Pauline collapsed on her knees and cried like a baby. On the other side of the line, cries could be heard too. It took around two minutes for everyone to compose themselves enough to talk.

"You guys," Emilia sobbed. "You guys were alive?"

"How?" Justin asked in disbelief. "There was nothing down the chasm? How did you—"

"Mount Coronet can do that," Denzel said through the phone. Pauline laughed when she heard his voice. "It was tough, and there were close calls, but we found each other and made it through. Chase was a big help."

"He was," Cece added. "We wouldn't have made it without him."

Emilia was surprised at how close they sounded now, but she supposed a trip through Mount Coronet, route 216 and route 217 would bring any group of people closer. How strong had they gotten now, she wondered. What had they seen and experienced?

"Where are you guys right now? There was this blurry photo of a group of people in Snowpoint," Louis asked.

"Someone took a picture of us?" Grace said. Emi could tell that she was obviously crying. "Yeah, we're at Snowpoint. We were planning on holing up here until Harvey and Clarence could be dealt with, but it looks like Pauline took care of that for us."

"Damn right, I did," Pauline said. "Cece, I tore Amy a new one for you."

The girl laughed. "I'm glad you made my wish come true."

"Cece, you sound so much better," Louis noticed. "Are you… are you fine now?"

"More than fine," she said. "I'm sorry for worrying all of you. I thought I had no one, but I didn't look around me. You're all family."

Emilia teared up. "Of course. Now when are you getting back?"

"We'll find out a way," Grace said. "Obviously, we aren't too willing to get back through Mount Coronet again. But there are a few things I want to do first, like battling Candice. I assume Denzel and Cece feel the same way?"

They both agreed. Emilia almost had to do a double take. They were going to challenge Candice for their third badge. Almost no trainers could boast of such a feat.

"Now let me tell you guys all of the crazy shit we went through," Denzel started. "So first, I dropped at least one hundred feet down into this freezing lake…"

Emilia's eyes bulged. That was— that was only the first sentence?

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 91

I rolled around my bed, carefully avoiding Togetic, who was sleeping next to me. Tangela was sitting next to the window, catching rays from the finally rising sun with a vine around my hanging foot. It was odd how late the sunrise was when we were so far up north. Electabuzz slept against a wall with Larvitar curved into a ball close by and snoring cutely. Frillish, meanwhile, carefully observed each one of us as he always did when we slept.

I smiled, feeling at the soft, warm covers. I was finally waking up on a bed again after so long. I was sick and tired of sleeping bags. Still, I remained somewhat tired. We had spent almost all of last night talking among friends and recounting what happened on both of our sides. I particularly enjoyed how Pauline torched anything that moved, especially Amy, but it did hurt to know that they had suffered for so long at the hands of Harvey and Clarence. They, however, were in complete awe of how we had survived Mount Coronet and beyond, and honestly, looking back on it, I was astonished too. There had been a lot of close calls, but we had made it. We were safe.

We had also created a group chat to stay in contact now that we were all far apart. Right now, Denzel was surprisingly awake and had shared a picture of his Sylveon and his newly caught Snorunt. Emilia was gushing over them completely, saying that if Denzel hadn't been so dead-set on being a trainer, he would have made a perfect coordinator, and I did see her point. Still, Denzel had no interest in the sport, so he wouldn't entertain the idea. I personally knew I would never do it either since I hated the judging system and how to the cynical side of me, it looked like money ran the world of coordinators and not just skill, but unlike Denzel, I wasn't against going to see a few contests whenever I had the time, even if Emilia wasn't in them. We were slowly starting to build ourselves up and make plans again. Pauline had a flame lit in her when she saw how strong we had gotten, deciding to train twice as hard and look for a third member for her team. Louis was now adamant about communicating with his Gible and trying to get the dragon under control, and Emilia was practicing move combinations to try on a potential future contest, although she would miss the next one in Hearthome. I did know, however, that she had finally chosen to grab a flight to the city when we got back, meaning that she would wait for us and meet us there. She could have made the contest if she had left now, but she obviously wanted the group to get back together first. Justin, meanwhile, wasn't so sure about what he would do next. He said that he'd speak with his father about potentially negotiating new terms to inherit his company, but it wasn't going well. It looked like he'd unfortunately be forced to continue his journey. He was hesitant to hurt his father's reputation, since he did want to take over Pherzen intact.

Still, things were moving, and the world looked bright and exciting again, and that meant that I had to get going too. I stretched, and Togetic woke up next to me. I petted her, and she let out a happy chirp. Tangela was next, and he wrapped his vines all around my legs.

"Angel, I can't walk if you're hugging me like this," I smiled, crouching to pet him.

He apologized with his eyes and let go, still keeping his usual one vine around my ankle. Electabuzz strode up to me confidently, flashing a grin. I hugged him and greeted him good morning before doing the same to Larvitar, who had drool coming out of her mouth.

"Morning, sweetheart!" I said. "You didn't have to wake up, you know? Babies need to sleep a lot."

"Larvitar!" She exclaimed.

"Okay, someone's all grown up. I hope you're grown up enough to eat all of your food this time and not be picky, then," I said, trapping her. I had been too soft on Togetic, and now she would only eat Oran berries, but I wasn't going to make the same mistake with Larvitar. The rock type gave me a pained nod, much to Electabuzz's amusement. Frillish floated down and softly bumped him in the back of the head with a tentacle, and he quickly apologized. It was very funny to see that even though Electabuzz was bigger and more powerful than the water type was now, Frillish was still the top dog.

"Good, good," I told Larvitar. I started preparing everyone's breakfast. "Don't worry buddy, I'll get you some poffins later. It's pretty far, and there's only one store that sells them in all of Snowpoint, but you deserve a reward. Plus, they'll all be for you this time."

"Fri…!" He said, clearly trying to hide his excitement.

"I see right through you," I smirked. I gave everybody their food and sat at my desk. Like I had thought to myself earlier, the world was moving, and I needed to start gathering information if I wanted to keep up—

I heard a soft knock at my door and perked up. I ran up to the peephole, saw that Cece was waiting for me outside, and hurriedly opened the door.

"Good mor— Arceus, what is all of this?!" I exclaimed. She carried a huge tray of food with enough to feed an entire family.

"Breakfast," she said as she entered. "For both of us. I just came back from the bank and withdrew everything from my private account before my father could lock me out, and I figured I'd come to see you."

"Thank you so much— they make hashbrowns here? I love hashbrowns!" I said excitedly.

"I figured, since you liked fries so much," Cece smirked as she sat at my desk. "Come and eat."

I felt my mouth salivating and hurriedly dove into the food. "Yu didn't av to do dis for me," I said, my mouth full.

"Nonsense. I know you, you were probably going to start working without eating."

I shot her a guilty look, knowing that she had seen right through me.

Cece continued. "Aside from when we were with Savika, you've eaten nothing but the bare minimum, which is why I'll take care of you from now on. Unfortunately, I'll have to leave soon after to train, but this is the least I can do."

"Thank you again," I said. "Oh man, this is really good. The food they make here tastes better than in other Centers."

Cecilia laughed. "I think that's simply because you haven't tasted Center food in a while. Have you seen Pauline's complaints in the group chat?"

"About us missing her birthday?" I lamented. "Yeah, that sucks. I had no idea she was a December baby."

I stared at the ceiling and counted in my head. Pauline's birthday was on December 14th, which meant that it was in… six days.

"Well, the others will still have a party, and I had an idea we could do for her. Why don't we all give them a video call at midnight and stick around the party for a bit? That way, it'll be like we're all together."

"Great idea," I said before chugging some water. Thinking about it… I had… I had no idea when Cece's birthday was. I knew Denzel's was during the summer, but hers? I had never even asked! What kind of girlfriend was I if I didn't even know her birthday?

"Grace? Is something the matter?" She said, seeing right through me.

I sighed. "Erm, don't make fun of me. Don't get mad at me either."

"Just spit it out, I can tell you're worrying about something silly."

"All this birthday talk made me wonder… when is your birthday? Sorry that I never asked. I honestly should ask about everyone's birthday. We're friends."

Cece grinned. "You're so adorable. It's February 27th," she said.

"Not going to ask for mine?" I pouted.

"March 4th, I already asked Denzel."

My eyes widened in shock. That traitor! "When?"

"Oh, it was a while ago… when we were traveling in between Eterna Forest and Eterna city."

"That long ago…" I muttered. "You have me beat."

"By a long shot. It's great that our birthdays are so close, though. Maybe we can do a dual celebration in between the two dates."

"What, so you're asking for less parties?" I said sarcastically. "That does sound like a cool idea. I hope you don't get me an extravagant gift, though."

I saw her awkwardly look to the side.

"Cece, come on," I smiled slightly. "I won't tell you not to get me anything, but if you get me some expensive gift, then mine will feel inadequate."

"It's about the gesture. Just you being there is enough of a gift for me," Cece said. The fact that she was being genuine about it too made my stomach flutter.

"Well, we'll see when we get there; I'm still getting you something," I said. "Scyther still giving you a hard time?"

"Yes. It's only been a few days, I won't change his mind any time soon. I wasn't planning on using him against Candice anyway."

I felt excited at the mention of Candice. "Another three versus four for you, then?" I asked. I knew I'd be fine, since one of the options when filling up a form at the gym asked if you owned a baby Pokemon or a Pokemon that couldn't fight, so I wouldn't have to fight at a disadvantage. They didn't exactly have to care, but it was considered bad etiquette, and it almost never happened.

"I can handle it."

"I know you can," I smiled. "You're my rival, this won't stop you."

She returned my smile. "The one thing I know for sure is that Deino will evolve during the battle. I just hope he's sound of mind enough to listen and help me win, but Fletchinder and Slowpoke will be my main means of winning, since the ice type obviously isn't to my advantage."

"You can say that again," I groaned. "Such an annoying type for my team to deal with, but I'll come up with something. Tell you what, why don't we battle when we get to Hearthome? That way, you have time to fix your relationship with Scyther and maybe catch something else, and I have time to bring Larvitar up to speed. We can ask Denzel too. Not the mock battles we have when we train, but a real one like back at the Floaroma tournament?"

"That would be my pleasure."

I felt my fingers shake with excitement.

"How are you handling your newfound fame, by the way?" Cece asked me. "I know you hate the spotlight."

"Pffft, I don't even want to talk about it. I've been wondering if I should redirect every email to Denzel or your phone, if you don't mind? It'd take a lot of pressure off my shoulders, although the calls would still come to me."

It hadn't even been a full twenty-four hours since we had been revealed to be alive, and my phone was blowing up, whether it was from offers to sponsor me, interview me so that I could recount my experience, or even just the forums. I thought my name had been blowing up after my battle with Gardenia, but that had been nothing compared to this. Everyone knew my name and my face now. I could only thank the Legendaries that I was isolated in Snowpoint, so at least no one would come up to me so long as I stayed in the Center, which I was planning on doing for the majority of today anyway. I was planning on looking at potential sponsors when we got back south, although I'd probably wait until we got to Hearthome as well.

"It feels so overwhelming, but it's something I need to get used to if I want to stand at the top," I said with a firm nod. "Talking to Craig made me think about that— I mean, that man has to think about how he behaves in public to never hurt his image. That sounds like hell to me, but that's how it is, I guess."

"Well, don't hesitate to ask for help. I happen to be a professional at building up an image of myself. Just make sure not to go too deep. You might lose yourself," Cece said.

"I'd take a few pointers before we get back to Eterna, thanks," I said. "Hey, did you know that Craig had this sister that's apparently incredibly skilled? I was planning on looking her up today."

"What's her name?"

"Lauren Goodwill," I said.

"Doesn't ring a bell, but feel free," Cece said as she got up. We were done eating, so she picked up the empty tray. "I'd love to stay around longer, but I have to get ready for my fight against Candice. I've been trying to teach Deino Dragon Pulse, and we're making good progress. Then I have a few interviews lined up to torch my father's reputation further."

"Sounds good! Why don't we go sign up together later today?"

"Sure! Call me when you're done."

I frowned. "What about your interviews? I don't want to interrupt."

She smiled. "Come on, I know you're going to take all morning and probably a chunk of the afternoon."

"Wait, you don't know that for sure—"

"Love you," Cece interrupted as she left.

I chuckled. She was right… but she didn't have to say it.

After she left, I heard Larvitar hiss at the door.

"Don't be jealous now, sweetheart," I said. "Go play with your sister, I'm gonna be busy— no, don't ram the wall with your horn!"

Luckily, Togetic restrained her with Extrasensory, and Tangela grabbed her with his vines. She squirmed in the air and shot Tangela a look of pure betrayal. She had expected Togetic to stop her, but him? She probably wasn't going to forgive him for a while. Angel placed her back next to me.

"You're the jealous type, hm? You never acted like this before," I said, thinking back. "I've got plenty of love to give, alright? I won't forget about you."

"Tar!"

"I promise."

She stared at me for a few seconds, huffed, and walked away toward Togetic, shooting Tangela a murderous glare. He shivered and tried to apologetically pet her with a vine, but she pushed it away. I grabbed my Poketch, ignored the insane amount of notifications and the constant vibrating, and typed in Lauren Goodwill's name. As I had thought, the girl was like a ghost. First, she never posted anything in the forums. Even I had posted sometimes, although rarely, but she didn't even have one comment. There were threads talking about her, however, along with the usual megathread. From what I had seen, it had exploded at the start of the Circuit due to all of the hype around her being Craig's sister, but due to the lack of content, it had slowed down to a crawl, and people who posted were mostly people making wild theories and speculations.

"Strange," I whispered to myself.

Even if she did her absolute best to hide by turning the cameras off, her gym battles were still open to spectators. It was odd that there wasn't even one comment about one of her battles from one of them. Honestly, if Craig hadn't told me about Lauren, I would have believed that she might have given up and gone back home. Still, there were traces of her. People that said that they came across her in the wild challenged her to a battle and got utterly crushed by her using one or two Pokemon. Craig did say that she didn't stick around cities, so that probably meant she only stayed to battle the gyms and left immediately afterward. I personally couldn't imagine living that type of life, but she did have three badges and was on her way to having four, so her tactic was clearly working. Plus, she had defeated one of the older gym leaders. Byron's defensive tactics were no joke, but she had somehow blown past that.

The most sightings of her were in the wild, like I had established earlier, and she only ever battled other trainers there. The last time she had been seen was… route 207 by some poor trainer who got crushed by her Magmar so badly that he needed to walk all the way back to the Eterna Pokemon Center. So at least that lined up with what Craig had told me. She was on her way to Hearthome. Whereas Chase liked to apparently crush trainers in cities, Lauren seemingly terrorized them on the routes.

Well, there wasn't much more information on her. Her starter was a Treecko that was now a Grovyle, and from cross-referencing stories about her different encounters in the wild, she had caught her Solosis somewhere around Jubilife, Aron near the Oreburgh mines, Magby somewhere near Canalave and Tympole somewhere around Floaroma. Of course, these were all evolved to their second stage now.

Was I being too stalker-ish? I mean, this girl didn't even know I existed, but I had just made her one of my rivals and was looking up everything about her. I was kind of being like Chase in that regard when he had been obsessed with Cece.

Thinking of Chase, I had tried to add him to our group chat so that he could make other friends, but he just left immediately after I did, saying that it wasn't his kind of thing. At least I tried.

Well, this dive into Lauren Goodwill's capabilities had been somewhat disappointing, so it was time to find out how Candice fought. The ice type gym leader was infamous for her wild tactics, but due to how isolated Snowpoint was, she was probably the one I knew the least about. I went to the Snowpoint city gym website and applied the three badge filter. I groaned when I realized that there were only five videos, and none of them were even from when Candice was gym leader. I went up to four, five— six. Only at six gym badges did I finally find videos with Candice in them. These battles would be way over my level, and the Pokemon she used wouldn't be used against me, but this was all I had. I'd need to gauge her general fighting style and forge a strategy from there instead of memorizing the moves of every Pokemon she had. I was essentially working backwards to how I usually did here.

I pressed play and watched the first video. Then the second. Then the third, with much difficulty and buffering, because the internet in Snowpoint was kind of trash.

What I saw irritated me.

Candice had… no consistent strategy, or at least that looked to be the case. She would go from being so aggressive in one battle that she made Roark look like a softie, to being defensive in the next, like Byron. She stalled in another battle, winning with Hail and other status effects, and completely and methodically wiped the floor with her opponent in three minutes in the next. There was no pattern to her madness. Candice was extreme and exhausting. She did whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and it worked. I could see now why she had won the Conference three years ago at the age of fifteen, winning the finals against Gardenia. Plus, she talked and taunted her opponents during battles, which somehow was allowed. I would need to do my best in order to not let her words get to me.

It was impossible. I didn't know what she'd do, I didn't know what Pokemon she would use, I wouldn't know their movesets or how she fought with them. I couldn't plan against her.

Or… or could I?

I felt an idea appear in my mind and grasped it. I didn't know which Candice I would get, but I could work my way around that. I could work backwards. I grabbed a pencil and my notepad.

It was time to plan a strategy for each of her moods.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 92

I stretched with my legs crossed and let out a satisfied groan. That had taken less time than I expected since I didn't have to study each Pokemon Candice would use. I had notes splayed out in front of me on my desk, with bullet points that described how Candice fought in each different mood. I leaned back against the table and went over what I had written again.

After scanning each mood Candice showcased before one of her battles, I had filtered all of her moods and placed them in different categories: defensive Candice, offensive Candice (special/physical), stalling Candice, speedy Candice… and wildcard Candice.

Ok, I still wasn't a fan of that name. I scratched it out and replaced it with 'erratic Candice' instead.

These were almost all self-explanatory, and there was always a nuance to them, but erratic Candice rarely came out in battles. That was when she threw every ounce of strategy or plan out of the water and just did whatever she wanted with no consistency. Before watching videos of it, I would have thought that this way of battling could never work. Every trainer that knew what they were doing had at least a general way of fighting that they honed and perfected throughout the years, and a gym leader was the last person I would have expected to just completely ignore that rule. Alas, Candice didn't listen to rules. She made her own.

Still, erratic Candice was a rare occurrence. Sometimes, it worked, simply because of how taken off-guard her opponents were, and other times, it failed miserably because… well, having no plan usually came back to bite you in the ass.

I had made general strategies for each scenario, and my Pokemon would have different roles depending on what we ended up facing. Electabuzz was my ace against speedy Candice, because only he would be able to keep up with her fast Pokemon, but also against defensive Candice since he had the firepower to blow past their defenses and dodge their generally slow attacks— I was assuming that most defensive Pokemon were on the slow side here. But against offensive or stalling Candice, he'd be less effective. That's when my other Pokemon would come in and shine.

Either way, I was done, but it felt inadequate somehow. If I was going into a gym battle, I wanted to know everything, down to every last detail. I closed my eyes and tried to visualize the gym battle and was surprised to see that my imagination of the scene was shockingly clear. Unfortunately, even if I could theorize what Pokemon Candice would use, I wouldn't know their moves anyway, so that was a bit of a dud. Maybe if I battled her last, I could see the Pokemon she used, how she fought on a lower level, and extrapolate the information for my own fight. That'd give me three battles to amend the plan I had already come up with for each iteration of Candice, which was one hour and some change… yeah, I could work with that.

"Time to call Cece," I muttered. "You guys think you can behave if I leave you here?" I said, turning to my Pokemon. My room had been turned into an absolute mess. Electabuzz was throwing pillows at Togetic and Larvitar— the rock type had torn up multiple of them with her sharp horn. Tangela had opened the bathroom door, hoisted himself on the counter, and had been staring at himself in the mirror for the last hour, and Frillish had given up on trying to control everything and was just floating limply in the air with a dejected look.

"Okay, you can't behave. You're coming with me," I sighed. I let them play for another few minutes since I needed to shower and touch up my appearance. I didn't want to make Cece look bad, especially since we'd be recognized outside. I felt the corner of my lip rise when I saw angel touch his reflection in the mirror. He seemed very perplexed at the fact that it was mimicking his exact movements, and I didn't want to ruin his fun by revealing that it was just him. His eyes widened when he saw my reflection enter the bathroom, and he tried to move his vines through the mirror to get to me.

After my shower, I made my way to the sink.

"Scoot over, angel," I said softly as I stared at myself. I washed my face, applied some of the free moisturizer the Centers had, then untangled and brushed my hair. "It's not much, but it'll do, I think. I mean, we're just signing up for a gym battle."

It wasn't a date, even though I did have a few plans, just in case.

Plus, Cece wouldn't care about stuff like how I make her look, I thought to myself. Still, I want to try to not look like a bum.

I felt angel pat my back with a few vines and caressed him back. "Aren't you the cutest boy ever?" I said. He answered with one of his happy stares and wriggled. "Yeah you are," I smiled. "It's Pokeball time, but I might use you later. I was thinking of doing mock battles with your siblings if I have time."

He nodded as I recalled him, and then I returned my entire team. I'd have to apologize to the Nurses for the state of the room when I left.

"Raising kids is hard," I sighed as I grabbed my coat. "But fun and fulfilling."

I dialed Cece's number, and she answered after a few rings.

"Grace," she said happily. "I was waiting for your call. Are you ready?"

"Yeah—" I stepped out of the room and saw that she was waiting in the hallway. I had kind of forgotten that all of our rooms were right next to each other. I laughed and hung up. "Let me send a text to Denzel before we leave. Maybe we can meet up at the gym."

"I'm guessing we're going to be doing things on the way there?" She asked. "You look stunning, by the way. Well, you always look beautiful, but…"

"Thanks," I blushed. "And I did have a few ideas, but I didn't know if you'd be too busy to try them out."

"Well, I've cleared the whole rest of my day for you, my love," she said. The nickname made me shiver, in a good way.

"My love?" I smiled as we stepped toward the empty lobby. "I like that. It's so romantic."

"Thank the Legendaries… it took all of my courage to get that out."

"Well, I'll think of a nickname for you too," I told her. "It won't take long, I'm pretty good with those."

"Well, good might be an overstatement," she said sarcastically. I placed a hand on my heart and made a dramatic face.

"Ow, you wound me," I said. "My Pokemon are perfectly happy with their nicknames, thank you very much."

We kept teasing each other until we saw the absolute sea of people in front of the Pokemon Center. I drew a sharp breath. Snowpoint was supposed to be a quiet city without that many people, but this was an absolute swarm. Luckily, they hadn't entered the Center's lobby, and nothing had stopped them from doing so, so they were at least somewhat respectful. I kept my head down as Cece dragged me through the crowd. Some of them were reporters asking us questions, while most were just curious bystanders who wanted to see the first-year trainers that had survived going through uncharted parts of Mount Coronet on their own.

"May we have a quick interview? We're a small Snowpoint-based channel, and we're interested in your time through Mount Coronet. The whole region is!"

"Ms. Pastel, Ms. Obel please, a word for—"

"Don't call me that name," Cecilia interrupted with an icy tone. "We won't be taking any interviews at this time. Feel free to contact us through email."

I frowned. Sure, she had said she was giving up on the name, and I completely understood and respected that decision, but she hadn't said anything when Chase had called her Obel during our entire trek up to Snowpoint together. The people understood and seemingly dispersed as soon as we passed through the crowd, but the reporters were a bit insistent, and we had to deny them for five minutes straight, and it didn't stop them from taking pictures.

"Man, if that's what we have to deal with in Snowpoint, I can't imagine Eterna," I complained. "I feel bad for our friends there."

"The excitement will die down," Cece reassured me. "Although we'll always be famous, especially when we beat Candice."

"I like the confidence," I smiled. "I was wondering on asking to turn off the camera feed or not," I continued, thinking of Lauren. "I honestly think I might, not even because of my anxiety around fame, but because it helps to keep your cards close to your chest."

"That's a fine idea," she replied with a nod. "I personally won't, and Denzel and Chase won't for sure. I see you've changed your way of thinking about other trainers, though."

"Yeah, Craig kind of indirectly gave me advice, although he didn't really want to. I think staying as hidden as possible will actually work out in the long run, although I wouldn't mind participating in another tournament," I sighed. "My mind's all over the place."

"You have time to think about it."

We walked together for another few minutes when I pointed at a specific building. "Okay, you see that?" I asked.

"They… rent skis?" Cece squinted.

"Yeah, and there's a small bunny hill behind the store for people to try 'em out. I figured it'd be fun since I've never skied before."

Cecilia smirked. "I don't want to boast, but I happen to be a professional. Clarence would take us to a ski resort during the winters, and I got very good at it."

Clarence, I noticed. Right, he wasn't her father anymore.

"Is this going to be like when we went bowling, and you're actually worse than me?" I teased.

"Okay, you're on now."

——

"Are you sure we don't have to pay?" I asked the man behind the counter. "It feels weird doing this for free."

"Of course, you don't!" He said with a booming voice. "You kids have brought more publicity and attention to Snowpoint than I've seen in decades! People usually see us as a backwater, and trainers only stay around to battle the gym. They never spend any money on supporting local businesses, like that Craig guy! He pisses me off. Treats this place like an Arceus damned speed bump. But I see that you're trying, so I'm giving this to you free of charge. Just make sure to visit other places, and we'll be even!"

Right, Craig is here too, I thought. Maybe we could go see his gym battle if he still hasn't battled Candice. I was definitely interested in seeing what a high-level gym battle looked like from up close.

"Well, thanks a lot," I said.

He nodded and handed me ski boots. I couldn't understand how I was even to put these on, and I was too embarrassed to ask the store owner, who had already explained once and just said he'd rent me skis for free. Bothering him again would feel asinine. I hadn't even thought that skiers used special boots in the first place, but it made sense the more I thought about it. How were people's feet supposed to stick on the skis otherwise?

"Need some help?" Cece smirked at me.

"Your competitive mood comes out at the worst times," I chuckled. "Sure."

Cece kneeled at my feet, carefully lifted my jeans, and showed me how to put on the skiing shoes and how to put them on skis.

"The shopowner already showed you how to do it," she smiled. "You're such an airhead."

"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled.

"And… done. Let's get skiing!"

——

"Remember what I explained, Grace!" Cece exclaimed at me. "Parallel to speed up, pizza slice to break!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" I yelled. "How are you even going backwards?"

"I told you I was good."

Skiing was way harder than it looked.

Okay, maybe it wasn't since there were literal five-year-olds racing past me like they had been doing this for ten years, humiliating me further. One of them called me slow as she passed me, giggling and snaking across the bunny hill. That caught me off guard, and my legs started to wobble as I quickly lost control of my speed and bumped into Cecilia, causing both of us to fall. One of my skis detached from my boot and flew off down the hill.

"Holy shit," I swore. "I'm sorry, are you okay?"

"No need to panic," Cece said. "I'm fine."

I stared at her for a few seconds, realizing that I was on top of her. It'd be so easy to just lean in. I averted my gaze and helped her up.

"Sorry," I apologized again.

"It's alright, I wanted to kiss you too."

Our relationship was kind of being kept on the down low for now. It wasn't because Cece was uncomfortable with her sexuality being public or anything like that. In fact, I'd say she had adapted incredibly quickly to it. It wasn't because she was scared of her father or his reaction, or because we cared about the further publicity it would bring onto us either. We wouldn't be the first trainer couple to have formed during the Circuit. It was bound to happen if you let a bunch of teenagers and young people travel on their own.

No, it was because we still hadn't told our friends in Eterna yet.

We weren't worried about Pauline and Emilia, they definitely wouldn't care at all, and they'd be happy for us. Justin probably would say he didn't understand, but he'd be for it as well, but Louis…

Louis had been remarkably strong when Cece had revealed that she didn't love him in that letter. Stronger than I thought he would have been, which I supposed was proof that he really did love her. We both feared that he'd take it really badly. Of course, we knew that hiding our relationship forever wouldn't be feasible, but Cecilia wanted to wait until she could tell him in person, and I agreed. He deserved that amount of respect.

"Let's get back up top," Cece said. "Surely you can't be that bad."

"I'll show you," I said, feeling a surge of confidence.

——

"Arceus, you are the worst skier I've ever seen, bar none!" Cece laughed as we exited the store. "Everyone can at least get through a bunny hill after an hour or two."

"You don't understand," I sighed. "I keep getting crisscrossed, and I forget how to move my legs. Then I'm going too fast, so I just fall."

"How is that even possible?" She laughed heartily. "How do you forget how to use your legs?"

"Well, ask my legs! I don't know."

"I don't even think they'd know the answer."

"Rub it in more, won't you?"

"You rubbed it in when we went bowling."

"That was different… kind of," I muttered.

We stopped for lunch in a local restaurant that specialized in seafood— animal seafood. Due to the inhospitable nature of Snowpoint, people had specialized in aquaculture to keep the population fed, and that tradition stuck even now that they could get all of their food delivered from down south. Cece forced me to taste crab for the first time, and it was actually pretty decent. Plus, we split the bill fifty-fifty, which made me incredibly happy. She didn't even ask to pay for me.

Nothing could beat good old fast food, though.

We went on a detour so that I could buy poffins for Frillish, but I ended up buying some for the entire team. Larvitar was going to love these. Cece got some for her team too, which was new. She had acted all embarrassed about it too, which was the cutest thing. After that, we bought new, weather-appropriate coats since ours weren't really equipped to deal with Snowpoint's winters.

Finally, we arrived at the Snowpoint city gym, which wasn't hard to find, since it loomed above every building here. Stepping inside, well, it was empty aside for Denzel and Chase, who were waiting at the counter.

"You're here already?" I asked Denzel after greeting him.

"I've been waiting for you," he grumbled.

"Oh shit, right!" I facepalmed. "I'm sorry, we got kind of sidetracked."

He smiled. "Don't worry about it, just warn me next time you go on a spontaneous date, alright?"

I shushed him, but agreed.

"Ah, right, you guys are hiding," Chase rolled his eyes. "Williams here was telling me about how many interviews he was going to partake in."

"I've gotta seize the moment," he shrugged. "I spent all morning answering forum posts while my team trained, too."

"Waste of time, if you ask me," Chase said.

"What? I thought you'd be the type to do that kind of stuff. Didn't you want to be known as the strongest first year or whatever?" I asked.

"I am the strongest, period," he boasted. "But I'm sticking it up to for-profit media. I'm only answering people who put my name in their headlines, so as you can guess, I'm pretty free."

"Where's the receptionist, anyway?" Cecilia asked.

"He said that he was coming," Denzel said. "Snowpoint doesn't employ a lot of gym trainers this time of year— apparently, they have some kind of part-time system where a lot of the employees here only work in April and May, when Snowpoint gets the busiest."

"Makes sense," Cece nodded. "It wouldn't be sound for the League to pay employees that don't do any work."

"Wrong. I stand with workers," Chase said. "They deserve a win after getting fucked so many times throughout history, and you should do the same. So what if they get a little extra? The League can afford it."

"Okay, don't start preaching," I sighed, rolling my eyes as I leaned against the counter. "Anyway, I actually wanted to ask you something, Chase. When we all finish up with Candice here, what are you planning on doing?"

"I dunno," he shrugged. "I was thinking of going through Celestic and Solaceon to get to Hearthome."

I felt my heart tug. "So you're going to leave? Just like that? Why don't you come with us, we can travel together with the rest of our group—"

"Nah," Chase shook his head. "I'm more of a solitary trainer in the first place. I wouldn't fit in with your pals."

"You're really not as bad as they think you are," I pleaded. "They can learn to know you."

"Don't worry about it," he said with a slight smile. "It was nice traveling with you guys and all, but I've got to get back to doing my thing."

I bit the inside of my mouth and stared at the ground dejectedly. I really thought of him as my friend. A good friend, in fact. A month ago, I would have found the idea laughable, but now, it actually hurt to know he was leaving.

"Hey, no need to look so down for an asshole like me," he said with a slight shrug. "I appreciate you for asking, though… heh, look at that, your cheery attitude keeps rubbing off on me."

"You have mellowed out since meeting us," Cece noticed.

"And it's not like we're never going to see each other again!" Denzel quickly added. "He said he was going to Hearthome, and we're going there too. Even if we're taking different paths, we'll probably come across each other in the city, and then we can hang out."

"Fine," I said before staring fiercely at Chase. "But your ass is getting back in our group chat."

"I told you I didn't like—"

"I'm not taking no for an answer."

"Sheesh," he exhaled. "Fine. Don't expect me to type much, though."

"I want an update every time you get to a city or an outpost," I ordered. "To make sure you haven't gotten yourself killed."

"What if I forget—"

"You won't forget."

"Come on, Grace," Cece smiled. "You're acting like we're separating already. We haven't even beaten Candice yet."

"Eh, I'd say it's a given that we'll beat her," Chase confidently said. "After everything we've done to get here? This fight is going to be easy."

"Don't get too overconfident," I warned. "The last thing you want is to get stuck here for two more weeks. Traveling back down south is going to put us seriously behind in our amount of badges."

"I'll be fine," he said. "Ah, he's finally back," Chase nodded toward the receptionist that walked back behind the counter.

"I apologize for the inconvenience," he said with a small apologetic bow. "I know you're not going to be pleased with this, but Candice is going to be busy today and tomorrow, so the closest we can register you for a battle is the day after that. Her Wednesday mornings are always busy, but this is somewhat of an exceptional circumstance."

"Ah," I said, somewhat disappointed. Well, at least that gave me more time to train and iron out a few deficiencies.

"Ugh," Chase groaned. "Well, it looks like we'll be together a bit longer, Pastel."

 

[Soussouni1]

INTERLUDE - CANDICE

"Ugh, so stupid!" Candice grumbled as she kicked some snow. "Stupid Wednesday!"

Like every Wednesday of the week, Candice Suzuna was in a serious mood today.

The ice type gym leader walked through the snowy route north of Snowpoint with a simple skirt and shirt. Her mastery of ice types had made her body practically immune to the cold, although she sometimes wore coats anyway because they felt comfy. There was no point in bringing one where she was going, though. Candice stared at the looming stone temple that was embedded in the side of a small mountain. It had been built by her ancestors thousands of years ago, and like every Wednesday, she was going to go inside of it.

Officially, the Snowpoint Temple wasn't open to the public because of dangerous wild Pokemon infestations. Never mind the fact that powerful trainers could have handled those without a problem, or the fact that there weren't any wild Pokemon there at all. Sometimes, the occasional tourist passionate about history or cocky trainer had to be turned back by the League trainers that patrolled and guarded the temple at all times. It wasn't that interesting, they said. It was for their safety, they said.

Well, that last part was accurate.

Candice gave familiar greetings to all of the League trainers she met along the way, with a warm smile and all. Soon enough, she was at the Temple's entrance.

"Ayo, Gabe and Paul!" She exclaimed with a large wave.

One of them sighed. "We're not… that's not our names," he said as he handed her ten Pokeballs.

"My bad, I'm terrible with those, but you know that already," Candice smiled. She noticed that her hand was trembling when she reached out for the Pokeballs, but they thankfully didn't.

"Good luck again today," he said, dipping his head. "With whatever it is that you actually do down there."

"Well, classified information and all of that. If you were a better trainer, maybe the League would give you clearance," Candice shrugged as the other trainer handed her a long, white dress and an incense. "Ugh, my hands are so hecking full."

"S'wat you get for shittalking," he chuckled.

Candice grumbled as she climbed up stairs so large that she could barely step up one at a time. She had always thought it to be strange that the people protecting the Temple didn't know what they were actually guarding. The League fostered such loyalty that they didn't even care to know.

The girl took a breath. She would kill to go back to not knowing. Sometimes, it was better not to know.

But enough with those bad thoughts. Being in a serious mood didn't mean that she needed to be down in the dumps. Her cheerful personality always helped her when she was nervous, and she could be a real chatterbox, although there was no one actually here to talk to. The Temple was so silent that all she could hear was ringing in her ears. Parts of the inside had collapsed onto the ground, and some of the floors were slick with ice so slippery that it was impossible to stop, but Candice knew this place like the back of her hand these days. She probably could have reached the bottom floor with a blindfold over her eyes. Finally, she reached her destination. Inscriptions in ancient, illegible writing adorned the walls and the now-opened doors. Candice didn't know what had opened these doors in the first place, since they appeared to be unmovable and indestructible, but that wasn't her problem. She had a job to do.

The ice type gym leader slapped her cheeks to ground herself and stepped into the room with her eyes staring straight at the ground.

Seventeen steps, Candice thought. Seventeen until she saw the thick chalk circle on the ground. She changed into the white dress and took off her socks and shoes before releasing ten Hypno from the Pokeballs the League trainers had given her. Her eyes were still staring away from it.

"Good morning," Candice whispered. The volume of her voice didn't actually matter, but she couldn't help but be quiet.

Good morning, young Candice, one of the Hypno said. She smiled when she noticed that the headache was almost gone now. After all, she had been doing this for almost three years.

Are you ready to begin the ritual? Another one asked. They were all staring away as well. Away from it.

"Give me a little," Candice breathed out.

One hundred and thirty weeks. One hundred and thirty times, Candice had done this ritual. Her grandmother, who had been the previous Snowpoint gym leader, had brought her here right after her victory at the Conference three years ago, although she lost to Flint, who had been a new Elite Four member at the time. Her grandmother had been diagnosed with bone cancer, and so she had asked Candice to make a choice. Either she could come with her to the Temple, take the plunge, and be chosen as her successor, or she could swear off taking over the gym forever.

Candice originally wanted to take another stab at the Circuit, but she loved Snowpoint too much to refuse. Her grandma had taken her into the temple and finally explained why she went missing every Wednesday morning. A ritual that had been passed from Snowpoint leader to Snowpoint leader— although now, it was passed on to gym leaders. A ritual to keep it asleep. The first time she brought her into this room, she had warned Candice not to look at it until she had stepped into the chalk circle, but she had been fifteen. Fifteen-year-olds didn't like being told what to do, so she stared anyway.

She woke up in the hospital two weeks later. Her grandmother had said it was a defense mechanism it used to stay unharmed when it was sleeping, but the chalk circle somehow made it so that only looking would make you pass out if the ritual hadn't begun. If her grandmother hadn't been there to carry her back, she would never have woken up.

Only participants of the ritual were allowed to look. And only when the ritual had already begun. That meant that until her grandmother passed on, she would never be allowed to even steal a glance. The next time she came, Candice decided to actually listen, although she had asked so many questions that her grandmother had somehow been more annoyed at her than at the ever-worsening pain in her bones.

"Why is the chalk there? Who drew the circle?" Candice had asked.

"No one knows." She had answered. "But it is no simple circle. There is psychic energy imbued in it. There is so much of it, and it is so intricate that nothing we have today could possibly recreate this system."

"But what is it that we're actually containing? I want to see."

"Not yet. You are not ready, and uttering a Legendary's name in its presence is foolish. Names hold power, Candice. I will tell you one day, when you are further along your training."

Candice's eyes had bulged. Legendary. The type of Pokemon that she read about in stories. That were myths.

To be in the presence of one had been mindboggling.

Candice exhaled. "I'm ready for the ritual."

The Hypno nodded. Their eyes started to shine blue, and their pendulums began to swing in one uniform motion. They had been bred and trained to use the most powerful Hypnosis possible. Candice stepped into the chalk circle, and her hair and dress started to float up, as if it wasn't affected by gravity any longer. The air was thick and smelled like something was burning. It was hard to breathe, but this was her job. Finally, she stared up at it.

"Its name is Regigigas," Her grandmother had weakly said weeks later in the hospital as she got chemotherapy. "The stories say that it dragged the continents to where they are today. I personally don't care to know if that's true or false."

"Can I look at it with my Pokedex?" Candice had asked, her eyes shining. She was probably the only fifteen-year-old in the world that had been in the same room as a Legendary.

"Your Pokedex won't say anything," Her grandmother laughed and then coughed. The cancer had been worsening fast, but Candice hadn't liked to think about that. She ignored it and asked another question.

"So why are you… keeping it asleep, then? What if it wakes up?"

"If it wakes up, one thing is for sure. The League will be powerless to stop it, and Sinnoh, along with its surroundings, will be destroyed until it finally stops its rampage and falls into a deep slumber once more. We would have to evacuate millions… but millions more would perish."


The statement had made Candice's blood run cold. All of Sinnoh, gone just like that. And her grandmother hadn't even entertained the idea of fighting it. No one could stand up to a legendary.

"But it'll go back to sleep?" She asked after what felt like minutes.

"It will. It comes and goes in cycles, but it's been due to wake up for thousands of years, which is why our ancestors came up with this ritual to keep it asleep. When the League conquered and took over Snowpoint, they were informed of the ritual and kept it going."

Her grandmother had then explained that if Regigigas ever woke up, its five children would as well. Regice, hidden high up in the cold wastes of Mount Coronet. Registeel, hidden deep inside of the Iron Islands. Regirock, hidden in the Rock Peak Ruins north of the Battle Frontier. The League had agents guarding every single one, turning the occasional unsuspecting trainer away before they could make it anywhere close. There were also two others… but they didn't slumber in Sinnoh.

Candice gulped as she stared at the humongous Legendary Pokemon. Its body was white like marble, with black, writing-like marks all over its body. A yellow band wrapped around its shoulder, and another yellow protrusion ran down the center of its body. Its eyes were dark and hollow. Lichen, moss, and frost grew all over its body. The Pokemon had been overtaken by nature. One hundred and thirty-one times, she had stared at it, but the sight was still deeply unsettling and wrong. Something this powerful shouldn't have existed.

Still, Candice could only see the top of Regigigas' body. The vast majority of it was buried underground. The Temple had apparently been built after one of its rampages, soon after it went to sleep, so they had to build around its body. The young woman began walking around Regigigas with the most powerful Lax Incense the League could produce, and she uttered these words.

"In ancient times, a giant stirred,

A legend born, a titan heard,

Regigigas, with power untold,

In slumber deep, its strength controlled.

Through ages past, a ritual formed,

To keep the giant, forever dormed,

With sacred words and mystic lore,

Regigigas sleeps, forevermore.

Let not the spell be broken light,

For if the titan wakes in might,

The world may tremble and quake in fear,

And all we hold dear would disappear.

So let us honor the ancient rite,

And keep Regigigas asleep tonight,

For in its rest, we find our peace,

And Sinnoh may thrive another week."

At the mention of its name, Regigigas stirred. Artificial, robot-like sounds echoed throughout the room, and its eyes came alive, blinking like glitching computer screens. The entire temple shook. The Hypno intensified their Hypnosis, and Candice steeled herself. The Legend's arm moved a few inches, slowed, and then it fell back into a deep sleep. Candice released a breath she didn't know she was holding and collapsed on her knees.

Young Candice, step out of the circle, one Hypno warned.

She gave her a shaky nod and stepped out of the chalk's boundaries. The ritual was done. She had bought Sinnoh another week.

As she had done for one hundred and thirty weeks. One hundred and thirty-one, now. None of the other gym leaders knew about this. Not even the older generation. It was her burden to carry and hers alone, along with higher-ups in the League. If something happened to her, the League Secret Service would swoop in and quickly train another person before the week was over, but there were also people in the know that would be capable of going through with the ritual if there wasn't enough time. Still, tradition dictated that the next Snowpoint gym leader would be the next ritual bearer.

But how could Candice give someone such a burden? And to whom? Her grandmother had apologized to her before dying, and Candice didn't understand at the time. Now, she did.

Sometimes, it was better not to know.

——

"Ugh, I fricking hate Wednesdays…"

"Everything go alright down there?" The League trainer asked as Candice exited the Temple.

"You perv," she smiled. "You just wanted to see me in that dress."

"I have a girlfriend, and I'm very happy."

"I won't tell her," Candice said as she handed him the ten Hypno's Pokeballs.

"Don't spread lies about me. I'm serious."

The worst part of the week was over, and Candice could finally go back to being her silly, joking self. She was all smiles as she stepped back into Snowpoint. The city had never felt as alive as it had the past few days. People were happy to have their small city be all over the news, thanks to those four trainers that had survived going through Mount Coronet.

What were their names again? Candice wanted to give them her thanks somehow. She hoped that they'd battle her at some point soon. It wasn't every day that Candice could use her lower-level teams, and they had gotten very rusty. Still, unfortunately, she was going to be busy all day, so there would be no time to practice. Candice stepped into Snowpoint's only jail and gave a hearty greeting to the officers stationed there. The city was a tightly-knit community, so crime was incredibly low. Snowpoint was nothing like Jubilife or Sunyshore. Still, every city needed at least some law enforcement, but they were often bored out of their minds.

"Candice! Haven't seen you in a while," he happily said. Snowpoint was small, so she basically knew everybody's face. Although the more accurate statement would be that everyone knew her.

"I'm here to see our guest," she said. It was easy to remember Craig's name. After all, he was extremely fun to battle, and he had beaten her the last two years on the first try. This time would be different!

"Ah, the wonder boy," the officer replied.

"Wonder boy? Come on, he ain't that special," She said, contradicting her own train of thought. "Hope you've been keeping his stay a secret like we asked."

"Of course, of course," he said, waving his hand dismissively. "Follow me."

The officer led Candice to what was possibly the most comfortable jail cell of all time. Hell, there weren't even prison bars! It was just a locked wooden door. Candice stepped into the room with a grin.

"Craig, my boy," she said in a mocking tone. "How does it feel to be a criminal?"

The black-haired man stared at her for a few seconds and rolled his eyes. "Pretty bad, all things considered. I'm kind of wasting time here. I thought I'd be out by now," he complained as he typed away on a laptop. "At least I get to answer my emails. I was very backed up."

"Is that a new computer?" Candice asked.

"Wha— I mean, yes, but why do you even remember what computer I had last year?"

Candice stared at the ground and twiddled her thumbs. "No reason."

"Shi— stuff happens on the road. It broke, and I got a new one."

"Ahem," she coughed after a few awkward seconds of silence. "I came here to tell you that you're free to go. The trainers I sent to check if your story was right or not confirmed that the people your Salamence killed were from Team Galactic. It was tough, you know? Their corpses were barely recognizable, and their uniforms—"

"Please don't describe the state of their corpses, Candice. I just ate brunch."

"Haha… my bad," Candice winced and scratched the back of her head. "Anyway, you're free to go, but I did have a few things to say."

Questions from the League, Candice omitted.

"Go ahead."

"This Savika individual," Candice started. "Are you sure she's not the one that disclosed the lake's location to Team Galactic? The League didn't know about it beforehand, but we were looking for it, so we're wondering how Team Galactic beat us to it."

The League now knew about all three lakes. Verity near Twinleaf, Valor near Sunyshore, and the newly named Acuity near Snowpoint, but due to Team Galactic stealing their files with Rotom, they also knew where Valor was. That meant that both the League and Team Galactic now knew where the three lakes were. Candice didn't know what they were planning to do with them. If her short time working for the League had taught her anything, they must have known the answer. They just weren't telling her and the other gym leaders, at least not yet, but if they weren't, it probably had world defining consequences. She did know that they were building a veritable fortress around each lake to prevent Team Galactic from ever getting near them again.

"They attacked her," Craig sighed. "She's innocent in all of this, leave her alone. She already hates the fact that you're going to be sending League trainers to guard the place permanently. I know I told you that I thought they'd come back, but… why? I know that the lake speeds up your thought process, but that seems like too easy of an answer. Something else must be important about this lake. Something that you're not telling me."

"Believe it or not, I don't know the answer. It's above my pay grade," Candice shrugged. "Now, these kids that you told me about yesterday. Why did you omit their presence this long?"

"I promised to," he said. "Believe it or not, I'm a man of my word. Apparently, the world thought them to be dead. Now that they've revealed themselves, I felt like I could finally talk about it."

Candice's eyes widened. So they were the same kids that had brought fame to Snowpoint? She hadn't even made the link until now. Now she definitely wanted to meet them and chat. Maybe she'd go easy on them for their gym battle… it wasn't like she knew how hard she should go on them anyway, and she would get a lot less complaints if the fight was too easy instead of too hard, especially with all of the attention on them. It wasn't hard to imagine the public outrage if she utterly crushed who had barely made it out of Mount Coronet alive, one of which had been abused by her father.

"I had to lie to them about Team Galactic possibly coming back. Did you know that she was one of the hostages at the Valley Windwords powerplant? I didn't have the heart to tell her the truth," Craig said with a pained look. "She had a panic attack just hearing the name Team Galactic."

"Well, what's done is done," Candice sighed. "Gonna sign up to battle me tomorrow? You're going to have to go after the four kids, though."

"Why not just do it today?" He asked in an annoyed tone. "I gotta get back on the road."

"I'm busy today, I've got to meet with the dock workers' union. They're threatening to strike if they don't get better pay— I mean, I certainly agree since they keep Snowpoint alive, but try telling that to our union-buster mayor. Anyway, the negotiations are going to be a headache."

"Ouch. Good luck with that," Craig said as he grabbed all of his bags. "When I become the Champion, I'm going to delegate all of the political stuff to the League. Can't be bothered to deal with it."

"That's what I thought too, when I became a gym leader. I thought my gym trainers would deal with it, but nope," Candice sighed. "It sneaks up on you, you know? Duty."

Craig stared at her for a few seconds. "You're carrying some heavy shit, I can tell," He said as he clapped her shoulder. "Oh, crap, I swore. Ah, dang it."

"I'm not a kid," Candice said.

"Yeah, you are," he laughed as he left. "See you tomorrow."

Damn it, I've got no chance, Candice thought to herself. If only I was a few years older…

She leaned against a wall and took a few minutes to herself. It was hard to see how confident Craig was when she knew for a fact that even though he would probably win the Conference, he simply had no chance against Cynthia. Candice had battled her a few times for fun, but she utterly crushed her without even going all out, and the ice type gym leader wasn't that much worse than Craig was. Candice honestly believed that no one would dethrone Cynthia until she retired or died. She was a once in a thousand years talent.

Candice wasn't on good terms with the Sinnoh Champion these days. Not after it was revealed that she just watched as trainers died in Eterna Forest due to Team Galactic's interference. Volkner and Maylene thought the same, but Gardenia and Roark were on Cynthia's side. Roark thought that the ends justified the means, and Gardenia was just being Cynthia's lapdog, as always. This created a rift between the two camps, and their relationships were a bit on thin ice. Maylene especially couldn't believe Gardenia was still taking Cynthia's side. She felt the most betrayed out of all of them. Still, eventually, they'd have to talk it out, and Cynthia had told them that she would invite them to chat soon. Face to face, and there, she would finally give them the answers they sought.

The gym leader sighed. Battling Craig would help her destress and unwind, and so would seeing the four kids be happy when they won against her. She'd give them a good show, pretend to be helpless, and enjoy the smiles on their faces.

Candice reset her mood to her silly self as she exited the police station and started walking toward the docks. It would do wonders to calm down tensions between the two negotiating parties, and she'd be able to act as a bridge of some sort. Cynthia had apologized and said she would keep them better informed next time, but not that she wouldn't do it again. That was the straw that had broken the Camerupt's back. Still, Candice knew the weight of duty. She knew it better than every gym leader.

Sometimes, it was better not to know. So at the end of the day, even though she would protest and express her anger, she would keep her head down and listen.

---

A/N: Here it is, the first Legendary to appear in IWTTS. You probably could have guessed from the vibe of the story in general, but yeah, Regigias isn't a Pokemon you could ever hope to defeat, no matter how powerful you are as a trainer. If I were to put a power level on the smaller ones like Regice, I'd say that Cynthia's entire team (ten Pokemon) might be able to stand up to one of them. Anyway, for the whole ritual stuff, I was heavily inspired by SCP-2845, although it's a much simpler version of it. The entire League as an organization actually has a decent amount of similarities with the SCP foundation. Clearance levels, containing SCPs Pokemon that could potentially end the world/the region, etc. This was more of a lore/worldbuilding chapter, along with small bits of progress with the Team Galactic plot and getting insight into Candice's personality, but I hope you enjoyed it. Also, you're now finally caught up with all the other websites I'm posting on, so from now on, it'll be one chapter per day unless stated otherwise.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 93

"Are you guys ready?!" I yelled out to my team.

Since Candice was apparently too busy just when we wanted to battle her, I had decided to get more practice in for the battle. I felt ready— more ready than I had ever felt against even Gardenia somehow, but tying up any loose ends would serve me well during the battle. My team and I were currently in one of Snowpoint's few arenas, and it was completely empty. That meant I had the entire place for myself.

Electabuzz and Frillish were on one side of the arena. The electric type looked more excited than he had been in a long time and punched his palm as he grinned wildly. Frillish rolled his eyes, clearly reluctant to fight in this mock battle I had organized. He still held a soft spot for Togetic, and he'd probably pull his punches against her, but at least he could practice using Recover and Acid Armor without holding back. On the other side, Tangela and Togetic were their aloof selves, not at all concerned with the fact that they were about to battle. It was angel's first time fighting a member of the family and not just other Pokemon, and princess was busy playing with some snow she had brought in from outside using Extrasensory and harassing him with it.

Larvitar, meanwhile, was grumbling next to me, angry that I wasn't letting her battle.

The way I had set up the two teams had been rather simple. Sure, at first glance, it might have seemed like Electabuzz and Frillish had a clear advantage, but both teams had weaknesses that could be exploited, and it'd be foolish to underestimate Togetic and Tangela. I was planning on letting them do whatever they thought was best. My time through Mount Coronet had taught me that when I thought, I couldn't focus on giving my Pokemon orders all the time, so against opponents who I didn't know well, like Candice, it'd be better to just let them act somewhat independently while I thought up of a strategy on the fly. Of course, against opponents who I could study for days before the battle, I'd easily be ordering my Pokemon around during the entire fight.

Togetic finally finished playing with her snow. I waited for everyone to give me a signal and cut across the air with my arm as if I was a referee.

"Begin!"

Electabuzz roared, then ran forward, cutting the distance between him and angel in a blur as Frillish sent out a quick Shadow Ball at the grass type. As if he had just awakened, Tangela extended six vines forward, ready to catch Electabuzz and stop him in his tracks.

Togetic fluttered her wings, and the air in front of her quickened and sharpened like blades, hurtling toward Electabuzz, cutting his skin and slowing him down. Tangela took the Shadow Ball to the face and shook it off, opting to catch the electric type instead thanks to princess' help. The vines wrapped around his two arms, and he started using Mega Drain. Electabuzz clamored at his teammate, asking for help.

"Let me introduce you to how the team works, sweetheart," I told Larvitar as I crouched next to her. She had always been in her Pokeball when we battled wild Pokemon for her own protection after Mount Coronet, so this was her first time in a while actually seeing them battle. Plus, they were battling each other, not wild Pokemon. "Electabuzz doesn't look like it, but he's actually a little speed demon. Well, a big one now that he evolved. I guess he could be considered a glass cannon. Hits hard but doesn't take hits well. Case in point."

The electric type was struggling against Tangela's vines, but he was quickly losing steam. Frillish answered his call for help, propelling himself with water sport and quickly pelting Tangela's side with Poison Sting. The grass type shook, clearly in pain, leaving Electabuzz an opening. His muscles bulged, and he tore the vines apart before continuing on his path. A small spark lit his fist ablaze, and he hit Tangela right in the face, sending him flying, but Togetic quickly caught him with Extrasensory and gently placed him back on the ground.

"Frillish is like mobile artillery. Excellent at completely destroying his opponents from a safe distance, and he has great mobility too," I explained. "But we've been working on his survivability in battle. He deals less damage than Electabuzz overall, but he can last longer."

Togetic giggled, lifting Tangela with Extrasensory once more, and sent him flying like a cannonball toward a bewildered Frillish. The water type quickly propelled himself upward with Water Sport, and it looked like Tangela would miss—

Angel whipped a vine around one of Frillish's tentacle midair and brought the water type down with him. Electabuzz ran to his side, hoping to help, but Tangela tripped him up by wrapping a vine around his ankle and then pelted him with a Leech Seed. He proceeded to Vine Whip Frillish, who tried to escape, but Togetic's eyes shone, and she restrained him with Extrasensory. Angel continued to hit Frillish until Electabuzz finally rescued him and hit the grass type away with an Ice Punch.

"Angel's kind of my battering ram," I continued. "He's really good at just ruining his opponent's day. His vines are so oppressive and annoying to fight that I don't know where I'd even begin to counter them if I was facing him, but he packs a pretty good punch to boot, although he's fallen a bit behind Frillish and Electabuzz in regards to brute force. Something his evolution will no doubt fix."

Tangela shook himself off, but he was clearly struggling. Back when Electabuzz had been an Elekid, he probably could have shrugged off a lot of these punching attacks, even though they were super effective. Now, though? After two, he was almost tapped out, but so were Frillish and Electabuzz. Too tired to run, Electabuzz brought his hands together, and thunder clapped. A huge Thunderbolt flew toward Tangela, who Togetic hastily protected with an Ancient Power. Frillish was now back in the air, and he was looking at the actual thorn in his team's side. Togetic.

"Princess might lack in power, but she makes up for it with her incredible utility. She's kind of an army knife or a jack of all trades, but that's not a weakness. That's a strength. She can do anything, and she likes thinking outside of the box. I'd say she often flies under the radar, like she did during this fight. I mean, honey could have easily hit her with a Thunderbolt or two, and she probably would have gone down, but they were too focused on Tangela to notice that she was the one pulling the strings."

Frillish offered princess an apologetic look, inhaled, and spat out a Bubblebeam straight at her. Her eyes shone, and she quickly altered their path before retaliating with another Air Cutter so quick Frillish couldn't even dodge with Water Sport. On the other side of the arena, Electabuzz and Tangela were duking it out. Angel kept trying to tie down Electabuzz to finally bring him down, but he kept knocking the vines away with Fire Punch. Still, Leech Seed was slowly taking effect, and after around thirty seconds of this, he had finally slowed enough for Tangela to Bind and Mega Drain him until he fainted, and I recalled him.

Togetic let out a child-like laugh as electricity zapped around her and flew off toward Frillish, who had adeptly Recovered from multiple Air Cutters. Paralysis took hold, but he was strong enough to stay afloat, and he threw another Water Pulse forward. Togetic took the hit, opting to lift Tangela high up enough so his vines could catch Frillish once again and drag him to the ground. Once he was down, he wasn't getting back up. Tangela wrapped multiple vines around his body, and Mega Drained his remaining energy.

I recalled Frillish and clapped. "That was a great battle. Great job on your strategizing, princess. That was the key to your victory. Tangela, you were great as always, and your vine control is on point," I said. Togetic laughed, clapping to herself. She had only gotten hit once. "I'll recall you now and bring you guys to a Center, although I guess Larvitar can stay since she was just watching. Honey's going to be disappointed at himself."

I took another look at Larvitar, whose eyes were still shining from that battle. She probably hadn't even listened to a word I had said, but it looked like battling was everything she had hoped it would be and more.

"You liked that, huh?" I smiled at her. "I have a role in mind for you too, but you'll have to grow up to fulfill it."

You'll be a tank, I thought. Something that never goes down no matter how many hits it takes, like Cece's Deino.

All I needed after that was something I considered heavy artillery, which was something I hoped a fire type could fix, but maybe I was taking it too far with these analogies. Either way, I recalled my entire team and made my way back to the Pokemon Center, satisfied with how that match had gone. There wasn't much else I could do now. All of my Pokemon knew their moves, Cece was busy juggling interviews, fixing her relationship with Scyther, and undergoing intense training for the gym, so we didn't have that much time. Chase was also training, although he was busy bringing up his Snover up to speed with the rest of his team as fast as he could.

Maybe Denzel would entertain me. He was giving his team today off, especially since Eev— Sylveon had desperately tried to learn as many new moves as he could in such a short amount of time. Disarming Voice and Play Rough were what they were focusing on. I gave all of my Pokemon except Larvitar to Nurse Joy, who seemed happy to finally be doing her job instead of sitting at a counter all day. I knocked on Denzel's door before realizing that the goofball hadn't even closed it. I barged in with Larvitar in tow and noticed that he was talking and filming himself on his Poketch. Sylveon was quietly sleeping at Denzel's feet along with his new Snorunt, one of his ribbons loosely wrapped around his leg. I hadn't had many opportunities to acquaint myself with the ice type yet.

"G—Grace," he stammered in embarrassment. "What— how did you even get in?"

I let out an evil smile. "Ooooh, were you making a video?" I laughed as I walked toward the phone.

"No, it's a livestream," he said. "Sorry guys, I'm gonna have to end it here. I'll start again soon," he said before pressing a button on his phone.

My stomach dropped at the mention of livestreaming. "How… how many viewers was that?"

"Ten thousand or so," he sighed. "I was trying out this Poketuber thing. Emilia wants to do it, too, remember? Like Temperance does, although she has her own site so that she doesn't have to split donations with the platform I'm uploading on. Emi gave me some pointers since I had the name recognition and the fame to kickstart my channel. I was just doing a general introduction and stuff. She says she'll start hers when she actually starts getting wins in contests."

"Right…" I muttered before suddenly looking at Larvitar, who was staring at us confusedly. "Was sweetheart… was she in the shot?"

Denzel winced and quickly played back his footage. Larvitar had been in the shot. That meant that thousands of people had seen that I owned a Larvitar. A pseudo-legendary Pokemon. This would no doubt fuck me over and make me even more famous.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Damn it."

"Sorry," my best friend apologized.

"No, no, it's my fault. I shouldn't have barged in like that, even though the door was open. I guess I reap what I sow."

"Well, it was going to come out eventually, so maybe it was better to do it now that you're in Snowpoint," Denzel said, trying to cheer me up. "No pesky trainers to harass you or ask you to trade it for their Bidoof, or whatever."

That elicited a small chuckle out of me. "You're right, it was better to do it now. I just wished that it had been in a more… controlled fashion and not an accident. Anyway, how many subscribers you got? Can you get monetized yet?"

"I have twelve thousand subscribers so far, but I haven't linked the account to my trainer card, or built a donation page, or anything like that. I literally just made an account, posted a link on the forums, and went live. I'm still new to all of this."

"Sounds like a good source of income if you build it up, though," I smiled.

"Yeah, people mostly associate Poketubers with coordinators, since trainers travel a lot and don't have time to actually make content, but I'm thinking of ways around that. Maybe hire an editor in the future so that they can keep putting out videos while I'm traveling?"

"Good editors aren't cheap, you know," I said. "But yeah, Temperance probably has one. Or like, an entire team of 'em. There's no way she edits her stuff."

"Yeah. I was thinking of making training compilations, battle montages, and stuff like that, along with the occasional livestream. Either way, this is just stuff for the future. I'll get deeper into it when we get to Hearthome."

"Man, there is a lot of shit happening at Hearthome," I laughed. "Almost makes me wonder if we'll have enough time to do it all."

"Eh, Solaceon's a nice stop if we don't," he shrugged. "Anyway, what brings you here?"

"Nothing, I just finished making my Pokemon battle, and I was bored."

"You made me stop my livestream because you were bored?" Denzel asked incredulously.

"Yeah… sorry? Wanna watch a shitty Center movie or something?"

"Okay," he groaned, grabbing the T.V. remote.

"You're the best."

——

The day of all of our battles had finally come. We all stepped into the gym with a confident stride. All of our experiences from Mount Coronet to Snowpoint had prepared us for this moment. This battle.

Since Candice's schedule was completely free, we hadn't even signed up for a solid timeslot yet. The receptionist yawned as he watched us decide who was going to go first.

"I should be first. You guys are already leeching off my success enough," Chase said loudly. "Let me have some fame too."

"Why don't you just make a channel like I did—"

"Come on, I don't have time for that coordinator shit," he said dismissively.

Denzel sighed. "Anyway, I don't mind going after you guys. Need to see how Candice fights to get the engine running."

"You call your brain an engine? Cringe, dude," Chase retorted. "But fine."

"I'm fine with going last," I said with a raised hand. "I'd also like to see the way Candice fights at our level."

"Sounds good, I'll be third," Denzel nodded.

I'd also see some of her lower leveled Pokemon, but odds were that they would be in no shape to fight after battling Cece and Chase, so that point was moot.

"Okay, Obel," Chase said smugly. "How about we settle this with a nice arm wrestling match?"

"Are you daft? That would in no way be fair," she answered, crossing her arms.

"How about you guys play rock paper scissors? One game. Winner goes first, and loser goes second," Denzel suggested. As always, he was trying to lower tension, although thankfully, the mood was rather playful instead of tense.

"That's a great suggestion," Cece said.

"Fine. One game, though," Chase nodded.

They readied themselves, shook their fists three times, and Chase threw rock while Cece threw paper.

"I win," she said with a vain smile. "Looks like you'll have to go after me."

"Wait! How about a best of three?" Chase asked.

"You said one game," I laughed. "Come on, let's go spectate," I stared at Cece for a few seconds and nodded at her. "You've got this, easy."

"Of course."

It was easy to see how massive the stands were when they were completely empty— wait, there was a man… I squinted. Craig was there, sitting in the front row and leaning against the railing. He motioned us to come over, and we obliged him.

"I thought you were gone already," I happily said. "Where have you been?"

"Oh, you know, been busy here and there. I have a battle after you kids. No matter how I pleaded, Candice was incessant. She wanted to battle you first."

"Sorry about that," Denzel said. "Looking at us fight is probably going to be like looking at kindergarteners, huh?"

"Speak for yourself, Williams," Chase said.

"Well, it won't teach me anything, but it'll be fun. I usually don't do stuff like this, so it'll be nice to feel grounded for a while," Craig said.

"Well, we're definitely staying for your battle afterward," I said. "As long as my Pokemon aren't too hurt, I'll stick around."

"Sounds good. Ah, your friend's there already."

Cece walked onto the platform confidently and looked beautiful while doing so. Candice arrived soon after, grinning from ear to ear. I leaned further against the railing. If what I had seen during my sleuthing was correct, then this behavior would mean that Candice would send out aggressive, offensive-minded Pokemon. The ice type gym leader grabbed a Pokeball and waited for Cece to do the same.

"Erm… Leader Candice, you forgot the rules," the referee on the side of the arena awkwardly said.

"Ah, shoot! It's been so long that I forgot! Um, welcome, challenger! This will be a four-on-four battle with one switch in allowed. I reserve the right to… wait, did the killing part come first, or—"

"Please, just get it over with! I'm dying from secondhand embarrassment!" The referee screamed.

"Sorry, Lily," Candice said, scratching her head.

"My name isn't even Lily. I've been working here since you started as a gym leader…"

"Let's not get sidetracked! Basically, no killing, I choose whatever Pokemon I want, and have fun! Now, send out your Pokemon!" Candice yelled.

Cecilia sent out her Slowpoke, who strangely already seemed awake and ready to battle. It was like he was a completely different Pokemon from usual. I didn't know what training she had undergone with him, but he was definitely stronger and more focused than before.

"Aw, I love Slowpoke! They're so dumb!" Candice grinned and sent out her Pokemon.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 94

Candice's battlefield was hilly and covered in snow. It was like a fusion between Roark's mountainous arena and Gardenia's flat one, with rolling hills and some trees spread out throughout the battlefield. There was, of course, the customary small lake on the challenger's side, although Cecilia wouldn't need it.

A small Cubchoo appeared in a flash of red, and it sniffled loudly. I frowned at Candice's choice of Pokemon. At first glance, the ice type appeared ridiculously weak. Would it be like Gardenia's Skiddo and actually pose a threat, or was Candice underestimating us?

"Get over there and Slash!" Candice yelled out excitedly, pointing at Slowpoke.

Cubchoo offered a small nod and slowly ran toward the water type.

Cecilia waited until it made it about halfway through the arena, then extended her hand in one graceful, smooth motion. "Psychic, Zen Headbutt," she ordered.

My eyes widened. Psychic already? When Slowpoke hadn't even evolved? The water type's eyes shone brighter than I had ever seen them, and a thick layer of psychic energy surrounded his opponent. Cubchoo winced, clearly already in pain. Unlike Confusion, Psychic not only allowed a Pokemon to lift things with their mind, but it also assaulted a Pokemon's brain with psychic energy. Slowpoke dragged Cubchoo toward him at a terrifying speed just as his forehead glowed blue, and using all of Psychic's momentum, he rammed the ice type with Zen Headbutt. I winced, hearing a loud crack reverberate through the arena. The lack of an audience made it so we could hear the Pokemon getting hurt very easily.

Cubchoo stood back up, clearly on its last legs.

"Ice Beam!" Candice yelled.

The ice type shook its entire body, reared its head back, and blew icy energy toward Slowpoke.

"Divert it back," Cece cooly ordered.

The Ice Beam curved almost one hundred and eighty degrees right before hitting Slowpoke and barrelled toward the Cubchoo, who intercepted it with another Ice Beam, creating a small, frosty explosion in the middle of the arena.

"Crap, you're better than I thought," Candice said with her hands on her hips. "Cubchoo, Yawn!"

The ice type opened its mouth, letting out a huge, exaggerated yawn. Just looking at it made me feel drowsy, and the attack wasn't even aimed at me.

Cece smiled— a competitive smile that let me know instantly that she was about to ruin Candice's day.

"Darling, Disable, then Water Pulse," Cecilia said. "Speed it up."

Slowpoke's eyes gleamed bright blue, then he spat out a huge Water Pulse, which suddenly quickened midway through the arena thanks to the water type's Psychic. Cubchoo was already slow to begin with, so dodging it was impossible.

"Freeze it!" Candice yelled.

Cubchoo inhaled sharply, and a frosty breath escaped from its mouth, freezing the water type attack midair. The Water Pulse fell to the ground and shattered.

"Hehe, gotcha!" She smiled. Candice was obviously buying time for her Yawn to take effect, and Slowpoke was out of range for his Psychic.

Cece recalled Slowpoke, meaning that she was using her only switch in. It was for a good reason, though. Yawn would never take effect again, and Cubchoo could no longer use it. Cecilia grabbed her next Pokeball, and I frowned when she sent out her Deino. It was a choice I disagreed with. I knew she wanted him to evolve and that he was strong enough to easily finish Cubchoo off, but if it were me, I would have saved my strongest team members for last to bait Candice into using weaker Pokemon.

Although I supposed that Cece didn't really have weaker Pokemon.

Deino roared threateningly, and blue draconic energy danced in his mouth.

Candice let out a surprised gasp. "You have a dragon? So cool! Cubchoo, Ice Beam!"

"Hold back, sixty percent. Dragon Pulse," Cecilia ordered.

Whereas Dragon Breath could be described as flames like Incinerate was, just of the dragon variety, Dragon Pulse was a continuous beam of draconic energy that was so big it made the previous move look like a joke. In fact, the move was so powerful that Deino could barely control his head and aim toward the Cubchoo. Still, the little bit of the attack that was aimed properly completely consumed and blew past the Ice Beam and blew Cubchoo toward Kadabra's barrier, tearing one of the trees apart. The ice type was down— and I didn't think anything could possibly stand up to that. And that had just been sixty percent. Cece was back to making Deino hold back again, and this time, I honestly believed it was because Dragon Pulse would have killed Cubchoo at full strength if the dragon type could actually aim it properly.

"Holy fuck," I whispered to myself.

"Cubchoo is unable to battle! Leader Candice, send out your second Pokemon," the referee said.

"Damn…" Candice muttered as she recalled her Cubchoo. "That attack was no joke."

Cece still wasn't responding to her attempts at dialogue and simply waited for Candice to send out another Pokemon. The ice type gym leader obliged her and released a Sneasel. I had been right. Candice was using Pokemon that were offensively minded for this battle.

"Again, sixty percent," Cece simply said.

"It can't aim! Dodge and get close!"

Deino reared his head back, and another Dragon Pulse blew across the arena. Sneasel nimbly ducked and slid across the ice to dodge the first pass, then jumped over the attack to dodge the next.

"Avalanche!" Candice said.

Huge quantities of snow flew upward like a wave behind Sneasel and collapsed all around Deino, who had to stop his attack. Cece clicked her tongue.

"Incinerate it away."

Flames completely melted the snow covering Deino, and the dragon continued the attack, aiming at Sneasel. The ice type hadn't expected Deino to get out of its Avalanche so easily, and it failed to dodge the Incinerate in time. It screeched as flames engulfed its body and fainted right away.

"Sneasel is unable to battle. Leader Candice, send out your third Pokemon," the referee awkwardly said.

I heard Denzel whistle to my side, and I was inclined to agree. Whereas Gardenia had pushed Cece to her limit, Candice looked to be a repeat of Roark, and could we even blame her? It was starting to sink in that even though Cece was in a tier of her own, all of us were too powerful to just have two badges. Maybe she was fighting at the level we were supposed to be at. Even though she was technically allowed to use Pokemon above that level like Gardenia had done with Sunflora against me or Breloom against Cecilia, nothing was forcing her to.

"Man, I'm rusty at these low-level battles," she sighed. "I keep making my Pokemon go in, thinking that they'll just brush off attacks or counter them on their own. I guess that means an easy gym battle for you—"

"Is this a joke to you?" Cece interrupted, finally engaging in conversation.

"What?"

"Is this a joke to you?" She repeated. "I came here looking to be challenged. I want to push my Deino to the next level, and if you keep taking it easy on me, this will be a waste of time. I'm not just looking for a badge, I want to get as powerful as I can to fulfill my promise at the end of the year. Use better Pokemon. You're on autopilot right now. You aren't trying. Wake up."

I understood Cece's frustration perfectly. We all did. It was one thing to win a badge, but the win had to be satisfying. A gym battle was supposed to push us to the brink. Challenge us like never before and push us past our limits. This was… this was as if Candice was playing house. Pretending. I didn't want to win like that.

The gym leader sighed. "I'm sorry, I guess you're right," she said, scratching the back of her head. "I am rusty, but I wasn't really trying. It's been so long since I've been a trainer that I forgot how annoying it was not to get taken seriously. Um, I'll be right back!"

I could see the referee's soul leave her body as Candice hurriedly ran back to her waiting room. I stared at Denzel, and he just shrugged. Apparently, that was… allowed? The rules must have been stretched really thin. She exited around a minute later with new Pokeballs on her belt.

"Sorry for the wait, I wasn't expecting to use any of these," Candice said, pointing at her Pokeballs. "Now, prepare yourself! The real gym battle starts—"

"Just send out your Pokemon!" The referee fumed. "Do you have any idea of how unprofessional this makes Snowpoint look?"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry!" Candice laughed as she sent out a Piloswine. It was just as big as the one we had seen in the wild. The ground type snorted threateningly and kicked up snow.

"Good," Cecilia smiled. "Dragon Pulse—"

"Trip it up with Bulldoze!" Candice interrupted.

During Denzel's battle against Gardenia, Bulldoze had just affected a large area around her Grotle, but Piloswine's Bulldoze was laser focused on the ground under Deino. The dragon type's Dragon Pulse flew off to the side and hit Kadabra's barrier, making the referee flinch.

"Ice Shard! Ice Shard! Ice Shard!" Candice laughed.

Wave after wave of small shards of ice flew off toward Deino.

"Dragon Pulse! Don't hold back!" Cecilia yelled.

"Scratch that, Bulldoze again!" Candice said, canceling her last order.

The ground shook, and Deino missed again, but this time he roared out in frustration. He hadn't mastered the move enough to properly aim it while being attacked, and Candice took immediate notice.

"Incinerate," she said. This time, Piloswine tried the Bulldoze tactic again, but Deino's attack was steady. The flames enveloped the ground type, who cried out in pain as its body caught fire.

"Icicle Crash!" Candice ordered.

An icicle large and sharp enough to penetrate even Deino's scales appeared above the dragon.

"Melt it!" Cece hurriedly ordered.

Deino lifted his head up, but the attack was quicker than what Cece had expected. The icicle didn't just drop, it was propelled by an invisible force and penetrated deep into Deino's scaly hide. The dragon type bellowed out in pain, but he was nowhere near done. Cecilia ordered him to quickly use another Incinerate at Piloswine. The ground type ignored the flames and just ran through them, tanking the damage like it was nothing. When it got close enough, Candice sprung to action.

"Freeze-Dry!" She said, her tongue sticking out in excitement.

First, Deino's stream of flames stopped, and then slowed. I quickly realized that it was his entire body that was slowing down, not just his attack. Frost grew on his scales, and his breath grew icy, but Cecilia was smiling for some reason.

"Finally," she exhaled as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

It took a few seconds for me to understand what she meant. Light completely envelopped Deino's body, and he doubled in size. Then, a second head grew out of its body. Deino had evolved into a Zweilous, just as Cecilia predicted. The dragon type's body was cleared of frost, but the two heads stared at themselves in confusion for a few seconds, and then they fought.

One head gathered dark energy in its mouth and Crunched at the other's neck, while the other roared out in anger and screamed out a few flames. They weren't really dealing any real damage, but Cece sighed and snapped her fingers so loudly that it reverberated throughout the arena.

"Bad! Bad Zweilous!" She screamed, reminding me of her in Floaroma. "Incinerate at the Piloswine!"

Candice was doubled over, too busy giggling at the civil war going on to order her Piloswine. After around ten seconds, she wiped tears away from her eyes. "Oh, man, you're too good," she said. "Piloswine, finish it off. Freeze-Dry again."

The two heads kept fighting among themselves, one of them even having used Dragon Breath against itself, actually damaging its own body. They slowed as their body froze over, however, but I was surprised to see that the heads snapped disturbingly quickly toward Piloswine. It was like watching a hive mind at work. Cece didn't even give out an order. One of the heads let out a huge Dragon Pulse that completely enveloped Piloswine while the other used Incinerate, warming their body and burning their opponent in the process. I watched in awe as Piloswine fell to the ground, its body smoking and unconscious.

"Piloswine is unable to battle! Leader Candice, please send out your last Pokemon," the referee said.

"Okay, that was more powerful than I thought," Candice said as she grabbed her last Pokemon. A blue Sandslash with sharp icicles growing out of its back hissed and sharpened its claws. It was an Alolan variant. The gym must have paid a fortune to have it sent here, since they were rare in the tropical region to boot, only living on a single mountain.

"Incinerate," Cece said, snapping her fingers to snap Zweilous out of their now-resumed fight. One of them turned back to roar and protest at her while the other listened and quickly spat out a stream of white-hot flames.

I frowned when I saw that Candice didn't order Sandslash to dodge, and the Pokemon just stayed there and took the attack. I understood immediately when she grinned and ordered it to use Metal Burst, an attack that was more powerful the more damage a Pokemon had sustained. Alolan Sandslash were steel and ice type, meaning that—

Sandslash swept his arms, and sharp shards of metal flew out of its scaly skin like shrapnel. Metal Burst. The attack wasn't accurate at this distance, but the shards that hit, hit hard. Zweilous roared, and one of the heads, somehow blaming the other for what had happened hit it with Dragon Breath.

"It's distracted! Icicle Crash!" Candice said.

Just like before, a sharp icicle materialized out of thin air above Zweilous and penetrated their hide. This, combined with the fact that the heads were fighting nonstop meant that the dragon type finally went down. Still, it was a testament to its strength that even while fighting themselves, Zweilous was so strong it was almost unfair, and Cece seemed to understand that, since she recalled her Pokemon with a child-like smile. The heads seemed to both be aggressive, but one seemed to be much more irate than the other, while the second seemed to still at least listen to Cece's orders. It was something she was going to have to figure out after the battle.

Cecilia released Fletchinder, who stretched her wings and announced her presence with an ear-piecing cry.

"This is our last opponent, darling. Steady yourself," Cecilia warned.

"Knock it out of the sky with Icicle Crash!" Candice yelled.

Cece simply smirked and started the battle. "Tailwind."

Fletchinder easily dodged the singular icicle and started beating her wings. Wind started blowing across the arena toward Sandslash, slowing it down and speeding the flying type up. But Cecilia wasn't done. She was just starting.

"Agility, Quick Attack, Flame Charge," she said in one continuous order.

Fletchinder's body loosened as she dodged a series of Icicle Spears Candice had ordered. She was already ridiculously fast, but—

I blinked twice, and Fletchinder was already across the arena, flying toward Sandslash with her body wreathed in flames. She crashed into the steel type so quickly that even she had gotten hurt. Fletchinder shook herself off and tried taking flight again, but she barely managed to hobble away before Sandslash could hit her with its claws. My eyes widened when I saw that the ice type was panting loudly, its movements slowed and sluggish. After a few moments, it collapsed on the ground. The damage had taken seconds to actually register in its body. It was done. Fletchinder had taken it out in one combination of moves. She wasn't that powerful, but Cece had made sure that her lack of power would be compensated by making her so fast that it didn't even matter. Arceus, her Pokemon's power, and her skill at battling were ridiculous. She recalled Fletchinder, who was now incapable of fighting due to the recoil from her attack, and strode confidently toward Candice to receive her badge.

"A fuck ton of trainers just watched that battle live," Denzel said with a grin as he turned on his phone. "Her thread's blowing up again, too. This is the fastest I've ever seen a megathread go. Every time I refresh the page, there are at least five new messages, sometimes ten."

"She's excellent," Craig said. "Way better than I was at her age. Looks like Lauren has some competition after all."

I nodded. With this battle, Cece had again cemented herself as one of the most powerful first years in the Circuit, shutting every naysayer and hater dead in their tracks. I wasn't worried about keeping up. I was motivated to train harder. I needed to catch up before our battle in Hearthome, and so did Denzel.

"Pfft, your sister's going to get crushed by me in the Conference either way," Chase said with a smug smile. "My turn next," he said as he left us.

"Any advice you could give her?" I asked Craig, even though I knew he'd probably refuse to answer. Still, it didn't hurt to try.

"I gotta send Lauren a message to tell her to start getting involved. She's got to start looking you guys up. You can only go so far just staying in the wild like a caveman," Craig sighed. He looked genuinely worried for his sister's prospects now, which made my heart swell with pride for Cece. "I'll give you one thing, that strategy with her Fletchinder? Nearly flawless, although she overestimated her Pokemon's ability to take that amount of recoil. She's good for her age, but because she's good, she takes too many risks. That comes back to bite you in the a— in the butt if you don't nip it in the bud early. Tell her that."

"Thank you so much!" I smiled. "Can you give all of us advice like this?"

"Well, it depends on how good you are. We'll see."

My eyes followed Cece, who was slowly walking back into the waiting room. "I'll be right back!" I said as I ran off. I passed a bewildered Chase and waited for Cece in the lobby, but he just shrugged and went on to the waiting room. My girlfriend grinned when she saw me. Even after the battle, she looked perfectly unaffected.

"Oh man, you were so good!" I exclaimed with a wide smile. "You're— you're amazing."

She just approached me silently and— and lifted me up, spinning me around as she laughed. Apparently, that evolution and that win had made her happier than I expected.

"Zweilous was perfect. There are obviously things to iron out, but he's— they're just as powerful as I expected and more," she said, dropping me.

"I can tell," I laughed. "Let's head back. Chase's battle is going to start."

I still needed to study Candice some more, and she would only get better as time went on and she got used to lower leveled battles again.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 95

After our little celebration, Cece and I hurried back to the stands. Craig had sat back down and pulled up a laptop from a bag, but I knew better than to check. Maybe he was sending that message to Lauren after all.

"Ah, you guys finally made it," Denzel said. "Congrats on your win, Cece. You were badass as hell."

"Thank you. That second half was certainly exhilarating," Cecilia answered.

"Candice still taking a break?" I asked.

"Yeah," Denzel nodded. "The battle should be starting any minute now."

"So Zweilous, huh?" I pondered. "Are you going to name the heads?"

Cece let out a pensive hum. "I suppose I'll have to, but obviously, I haven't come up with different names yet."

"How about… baby and sweetie?" I asked.

Cece slowly turned her head toward me and stared like I was clinically insane, and Denzel laughed so hard he could barely breathe.

"What? It's cute…" I muttered, blushing and embarrassed.

"Baby and sweetie?" My best friend laughed. "I mean, come on, have you seen the damage they can do? You're completely off-theme here."

"I'm sorry, Grace, but I don't think those are a very good idea," Cece said. "Thanks for the… suggestion?"

"You guys suck," I groaned.

"For what it's worth, I find this side of you absolutely charming," she smiled.

I sighed and closed my eyes, retreating into my thoughts. Anything would be better than thinking about what had just happened. What had I learned from Cece's battle? Well, from the first half, not much, but I had at least learned that Candice was rusty with using lower leveled Pokemon. Was that a weakness I could exploit, somehow? Maybe it'd be smart to implement a more aggressive style for my battle, but I couldn't be sure until I gathered more information. From the second half, however, I learned a lot more and confirmed what I had seen in the gym leader's past battles. Candice was a fast pace battler who liked to speak over her opponent's orders, which could be an irritating tactic if you weren't ready to face it.

Luckily, I was ready, and she hadn't really taunted Cece during their fight at all. I knew that she could be a lot more annoying, so it looked like she was still pulling her punches a bit.

The last piece of information I managed to extract from the fight was that since Candice had just used an offensive team of the physical variation, she was unlikely to use the same tactic against me. Candice was an easily bored person, and she never used the same tactic in quick succession. That meant I could mentally scratch that scenario off in my head, making more space for my strategy against the rest of her teams.

I opened my eyes and sighed when I saw that Candice still wasn't back. I didn't dislike her, but her way of running her gym was somewhat sloppy. Breaks weren't supposed to be this long.

"...until I get him back under control," Cece finished her sentence.

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked.

"I was asking Cece why she hadn't bought any TMs for her team yet," Denzel explained. "Her Pokemon are definitely good enough now to easily learn the mid-leveled moves, and she's got the cash for it."

"And I said that I was definitely going to look into buying some for Zweilous, but I'd wait until they listened to me again. Zweilous opens up a lot of possibilities for moves that can blow the enemy apart, though," she smiled. "Earth Power, Flamethrower, Dark Pulse, the elemental fang moves… and the two heads can use two attacks at once, oh how wonderful."

"Yeah, we definitely have a devastating battler on our hands," Denzel said. "Our fights in Hearthome will be interesting for sure— ah, finally."

Candice and Chase finally walked up to their platforms, and the referee let out an exasperated sigh.

"Sorry about the wait, I was thinking really hard about what Pokemon to use. Last battle was kind of lame, but I'm not going to go easy on you, got it?!" Candice yelled. Then, she scratched the back of her head and amended her statement. "Uh, I still have to hold back, though, 'cause otherwise you'd never win."

"Save your breath for when you have to congratulate me for my victory," Chase said as he grabbed his Pokeball.

Even from up here, I thought I saw a glint in Candice's eye. She enunciated the rules again, this time perfectly. Even though Chase had five Pokemon capable of battling, the battle would surprisingly be a four-on-four and again have one switch-in. Cece's battle had only had one switch-in too. Once was a coincidence, twice was a pattern. Candice wasn't going to let us swap out a lot of our Pokemon today, which meant I'd have to adjust my starting Pokemon. Frillish would be a good all-rounder to begin with. Mobile, good offense, and good survivability.

Chase unsurprisingly sent out his Houndoom. I knew that he liked to easily blow past his opponents with the type advantage, and today was no different. Candice sent out an Alolan Vulpix with a grin. Another regional form that must have cost a lot of money, especially considering how expensive Vulpix were in general. If my suspicions were correct, Candice was going to use another offensive team, this time angled toward special attacks. The referee slashed his arm across the air, and the battle began.

"Incine—"

"Shut up! Me first, Moonblast!" Candice interrupted with a shrill voice.

Vulpix let out a smooth cry, and a miniature shining moon appeared in front of her mouth and flew off toward Houndoom. The dark type stared at Chase, loyally waiting for his command. The split second of surprise ended, and Chase swore.

"Dodge it, then Incinerate!" He yelled. "Remember our drills—"

"Keep blasting it!" Candice laughed. "Again, again, again!"

"Will you shut the fuck up?! Houndoom!"

Houndoom answered with a fierce nod. The fire type waited until the last second and easily sidestepped the fairy type attack, but there were more coming. A lot more.

"Run up to it," Chase said after clicking his tongue.

Houndoom gave another nod and sprinted toward the small Vulpix, getting grazed by multiple Moon Blasts on the way.

"Slow him down with Icy Wind!" Candice said.

Vulpix ran to the side, away from Houndoom, and started to inhale.

Chase smirked. "Incinerate."

Houndoom let out an eerie howl and spat out a stream of flames—

"Sike! Moon Blast!" Candice giggled.

Another Moon Blast— albeit smaller and less powerful than the ones that had come before— pushed past the flames and hit Houndoom in the face. The dark type yelped, but he shook himself off and tried again, this time grazing Vulpix's tail. I observed the developing situation with a frown. It wasn't so much that Vulpix was unbeatable, it was that Candice was odd to fight. She broke all norms and etiquette of Pokemon battling, and Chase wasn't used to that at all.

"Is that all you got?" Candice taunted, using the slight lull in the battle.

"Shut the hell up!" Chase raged. "Feint Attack!"

The fire type howled and began prowling around Vulpix, slowly fading into thin air. He reappeared seconds later, right behind the ice type, and hit it away with a strong swipe.

"Burn it!" Chase continued.

"Nuh-uh you don't! Extrasensory!"

Houndoom used another Incinerate, but its path was altered by a strange, psychically charged patch of air. Sure, Houndoom was a dark type and immune to psychic attacks, but that didn't mean the move was unusable.

"Screw it! Keep Feint Attacking, it can't counter you!" Chase said.

Houndoom sunk into the shadows once more. Candice stayed silent, waiting for the attack to come, but Chase grinned.

"Incinerate!"

Houndoom appeared to Vulpix's right and already had the Incinerate out of his mouth before the ice type could even notice anything. The flames consumed Vulpix, who cried out in pain and writhed on the ground, causing me to wince. Luckily it looked like Houndoom had gotten his flames under control, so the pain from the burns wouldn't last for months, only days. Once Vulpix got hit once, that was it. The Pokemon was too fragile to survive Houndoom's onslaught and too weak to dodge or counter it, and another Incinerate did the trick.

"Vulpix is unable to battle. Leader Candice, send out your second Pokemon," the referee said.

Candice immediately grabbed her next Pokeball, not giving her next choice any thought, and sent out a Castform. I raised an eyebrow. I knew that the Pokemon wasn't often used in battle, instead being used in swarms to dissolve hurricanes in Hoenn before they could actually make it to shore.

"Hail!" Candice immediately said. Dark clouds began to form over the battlefield, inside of the building, and large chunks of hail started to fall, slowly weakening Houndoom. Castform started to change too. Its body turned purple and small clouds wrapped neatly around its body.

"What a useless gimmick," Chase said. "Incinerate!"

"Hydro Pump."

Chase's eyes widened when Castform blew Houndoom's attack apart with its own. The Hydro Pump turned the Incinerate into vapor and the force behind the move sent Houndoom flying. The fire type whined as it struggled to get back up, but it fell to the ground quickly afterward.

"Houndoom is unable to battle. Challenger, send out your second Pokemon."

Well, that had been something. I knew that Candice said that she wouldn't take it easy on us, but Hydro Pump? One of the most powerful water type moves? I grinned and shivered in anticipation.

Chase clicked his tongue as he recalled his Houndoom. He thought for a few seconds, his hands hovering over his Pokeballs before sending out his Charjabug. The bug type screeched and sent small sparks flying around him.

"Dig, anti-flier setup," Chase spat.

Chase had spoken about his anti-flying Pokemon strategy a few times, and it was time to finally see it in action. Charjabug quickly dug into the snow, shielding himself from the hail, and Candice ordered Castform to float as high up as possible. For a few seconds, there was a deafening silence, but then—

Charjabug burst from the ground, jumping slightly into the air as strands of string shot out from his mouth and wrapped around Castform. The ice type just shrugged it off, and I knew why. Castform didn't fly with wings. This amount of string wouldn't pull it down. Still, when I looked into Chase's eyes, I knew this was a part of his plan. I understood what he was doing when I noticed that the electric type wasn't letting go. It was attached to the Castform by his thin layer of string.

"Burn it off! Ember!" Candice said.

"Thunderbolt," Chase smiled.

Electricity traveled through Charjabug's thread and directly hit the Castform, who was in too much pain to use Ember. The bug type kept the attack going, not stopping for one second, and the ice type crashed to the ground, but they were still linked by the String Shot. Charjabug was still attacking. Castform returned to its normal state, and the Hail slowly came to a halt.

"Castform is unable to battle! Leader Candice, send out your third Pokemon," the referee said.

"Legendaries, that was unexpected," Candice said. "You caught me off-guard, but it won't happen again!" She yelled, sending out a Vanillish. The ice type was so cold that there was mist emanating from its body. "Ice Beam!"

"Dodge with Dig!" Chase yelled with a sweep of his arm.

Charjabug narrowly avoided the attack and burrowed underground. After around twenty seconds, he jumped out and String Shot Vanillish again. Its body was so cold that the string was frozen solid, but it would still be enough. A smug grin split Chase's face as he ordered another Thunderbolt, but Candice laughed.


"Idiot! You fell right into my trap! Mirror Coat!"

Vanillish's body became almost transparent, and the Thunderbolt bounced back down the string and completely fried Charjabug's body. The bug type let go of the string and fell to the ground with a loud thud, kicking up snow. Mirror Coat bounced special attacks back toward the attacker, and the fact that Charjabug had gone down in one attack showed how strong he was. The bug type might not have looked like much, but it seriously couldn't be underestimated.

"Charjabug is unable to battle," The referee said. "Challenger, send out your third Pokemon."

"Good job," Chase said as he recalled his Pokemon. "But we need to work harder."

"Oh, give your poor Charjabug a break," Candice said. "Maybe you should have known that I wouldn't let you use the same strategy twice, stupid!"

Chase clenched at his forehead and stared at the ceiling exasperatedly. "Shut. The. Fuck. Up!"

He sighed, readjusted his cap, and sent out his Riolu.

"Bone Rush," He said. "Anti-flier setup."

A bone grew out of Riolu's hand, and he seized it tightly. He ran forward with Quick Attack, becoming a blur.

"Again?!" Candice laughed. "Come on, don't just tell me your strategy—"

Riolu's arm bulged, and he threw his bone at Vanillish with all of his strength. The ice type's eyes widened, and so did Candice's.

"Dodge!" She yelled.

Riolu was too strong, and Vanillish was too slow. The bone hit the ice type's cone, cracking it, but Riolu kept going. He kept throwing bones at the ice type.

"Acid Armor, then Ice Beam!" Candice ordered.

Vanillish's body sunk into itself, turned into a jelly-like liquid and bones just passed through it like it was a ghost. Such mastery of Acid Armor was impressive, especially when I compared Frillish's own. The ice type then sent out an Ice Beam toward Riolu, but the fighting type wasn't done.

"Vacuum Wave," Chase quickly said.

Riolu inhaled and hurtled both of his palms forward in one brisk motion. The air in front of him compressed and turned into a vacuum. The Ice Beam simply dissipated, and so did Vanillish's body. I let out a panicked gasp when its entire body just exploded all over the arena, but I sighed in relief when I saw that Candice wasn't worried. The small pieces of Vanillish slowly slithered across the ground and become whole again, but Riolu just started beating the life out of it with another Bone Rush before it could get off the ground.

"Vanillish is unable to battle. Leader Candice, send out your last Pokemon."

"Aw, shucks!" Candice sighed, placing a hand on her last Pokemon. "Well, go!"

A Glaceon appeared in a flash of red and gracefully stretched.

"Come on, it's time to battle! It's been so long, and you sleep all day, how can you even be tired?! Ice Beam!"

"Riolu, hit it with Force Palm!"

Riolu gave a quiet nod and zig-zagged with Quick Attack toward Glaceon, narrowly avoiding each Ice Beam. His palms began to glow with a pale blue.

"Slow him down! Icy Wind!"

The ice type switched tactics, sending a frosty, cold gust of wind toward Riolu. Unlike the narrow Ice Beam, Icy Wind was too wide to dodge, and Riolu slowed to a crawl, leaving Glaceon enough time to finally hit him in the chest and arm with an Ice Beam, freezing him partly.

"Vacuum Wave," Chase quickly yelled. Riolu's arm flexed, and the air was sucked out around it. The quick change in pressure destroyed the ice, unfreezing Riolu in the process, but he directed another wave toward Glaceon, who was helpless and could only take the attack. "Again."

Chase had found a weakness in Glaceon's fighting style. The ice type was completely incapable of countering Vacuum Wave, and the attack was too large for him to dodge. Any ranged attack it sent would be dispersed by Vacuum Wave, and Riolu would always win at close range. On Riolu's fifth Vacuum Wave, Glaceon finally went down. Chase had won his gym battle.

"Congrats," Candice said. "If only I wasn't so rusty… ugh. Who knew fighting at such a low level could be this fun? Being aggressive didn't work, so maybe I should try something else…"

We cheered and clapped for him, but he ignored us and simply walked toward Candice with his hands in his pockets. It seemed like the 'low-level' comment had gotten to him somewhat.

"What'd you think of this one?" I asked, turning to Craig.

The older trainer sighed. "Those anti-flying tactics were ingenious. It shows that he's a good trainer that thinks outside of the box. Unfortunately, once he uses it once, it's completely unusable for the rest of the battle since it's too easy to counter. It also kind of feels like outside of that, he hits his head against the wall until something sticks. It works right now, but it won't in the future. That's all he's getting from me."

"Thanks," I said.

More importantly, what had I learned from this battle? I asked myself. Well, from what Candice had said, she was probably going to use a more defensive team next time. That could mean either stall, or just bulky Pokemon in general. I had also learned that she could taunt you when she wanted to, like she had done at the start. At the beginning of our Journey, all of those months ago, that probably would have gotten to Chase, and he would have lost for sure. Hell, they almost did, but the gym leader stopped midway through the battle, probably because she knew the trash-talking would have made him lose too easily. Still… talking over your opponent sure was a scummy strategy, especially with how loud Candice's voice was. It would be less effective on me, because I had taught my Pokemon to be more independent with their moves and what they did in battle, but Chase was a leader, and his Pokemon were like soldiers. He always told his team what to do unless the situation was dire and it was a life-or-death fight, which was why Candice's strategy had worked so well at the start.

"Well, my turn next," Denzel said with a nervous grin.

"Good luck. You've got this, we're way better than we ought to be at the third badge," I said, encouraging him.

"Give her hell," Cece said. "I find her quite irritating."

Denzel nodded and left.

"Come on," I said. "She's not that bad. She's just having fun."

"I don't know, I find her happy-go-lucky behavior to be somewhat grating," she shrugged.

"It's true that I'd rather she be more serious but…" I trailed off with a sigh, thinking of Gardenia.

"We all have different ways to cope," Craig spoke up with a grave tone. "She has a lot of stuff going on. Being a gym leader isn't all sunshine and rainbows."

We stared at each other for a few seconds and then offered him a silent nod. Chase came back up to the spectating area, and after congratulating him, I gave him Craig's advice, which he shrugged off.

"Your loss, kid," Craig told him.

After another break that had been way too long, Candice finally ran up to the arena, and so did Denzel. I'd need to observe and pay attention to this one too. Each battle offered a nugget of information that slowly revealed Candice's style as a whole.

Only one more battle, and it would be my turn. I had to stop myself from smiling.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 96

Denzel's battle would be another four-on-four with one switch-in. I had been correct in assuming that every battle would keep those same rules, which was annoying. I personally believed that battles were more fun if you could swap out more because that allowed for more strategizing. I carefully watched Candice fiddle with her Pokeball as she waited for Denzel to send out his own Pokemon. She was less confident than before and somewhat subdued. Gym leaders were used to losing multiple times in a row, but apparently, Candice was the exception to that rule. According to my notes, that meant that she would play it safer this match. Not necessarily that her team would be a stall one or a defensive one, but that she would hold off before just attacking at the fast pace she had done so thus far.

Denzel finally sent out his Buneary. The normal type was clearly more comfortable with being in a gym battle now, she was jumping and punching the air with her ears. Candice immediately released an Amaura. An extinct Pokemon. The rock type gazed around the arena with a playful stare.

"Impressed?" She said, looking at Denzel's befuddled stare. "I got him as a gift from Roark for my birthday. I was hoping to bring him up to my six badge teams, but he isn't there yet."

Denzel frowned. "Um, okay…? Can we start the battle, or—"

"Gotcha!" Candice yelled. "Aurora Beam!"

Amaura rolled his eyes but listened and launched a rainbow-colored ray toward Buneary.

"Quick Attack and get close," Denzel calmly said.

Buneary nodded, glowing as she jumped so hard that the snow under her feet fluttered away, leaving only barren ground and a tiny crater. Amaura tried shooting her out of the sky, but the rabbit twisted her body around the attack. Another Aurora Beam grazed her, but it wasn't enough. After another two jumps, Buneary landed next to Amaura with a loud thud.

"Reflect!" Candice yelled.

"Power-up Punch!"

A thin, transparent barrier appeared around the ice type just as Buneary's right ear glowed bright white and cracked the wall.

"Round!" Candice quickly ordered.

Amaura inhaled, and then let out an ear-piercing cry that somehow frosted Buneary's ears. The normal type pushed through and punched again, and this time it was stronger. The Reflect broke.

"Circle Throw!" Denzel said.

Buneary sidestepped a Body Slam from Amaura, using its forward momentum to grab it, using both her arms and her ears to lift the rock type. She slammed Amaura head-first against the ground behind her.

"Power-up Punch!"

Buneary gave a tired nod. Each subsequent attack was getting more powerful, but it was tiring her out. She punched Amaura's flank, and the ice type was too awkwardly shaped to get off the ground quickly.

"Icy Wind, then Round again!" Candice said.

The rock type reared his head back and spat out frosty wind that slowed Buneary to a crawl, giving him enough time to get back on his feet. He then yelled again, this time freezing Buneary's ears completely. The Pokemon must have had an ability to turn normal type moves into ice type like Pixilate with Sylveon.

"Melt the ice with Fire Punch!"

The tip of Buneary's ears burst into flames that quickly freed her frozen ears, and she jumped back before Amaura could deal any more damage. I was surprised to see that the ice type had taken so many hits, but that confirmed my suspicions that Candice was using a more defensive team. Any of the other Pokemon she had used against Cece or Chase would have been down by now.

"What?! Fire Punch? That's so unfair!" Candice grumbled. "Amaura, Ancient Power!"

Amaura's eyes shone with an eerie blue and lifted multiple rocks from the ground. The control he had over them was just as good as Togetic's, if not better. He threw them forward, and they all converged toward Buneary, surrounding her from all sides, even from above.

"Defense Curl," Denzel said with a pinch of worry.

Dodging was nigh impossible, and he knew it. Buneary curled up into a ball, and her skin shimmered slightly. The rocks and earth crashed into her, and I saw Candice's body relax. The loosened arms, the spaced-out legs, the small exhale that was almost unnoticeable. The quivering fingers. Unfortunately for her, Buneary was still standing.

"Good job," Denzel smiled. "Give me one last Power-up Punch!"

Buneary cried out defiantly and jumped into the air, her ears and arms flailing wildly. Both of her ears shone brightly mid-air.

"Shield yourself! Reflect and Ancient Power!" Candice hurriedly said.

Buneary crashed past the earthen barrier that Amaura had briskly erected and completely destroyed his Reflect as well, hitting the ice type square in the chest. She struggled to her feet, and Amaura went down.

"Amaura is unable to battle! Leader Candice, send out your second Pokemon."

Not hesitating for a second, Candice sent out a Cetoddle. It was my first time seeing the Paldean Pokemon, and it playfully stomped around in the snow.

"Buneary, you've got one more in you?" Denzel asked with a thin smile. The rabbit turned toward him and answered with a smile of her own. "Thought so. Fire Punch!"

"Ice Shard!" Candice ordered.

Buneary took a deep breath, allowing herself a second to rest and jumped once more. Cetoddele summoned a dozen shards and threw them toward Buneary, who managed to punch them away. The normal type was now barreling headfirst toward Cetoddle with seemingly no care for landing on her feet.

"Body Slam!"

Cetoddle's entire body tensed, opting to throw its entire weight at the Buneary instead of attempting to dodge. The normal type flew off, but not before landing a devastating Fire Punch that had been powered up by multiple Power-up Punches.

"Buneary is unable to battle! Challenger, send out your second Pokemon!"

"Amazing job," Denzel smiled, sending out his Sylveon next. The fairy type landed gracefully in the snow without a single noise.

He lost his smile when Candice uttered her next sentence.

"Cetoddle, Rest!"

The ice type plopped itself on the ground and just… fell asleep, and its injuries from Buneary's Fire Punch healed at an incredible rate.

"Sleep Talk," Candice continued.

Cetoddle's body vibrated, and then it opened its mouth, letting out a Powder Snow toward Sylveon.

Denzel clenched a fist. "Get close to it and Play Rough!"

Sylveon used Quick Attack to run across the snowy battlefield. His steps were so graceful that it was as if I was watching him skid across the snow. Luckily, even though Cetoddle could use Sleep Talk, it being asleep still meant that it was terrible at actually aiming. Sylveon easily sidestepped the Powder Snow, and I grinned when I saw that he had lost none of his relentlessness even after evolving.

Sylveon started brutally beating up Cetoddle, kicking it, ramming into it, and pawing at it. Each time he landed a hit, pink imprints were left on the ice type's body. Marks left by the fairy type energy imbued in the move.

Candice hurriedly ordered Cetoddle to use Sleep Talk again, and the ice type Body Slammed into Sylveon. The fairy type took the hit and just kept thrashing Cetoddle around.

"Give me a Double Kick," Denzel grinned.

Sylveon smiled, turning away from Cetoddle and hitting it with his hind legs twice. If I hadn't been used to Togetic, I would have thought that it was unsettling how fairy types were always so brutal with the biggest grin on their face. After multiple ear-piercing screams from Candice, Cetoddle unfortunately woke up.

"Rest again!" Candice said.

Denzel swore as almost all of the damage Sylveon had dealt was undone. This was… a dilemma. Sure, Cetoddle was terrible at attacking when he was asleep, but if Sylveon just kept attacking, he would eventually tire out, even with all of his endurance. How would I have solved this? Buneary was a good answer with her Power-up Punch, but she was already tapped out. I didn't know enough about how Sylveon battled to solve this puzzle, but maybe Budew's Growth…

Denzel seemingly thought the same, and he recalled his Pokemon, using his one and only switch-in. He released his Budew, who announced her presence with her usual screech.

"Woah, that's the biggest Budew I've ever seen!" Candice said with wide eyes. "Sleep Talk!"

"Growth."

At first glance, using a grass type against an ice type would have seemed foolish, but I understood what Denzel was going for. He was hoping to stack up enough Growths to just blow past Cetoddle's Rest before it could wake up and use the move again. Budew's body shone and grew a few inches as Cetoddle started running toward the grass type in his sleep.

"Keep it going," Denzel breathed out.

Cetoddle was bulky, but it was also slow, and so it took a long time to reach Budew on the other side of the arena. My best friend waited until the last possible moment and sprung to action.

"Venoshock!" Denzel said.


Budew belched out purple poisonous fluid, spraying Cetoddle with poison so potent that it was melting off its skin, past its thick layer of fat. The ice type rammed into Budew with Body Slam and woke up soon after. It cried out in pain, which was followed by some kind of clicking noise.

"Rest again!" Candice said.

Once again, the ice type lay down and fell asleep, ignoring the poison eating away at its body. Still, the damage it was healing was substantially lower than before.

"Bullet Seed."

Budew spat out a series of seeds at her opponent, hitting Cetoddle's exposed flesh. Candice ordered another Sleep Talk, and her Pokemon stood up, but it was too weak to even use an actual move. Budew used another Bullet Seed, and the ice type finally fell to the ground. I was perplexed by the fact that Cetoddle would have been a perfectly good Pokemon to switch out and save for later. Nothing else Denzel had on his team could have dealt with it, which proved to me that Candice wasn't going all out. I was getting better at noticing the different facets of how gym leaders held back to not make their battle impossible. They were meant to pose a challenge to overcome, and Denzel had overcome his. Still, the battle wasn't over. What I did learn from this, however, was that Candice never switched. More information. More knowledge for my battle.

"Cetoddle is unable to battle! Leader Candice, send out your third Pokemon!" The referee said.

"Man, that was fun!" Candice laughed as she grabbed her next Pokeball. "Now I wish more new trainers came to challenge me."

"Glad I could be of service," Denzel smiled.

Candice released a penguin-like Pokemon that had a giant ice cube for a head. Eiscue, an ice type from Galar.

"Get in range!" Candice yelled.

In range for what? I thought.

"Bullet Seed!" Denzel yelled.

Budew screeched, and another Bullet Seed flew out of her mouth. Eiscue awkwardly ran toward the grass type, lowering its giant head to protect itself from her attack. The ice cube structure on its head cracked and fell off, leaving only a small circle with a long antenna.

"Freeze-Dry!" Candice ordered, her voice shaking.

"Shit! Venoshock! You've got this!"

Budew's body slowed and slowly froze over, but the attack was slow enough to give her enough time to spray poison at Eiscue. Her special attack was still boosted by Growth. Eiscue's flesh burned, and when I thought Budew would go down, she let out a shriek and glowed white, doubling in size. Denzel watched on with a wild grin as his Budew evolved.

"Why do Pokemon keep evolving when I use Freeze-Dry?!" Candice complained. "That's no fair!"

Roselia emerged from the light, not having lost her perpetual scowl.

"Stun Spore!" Denzel excitedly screamed.

With a threatening screech, Roselia aimed one of its bouquets at Eiscue and launched a bundle of yellow spores at the ice type. Eiscue breathed them in, and its body started to shake wildly.

"Finish it off with Mega Drain," Denzel sighed in relief. Roselia nodded, aiming both of her bouquets at her opponent and draining its energy, healing herself from some of the damage she had taken from Freeze Dry. Eiscue fell to the ground and fainted.

"Eiscue is unable to battle! Leader Candice, send out your last Pokemon!"

"Go, Cryogonal!" Candice yelled, releasing her final partner. The ice type's body shifted and ground against itself as its eyes came alive with a bright blue color.

Denzel ordered Roselia to hit the ice type with another Stun Spore, but it floated up, avoiding the attack and then used Freeze Dry on the poison type. Denzel asked his Pokemon to use one last Venoshock, and she sprayed Cryogonal with poison before fainting.

"Roselia is unable to battle! Challenger, send out your third Pokemon!"

"It's you and me," Denzel said, releasing Sylveon again. "Swift!"

Sylveon let out a smooth cry as pink stars appeared above him and flew toward Cryogonal at incredibly high speeds. It was too slow to outrun the attack, so it opted to get hit and retaliated with a Frost Breath. Sylveon got flat on the ground and rolled to the right, narrowly avoiding the attack, but Cryogonal followed him with his Frost Breath. Sylveon's leg was hit, but he started running with Quick Attack and circled around the ice type.

"Disarming Voice!" Denzel yelled.

Sylveon let out a harrowing scream that made me want to cry, and Cryogonal stopped its attack, taking damage in the process. Denzel ordered another Swift right afterward, and all of the stars hit the ice type, forcing it to lower itself due to the damage it was taking.

"Jump at it and get it down!" Denzel said, seizing the moment.

"No you don't! Freeze Dry!"

Sylveon gracefully leaped at Candice's Pokemon, and his extremities started to freeze. It used Play Rough in the air, headbutting Cryogonal and bringing it on the ground with him, but Sylveon struggled to stand back up due to Freeze Dry.

"Slash and get back in the air!" The gym leader said.

Cryogonal turned its entire body like a wheel, and the angular edges of its body sharpened and glowed white as it cut across Sylveon, drawing blood. The fairy type wrapped one of his ribbons around one of Cryogonal's extremities, keeping it down, rolled on his back, and Double Kicked it, cracking its tough, icy exterior.

"Dang it, I hate fairy types and their tricks!" Candice yelled. "Frost Breath!"

"Disarming Voice!"

Before Cryogonal could even start using the move, Sylveon stopped it from attacking and then kicked it again. It was barely hovering now. Denzel hadn't even used any of his Detects. Victory was in sight.

"Finish it off with Play Rough," Denzel said, his body relaxing.

Sylveon nodded and started relentlessly beating Cryogonal up with that same smile on his face. Cryogonal went down, crashing into the snowy landscape. Denzel had won.

It was my turn now.

Cece nodded at me. I asked Craig to give Denzel advice when he got there, and I met him on the way down. He wished me good luck, and I congratulated him. I would have stayed for Craig's advice, but I needed as much time to think to myself in the waiting room.

——

My mind felt clear as I waited for Candice to finish her break. I had a Pokeball in hand, and I felt at the cold metal. It was comforting, the way it filled my palm and fit in my hand perfectly. I was confident I was going to win, but I would still give it everything I had. I would fight like I was a Pokemon behind at all times. I would give one hundred percent. I had been watching these three battles, along with the others I had seen online, but I had also been watching Candice. I had the information at my fingertips, now I just had to grasp it and use it.

The gym trainer fitted me with the usual microphone and motioned me to move to the battlefield. I walked onto the platform and immediately stared at the gym leader. She was smiling again, but holding herself back. I could tell, because her lips were twitching. She already had her Pokeball in hand, meaning that like usual, she had already decided what to send out, and she wouldn't actually try to counter my choice. I stared at her hand and saw that it was completely steady. No trembling. Her fingers gripped her Pokeball tightly. Confidence, even though she had just lost. That battle with Denzel must have been fun and reinvigorated her spirit. She leaned against her knees in anticipation, but she didn't boast. Excitement, but she was holding it in. Her choice would be balanced. Not too axed toward attack, but not too defensive either. Candice was going to try to figure me out first and then decide how to go about this battle. It looked like I'd be fighting erratic Candice after all.

"...Four-on-four with one switch-in allowed…" Candice was saying.

Soon enough, she finished her instructions, and I released Frillish. Candice released a spherical Pokemon. It looked like a dark rock covered in thick sheets of ice, with pale blue eyes and conical horns on both sides of its face. A Glalie took to the air and stared at Frillish with a wicked smile.

"Buy me some time," I told Frillish. He stared back at me and nodded.

My eyes were still on Candice.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 97 - Predicting the Unpredictable

"Buy me some time," I said. I knew very little about Glalie as a Pokemon, so I needed Frillish to stall to fish out its moves all while I kept my eyes on Candice, trying to notice any change in her behavior as I had tried against Gardenia, but failed.

This time, I would succeed.

Frillish wasted no time and sent out a Bubblebeam toward the hovering Glalie.

"Frost Breath!" Candice ordered.

The ice type blew cold air toward the Bubblebeam, causing the move to freeze mid-air and miss entirely. Without Candice's direction, Glalie started to float toward Frillish as fast as it could. I stared at her, and she wasn't panicking at this development at all. That meant that Glalie was more of an independent fighter.

"Shadow Ball," I calmly said. That move couldn't be frozen, so how would Glalie counter it?

Frillish gathered shadows in front of his mouth, molded it into a ball, and sent it toward the approaching Glalie. The ice type summoned a thin barrier, blocking the incoming Shadow Ball.

Frost Breath, Protect, I thought. What else?

"Now, Freeze Dry!" Candice yelled.

"Run away."

Frillish's tentacle began to freeze, but the water type hurriedly used Water Sport to get out of Glalie's range. Our opponent was faster than he was, but with Water Sport, we'd be slightly quicker to get around.

"Water Pulse, then go around," I said.

Now lower to the ground, Frillish spat out an enormous Water Pulse at Glalie, who inhaled sharply and used Frost Breath to freeze the attack again. Frillish was already speedily circling around the ice type, and I waited until he reached Glalie's side.

"Bubblebeam again," I said. There was no need to speed things up yet.

Unable to turn quick enough to freeze the attack, Glalie was forced into using another Protect to stop the Water Pulse from hitting. I stared at Candice again, and I saw that she was still sporting an expression bordering on excitement and neutrality. Glalie seemed to be adept at using Protect, and it wasn't tiring after blocking a move twice.

"Ice Shard!" Candice ordered. Despite Frillish's best efforts, a few of the sharp shards tore into his body. I wouldn't ask for him to use Recover. Not yet. There was no need to reveal my hand, and the damage had been surface level at best.

Freeze Dry, Ice Shard, I thought. That was four now. I had a pretty good picture of how Glalie fought. It wasn't the best attacker, but it made up for its deficiencies by being able to use Protect many times during a battle. It wasn't the fastest, either. It was an all-rounder, like I had predicted.

Now, it was time to go on the offensive.

"Night Shade!" I yelled out.

Frillish noticed my change in tone immediately and understood what I was going for. A shadowy clone appeared in front of him and rushed toward Glalie, who once more Protected. I had noticed something, first in Gardenia's gym battle against Louis, and now here. Pokemon that used Protect couldn't use the move in quick succession. I was going to use that to my advantage and finish Glalie off quickly.

"Hex it!" I grinned.

Frillish's eyes glinted, and smoke started to emanate from Glalie's body. The ice type shivered and convulsed in the air, but we weren't done.

"Ugh, she's got us figured out! Forget the fancy strats. Just get in there and Freeze Dry!" Candice yelled.

"Shadow Ball," I ordered.

Glalie pushed through the pain from the Hex and just flew toward Frillish, just taking the Shadow Ball head-on. The water type once again escaped with Water Sport, but a few Ice Shards hit the back of his head and tore through one of his tentacles. Thankfully he lowered the damage by using Acid Armor without me needing to command it.

"Water Pulse! Keep retreating!" I said.

Still running away from Glalie with Water Sport, Frillish spat out three Water Pulses in quick succession, which were all frozen by the ice type. This was bad. I needed to take it down quickly, or the next part of the plan wouldn't work. Hex was barely out of range from Freeze Dry, so using that without taking damage was too risky. Every water type move would be countered by Frost Breath, so all I had left was Poison Sting, Hex, Night Shade, and Shadow Ball.

"Shadow Ball again," I said. No need to reveal Poison Sting if it wasn't needed. Frillish nodded, but gathering the energy needed for the ghost type move made him slow down. Glalie immediately started to freeze his body, but had to stop when the Shadow Ball hit its face. "Again! Make it stronger!"

This time, Frillish waited, gathering as much energy as he could, akin to Togetic's Fairy Wind, but faster. The Shadow Ball grew so big that it was bigger than Glalie itself, but another Freeze Dry had practically frozen Frillish's entire body over.

"Protect!" Candice said.

I bit the inside of my lip as I watched the Shadow Ball approach Glalie, who stopped its Freeze Dry to summon the protective barrier.

Impact.

The Shadow Ball broke the Protect down and cracked Glalie's icy shell. The ice type fell to the ground and fainted.

"Glalie is unable to battle! Leader Candice, send out your second Pokemon."

"Good job, buddy," I said. He turned back and nodded. His body was half frozen, and he had seen better days, but he had done it.

"Man, I really thought I had ya," she said. "I don't think you'll be good enough to—"

Focus! I screamed internally at myself. Don't listen to her taunts. It was just me. Just me. Now, had I succeeded in taking out Glalie fast enough? I smiled when I saw that Candice wasn't sending out her next Pokemon immediately. She was thinking. She hadn't expected that huge Shadow Ball, and it had rattled her. Candice was sporting a slight frown now, and when she grabbed her next Pokeball, her hold on it was less tight.

My smile grew into a grin when I saw what she released next. A bright blue Sealeo lazily hopped onto the field. Candice was in an erratic mood. That meant that her choice of Pokemon could be changed. By taking out her Glalie as fast as I had, I had ensured that she would want to switch up her strategy and opt for a more defensive battler, and I couldn't have hoped for a better choice.

For now, at least, I was controlling the flow of the battle.

I quickly stopped myself from immediately switching out from Frillish, however. He was hurt, but still in a fine state to battle. I still needed to ensure that Sealeo had nothing to hurt my next choice. My only switch of the battle.

"I wanted to be nice and let you start, but if you aren't going to do anything, I will! Brine!" Candice yelled, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I still needed to get faster at thinking.

"Dodge and Poison Sting!" I yelled, finally revealing the move.

A small cloud appeared where Frillish had just been, and rain dropped with such pressure that it created a small plume of snow on the ground. I looked at Candice and saw that she was complaining about something. I wasn't really learning anything new on that front, so I focused back on the battle and smiled when I saw that small, purple needles had buried themselves into Sealeo's hide.

"Aurora Beam!" Candice yelled.

I grimaced when I saw that Frillish had been too close to dodge this time, and a multicolored beam hit his chest. He was on his last legs now, and he had bought enough time to reveal two moves. I grabbed his Pokeball and recalled him. Now, I knew from past battles that Candice didn't switch, so there was only one good answer to this Sealeo.

"You did amazing," I said before releasing Electabuzz. "You're up, hon."

The electric type cackled as electricity buzzed around his body, and his fur stood on end. He was excited to finally be in a gym battle again.

"No holds barred," I grinned. "Thunderbolt."

"Stop it! Aurora Beam!" Candice ordered.

Electabuzz clapped his hands together as thunder crackled and rumbled around his body. The smell of ozone filled my nostrils as my hair started to stand upright. Sealeo sent out another beam of multicolored energy, and it made it about halfway through the arena before Electabuzz was done charging up.

With a gleeful scream, the electric type extended his hands forward, and a colossal Thunderbolt surged forward, completely overpowering Sealeo's Aurora Beam and hitting the water type. Sealeo convulsed, writhing on the ground as countless volts coursed through his body. After fifteen seconds, Electabuzz ceased the attack, panting slightly, and Sealeo was already down, its body smoking and burned.

"Sealeo is unable to battle! Leader Candice, send out your third Pokemon!" The referee said.

"Fuck yes," I muttered, pumping a fist. "That was perfect."

"Buzz!" My Pokemon laughed proudly.

My excitement petered out when I looked at Candice. She was… angry? In all of the videos I had watched, I had never seen her face like this. But why now? It couldn't be because I was winning— Cecilia had won harder than I had even after Candice had started taking her seriously and actually battling. Was it because I had caught her off-guard? In the high-level battling videos I watched of her, a lot of her challengers had done so. So why me?

With a deep-set frown, Candice sent out a Jynx. The ice type wiggled its hips and made a face, puckering its lips. In other circumstances, this would have been hilarious, but I couldn't get distracted. Electabuzz was bad at stalling to bait out moves, so I needed to go on the offensive right away for this one.

"Thunderbolt again," I said. Jynx was a psychic type, so going anywhere near it would probably mean a loss, especially with how frail Electabuzz was. He clapped his hands once more, sending out a Thunderbolt slightly weaker than the last.

"Psychic," Candice said. Her now calm demeanor was unsettling me, but I knew there was anger behind that placid tone.

I had thought Electabuzz's Thunderbolt to be too fast to divert, but Jynx was apparently good enough to do so. Its eyes shone as it diverted the move to its right, and the electricity only grazed its arm.

"Sing," Candice ordered.

I felt my heart drop. "Don't let it! Thunderbolt!"

Before Jynx could even begin to Sing, Electabuzz fired another attack, forcing it to divert it with Psychic once more. Since it was slightly distracted, the electric attack hit Jynx's chest. We were stuck in a dilemma. I couldn't make Electabuzz approach, but Candice couldn't put him to sleep, otherwise Jynx would take a Thunderbolt, and I already knew she wouldn't be capable of resisting many of those.

The problem was that Electabuzz would tire out first. It was time to switch things up.

"E-Swift," I breathed out.

A dozen stars appeared above Electabuzz, and he infused them with electric energy before sending them off toward Jynx, but I wasn't done.

"Thunderbolt again."

Another Thunderbolt burst through the barrage of stars, forcing Candice to make a choice. Either she could use an ice move to freeze Swift, or she could divert Thunderbolt with Psychic. There were too many stars for Jynx to ever hope to dodge everything. Candice grimaced.

I had caught that wince. That fray in her thought process. That second of doubt that I knew all too well.

"Psychic," Candice winced, opting to get hit by Swift.

I smiled. It was too late. Somehow, Candice had gotten so annoyed at me that she had waited too long to give the command, and Jynx was hit by both attacks. It had gone how I had hoped for, but… what was going on? Candice was an emotional person, but she wasn't the type to get affected this badly. I considered asking her what was wrong, but she let out a frustrated groan and immediately gave out her next order.

"You're pissing me off! We're going all out! Jynx, get up there and grab some trees on the way!" She yelled.

Some trees? My palms started to sweat as Jynx immediately broke into a sprint, swaying her arms like she was a professional athlete. A Pokemon like that had no right being that fast. Its eyes shone as it tore four entire trees from the floor, sending them flying toward Electabuzz. I bit my lip, thinking as fast as I could. How could I counter this?

Electabuzz didn't need my order to start dodging. He weaved to the right, avoiding the first tree, and narrowly ducked under the next one. The next two were trickier. A spark appeared on his fist, and it burst into flames. He punched the bark head-on, stopping the tree in its tracks—

"Behind you!" I yelled.

I felt panic creep up when one of the trees he had dodged came back and hit Electabuzz's back. Jynx was almost up to him now.

"You've got to attack!" I said, steeling myself. "Thunderbolt and run up as well!"

Electabuzz's best form of defense was his incredible offensive capabilities. He started to run, hoping to overwhelm Jynx's Psychic with his Thunderbolt so that he could approach. Behind him, the trees followed, getting ever closer. A Thunderbolt was barely deflected, but the next hit Jynx's face, causing her to drop the tree trunks she carried with a huge crash as they drifted across the snow.

"Fire Punch!" I ordered.

Flames wreathed around both of honey's fists, and he used the small window that his Thunderbolt had opened and started hammering at Jynx. He punched it in the lip before quickly moving on to its gut, going so fast that he was lifting it off the ground. He screamed, bringing his fists together and punching Jynx away before sending another Thunderbolt at the ice type. It didn't get up. I sighed in relief. I had almost lost control here, and who knew what that would have caused. I needed to keep my wits about me no matter what.

"Jynx is unable to battle! Leader Candice, please send out—

"I get it already!" She interrupted. Her expression was downright sinister now, and it was actually scaring me. I had somehow made a gym leader hate me. She grabbed her last Pokeball and sent out a Galarian Darmanitan, who slammed its fists against the ground.

Electabuzz was so tired that I knew winning this fight was impossible, but I still needed to use him to at least figure out how this Darmanitan fought—

"Work Up!" Candice yelled, extending her arm.

Damn it, she wasn't leaving me any time to think anymore. The Darmanitan's muscles bulged, and it slammed its fists against its chest with a menacing cry.

"Thunderbolt!" I said. Battling a Worked Up Darmanitan up close when Electabuzz was this weak would be—

"Avalanche!" She screamed.

From this far? The ground rumbled under Electabuzz, who desperately tried to run away, but it was to no avail. Snow washed over him like a wave at incredible speed, and he cried out as he was buried underground. The volume was higher than what Cece's Zweilous had had to deal with too.

"Electabuzz is unable to battle. Challenger, send out your second Pokemon," the referee said, eyeing Candice with anger.

"Good job, hon," I said, recalling him through the snow.

I had a little bit of time to think now. What was going on? It was like Candice had floored the gas pedal from zero to one hundred in the middle of the battle. I knew gym leaders could raise the battle's difficulty midway through a fight, but I had never seen it to such an extent.

I smiled, licking my dry lips. If this was what she wanted, I'd gladly rise to the challenge. After all, that meant that she thought I could beat her at this level.

I grabbed Tangela's Pokeball and released him. He plopped down on the snow and stared curiously at his opponent.

Angel had one job, and one job only. That was to Poison Power, Stun Spore, or Leech Seed Darmanitan. Anything other than that was extra. I wasn't thinking of this single fight. I was thinking long term. I knew I'd have to use my entire team to take this thing down.

"Avalanche!" Candice said again.

"Lift yourself up," I quickly said.

I had expected that. Darmanitan could apparently affect the entire arena, so it made sense for Candice to keep using the move until it failed. Six vines extended below Tangela, and he sprung himself up, avoiding the deluge of snow behind him. He continued forward, using his vines instead of his feet.

"Icicle Crash!' Candice yelled.

"Dodge!" I countered.

I inhaled sharply when I saw that it wasn't a single Icicle that appeared above angel. It was a swarm. Darmanitan slammed a fist against the ground, and they all crashed into his body, creating a plume of snow. I waited with bated breath, standing on my tip-toes to see if Tangela was alright, and I finally exhaled when I saw that he was still going forward.

"Bind it!" I said.

I was under no impression that he would ever be able to keep Darmanitan still, but I just needed to buy time. Tangela shot out a few vines in front of him, and they wrapped around Darmanitan's arms and legs. The ice type huffed, as if it was laughing, and it simply moved an arm toward itself, bringing Tangela closer.

"Ice Punch," Candice said.

Ice surrounded both of the Pokemon's fists as he waited for Tangela to get close enough, but we were already close enough for what I wanted.

"Leech Seed!" I said.

Tangela's vines writhed, and he shot out a small seed toward Darmanitan. It grew into thorny vines wrapping around his entire body, and no matter how much the ice type tried to tear them apart, they just kept growing.

"Poison Powder!" I said, not letting up.

"Knock it away!" Candice ordered.

Darmanitan's icy fist hit Tangela's face, sending him flying, but I smiled when I saw that purple spores had been left in his place. Darmanitan inhaled, and the plan had been completed, which was good, because Tangela was already down.

"Tangela is unable to battle," the referee hissed, clearly signaling to Candice. "Challenger, send out your third Pokemon."

I already knew it would have to be princess. She was good enough with Extrasensory to block Icicle Crash above her and above ground so she'd be immune to Avalanche. I grabbed her Pokeball and sent her out. She giggled and clapped, slowly raising her altitude.

"Stay up," I warned her. "This is a tough one. Stay sharp. Air Cutter!"

Togetic's wings fluttered, and the air in front of her sharpened, speeding toward the Darmanitan. It tried to dodge, but Air Cutter was too fast. Our practice was paying off.

"Icicle Crash!"

Good, I thought. She was wasting time and energy on something that wouldn't work.

"You know what to do," I told Togetic.

Her eyes shone as she happily altered the air above her. The icicles harmlessly slid off to the side, burying themselves in the ground instead of hitting her.

"Avalanche!" Candice continued angrily.

I frowned, and then I understood. Snow jumped from under Togetic as if it had a will of its own.

"Fly up, and Extrasensory under you!" I said.

Togetic listened, altering the path of the Avalanche, but the snow simply went around the Extrasensory and wrapped back around, reaching her. I winced as she was dragged to the ground.

Darmanitan's control over the move was stronger than I had thought.

"Get in there and Ice Punch!" Candice said.

Darmanitan ran, using its knuckles to propel itself through the snowy ground at surprising speeds. Princess popped her head out of the snow, showing that she was fine, although substantially hurt. She shot me a look, and I gave her a discreet nod.

Stay there.

I would wait until the last possible second… just a little more…

"Ancient Power!" I yelled.

Togetic lifted rocks and earth in front of her, and Darmanitan slammed against it headfirst.

"Push it!" I continued.

Her eyes shone brighter as she propelled the ground forward, taking Darmanitan along with it. I clicked my tongue when the ice type punched it apart with an Ice Punch. He was Leech Seeded and poisoned. When would he go down—

Darmanitan shook as its body began to change shape. The top of its head grew, and its arms retreated into its body, leaving only small hands, and its inoffensive expression turned into an evil, toothy smile. A singular, long flame was burning out of its top half. It bounced around, looking more like a snowman than a Pokemon.

It was also my first time ever seeing a Galarian Darmanitan in this form.

"Belly Drum! We're going all out!" Candice grinned with her tongue hanging to the side.

"Air Cutter!" I ordered.

Darmanitan slammed its own body with its hands so hard that it hurt itself, but then it grew slightly. Veins popped under its snowy body, and the Pokemon hardened. Togetic ignored it, taking flight and sending another Air Cutter toward the ice type. I gulped when I saw that it barely dealt any damage.

"Finish it off," Candice said.

Darmanitan yelled, and another Avalanche dragged Togetic to the ground, at least four times as powerful as it had been before the Belly Drum. Using its small appendages, the ice type punched Togetic in the head, defeating her.

"Burn off the Leech Seed," Candice exhaled. Darmanitan's body burst into flames for a brief moment, easily dispatching of angel's attack. It was thankfully still poisoned, however, and weakening fast.

"Togetic is unable to battle… Challenger, please send out your last Pokemon. And sorry," the referee said.

Sorry? For what? This was exhilarating!

With a slight laugh, I sent out Frillish and immediately set him to work. My win condition was waiting out the poison and never letting Frillish fall onto the ground.

It was time to reveal my trump card. "Reco—"

"Avalanche!"

"Acid Armor!" I hurriedly spoke, changing my order.

Snow hungered after Frillish, quickly rising below him, but the water type changed his state, and he was too gooey to be brought back to the ground. Finally, he managed to use Recover. The tears in his body quickly healed, and he looked almost as good as new. What now? Candice was running out of time.

"Screw it! Work Up and jump!" Candice screamed wildly.

Darmanitan bounced off of the ground, its body somehow enveloped in flames and snow as its fists turned to pure ice.

"Water Pulse!" I yelled, my heart beating against my chest.

Frillish flew backwards, powered by Water Sport as he shot out a Water Pulse. Darmanitan was hit, but he continued flying toward Frillish. I bit the inside of my mouth as the ice type crashed its fist into Frillish, and both of them fell to the ground with a loud crash. I felt sweat drip down my chin as the adrenaline started to drain from my body.

Had it been enough?

Had I won?

Had I lost?

The snow cleared, and Frillish weakly floated up from the ground with his entire bottom half missing.

Darmanitan stayed down.

"D—Darmanitan is unable to battle. Victory goes to the challenger!"

I looked at the ceiling and just breathed for what seemed like ages until I recalled Frillish. He had Recovered again, regenerating much of his body.

I tasted metal in my mouth. Had I bitten it so hard in the heat of battle that I had started to bleed?

I stepped off of the platform as my friends cheered wildly for me. My legs felt like jelly, and I could barely walk straight. My vision was swimming. I wiped sweat off of my forehead. My clothes were so wet that it felt like I had been in a shower, and my heart was pounding so loudly that I felt my pulse up in my ears.

I made it up to Candice, who looked to be in much better shape than I was.

"Congratulations, challenger," she said awkwardly. Her voice sounded distant. Far away, like it was echoing. My ears were ringing. "Um are you okay? Can you give me your trainer ID and Pokedex?"

"Wha— ah, uh, yeah," I exhaled. I felt like I just had gone through a triathlon. I handed her my ID and my Pokedex with a shaky hand. "You're now the owner of the Icicle badge, and I've transferred fifteen-thousand Pokedollars into your account. Um, I've also given you the Avalanche TM."

"Right," I said, shaking my head to focus.

"I'm… I'm sorry I went so hard on you all of the sudden," she apologized. "Now that the battle's over, I realized that I let my feelings get in the way. That Darmanitan was nowhere near your level. Honestly, if you lost, I probably would have given you the badge anyway."

"Your feelings?" I asked as my head pounded.

"Battling you reminded me of battling Gardenia, and we used to have this rivalry, but she's outgrown me. I can't beat her anymore," Candice said with a grimace. "Until I started actually pushing you with Jynx, every time I looked at you… you were just staring at me, not at the battle. You were reading me. She's a lot more subtle about it, but it's unnerving how alike you are. I let my feelings get the best of me…"

I smiled at the notion that I was like Gardenia—

Wait, why was I on the ground?

My legs had given up from under me. I heard Candice's voice in the distance, even though she was right there…

I passed out.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 98

"Are you sure she's fine? Maybe we should call them again."

"The doctor said it was exhaustion, she'll wake up soon."

"I can't help but worry—"

I opened my eyes and shot right up, bumping into Denzel's forehead. He screamed, falling back and clenching his forehead to alleviate some of the pain.

"Grace!" Cecilia said, grabbing my hand. "We were so worried. How do you feel?"

I blinked a few times and moved my hands around, clenching and unclenching my fist. The headache was still there, but muted. The pain was practically gone, and I could see clearly.

"I think I'm alright," I said. "Um, can I— can I have some water? How long was I out?"

Cece handed me a bottle of water and I started drinking.

"Not long," Denzel answered as he stood back up. "Barely an hour. We called an ambulance for you and the docs said that you collapsed because you exerted yourself too much during your battle with Candice. You're at the Center."

I stared around, recognizing my room. "Right," I nodded. "I was so focused that I guess I kind of forgot to breathe, but I feel alright now."

"The doctor said that you needed rest," Cece said, accentuating the last word. "So you're going to stay in bed."

"My Pokemon?" I asked.

"We gave them to Nurse Joy, along with all of ours that battled," Denzel smiled. "Now come on, rest up."

"Where's Chase?" I said.

"He left a few minutes ago to get his alone time," Cece said. "You know how he is."

I laid back down with a sigh. I had won my gym battle, and I felt incredibly happy, but why had only one fight taken so much out of me? The fight against Gardenia hadn't… but I hadn't been thinking as much, either. These were the kind of battles that I wanted to have, though. The strategizing was my favorite part, along with the battle going exactly according to plan. Reading my opponent's move accurately brought me a high that I could never get anywhere else. But that desperate, racing feeling I had felt when Candice brought out that Darmanitan had been exhilarating as well, especially when I had to scramble around to find a plan on the spot. A plan that worked. I closed my eyes, trying to replay the battle in my head. It didn't bring me the feeling I wanted. It wasn't the real thing.

I wanted more.

"I think I might have a problem," I said.

"What? Should we call someone?!" Denzel asked, letting panic slip into his tone. Cece tightened her hold on my hand.

"No, no," I laughed softly. "Nothing serious. I meant to say that I might be getting addicted to a certain style of battling. I don't think I'll ever be able to do it any other way anymore."

They both let out a relieved sigh.

"Your battle was certainly something," Denzel said. "I was more nervous and excited than for mine."

"Something?" Cece asked, looking at him. "She was glowing down there."

"I don't know what happened, it's like it wasn't even me down there," I smiled. "It's kind of all a blur."

"I get that feeling," Denzel said. "An intense battle can do that to you."

"It was you, and you were wonderful," my girlfriend said.

"Ah!" I exclaimed, suddenly remembering something with a twinge of disappointment. "Did I miss Craig's battle, then?"

My friend nodded. "Yeah, we all did. He won, though. Candice took down four of his Pokemon. I was watching the video. Want to see it?"

"The video isn't like the real thing…" I grumbled.

"You're such a battle maniac," he laughed.

"I told you I had a problem," I said. "Anyway, I know I said I'd rest, but—"

"Absolutely not!" They both exclaimed in unison.

"Arceus, chill out!" I said exasperatedly. "I just want to take a shower. My clothes are all sweaty, and I feel icky."

"Oh…" Cece awkwardly said. "Yes, go ahead."

I nodded, hesitating to stand up. I sighed in relief when I took my first step, confirming that I was at least fine to walk. I grabbed a change of clothes, stepped into the bathroom, and basked in the water's warmth. Even though I felt fine, my body felt so tired. Today I would rest, but as soon as my team was healed, we'd need to have a group meeting and talk about our next steps to improve. Then, there was also the need for me to analyze my battle footage and have my post-gym battle autopsy as I had done against Gardenia. I could think of a few things that had gone wrong already, but that would come later.

Maybe I could…

Ugh, later.

I finally changed into fresh clothes, and when I went to lay back down on the bed, I was surprised to see that Cecilia had changed the sheets so that I wouldn't have to roll around in my sweat.

"You're sweet," I said, kissing her before getting under the covers. She smiled, and the kiss lingered for a few moments. "Thank you."

"Please, this is just the bare minimum," Cece rolled her eyes before snuggling up next to me.

"You kids sure are cute," Denzel said.

"You're half a year older than us, don't call us children," Cecilia said.

"Let me enjoy the small things in life, Cece," he replied. "Anyway, now that you're all freshened up, Emi and the others wanted us to call them. They were worried about you."

"Worried about me?" I asked.

"Yeah, you collapsed on video," Denzel said nonchalantly.

Cece frowned. "Didn't you ask to turn it off?"

"On… video?" I muttered before gasping. I had been so excited to just get to my battle that I forgot to ask the gym trainer in the waiting room to turn off the camera! "Fuck. Fuck. I forgot."

"Well… let's look at the bright side of things…" Denzel tried.

"I'm waiting," I sighed.

"Um, hold on, I'm thinking," he said. "Ah, got it! You're a good trainer, right?"

"I could be better."

"Oh please, just take the win and move on," he groaned. "Anyway, I'm going to act like you answered yes. You're a good trainer. We all are. We fucking got three badges on our first year with no signs of slowing down," he grinned. "That means that you were going to get a lot of eyes on you regardless, so it'd be better to get used to fame now. And it's not like you have a lot to hide. New trainers progress fast. By the time we battle Fantina, we'll have made a lot more progress."

"He's right," Cece nodded.

"Yeah, that's usually the case," he shrugged with a smug expression.

"Don't get too confident now," she chuckled. "Imagine you still being in your shell at the Conference. You can't turn off the cameras there, and there are reporters, fans, and hundreds of thousands of spectators on location, and that's just in the stadiums. You'd be a nervous wreck, and it'd affect your battling. It's better to get used to it as early as possible."

"Right," I sighed. "I still feel restless about it. Eterna is going to be hell. Anyway, let's just call the others and get my mind off of this. Future me will deal with it."

"Ouch. No love for your future self?" Denzel joked as he grabbed his Poketch. "Future Grace will probably be angry at you."

"Well, we all have to do our part," I said as I sat upright in the bed. Cece quickly made space between us.

Right, I thought. They don't know.

"It's a video call, by the way," Denzel specified as he came in closer to get us all in the shot. Our friends answered immediately.

"Finally!" Pauline said.

"Grace, are you doing alright?" Justin asked.

"If Denzel or Cece hadn't been with you, there would have been no way to get news about your well-being," Louis said. "No one in Snowpoint said anything. The gym didn't put out a statement or—"

"I'm fine, guys," I smiled. I froze when I saw Louis' thick scar running across his cheek. "They said it was exhaustion. That battle took a lot out of me."

"That sure looked like it," Emilia sighed. "I was exhausted just looking at it."

Justin sprung up. "You all did excellently—"

"Move over!" Pauline exclaimed, pushing him away from the camera. "You three! You're lucky that you're all the way up in Snowpoint, or you'd be hearing my incessant complaints about being left behind. I want a third badge too, damn it!"

"You okay there, Justin?" Denzel asked.

"Yes," he grumbled.

"Then you better have trained enough not to fall behind then," Cece said. "Any progress on the third member of your team?"

"I found something, but I can only catch it on route 207 near Mount Coronet," she said proudly. "It fits me perfectly."

"Looking forward to it," Denzel said.

"Really?! Um, I mean, yeah, thanks," Pauline smiled.

"What about you, Louis? Any progress with Gible?" I asked.

"Progress is… slow. I've had him let out his anger by making him fight Vulpix and Prinplup as Cece does with her Deino— her Zweilous. Nothing serious, though, it's just practice, and he's been struggling a decent bit. I've also tried to talk to him to make him understand that I can make him evolve."

"Good, good," I said. "I'm proud of you."

"You are the one who set me on the right path," he nodded.

"And Justin?" Cece asked. "Any progress with your father?"

"I wanted to wait until you were back to announce it, but I've reached a deal. The best I could get, considering the circumstances. Instead of getting into the Conference twice, I only have to get in once. It's frustrating, and I probably won't be able to do it this year, but it's all I've got. I can't take over until he retires anyway, so I have time to get in. It's just a shame that I'll have to be doing this for the foreseeable future."

"Oh, you'll figure something out," Pauline said. "Why don't you send your dad a message by winning in the scummiest way possible? Try to stall every gym battle for twenty minutes, like against Gardenia."

"The effects it would have on Pherzen's image—"

"Come on, you've got to try," Pauline scoffed. "I've read the contract. It says that you just have to get in the Conference, not how."

"Plus, it'd be really funny," Denzel said.

"Right?" She smiled evilly. "Imagine that, a man that just stalls making it to the Conference. I'd pay to see it."

"Stalling is harder than it seems at first glance," Cecilia explained. "There's a lot of strategizing involved. There are a few people that specialize in underhanded tactics. I remember hearing about one in Kalos, but I forgot his name."

"Even if I wanted to, I don't even have the right team to do it," Justin shrugged.

"Pokemon can do anything if you train them in the right way," I shrugged. "Emi, what about you and your coordinator prospects?"

"It's been… tough. What I'm suffering the most from right now is move variety, but I'm hoping to fix that by buying some TMs when I get to Hearthome. I wanted to wait to iron out the basics of my Pokemon first, though.."

"You'll have to wait eighteen days for us to get there," Denzel said. "Will you be alright?"

"It'll get lonely, but I'll manage," she said. "Plus, I can finally start making connections. Hearthome is the hub for Pokemon contests, there are bound to be a lot of beginners like me there."

"You'll kick their asses," Pauline said.

"That's not even the goal," Emilia said with a slight smile. "I appreciate your support, though."

"So when will you start heading back?" Louis asked. "We've been dying to see you again, and you won your badge."

"We haven't even thought of that yet," I said. "We'll probably head back down south as soon as I'm alright to go. I'd kill to have a Pokemon that can Teleport."

"Wouldn't we all?" Cece laughed.

"Well, it shouldn't take too long now that we can keep to the routes," Denzel said. "Hey Emi, have you checked my livestream VOD? What did you think about it?"

"It was… fine," Emilia awkwardly answered. I noticed Pauline squirming in place.

"Look at her face," I grinned, pointing to Pauline. "She's going to say something mean."

"N—no," she said, holding back laughter. "Not at all. It's not like it was the most embarrassing thing I've ever seen."

"It was my first time! Come on, give me some leeway!"

We kept talking about anything that came to mind, but after two hours, the call ended.

"That was fun," I said, stretching.

"Now you can sleep," Cece lectured as she laid her head back in the crook of my neck. "I'll stick around to make sure you aren't actually doing anything battling-related."

"Ouch. Zero trust, huh?" I said, bringing her closer.

"Not when it comes to battling," she smiled.

"Alright, I'll let you two get some alone time," Denzel said as he stood up. "Better check what Chase is doing too, he said he'd come back to visit."

"Bye-bye!" I said as he closed the door. I tried leaning in to kiss Cece.

"You know I actually meant it when I said you needed rest, right?" She said.

"Ugh, you're no fun. How about just one?"

"Just one."

——

I woke up sometime later to a knock at my door. I rubbed my eyes, making sure not to move around too much since Cecilia was still asleep, and I gently got up, placing her head back on a pillow. It was dark out, but that didn't mean much, since the sun always set early this far north during the winter.

"I'm coming…" I grumbled. The knocking wasn't stopping at all. I opened the door and almost had to do a double-take when I saw that Candice was at my door.

"Hiya!" She said. "Can I come in?"

I frowned. "Excuse me—"

"I'm coming in, alright? Oh, sorry, I didn't know you had someone else in there. You sleeping in the same bed? She your girlfriend? I kind of sensed that vibe from you two. Cool, cool," Candice babbled as she stepped inside.

"Grace…?" Cece muttered as she got up. "What's going on—"

Her soft demeanor immediately turned to her calm, confident self when she saw that a gym leader was in the room.

"Leader Candice," she said smoothly. "What brings someone of your stature here?"

"Two things!" She exclaimed, making a 'v' sign with her fingers. "First, I wanted to apologize again for my battle against you, Cecilia!"

"You mean… me?" I asked.

"Right, you're Grace. Um, that's awkward. Anyway, you passed out because I pushed you too far, and it's unbecoming of me as a gym leader. But! I want to make it up to you by inviting you and all of your friends to my apartment!"

"To your… apartment," I repeated. "Wha… how?"

How was I casually talking to a gym leader?

"Yeah! That's what I said! I don't know why you had to repeat it all mysterious-like. Um, I've already told your two buddies, they were just in their rooms. The friendly one almost fell out of his chair when I asked, but the grumpy one said that he'd only come if I had something worth his while, so I lied and said I'd give him my training routine. He was so silly! That's, like, a gym leader's most deeply held secret! Obviously, I wouldn't just give it away. Anyway, we're all waiting for you. Oh! And Craig's going to be there too."

My head spun as I slowly registered the ramblings of this madwoman, but I gave a hesitant nod. I wasn't about to refuse a gym leader's request. Cece and I quickly put on our coats and stepped outside. Chase and Denzel were already in the hall waiting.

"So you're back on your feet, huh?" Chase remarked, staring at me.

"Yeah, but I'm still taking it easy," I said.

"Well, let's get going then," he shrugged. "I'm leaving as soon as I get what I want, and then I'll get back on the road at some point tomorrow.

"Stop being so emo," Candice said. "I'm feeling happy tonight, I did better against Craig than usual, and all of the battles were a lot of fun. I don't want you to ruin the mood."

"I don't remember asking you," he said.

"Sorry about him," I apologized. "This is just how he is."

The gym leader smirked. "There's already so much doom and gloom in the world, y'know? Might as well spread some good vibes where you can."

Candice lived in one of Snowpoint's dull, blocky complexes about fifteen minutes away from the gym. We took the elevator to the top floor and entered her apartment.

"Crap, I forgot to lock the door," Candice sighed. "Well, not like anyone would snoop. Welcome to my humble abode. Make yourself at home and all of that."

I wiped my shoes on the rug and took them off. Candice's home was just as small as it looked from the outside, but it wasn't like there were many options in Snowpoint. Plus, she did live alone. From what I could see, the kitchen was connected to the living room, and there was one bathroom and bedroom. The apartment was filled with a lot of… out of place decorations. There were scary paintings on the walls like a small girl holding a knife drenched in blood next to a… corpse, but there were also some cute decorations, like a Snorlax bean bag, and a big heart that read 'live, laugh, love.' None of it actually fit together. It was just a mishmash of different colors and moods. Craig was sitting at the dining table, typing away at his computer like he usually did. He smiled when he saw us, but he looked pale and tired.

"You kids made it," he said. "Grace, how're you doing?"

"I'm good," I replied. "You, on the other hand…"

"Candice went hard on me and forced me to use mega evolution," he sighed. "Now I feel like shit."

"No problem," she laughed. "Drinks? I have juice! All kinds of juice!"

"Sure," I said. "Can I release my Larvitar here?"

"You have a Larvitar? That's so cool!" Candice exclaimed. "Go ahead."

We all asked for different drinks, and I released sweetheart, who looked wary to be in a place with this many people. I wanted to use the opportunity to get her used to strangers, but I'd keep a close eye on her to make sure she didn't do anything foolish, like tear up a couch or something. Denzel and Cece were talking to Craig, and Chase was harassing Candice about her training routine.

"C'mere, sweetheart," I beckoned her. She approached me and hugged my jeans.

"She's the cutest!" Candice smiled.

Chase scoffed. "You said you'd tell me!"

"All in due time, young one," she said, shushing him. "This is a part of it, I'm teaching you patience."

"Bullshit."

"Well, feel free to leave and miss out on my awesome training," Candice shrugged. She handed each of us our drinks. I had asked for grape soda, which she thankfully had. I sipped on the drink and felt at the Poketch in my pocket.

Well, if a video of my battle had been recorded… I discreetly grabbed my Poketch and went on the Snowpoint gym's website. I quickly found my video and handed the device to Larvitar.

"Here," I said. She stared at the screen with a curious expression. "Be careful. Don't break it, alright? You weren't here to see the battle, and your siblings aren't there to tell you about it yet, so I figured I'd let you watch it so you don't feel left out."

I pressed play on the video, and she stared at me with a wide smile on her face.

"Tar!"

"No problem," I chuckled. "Enjoy it, alright?"

I stepped away from her and made my way toward Craig, Cece, and Denzel, who had been joined by Candice and Chase.

"...telling you that all of you guys have potential, you just have to not let the fame get to your head," Craig said. "And don't expect too much for your first year. In my opinion, you're good enough to get seven badges— maybe get to the Conference, but don't expect to wipe the floor with the competition there. It's like an entirely new world."

"I'll deal with 'em," Chase shrugged.

"Ah, Grace," Craig said. "I never told you, but that was some good battling."

"Got some tips for me?" I smiled as I sat down.

"Sure," he said, to my surprise. "You're like Gardenia, that's perfectly fine, but when the battle slips out of your control, you struggle to slow the rhythm back down and take the reigns again. That's something you'll learn with experience."

"Candice wasn't supposed to use that Darmanitan, though," Denzel said.

"Sure, she wasn't," the older trainer replied. "But there'll come a day where, either in the Conference or a tournament, or another gym battle, there'll be a Pokemon that makes you slip up and changes the flow of the battle drastically, where you go from winning handily to suddenly being on your last legs. A paradigm shift. My point will still apply there."

"Paradigm? What is this, a lecture?" Candice complained.

"I know you know what that means, Candice," Craig said. "You just like acting dumb."

"Aw, thank you! I am the smartest."

"I'm asking you to stop doing it," he sighed.

"I thought you weren't going to give us advice, though," I said with a hint of smugness.

"Yeah, but do you know how hard it is to turn down Lillipup-eyed new trainers?" He groaned. "Plus, it'd be better to light a fire under my sister's ass so that she stops being a loner and that she has people to push her further. She's been having it too easy."

I nodded, happy to know that we were all at least at Lauren's level. "Oh! What advice did you give Denzel, by the way?"

"Mostly just some small things to iron out, but he's actually the one I've had the least to say to. He's not too flashy, but he feels like a consistent trainer, and consistency is key. I'd say he has a lot of hidden potential, but he has to unlock it. He's a lot like me in that regard. There'll come a time when he'll probably be the most annoying to face between the four of ya."

"So, you're saying he's the most powerful between us?" Chase asked. "I call bullshit. Seems like you're biased because you see yourself in him."

"You all have strengths and weaknesses—"

"What a boring answer…" Candice grumbled.

"Let me finish! Arceus, you're hyper today. You all have strengths and weaknesses, but some of your styles will fare better against different kinds of trainers. There's no definite answer."

"Like I said. Boring."

The raven-haired man looked to be on the brink of breaking down because of Candice's antics, so he changed the subject.

"By the way, I had a proposition for you kids," he said. "When are you leaving?"

"Probably in a day or two when I'm done resting and our Pokemon are healthy again," I said.

"Tomorrow," Chase answered.

"Great! I have a proposal that would benefit all of us," Craig smiled. "What do you say I fly you down south on my Salamence?"

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 99

My eyes widened at Craig's proposal. A Pokemon's owner needed a license to fly, and if they were caught without one, there'd be severe penalties. In the most severe cases, depending on what happened, you could even be banned from ever flying, have your trainer ID revoked forever, or your Pokemon could even be taken, but those were only reserved for accidents that caused deaths. Most of the time, for first offenders, you would only have to pay a hefty fine. Still, so long as the Pokemon's owner had a license, you were allowed to ride with them, just like a car driver.

"Um… that would certainly help a lot," Denzel said. "But can Salamence support all of us and our bags?"

"Roxie's a tough girl, don't worry," Craig said. "She's carried five people before, and you guys are kids, so you're lighter."

"You said it benefits us both," Cecilia started, crossing her arms. "How?"

"Well, you're going to Eterna, right?" He asked. We responded with a nod. "Now that I've beaten Candice, I need to beat Gardenia too, so we're going in the same direction, but that's not it. It might be temporary, but you guys are the hottest thing in the news right now— you're getting more coverage than any trainers in the Circuit. This might seem a bit cynical, so sorry if it comes out meaner than I want it to, but if I bring you back, I get a lot of positive coverage too. Just make sure to put in a good word for me. It'll reflect badly on you, since trainers will think that it's unfair— especially the other first years, but honestly, after what you've been through, I think the criticism will be pretty muted."

Denzel rubbed his chin. "I mean, I don't see why not—"

"I'm going to Celestic, not Eterna," Chase interrupted. "I'll pass."

"Are you sure?" Craig asked. "It'll take you a long time to get to your next gym battle. By the time you make it to Hearthome, or wherever you're going, some first years might have five badges already. You'll fall behind."

Chase clicked his tongue and thought for a few seconds. "Fuck it," he groaned. "Fine, I'll get to Eterna. I'll visit Celestic later in the year."

"Any reason why you want to go to Celestic in particular?" I asked. His need to go to the small town was intriguing to me. It was mostly famous for being Cynthia's hometown, and where she had started her Journey when she was fifteen, and the Celestic Ruins, but other than that, it was rather barren.

"Nah," he sighed. I had been with him long enough to suspect that he was lying. "It'll be fine."

"That works then," Craig smiled.

"How long does it take to fly there?" I asked.

"Three to four days. More, depending on the weather— if there's a blizzard or the wind's blowing against us. Roxie also has to take a break every ten hours or so."

"Only three days?" Cece said in awe.

"She's a pretty fast flier. But there are a few things we need to go over. Chase and Denzel, your clothes aren't warm enough to fly. It gets cold up there. You also need to buy some goggles to protect your eyes. We'll be going fast, and you don't want anything getting in your eyes. Plus, the wind makes it almost impossible to keep 'em open without them anyway."

"Won't we fall off?" I asked.

Craig laughed. "Obviously not. I have a saddle that has seats for five, and you'll be attached to it. There'd be no way to hold on otherwise. Not everyone is as crazy as Cynthia. Did you know she just manually holds on to her Garchomp? It's a wonder she's never fallen off."

I gave a hesitant nod. I wasn't scared of heights, but flying on a Pokemon for the first time would make anyone uneasy.

"Let me give you all my number so that you can call me when you're ready," the older trainer said. "Don't take too long. I've spent too much time here already."

"What, you don't want to see me?" Candice pouted.

"I like my doses of Candice in moderation."

"Um, Chase," I started. "Now that you're going to Eterna, will you travel with us?"

"No, I'm still going to Hearthome on my own," he said. "But now we'll definitely meet in the city."

"Right," I grinned. "How about we battle there? Cece, Denzel, and I were already planning on doing so, but now that you'll be there, we can add you to the plan."

"I don't see why not," he said confidently.

"Alright!" I cheered. "Maybe we can do a two on two or something."

"Hey! Don't start picking already, we'll figure it out when we get there," Denzel said.

"Okay, I'm taking Obel then," he said right away.

"What if I refuse?" She teased.

"Your loss."

"You kids are so cute," Candice said, resting her head against her hands. "Makes me miss being a trainer. I'm gonna miss you guys."

"We can always come back," Denzel said. "I doubt it's the last time we'll be here, especially since our friends still need to battle you."

"It's going to take months," she complained. "I want to stick you all in little jars and keep you."

I ignored her out-of-pocket suggestion and let the current situation sink in. Somehow, we had kind of just… befriended a gym leader. We were in her home, talking. Only the best trainers that recurringly went through the Circuit and made the gym leaders use their personal teams could usually boast of such a feat.

Maybe I'd get to talk to Gardenia one day.

——

The next day, I had to wait all afternoon for my team to be healed. Electabuzz was the one that had been injured the worst, and Frillish would have been too, if he hadn't been a ghost. Nurse Joy told me to let Electabuzz take it easy for a few days, and I would obviously listen. He had done wonderfully during the battle, but there was no doubt that he had pushed himself past his limit. Using so many Thunderbolts had taken its toll, and Jynx and Darmanitan had done a number on him. I was now back in my room, ready to release all of them.

"Larvi!" Larvitar yelled at my feet. She was excited to see the team again, and so was I. With a flash of red, I let out all of my Pokemon with a beaming smile. Togetic rushed me, knocking me on the ground as she rubbed her head against my neck. Tangela wrapped me in a dozen vines, squeezing me into a hug as he shook excitedly. Frillish smiled slightly and gave me a firm nod.

"Okay, okay!" I laughed. "I get it, I'm happy to see you guys too!"

Electabuzz approached me and offered me a hand. I took it, and he lifted me back up. I brought him into a warm hug. Larvitar giggled as angel pat her on the head.

"You were awesome," I said, before looking at my team. "You all were. Seriously, look at me."

All of my Pokemon turned toward me.

"There were two phases to the battle. The first phase, the one where we had a plan and we were in control. That part was practically perfect. We had Candice exactly where we wanted her and used that to our advantage," I explained. "The second part… well, I can't exactly judge it before watching the footage, since it's kind of all a blur, but I know that we can improve on that," I said, remembering Craig's advice. "But don't take this the wrong way. I'm not saying that I'm sad or anything. Seriously, this was the most fun I've ever had in a Pokemon battle."

"Ele," Electabuzz said, clapping my shoulder with a smile.

"You too, huh?" I grinned. "You've got some serious firepower, you know that hon?"

Togetic giggled, floating above him and placing her head in between his antenna.

"I told you, you were all awesome," I said. "I'm going to watch over the footage now, so feel free to play, alright? We'll work on your next steps for training at some point, but you all deserve a break."

I grabbed my Poketch from my bag, but I also gave Togetic her plushie and Tangela his stress ball. Larvitar immediately yelled and tried to steal both of their toys, and I had to sternly tell her not to throw a fit and that they could share. Unfortunately, Electabuzz had outgrown his already small battery, so I couldn't really give it to him. Thankfully though, he seemed content with teasing Larvitar and bragging about the battle. He sure knew how to press her buttons, especially since she desperately wanted to start battling.

"Well, time for the autopsy," I said with a twinge of anticipation. Frillish was behind me, staring at what I was doing as he usually did when I was working.

I opened the Snowpoint gym website, grabbed my notebook, my pen, and started playing the video. After pushing past the discomfort of hearing my voice on a recording, the first thing I noticed was how unhinged I looked. Even at the start of the battle, I was just staring at Candice with my eyes wide like I was mad. Hell, I was barely blinking. Now that I was looking at it, I could definitely see how that could anger somebody. Candice was a gym leader, but she was still human.

"Well, damn," I groaned. Gardenia was much more subtle about her observations, and when you did catch her looking at you, it wasn't with such a crazy look.

In the grand scheme of things, it didn't matter though. Sure, it had angered Candice, but maybe me looking like a crazy person would unsettle my opponents and throw them off their game.

I definitely needed to remember to blink and breathe, though.

"Here we go," I whispered.

First, there was the fight between Frillish and Glalie. Scouting the ice type's moves had gone exceedingly well, and he had taken minimal damage, but it went a bit off the rails when we switched gears and wanted to take it down. The plan had been to take it down immediately, hoping that the sudden change of pace in the battle would throw Candice off enough to let that happen, but she adapted remarkably quickly. Luckily, Frillish had worked on Shadow Ball enough to break past that Protect, otherwise we would have taken too long, and Candice might have felt like going on a more offensive Pokemon, which might have spelled trouble for Electabuzz.

Thankfully, none of that had happened. But it could have. I didn't want to have any maybe's in my plans. I wanted everything to be iron tight. So what could I have done to avoid this and beat Glalie faster? I could have just said that I could have practice Shadow Ball more so that Frillish could just throw them out like he could with Water Pulse or Bubblebeam and call it a day, but that wasn't enough. If I was placed in the battle right now, with the exact same setup, what would I do? I tapped my pen on my desk as I thought, ignoring my Pokemon's many cries around me.

Suddenly, it came to me.

The Glalie had frozen the majority of Frillish's water type attacks, so I had used Shadow Ball to try and bait another move, but what if I hadn't? I could have made Candice reveal protect by having Frillish quickly move around Glalie with Water Sport and using a water type move behind him so that freezing it with Frost Breath was impossible. Hell, that actually happened during the battle. If I had acted more helplessly and not revealed Shadow Ball until I was sure it could hit, then I would have been in a better spot.

But maybe Frillish would have taken more damage from Freeze Dry or Ice Shard.

For every action in battle, there was a cost. Would the cost have been worth it here? Since Frillish had Recover, I thought yes. There was a huge mistake I had made, however, and that was during Frillish's short fight against Sealeo. Frillish had Water Absorb, but I still made him dodge Brine when he could have used that water to regenerate some of the damage he had taken from Glalie. I had been so focused on grand plans that I had forgotten to look at the little, obvious things. I needed to get better at using abilities in general too, which was something I had largely ignored.

I scribbled some notes and moved on to Electabuzz. His performance against Sealeo had been flawless. No matter how many times I replayed the video, there were no mistakes I could spot there, so I moved on to his battle against Jynx. The start had actually been fine. Despite a close call with Sing, his Thunderbolts were fast and accurate enough to stop the ice type from ever putting him to sleep, and we had slowly been dealing damage, chipping away at Jynx as it desperately diverted our attacks.

"You're pissing me off! We're going all out! Get up there and grab some trees on the way!" Candice yelled in the video.

That was obviously when the problems started. I had said before I had hoped that a quick change in the pace of the battle would destabilize Candice, but she actually used the same tactic on me. Despite's honey's best efforts, I wasn't there to help him, and he took some avoidable hits, like that tree that hit from behind him.

I could have warned him, but I had been too taken aback. I was lost in my head, and then it was too late. Being hit by a tree was obviously no small problem, and it had been enough to almost faint him, but luckily, he had pushed himself to the brink and taken Jynx down with Fire Punch.

Still, if he hadn't been hit by that tree, then maybe he wouldn't have gone down in one Avalanche against Darmanitan. That mistake had honestly all been on me. Like Craig had said, I needed to be better at adapting when the situation was no longer in my favor, but ideally, I'd be able to predict those shifts in the battle before they even happened by watching my opponent's body language. I had noticed Candice's rising anger during the battle, but I thought nothing of it until it was too late, which meant that unfortunately, I wasn't good enough to do that yet, but it was still something to work on. I wrote on my notebook and continued.

"Angel, huh…" I whispered.

Angel had done his job, which was Leech Seed and Poison Darmanitan, but there were still things to work on. First, I should have figured out that Darmanitan's Icicle Crash would be more powerful than the others' after seeing his Avalanche take down Electabuzz. I distinctively remembered watching a video of her battles where the move had been applied in the exact same way, with dozens of icicles crashing into the ground all at once— albeit it had been used by another Pokemon. Unfortunately, in the heat of the battle, I had forgotten that, and Tangela took a hit we could have maybe avoided with foresight, which might have let him paralyze Darmanitan along with the poison. Another misstep I needed to fix.

For Togetic, I had seriously underestimated the control that Darmanitan had over Avalanche. Power was one thing, but the amount of fine-tuning needed to have the move wrap around Extrasensory was mind-boggling. Thankfully, by that time in the battle, I had landed back on my feet, and I was thinking clearly again. Ancient Power had bought us a precious few seconds, and we managed to get Darmanitan into that… second form. I took a break from writing to look it up online. Apparently, it was called 'Zen Mode,' and some Darmanitan had the ability to switch forms whenever they took too much damage. For Galarian Darmanitan, it turned them into an ice and fire type, which is why it burned off Tangela's Leech seed so easily.

The ability was exceedingly rare, however, which was why I hadn't even heard of it before. I was somewhat harsh on myself— I needed to be, if I wanted to get to the Conference in my first year— but I wasn't that harsh, which was why I wouldn't blame myself for not figuring it out.

Lastly, there was Frillish's fight against Darmanitan. There wasn't much to say there. He almost went down to an Avalanche, but we managed to salvage the situation with an Acid Armor. After he managed to Recover, I'd say that we were in the clear.

Not revealing Recover had actually been the key to my victory. If Candice had known that Frillish knew the move, I doubted that she still would have used Belly Drum, which caused Darmanitan to damage itself to the point of collapse. She probably believed that all she would have to do to win was take down an already-injured Frillish.

"Ahhh," I groaned, stretching my arms and legs. Frillish placed a tentacle on my shoulder, and I gently held it. "I know you want me to rest, but I'm not done quite yet. Plus, I actually feel fantastic. No joke."

"Fri…"

"I'm not lying, I swear!" I exclaimed. "I have a few more things to think about, and I'll get back to bed, alright? I've got to be well rested for the trip tomorrow."

Since I felt fine today, we were going to start flying back south tomorrow morning. I felt anxious at the fact that I was only going to get three days to prepare to tackle my newfound fame, but… blegh. We wouldn't stay in Eterna long anyway, but I dreaded the swarms of trainers, reporters, and people who just recognized me from T.V. I did feel good about the fact that we would maybe make it in time for Pauline's birthday in three days. We hadn't told the others we were traveling on a dragon, and I couldn't wait to see the look on their faces when we arrived.

I turned to Larvitar, who was running against one of Tangela's vines while the grass type was preoccupied by standing by a window and soaking up sunlight. When we got on the road again after Eterna, I would begin teaching her new moves and start getting her to battle the wild Pokemon on route 207. It was one of the most frequented routes, especially near the cycling road, so the wild Pokemon there were often weak. If I met trainers with one badge or less, I'd let her battle them too. She was almost at her normal weight of 158 pounds, and she was almost fully grown now, so it was time for her to start battling. I'd break the news to her later though.

I turned off the battle videos and started typing something on my Poketch.

'Fire types available in Sinnoh.'

Due to how cold the region was, in the past, there weren't many fire types native to the region at all. Thankfully— or unfortunately, depending on if you were talking to a ranger— globalization had brought all the regions closer together, and that meant that contamination happened. Paras, for example, were native to Kanto, but like that ranger had explained before we entered Eterna Forest, all it took was for a few trainers to bring Paras there and abandon them for whatever reason, and now they were infesting the forest. Of course, not every Pokemon could be found in Sinnoh, but there were enough fire types for me to work with.

I needed a certain type of Pokemon to fill a role in my team that was still empty. That gaping hole had been felt during the battle against Candice. Heavy artillery, I had called it. Something that could deal a lot of damage from afar, but also take a lot of hits. After narrowing my choices, I was left with a few candidates.

First, the Rolycoly line. I knew they could be found in caves, and we were going to travel through Mount Coronet again to get to Hearthome. Coalossal was great at filling the role I needed, and they learned a lot of powerful fire and rock type moves, but they weren't the best long distance fighters, and a rock and fire type had a lot of weaknesses, which could be exploited by how slow the Pokemon was. Plus, I already had a rock type with Larvitar. It wouldn't be my first choice, but the rarity of the next two might mean that I'd have to catch one anyway.

Next up was Torkoal, which was a slightly better choice. From what I could see, they were also found in Mount Coronet, but they were way rarer than Rolycoly. They were also found deep in the Oreburgh mines, since they sustained themselves off of coal, which was funny enough, since Rolycoly was made out of coal. Did Torkoal eat Rolycoly?

I preferred not to think about that.

Torkoal unfortunately came with its drawbacks as well, though. It was adept at resisting physical attacks thanks to its tough shell, but it sometimes floundered against special attacks, and it was even slower than Coalossal. Plus, the Pokemon was too defensive-minded for what I wanted exactly, but I wouldn't let perfect be the enemy of good. It was still an excellent battler, and the strongest ones could learn Eruption, one of the most powerful fire type moves in the world.

Lastly, there was the Numel line. Camerupt was the most offensive-minded Pokemon of the three, and it could also learn Eruption. The ground typing would also help with rounding out my team. But those offensive capabilities came with a drawback. It was the least bulky Pokemon of the three, and it couldn't take as many hits. Numel were also rare, however, it didn't live on Mount Coronet, but around it and other mountainous areas. It was most common around Stark Mountain, and so were Torkoal, but routes and facilities on the Battle Frontier were restricted to trainers with eight badges, so I wasn't going to get there any time soon.

Rolycoly, Torkoal, Numel. All came with advantages and disadvantages I'd find a way to work around, but one of these three would be my final team member for the foreseeable future, and I'd have to catch it before I was out of Mount Coronet.

If I had to pick one between the three, though? I would choose Numel.

"Well, I'm done," I said with a satisfied smile. "Time to get some rest."

——

I watched in awe as Roxie just let Craig install the enormous saddle on her back. He pulled on it firmly and asked Salamence to move around a bit with it to make sure it was on tight. We were on the outskirts of Snowpoint, since Pokemon as dangerous as Salamence weren't allowed to be out inside of cities or specifically designated areas, and the sun was just rising.

"Now let me repeat this again," Craig said. "Keep your Pokeballs inside of your bag and not on your belt. We don't want any accidents. Then we'd be forced to turn back to look for it, and most of the time, we won't be flying over routes. Everybody go to the bathroom? Everybody eat and drink? We'll be in the air for almost ten hours straight, and Roxie doesn't like it when I interrupt her flying, so I'd rather avoid it."

We all nodded, and he motioned us to step forward. He quickly lifted us on top of Salamence and we attached ourselves to the saddle. There were four seats on her back and one right below her neck, which was where Craig would sit, and they were angled away from Salamence's body so that our legs could hang off the… edge. Cece sat next to me, on Roxie's left, and Chase and Denzel were on the other side. Craig turned back and made sure we were all attached correctly, and he had to tighten Chase's harness. I zipped my coat up to my neck and put on my goggles.

"I'm so fucking nervous," I said, trembling slightly.

"Come on, grow up," Chase complained.

"We'll be fine," Denzel said. "People do this every day."

"That doesn't help whatsoever," I said. "And Chase, don't act like you aren't scared. I see you bouncing your leg."

"Wha— Shut it!"

"Personally, I can't wait," Cecilia grinned. "I'm looking forward to doing this with Zweilous when they evolve into Hydreigon. Talonflame could as well, but they're often too small to lift a person. It depends on how big she is when she evolves."

Craig climbed on Salamence's back.

"Ready? It's going to be really sudden, and you might feel a bit nauseous, but when we get to cruising altitude, you'll barely be able to tell."

I froze. Nauseous?

"Let's go, Roxie," Craig said as he tapped her neck.

Salamence flapped her giant wings and took flight.

I screamed.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 100

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!" I screamed. "Slow down!"

I shut my eyes tightly as Salamence flew upward so fast that it felt like my spine was getting squeezed. No one answered my plea. We were climbing so quickly that all I could hear was the cold wind blowing past my ears. Even though I was attached, I held on to the saddle for dear life. I hesitantly opened an eye, looked to my right, and saw that Cecilia had the biggest smile on her face and was bending forward to look at the ground. I couldn't see Denzel's face, but his shoulders were stiff, and his fists were clenched around his seat. Chase, meanwhile, had his face turned away from anywhere near the ground. After a minute or so, Roxie gradually slowed down her ascent, and I could finally start to hear again.

"Guys take a look," Craig yelled. I turned toward him and saw that he was pointing forward.

I stared at Mount Coronet in the distance in awe. From this far, we were around a day and a half away, but even then, and even though we were flying, the mountain appeared to tower over us. We had gone through that and lived. Salamence was done climbing now and was gently gliding across the sky, occasionally flapping her huge wings to generate lift. I took a deep, cold breath and finally gathered the courage to stare down. Snowpoint was still in the distance, but it was shrinking rapidly— a testament to Roxie's speed. From here, everything looked so little. So insignificant. But together, everything formed into a coherent whole that held meaning.

"You guys can relax, the worst is over," Craig said.

"Thank the Legendaries," Denzel exhaled. "I've never been on a plane before, and this is terrifying to me."

"This is nowhere near how high a plane actually flies," Cece said. "And you can barely tell you're on one after take-off anyway. This is a lot more personal. A grand experience."

"You're insane," Chase said, his face pale. "Fast travel or not, I'm never subjecting myself to this again, this was an awful idea."

"Oh?" Cece smiled, turning her body toward Chase. "Is the great Chase admitting to a weakness?"

"It's not a weakness, dumbass! Traveling on foot all the time will make me and my team tougher."

"Whatever you say," she replied with a haughty tone. She seemed to take great pleasure in his suffering.

"So, ten hours of this?" I asked.

"Yeah, give or take a little bit, depending on Roxie's mood. How you feeling today, Rox?" Craig asked, rubbing his dragon's neck.

She replied with a gentle growl and beat her wings energetically, gaining in speed and altitude.

"Tell her to stop!" Chase stammered.

"Relax, you're screwed on tight, and no flying types are foolish enough to attack a Salamence. We'll go around Mount Coronet too, so you don't have to worry about any dodging maneuvres."

"Um… dodging maneuvres?" I asked with a hint of worry.

"Oh, it ain't much. Sometimes when we fly close to the Mountain, the wildlife gets a bit angry, and Roxie has to… well, dodge. But again, we're taking a safe route."

I relaxed slightly and leaned back, away from the edge. Now that the excitement was wearing off, the cold was sinking in, especially since it was impossible to move around very much.

"Ten hours, huh?" I whispered, rubbing my hands together.

This was going to be a long flight.

——

Our first stop was late in the afternoon, and somewhere along route 216, where we were all taking a well-deserved break. It didn't look like it, but flying was actually exhausting. Sure, I didn't panic anymore, and I wasn't scared, but I still felt like it was impossible to rest up there. Humans weren't meant to be this high up in the sky, and when there wasn't a huge metallic tube separating you from the elements like on a plane, even relaxing was impossible. It felt like my body had been on high alert for ten hours straight.

Cecilia, meanwhile, had easily fallen asleep around four hours in, and only woke up when Salamence landed. We were standing a few minutes away from camp. It was safe since obviously, Salamence had landed us on a route, and we could easily handle every wild Pokemon here. She was planning on having her daily… face-off with Scyther, where the bug type tried to find an opening to kill her, but first, she wanted to speak to Zweilous again. It would be her fourth time since the gym battle against Candice.

She released the dragon in front of us, along with Slowpoke, just in case one of the heads got any ideas. I was noticing a theme with Cece. Her Pokemon were troublesome to raise, and extremely aggressive. Scyther was an apex predator, and when her other Pokemon evolved, they would be too. Talonflame were notoriously good at devastating local normal type populations, and Hydreigon was one of the most dangerous Pokemon in the world.

Slowpoke was… well an exception to the rule, I supposed.

Zweilous was just as tall as I was now, if not taller. I wasn't about to get close enough to check. One of the heads growled at the other, and they immediately began to fight, using Dragon Breath, Crunch, or Incinerate. Slowpoke shielded us from any stray attacks, and Cece calmly observed the heads at work. Strangely enough, none of them used Dragon Pulse. Maybe they deemed it to be a step too far? It would deal substantial damage to their body if it hit, so it made sense if they only struck with attacks that would only affect the individual heads. They were sharing a body, and if it was injured, it would be to both of their detriment.

"The left one inherited most of Deino's unpent aggressiveness. He's always the one that starts the fights, and he's more vicious in the way he attacks, but he's very driven in his need to obtain strength. I decided to name him Zerstörer, or Zerst for short."

"Zerst? Never heard that name before," I said.

Zerst seemingly noticed his name and blew a small flame toward me, which Slowpoke blocked. I still flinched and felt the heat of the flames on my face.

Cece clicked her tongue. "Bad! Bad Zerst! Behave, or you'll get grounded. No more training for two days!" She yelled. "Sorry about him. It might seem like a lot, but he was holding back against you, and he knew the attack would be stopped… it's just his way of complaining."

He simply responded by roaring at her, sending spit that Slowpoke again blocked.

"He's still feral with others. It seems that he at least recognizes you," Cecilia smiled. If that was recognizing, I wondered what he'd do to strangers. "But yes, it's not exactly a name. It's supposed to mean 'destroyer' in another language."

"Destroyer? You can be so childish sometimes," I laughed.

Cece stared at the ground, clearly embarrassed, and cleared her throat. "Moving on! The other head's given me very little problems. He's less aggressive, but obviously he fights back as you can see. He's inherited Deino's loyalty to me, and he always listens to what I say, but he can be very… protective, down to a fault. I've had to yell at him not to attack Scyther. I decided to call him Sol."

"Sol?" I asked. "That's short for something, isn't it?"

"Yes, but now that you made fun of me for Zerst, I'm not going to tell," she said, clearly vexed.

"So you're just… letting them fight? That seems kind of ruthless."

"I thought so too, but Mark gave me advice on how to raise Zweilous. They won't ever be good friends or get along, but the relationship between the two heads is especially rocky at the start," she sighed. "I'm supposed to let them fight it out, and eventually, a dominant head will be established."

"Aw," I lamented. "That's kind of depressing."

"No, no, you have the relationship wrong," Cece hurriedly said. "Take the Sneasel pack that attacked us, for example. They had a leader, right? They take the decisions, decide where the pack goes, et cetera. It'll be like that, although I'll be the actual leader in the relationship—"

Cece stopped when she noticed that Zerst was gathering a Dragon Pulse in his mouth.

"Zerst. Stop that immediately," she said with a frigid tone.

The head stared at her, clearly angered, but the Dragon Pulse dissipated, and he turned away from her. Sol, meanwhile, gave her a thankful bow. Taking care of these two looked exhausting, and I had an entire team full of babies and children.

"Don't hesitate to ask for our help, alright? You're going to have your hands full with them, plus Scyther," I worriedly told Cece.

She grabbed my hand and held it tightly. "Of course," she smiled. "Which is why I wanted to introduce you to them. Can you call Denzel over? His Sylveon might come in handy if things ever go… off the rails, and I want to tell him the same things I told you."

"Sure," I nodded. "You'll be fine alone?"

"I have Slowpoke, and I have much to talk about with him as well. About his evolution."

I stared at Slowpoke, who had seemingly lost a lot of his aloofness. Just like during the battle against Candice, he was always aware now. The water type looked into my eyes and blinked.

"Gotcha," I said before leaving back to camp.

Well, camp might have been a generous way to call it. It was mostly a singular fire that had been lit by Chase's Houndoom. Roxie was lying down, her body curled up around Craig, who was eating canned tomato soup that he had heated on the fire, and Chase was working his team to the bone with his drills. I made my way toward Denzel, who had also released his entire team.

"Am I interrupting something?" I asked with an amused smile.

Sylveon was desperately hiding behind his trainer, and Snorunt was standing on his back, riding him like a Ponyta with a wide, toothy smile, seemingly ignorant of Roselia and Buneary staring daggers at her. I hadn't been acquainted with the ice type just yet, since Denzel largely kept her in her ball during our walk to Snowpoint, but she seemed like an upbeat kind of Pokemon, reminding me of Togetic or Electabuzz.

"Just some jealousy issues…" Denzel said with a pained look. The two Pokemon yelled out in protest.

"Rose!"

"Bun!"

"Come on, just let Snorunt enjoy this," Denzel groaned. "You practically hazed her when I first introduced you, obviously she's going to be pushed into Sylveon's arms! You did this!"

Snorunt laughed loudly. So loud, in fact, that it almost felt like she was taunting her teammates. Roselia and Buneary, seemingly having forged a new alliance in love, turned away from Denzel with a look of pure betrayal.

"Why are you even mad at me? I'm not even doing anything! Sylveon, tell them!"

Sylveon looked like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He gave a half, grumbling answer and quickly lifted Snorunt off of his back with his ribbons and jumped on Denzel's back to escape from his fellow Pokemon.

"You know what, you're all tiring me out. We'll sort this out when we get back to Eterna," Denzel sighed. "I'm recalling all of you. Sylveon included."

He recalled his Pokemon, who all protested loudly, and shot me a dismayed look.

"You've had it rough, huh?" I empathized. "Love troubles?"

"Yeah, I thought I could manage, but now that I've added another member to the team, Roselia and Buneary are going crazy. Snorunt isn't even in love with Sylveon, they're just friends!"

"You sure about that?" I said, half-teasing.

"Yes!"

"Okay, big guy," I laughed. "You mentioned hazing before. Can you let me in on that?"

My best friend groaned with a tired look. "The first time I introduced Snorunt to the team, she was already acquainted with Sylveon, since he was there when I caught her. You know him, he's friendly like that, even though he likes to be alone sometimes."

"Alone or with you," I shrugged. "Anyway, keep going."

"Buneary and Roselia— she was obviously still a Budew— acted all chummy with her right away, which instantly raised my alarm bells, but they somehow convinced me that they had grown and matured enough to befriend Snorunt. Anyway, long story short, she ended up being pushed way too hard when I started training her with the group, but luckily I caught wind of it fast, and now Buneary and Roselia hate her, especially since Sylveon came to her rescue, and he's pissed at them for bullying her."

"This seems like a really convoluted romance flick plot."

"I know! It fucking blows! But at least Buneary and Roselia get along now?" He said with a pained smile. "I hope Feebas is going be more amenable with Snorunt. He's only seen her once before we left the lake, and he didn't have much time to get to know her."

"Hey, maybe when you catch your sixth, Snorunt will ally with them and start this whole process all over again," I said, patting him on the back.

"Right…" he sighed. "Haven't even decided who my sixth will be yet."

I raised an eyebrow. "I thought you had the whole thing planned out?"

"It's a long story… but basically, now that Eevee's evolved into a Sylveon, I need something new."

"You wanted another fairy type?"

"I wanted a Gardevoir, yeah," he nodded. "I'll figure something out. It'll probably be a while until I catch another Pokemon anyway. I need to fix this whole damn relationship issue first."

"That's the smart thing to do," I agreed. "Anyway, Cece wanted to see you," I said, pointing toward where we were. "She wants to introduce you to the heads."

"Ah, the heads," he said with emphasis. "I bet they're just peachy."

"You don't know the half of it. Hey, before you go, Cece named one of the heads Sol. Can you ask her what that's short for?"

He shot me a suspicious look. "I dunno, it smells fishy. Like betrayal."

"Come on. Aren't we friends? Best friends?" I said, leaning against him. "After everything we've been through, you can't do this one little thing?"

"If Cece gets mad at me, I'm going to have my revenge. You know that, right?"

"Why would she get mad? I just forgot to ask her, and I want you to do it, that's all," I lied. "Anyway, go on. You've kept her waiting long enough."

"Arceus…" he sighed as he left toward Cece's direction.

I watched on with a satisfied smile and then turned to Chase, who was seemingly done with his drills and taking a break. He had given his Pokemon water, and he was relentlessly telling them to stay up and not sit down. I approached him and his team, curious to meet his new Snover. I knew quite a bit about his other Pokemon, but the ice type still eluded me.

"Hey man," I said. "Busy?"

"On a short break, so not right now," he answered dryly before taking a swig of cold water.

Riolu had no problems standing upright, but Houndoom and Zangoose were struggling, their legs clearly shaking like leaves. Charjabug, meanwhile, couldn't really lie down, so he appeared to be fine, although upon closer inspection, his breathing was ragged and harsh. Snover was impatient for the break to be over and clamored at Chase, eliciting a smile. My eyes widened slightly. It wasn't often that I saw him smile outside of when he was being a smug jackass.

A smug jackass you could learn to appreciate, though.

"How's your new Snover?" I asked, getting directly to the point. The ice type stared at me with an expression I couldn't exactly place.

"Fits in like a glove," Chase said. "The drive to get stronger is there, and it's probably the strongest I've ever seen it. He's always motivated for our workouts, and he's already at the others' level in battle."

The ice type proudly slammed his fist against his chest.

"Already?" I asked in a surprised tone. "That usually takes a lot longer."

"Who do you take me for, Pastel?" He asked, rolling his eyes. "Do you think my hard work's just for show? I work myself and my team to the bone for a reason."

"Right," I nodded, taking a step next to him. He flinched and stepped back.

"Oh— sorry?" I said.

"What was that for?" He frowned.

"Nothing, I just felt like doing it," I shrugged. "I like being close to my friends."

"Friends?"

"I mean, yes? What did you think we were?"

"Traveling companions that ended up together out of convenience?" He said.

I frowned, feeling genuinely hurt. "Are you kidding me? How— why would I even ask you to meet my other friends and travel together if I didn't think you were my friend?"

"I don't know, I thought that you'd maybe need me to get through Mount Coronet down south," he shrugged.

"So you don't think of me as a friend at all?"

He paused for a few seconds, and the silence grew uncomfortable. "My break's over, I need to—"

"Riolu," Riolu shook his head.

"What? But the—"

"Ri," he interrupted, his tone stern.

The teen scratched his head and groaned. "Fine! I'm not a friend guy. I've never had any friends at all, and I don't know what it's like, okay?! I don't fucking know if we're friends or not!"

"Well, I'm telling you that we are!" I yelled. "Stop putting this barrier between you and us! Let us in!"

"Fuck off," he spat, turning away from me.

"You're such a prick!"

"Yeah! Yeah, I am, and I like it that way, which is why I'm leaving!"

"Okay!"

"Fine!"

Riolu facepalmed, clearly giving up on the situation, and I stomped away angrily. Stupid Chase and his stupid need to be an asshole. I wanted to help him, but he kept pushing me away, like he needed to keep me at arm's length at all times. Maybe that was why he kept calling us by our last names all the time. He didn't want to get too close to anyone. I bet that was why he wanted to leave—

"You two alright?" Craig asked me, interrupting my train of thought.

"What? Oh, yeah. Yeah, just something stupid," I sighed.

"Want someone to talk to while your other pals are busy?" He asked.

"Sure… I don't see why not, I guess."

I sat next to him, and next to his Salamence, who thankfully didn't pay me any mind.

"I just can't with Chase!" I complained. "I want to be friends with him— hell, I thought we were. He was finally starting to be nice to us, and now he just blows up at me… although I guess I blew up at him too."

"Maybe he just needs his space," Craig shrugged. "Some people are like that. They don't mind interacting with others, but at the end of the day, they're a solitary trainer at heart. Like Sarah Newman, for example."

"The girl who beat you last year in the finals?" I asked.

He grimaced. "No need to twist the knife. But yes, that's her. She's one hell of a trainer— one of the best— and we're actually on good terms, but people considered her to be… eccentric. She was always quiet, and when she spoke, she always said what was on her mind, which is why she could be rude as hell," he laughed, clearly reminiscing. "Anyway, that's all to say that we're all wired differently. Maybe Chase is just uncomfortable with the label of friendship. I mean, you are friends, that's undeniable, but do you need to use the term?"

"I mean, no, but he wouldn't let me even step next to him," I grumbled.

"That's his personal space," Craig shrugged.

"I've never had someone reject me so strongly," I sighed. "It hurt."

"I can tell you're a friendly kid. You're like a big… bundle of warmth, and some people don't like to be warm all the time. Do you like to hug your friends, for example?" He asked.

"Yeah, I do it a bunch," I said.

"I figured. Some people aren't comfortable with that level of bodily contact, right? It's the same for personal space."

My eyes widened, thinking of Frillish. "Oh. Oh."

"You get it?" He smiled.

"Yeah, I do completely," I groaned. "I messed up."

Obviously, Chase had messed up as well. He was meaninglessly harsh with his words, but I was the one that had pushed him to that because I wasn't willing to be content with a no.

"Well, you might as well go make up," Craig said. "We're leaving in ten."

"Thank you, Craig," I said as I got up.

"No prob."

I hesitantly walked toward Chase, who clearly acted like he didn't see me until I was literally right in front of him.

"I see you didn't start up your workout again," I said, trying to start the conversation in a non-awkward way. He had recalled his Pokemon as well.

"Yeah, my heart wasn't in it. It was better to stop it here and start again the next time we land before we go to sleep," he shrugged. "Plus we're leaving soon anyway."

"Erm… I wanted to apologize."

"Eh, there's no need."

"No, let me finish," I said. "I'm a friendly girl, alright? So sometimes, I forget that others aren't as friendly as I am, and I think that they'd be okay with everything I spring up on them. I'm sorry I did that to you."

Chase shifted around. "Look, we can just put this behind us and act like nothing happened, and it'll be fine— ah, fuck it. You know what, let's not do that. I'm sorry for blowing up at you, alright? I messed up more than you did, and Riolu chewed me out for it. I'm just new to this whole people thing."

"S'alright," I smiled. "Let's, uh, not tell the others about this, okay? It'd be way too awkward."

"Sure thing, Grace."

My eyes almost fell out of their sockets. "What?"

"Nevermind. You aren't getting any more of those from me."

"What?! No, call me by my name again!"

He waved his hand annoyingly at me. "No, you made it weird, so I'm sticking with last names. Now bugger off."

"Fine," I said. "But that's going in my long-term memory. I'm never forgetting about it."

"Don't make me regret my apology."

I happily left Chase and saw that Cece and Denzel were back in one piece.

"Anything interesting happen?" I asked.

"Not much, just that her Scyther's a piece of work," Denzel sighed.

"He'll come around," I said, and Cece nodded. "We're leaving soon, so you guys should get ready."

When Cece left, I held back Denzel's sleeve and pulled him closer. "Did you get what I asked?"

"Sol is short for Soldat, which means soldier," he sighed. "I hate it here."

I gave him a short hug and smiled. "You're the best."

"Just don't make fun of her for it. She'll know it came from me."

"No guarantees."

"I fucking knew I shouldn't have trusted you!"

——

"I can never get enough of cities at night," Cece whispered.

In the distance, Eterna city loomed.

The city looked strangely dim at night. It was nothing compared to the bright lights of Jubilife or Oreburgh, but it was still beautiful. It had taken us three days to get here, and we had made it in time for Pauline's birthday. Roxie landed on the outskirts of the city, and Craig recalled her.

"Well, it was certainly different, traveling with you kids, but this is where our paths diverge. Stay safe, alright? If you ever meet my sister, call me and give her your phone! Tell her to answer her messages! Tell her that I love her, and I miss her very much, and I would like it if we spent some time together!" Craig said as he got progressively further away from us. We all waved at him until he entered the city, now a speck.

"What time is it?" Cece asked.

"9:34 pm," I said after pulling out my Poketch. "We can make it. You know what Center they're staying at, right?"

She nodded with a devious smile. We had tricked them into giving us their Pokemon Center address and rooms by saying that we'd need them for when we got back. Of course, that hadn't been a lie. We were just back much sooner than they would ever expect. When we finally made it to the city's entrance, Chase was going to head in another direction, down another street. It was time to say goodbye.

"Well, I'm off," Chase said. "Traveling with you all was nice enough. Have fun meeting your pals."

"Let's meet back in Hearthome, alright?" I said. "And don't forget to send messages!"

"I will, I will," he said.

"And don't get into random fights with trainers," Cecilia added.

"Come on, I don't do that."

"You do."

"Not unless they deserve it," he shrugged.

"And don't just do dangerous shit in Mount Coronet just because you've been through worse," Denzel said.

"I've got it! Arceus! See ya."

Now Chase was gone too, and my heart felt heavier. We had gone through so much together, and he was leaving, just like that.

"Well, it's our turn now," Denzel smiled nervously.

"It's nighttime, so hopefully, we can keep a low profile," I shuddered. "Let's go."

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 101

We were recognized almost instantly.

Eterna city didn't have a bustling nightlife like Jubilife and Sunyshore, so I expected to at least make it to the Pokemon Center before kicking up a fuss.

I had obviously been wrong. We were still on the city's outskirts. The less-dense parts of Eterna were mostly filled with expensive family homes from its last expansion a few years ago, but it was the weekend, so some people were still out and about, either driving or walking back home from a night out in the city. At first, there were only whispers. A couple, walking arm in arm, clearly drunk, doing a double-take when walking past us, then saying they must have gotten the wrong people. That there was no way we'd be back here already. A car slowing down next to us, and the driver not so discreetly staring at us after lowering his window, causing us to hurriedly turn our faces away from him. But those were manageable. After all, they didn't actually stop us or talk to us.

"Hooooly shit!" A trainer yelled. He had a Starly comfortably sitting on his head, and the dim, warm street lights shone on his face. "Is that— that is you! Three of the four first-year prodigies! Ricky, wake up!"

The trainer— who was clearly a first year like us— lifted a hand and tapped his Starly's side, and the bird lazily opened a single eye before going back to sleep, evidently uninterested in us.

"Can I get a picture with all of you?" He asked, his voice trembling with excitement. He turned toward me with a look of childlike wonder. "The way you took down that Darmanitan was awesome. I've rewatched your battle at least a hundred times!"

"S—sure," I nodded after taking a deep breath. This was just one trainer, so I was relatively fine, but the fact that I had fans was mindboggling to me. "That should be fine, right?" I asked, turning to the others.

"Yeah, absolutely," Denzel smiled.

"Wait! There's a risk that the others will see it, and it'll ruin the surprise," Cece said.

"Right! Please don't upload it anywhere until tomorrow," Denzel said.

"I won't, I promise!" The trainer smiled.

He was my age, but something about him was so… innocent in a way I couldn't explain. It made him feel younger than I was, somehow. He grabbed his phone, and we smiled for his selfie before going on our way. People were talking loudly about us now, and we had to stop a few more times to take group pictures.

"Let's not do any more stops," Cece sighed. "We're only ten minutes away from the Center, and it'd be a miracle if no one's posted about us online or on the forums already, despite us asking not to."

"They should be partying, I doubt that they'll be browsing the internet," I said. My throat felt dry, and I was sweating buckets now that actual large groups were coming up to us. I really hated this. I could understand why Craig's sister kept a low profile perfectly now, but that path was already barred. Once I took one step toward fame— even though it was against my will— there was no way to turn back.

"Can't be a party without me," Denzel chuckled, waving toward a group of teen girls that squealed at him. It was like a scene out of a shitty romance movie.

"You sure are taking well to your new situation," Cece remarked.

"Well, this is the kind of stuff I've been dreaming about for years, so I might let it get to my head a little," he shrugged.

"I just want to get in a room already…" I grumbled.

"You're doing well, don't worry," Cece smiled.

Denzel perked up. "That's right! You could be throwing up, or crying, or freezing up—"

"Not. Helping," I interrupted. I took a relieved breath when I saw that the Center was finally in view, the warm glow of the building offering me much-needed comfort. My steps grew larger and faster.

Obviously, that had been foolish of me, because when we entered the Center, we were swarmed by a horde of trainers and reporters who had seemingly gotten wind that we were here and guessed that we were going where our friends had been staying.

"Please, a moment—"

"How did you all get here so fast—"

"Can I get a picture? My friends will never believe me—"

"Do we have time for a quick interview—"

The bright lights of the camera flashes, the loud voices speaking over each other and the squeeze of pushing through a sea of people all made me clam up, but Cece and Denzel helped me through.

"Please, let them through!" Nurse Joy yelled. The place was so full that we couldn't even get past the lobby. She released a Chansey, who stared daggers at us. "Let them through, or I'll have Chansey evacuate the premises!" She yelled furiously.

It was as if hell had frozen over. The room was completely silent, and everyone turned toward Nurse Joy. Nurse Joys were one of the most accommodating, nice group of people on the planet, and they had to be. It was one of the most difficult jobs in existence. Long shifts, having to give up your identity for hours at a time, taking care of abrasive young trainers and their Pokemon, seeing children and Pokemon die… the list could go on and on. So the fact that a Nurse Joy had just angrily screamed was not lost on everyone, and we were finally let through.

"Arceus, that was awful," I sighed as we stepped into the elevator, thankfully alone.

"Yeah, people can get a bit pushy," Denzel awkwardly said. "But hey, turn that frown upside down. We're meeting everyone after so long!"

"Right," I smiled.

We reached Pauline's room and put an ear to the door.

"Shit, they're not celebrating at hers. Maybe Louis'?" Denzel said.

"That'd make sense, he always hosts the parties," Cecilia excitedly nodded.

We moved on to Louis' room, practically breaking into a run. I placed my ear on the door and heard muffled voices and music.

"Who wants to do the honors?" I whispered.

"Cece should," Denzel said, nodding toward the door.

Her hand hovered over the door for a few seconds, and then she finally knocked. I could almost hear Pauline complaining through the door, and Justin trying to hold her back through the door. We all stood up straight, waiting for her to open it.

Pauline burst through the door. "Not during my birthday, you ass— Wh— what?"

Pokemon Center rooms were small, so everyone got a good look at us right away, and they were speechless. They weren't even moving.

"Surprise?" Denzel hesitantly said. "Happy birth— woah!"

Pauline rammed against him and grabbed all of us, bringing us into a tight hug. Finally out of their stupor, the others ran toward us and did the same. I was being held so tightly I struggled to breathe, and I felt tears stream down my face. We were back. We were finally back, after so long.

"How did you— how did you even get here this fast?" Justin stammered. "There's no way you could walk—"

"We flew on Craig Goodwill's Salamence," Cece explained.

Emilia's eyes bulged. "Craig Goodwill's Salamence? You know him?"

"We're on pretty good terms," Denzel boasted. "Took us three days to get there, just in time for your birthday, Pauline."

"Happy birthday!" Cece and I both said.

"You guys are so stupid!" She cried. "You could have warned us!"

"Well, it's not a surprise if we do that," Denzel chuckled. "We don't exactly have a gift for you—"

"We're the gift," I said.

"I was getting there! You joke thief."

We closed the door, and they welcomed us in. The room felt packed with so many people, but that was perfectly fine. We took off our coats and bags before sitting on Louis' bed, and he handed us some drinks.

"I still can't believe it," he said with a dumbfounded smile. "We have so much to catch up on."

"And a lot to plan," I added. "Sorry, I just feel like zipping away from the city as fast as I can, if possible?"

"Still as bad with fame as you were, huh?" Pauline teased. "We can talk about leaving tomorrow."

"Don't act all tough, you were crying like a baby five minutes ago," I retorted.

"So were you! Anyway, um, we didn't really plan enough food for three extra people, but feel free to take anything you want. You must be hungry after traveling."

Different kinds of chips were laid out on Louis' desk, along with a half-eaten strawberry cake.

"I'm surprised you're this down to earth on birthday food," Denzel said. "This feels so normal, I was kind of expecting a giant, layered cake."

"Right? Like a wedding cake!" I laughed.

"Pauline's always been cheap with food," Emilia sighed. "She insisted on eating these unhealthy snacks."

"A girl after my own heart," I said proudly as I stood up to grab some food.

"You're taking a whole lot…" Justin remarked.

"I'm a growing girl," I said as I stuffed my mouth with chips. "I haven't eaten these in ages."

"Please don't speak while you're chewing," he chuckled. "Louis, do we have anything else in your fridge?"

"Some leftovers from yesterday's cafeteria food that I took with me—"

"Nevermind."

"Come on, Cafeteria food isn't bad," Denzel said.

"Or at least not bad enough to elicit such a reaction from Justin," Cece added.

"They make some awesome hashbrowns up in Snowpoint. You guys were missing out," I shrugged.

We somehow ended up having an unhinged debate about how Pokemon Center food was either disgusting or at least passable. Unsurprisingly, Denzel and I were on the passable camp, although if there was one, I'd be on the 'good' team.

"Pauline… you traitor," Denzel said.

"I'm sorry, that purée is really bad," She said, crossing her arms.

"Don't call it purée, you snob," he rolled his eyes. "It's mashed potatoes, and it doesn't taste nearly as bad as you make it out to be."

Emilia lifted a hand. "Actually, purée is different than mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes have a rougher texture, and purée is smooth—"

I placed my head in my hands. "Please, let's not discuss the definition of different potato dishes."

"But she's correct—"

"Justin… think of those poor cooks coming in every day to make food for you ingrates," Denzel sighed, clearly sarcastically.

"Okay, enough about food!" Louis groaned. "The fact of the matter is, they prioritize quantity over quality, which makes sense. Let's just please talk about something else."

"Like that Larvitar you caught, Grace," Pauline said in an accusing tone.

"Right, you did catch one. I assume you got it in Mount Coronet?" Louis asked.

"Her," I corrected him. "And I did, but she's still just a baby."

"I'm so jealous," Pauline said. "A Tyranitar would fit me so perfectly…"

"Come to think of it, it would," Cece said. "They're famously angry and vicious all the time."

"Don't be so smug," Pauline responded. "Anyway, I'm surprised you didn't tell us you caught her."

"More like disappointed," Emilia said.

"I'm sorry, it must have slipped my mind," I apologized. "Honestly, I was kind of hyper focused on getting ready for my battle, and then the fact that I owned a Larvitar got leaked anyway, thanks to this guy," I said, hitting Denzel's shoulder.

"Ow! What the hell?! When we were in Snowpoint, you said it was both of our faults, and now you're blaming me?!"

"Come on, take a joke," I laughed. "I'm going to start training her when we get back on the road, but right now, she's not a battler."

"Pauline, why don't you tell them what you found as the next member of your team?" Justin asked.

The girl hummed. "Fine. It's a Rufflet."

"Holy shit, it does fit you!" Denzel grinned. "A Braviary? That's perfect."

"I have standards," she huffed. "Why do you think I waited so long to catch a third?"

"If you keep up those standards, you'll end up with three Pokemon by the end of the year," Cece joked.

"Damn, you're a lot more playful these days," Pauline smiled. "You've changed a lot."

"Agreed," Justin said. "It's like you're happier— I suppose the fact that your father's been having a terrible few weeks adds to that."

Cece shot me a quick look but then nodded. We were going to have to do the big reveal, probably tomorrow. "I've heard that he's been desperately trying to contact me, but I'll let Clarence stew in his own mess," she said. "I had plenty of money in my account, so I won't have to change my lifestyle that much."

Louis gave her a tight nod. "The rest of our parents haven't cut off the money— probably because they know it'd reflect badly on them. My father's already under fire for raising prices."

"He's still negotiating with the Directorate for a bailout. He's been having to sell more and more shares," Emilia explained.

"Right, and I heard that he's also been asking for lower interest rates," Cece said. "Clarence has been doing the same thing with Unova's government. It doesn't matter. Even though I wish the company would fail, I always knew it was an unrealistic expectation, and I know I haven't seen the last of him. All I care about now is being free, getting strong enough to keep that freedom, and fulfilling my promise at the end of the year."

Justin raised an eyebrow. "You've been talking about this promise for a while," he started. "Could you tell us what it is?"

"Right," Louis nodded. "In Floaroma, Eterna forest, during your gym battle in Snowpoint, and now here?"

"I suppose I will. It was after the… events at Valley Windworks," Cecilia said, looking at me. She then turned to the others. "Do you remember when Cynthia came to my hospital room?"

"Right, she did," Emilia said.

"She talked to me about a lot of things that opened up my path to freedom, but she also challenged me."

I almost choked on my chips. "Challenged you?"

"She asked me to win the Conference, beat the Elite Four, and meet her in battle," she firmly said. "I remember her words like it was yesterday," she said with a glimmer in her eyes. "I personally challenge you. Don't disappoint me. That's what she told me, word for word."

"Arceus…" Denzel muttered.

So Cynthia had also seen Cece that day and challenged her? That was probably why Cece was still as driven as before she had finally been freed from her father. Cynthia's challenge was the goal that kept her going.

"So there you have it," Cece said. Then suddenly, her eyes burned, and she looked at me. "That's why I'm going to win this year."

"We'll see about that," I said, smiling at her. "But hey, no matter what happens, no hard feelings, right?"

She agreed immediately. "No hard feelings."

"I'm feeling left out," Denzel complained.

I playfully slapped his back. "Oh shut up, you big baby. You're obviously included in the no hard feelings pact. Everyone is."

Suddenly, there was only silence, but thankfully, Emilia came to the rescue.

"Guys, thinking about it, we never told you what we all got for Pauline," she smiled.

"The worst gifts of all time," the redhead said. "Except Emi's, of course."

"I'm not getting you anything next year," Louis said. "You complain too much."

"I mean, come on, Louis, Jewelry is so basic! Try a little bit harder. I know you just gave me that bracelet because you didn't know what else to buy."

He awkwardly scratched his cheek.

"See? And Justin, a book about starting my own business? Are you sure you don't want it back, because that seems like something you'd enjoy much more than me."

"I've already read it multiple times, and I think it can benefit anyone, which is why I wanted to give it to you—"

"Yuck. At least Emi got me something good."

"What'd she get ya?" Denzel asked.

"Money and a birthday card with a nice message on it."

"M—money?" Denzel stammered. "Don't you have that already? In ridiculous quantities?"

"Yeah, but if someone gives me money, I can buy myself whatever I want, and it's not my money, so it still feels like a gift," she shrugged, before hugging Emilia. "Thank you, Emi, you're the best."

"If I'm the best, will you do something for me?"

"Anything."

"Will you be nicer the next time someone gets you a gift?"

"Okay, you're asking for a lot here."

We partied deep into the night, but eventually, it was time to go to sleep. I bid everyone goodnight before leaving. Emilia was barely awake, dozing off on Louis' bed. Justin and Louis were talking with Cece about something business-related that I was nowhere near smart enough to understand. Pauline and Denzel, meanwhile, were leaning against the open window and had somehow launched into a conversation about if chess was a game, and I quote, for 'smug smart asses' or not. I shot Cece a look, signaling to her that I was going to be the first to leave, and she stood up.

"I'll bring Grace downstairs so that we can book a room," she said. "Don't forget to book a room, Denzel!"

He turned our way. "Yeah, worst-case scenario, I'll just go crash at Justin's."

"Old habits die hard," Pauline smiled.

We left, and when we entered the elevator, Cece gripped my hand.

"Arceus, it hurts to pretend just to be friends," she sighed.

"It does," I agreed. "But was it that different?"

"Obviously. With the trip with Craig, I haven't kissed you in too long."

"Well, one quick elevator kiss wouldn't hurt, or maybe you can come back to my room—"

"No, it's too risky," she sighed. "What if someone sees me get in or come out? No. We'll tell everyone tomorrow, right after we make plans to leave Eterna."

"I think you're being too anxious about it. It could just be a friendly sleepover. Plus, Louis will be fine with us."

"I don't know, Grace," she said. "I like him, and he's a friend, but I can see it in his eyes. He still isn't over me."

"But he's given up on you."

"Right, but that doesn't mean he doesn't love me anymore," Cece said. "Love can make someone do foolish things. He might have been okay with me finally coming clean about not loving him back, but if he knows I'm dating someone else? He might—"

The doors opened, and we immediately stopped talking. Thankfully, this late at night, people were no longer waiting for us, but we didn't want to accidentally leak something. Not when we were so close from telling the truth. It wasn't like we were doing anything bad, of course. We weren't under that impression at all, but feelings were a fickle thing. It was best to be gentle about this. We booked two different rooms and bid each other goodnight.

Even though I felt anxious, tomorrow could not come soon enough.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 102

I woke up to a soft knock at my door, groaning at the fact that this was happening way too often lately.

"Coming!" I yelled with a half-yawn.

I stretched and lazily shambled toward my door, my eyes still half-closed, and I opened it. Emilia and Cece stood in front of the door with breakfast, and there were a fuck ton of people in the hallway. Even for a Pokemon Center, this was unprecedented. The girls hurriedly entered, and I closed the door. I had kind of forgotten that we were still famous, and that trainers wanted to talk to us all the time.

"Is this deluge of people going to always be here?" I groaned. "Good morning, by the way."

"Someone's cranky," Cece smiled.

"I'm cranky too," Emilia said. "And yes, they're always here. Word's gotten out that you guys are staying here, and the Center is completely full."

My eyes widened. Completely full? That had only happened back in Jubilife when the Circuit hadn't even started yet.

"That's… something," I exhaled. "What time is it, even?"

"Five past noon," Cecilia answered, setting the food down.

"What?"

Emilia sat down on my bed and started eating some cold scrambled eggs. "It took a while for us to navigate downstairs and back up," she said. "Luckily, since Nurse Joy's outburst last night, they all seem to be on their best behavior. It didn't help that Denzel leaked the fact that Craig Goodwill brought you down here last night, and that he confirmed it."

"Right, we were supposed to put in a good word for him," I sighed. "Well, thanks for the food."

"I figured you'd be too anxious to get out there," Cece said softly. "Getting used to fame has to be done slowly and gradually."

Legendaries, I love you so much, I thought. "You figured right, thanks." I sat down and started eating. "So, are the others up?"

The two both nodded.

"What, even Denzel? He's supposed to be the last one up," I said.

"Pauline wouldn't let him sleep. She just kept kicking his door until he woke up," Cecilia sighed.

"And she complains when curious trainers knock on her door, can you believe that?" Emilia rolled her eyes. "Anyway, Justin and Louis are up, and they're all coming here soon. Then we can discuss your plans to get to Hearthome."

"You book a flight yet?"

"I will later today," she said. "Honestly, I'm glad I won't have to travel through the wild again."

"Don't worry about it. You better have all the good Hearthome spots noted down when we get there," I smiled.

"Obviously."

Suddenly, I noticed the dark contents of her drink. "You drinking coffee? Ew."

"What? It helps me wake up!"

"Emi, I'm going to be honest with you," Cecilia started. "I've never seen you drink coffee in my entire life."

"Well, maybe I just wanted to have a lifestyle change."

"Or, you just want to look like a grownup," I teased. "My dad—"

Another knock interrupted us, and Cece went to open the door. Denzel, Pauline, Justin and Louis all streamed into the room as people clamored around them. Denzel tried to stay outside to answer a few questions, but Pauline dragged him in before he could open his mouth.

"Good mor— afternoon. You guys aren't done eating?" Louis noticed. "Should we come back later?"

"Nah, it's fine," I said. "We can just start planning."

"It shouldn't take long since we've already gone over the routes to get to Hearthome before… everything transpired, but I figured we'd need a refresher," Denzel said.

"Emi, can you scootch over?" Pauline asked.

"Sure. Plenty of space on the bed."

"Don't get my bed dirty…" I grumbled.

"I'm not even the one eating!" Pauline yelled.

"I don't know, anything is possible with you."

"Okay, you guys are just ignoring me, that's great," Denzel said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Look, the situation is relatively the same. Eighteen days of travel or so. The Cycling Road, route 207, having to go through Mount Coronet, and then climb down, and then we're at Hearthome. What I'm thinking is—"

"You better not be implying I'm dirty, Grace," Pauline crossed her arms.

"Seems like you're putting words in my mouth. Maybe you know something I don't," I teased in a provocative tone.

"Let's take this seriously," Justin said.

"Thank you!" Denzel exclaimed. "Um, what I was thinking is that since our Cece, Grace, and I's Pokemon are so much better now, we'll probably cut on travel time, and going through Mount Coronet should be a piece of cake, especially since the Rangers keep that path clear of anything too dangerous except for a short lapse in between the two ends."

"Way to brag, but alright," Pauline nodded. "Everything should be relatively simple then?"

"Yeah, we should be good. We picked up plenty of caving experience."

Louis raised a hand. "So when are we leaving?"

"As soon as possible," Cece said. "I'd be ready to go even tomorrow."

"Can't we wait until Emi leaves?" Justin asked.

"You guys are already behind in the Circuit," Denzel said. Pauline stared daggers at him. "Through no fault of your own, of course! It'd be best if we get going as fast as possible. Waiting would be a mistake."

Louis nodded firmly before looking at Justin and Pauline. "Agreed. Even if we make good ground and take down every gym leader on the first try, we'll have to get to Snowpoint and backtrack to Canalave. Without a flier and a license, we'll barely make it to the Conference, and that's if we don't lose."

I stared at Louis and raised an eyebrow. He had changed a lot since reading that letter. All of his usual self-confidence that had made me liken him to Chase seemed to be gone now.

"As much as I hate to admit it, he's right," Pauline said. "Plus, I'm going to have a lot less time to train any new Pokemon I catch."

"Come on guys, you'll make it," I said, trying to raise their spirits. "We just have to keep pushing forward."

"Right," Louis said. "So tomorrow it is, hopefully in the morning."

"They rent bikes at the Cycling Road's entrance, so we'll be fine on that front."

"I might be out of practice…" Pauline muttered.

"You'll be fine. Riding a bike is knowledge you never lose," Denzel said.

"I'm gonna miss you guys," Emilia said. "We just met again, and you're already leaving… maybe I should come anyway—"

"Absolutely not," Pauline interrupted. "You're not going to force yourself to do something you don't want to. It won't be for long, and we'll be staying in Hearthome for a while."

"Fine," she grumbled. "But I'm definitely coming on foot to Solaceon. That route is relatively easy, I've heard."

Denzel nodded. "Well, that should be it then."

I shot a look at Cece, and she nodded. It was now or never.

"Um, actually, Cece and I have something to say to you all," I stammered, twiddling my thumbs. Now that the moment had come, it was actually difficult to get the words out. She got up and came to stand next to me. "Well, Denzel already knows, but we're… we're…"

"We are dating," Cecilia said, grabbing my hand. I shut my eyes and waited for their reaction.

Emilia squealed and shook excitedly. "Oh, Arceus! How wonderful!"

"Honestly, I was kind of wondering before the whole Mount Coronet thing happened," Pauline smiled. "Since when?"

I breathed a sigh of relief. I had expected them to be supportive, but it was nice to finally hear it. "Well, since—"

"I professed my love for her in Mount Coronet," Cecilia explained.

"Well, this certainly is an unorthodox relationship, but so long as you're happy," Justin said.

"Come on, be a little bit more modern in your thinking," Pauline said, slapping his arm. He yelped and took a few steps away from her. "Gay people exist, get over it. Personally, I don't care about gender."

"No, no, thank you, Justin," I smiled.

"Louis?" Cece asked. The whole room turned toward him.

"Oh, I'm— I'm happy for you two, I just wasn't expecting this, that's all."

I looked at his hands and saw that his knuckles were white. Cece had been right. He did still have feelings for her through no fault of his own, but how could we solve this?

"You're not," I said. "Talk to us about it. If you bottle everything up, it'll be worse. How can we help you get through this?"

"I'm fine, I promise," he smiled as he got up. "Now, let's get ready for tomorrow—"

"Louis…" Justin said. "We know you better."

"Come on, open up," Pauline said, her tone devoid of any of her usual snark. "Grace is right."

"Louis," Cecilia said. "I'm sorry."

"Don't— don't apologize. It's me. I'm the one with the problem."

"Feelings cannot be controlled," she said. "How can we help.?

"I'll be fine, let's just start getting ready—"

"Louis—"

"I said I'll be fine!" He yelled. When he realized what he had done, he froze in place. "I'm sorry. I just need some time alone to pack. Let's meet back tomorrow at the cycling road, okay? Eight in the morning sharp."

We all gave a hesitant nod, and he left. Denzel followed shortly after, saying that he'd attempt to cheer him up, and Emilia, Pauline and Justin left soon afterward, giving us words of encouragement. With a frustrated groan, I fell down on my bed.

"That could have gone better," I sighed.

"Or worse. It's good that we finally got it out. The longer we kept it hidden, the worse it would have been."

"I definitely agree with that," I said. "Think he'll be alright?"

"I hope so, but at least he's trying, which is something he would never have done when I first met him," she said, sitting next to me. "You're taking harder than I thought you would. You seemed confident yesterday."

"I just hate to see a rift in the group," I sighed. "But at least we don't have to hide anymore."

"How can I cheer you up?" She asked with a pained look.

I stared up at her and stared into her eyes. "Hold me."

She smiled slightly, lowered herself and hugged me tightly as she gently stroked my hair. "I love you."

"I love you too," I said.

"Do you want anything? I know you just ate, but I could get you a milkshake. Or we could watch Craig's battle with Candice to cheer you up."

"Just stay with me a while?" I asked.

"You didn't even have to ask, love. I'll stay as long as you want."

——

The next morning, we were all on a tram that would take us to the Cycling Road. Louis had seemingly gone ahead and would wait for us there, but I couldn't help but feel a pit in my stomach, like something was going to go wrong. Emilia was also here, having opted to see us off at the gate, and now that we were close, she was tearing up, eliciting curious stares from the passengers. I laid my head against Cece's shoulder, waiting for us to reach our destination. Even though the situation could have been better, I was at least happy to be out of the city. I wasn't foolish enough to think that things would ever go back to normal, but hopefully, by the time we got to Hearthome, our fame would have died down a bit. I would also need to finally take a look at sponsors and start making some money. I had a lot of things I wanted to buy, and having a decent amount of cash would certainly help. Vitamins, TMs, especially for Togetic, and maybe even Power Items like the Power Lense to speed up our training, although that one was probably a long shot.

Most of all though, I needed to start saving for a Shiny Stone. These formed near Mount Coronet's summit, above the clouds, due to needing an immense amount of light to form, so this was more of a long term project— something that would take me months to save up for. The price fluctuated slightly, but the going price was currently around 745,000 Pokedollars per stone, and considering I hadn't battled trainers in a while, I was completely broke. All I had was the money Candice had given me for winning the battle and some change. Thinking about it, Denzel would also need a Shiny Stone to evolve his Roselia, and another stone to evolve his Snorunt, so he was in a bigger dilemma than I was, although Dawn Stones weren't ridiculously expensive like Shiny Stones were. They were just pricy. There was a much bigger supply since they weren't as rare, so if he got a good sponsor, he'd probably be able to nab one by the time we left Hearthome or Solaceon. He obviously wouldn't use it yet, though, since Snorunt had a lot of growing to do before it was wise to let her evolve into a Froslass, especially since it was a ghost type. Ghost types were notoriously difficult to control after evolving due to all the... pranks they liked to pull. Of course, to a Haunter, for example, a prank might be something that could get someone killed or mentally scarred. Either way, not all evolutionary items were created equal. A lot of them were affordable for trainers if they just saved for a few weeks, like normal Thunder Stone or Oval Stone, while others were in such rarity that they were worth millions, like the high-quality Fire Stones that were needed to make Vulpix evolve. There was a reason newer trainers avoided Pokemon that needed items to evolve.

I needed money, so I would need to finally come out of my shell and start seriously negotiating with companies, but my friends would thankfully be here to help me out like they had last time Retani Industries tried to scam me. If I was lucky and I landed a really good sponsor, maybe I'd be able to get a Shiny Stone by the fifth or sixth badge. Getting one in Hearthome would be a long shot.

And that was if I could restrain myself and not blow my money on too many TMs. I really wanted the Psychic TM for Togetic, but I supposed that could wait. Even though I was famous, it was important to remember that I still only had three badges. Impressive for a first year, sure, but there were still relatively a lot of people like me. I wasn't going to get the best deals in the world like Craig was getting. Companies weren't about to suddenly pay me hundreds of thousands of Pokedollars just because my face was on T.V. a few times— at least not until I had won more badges and tournaments— but if their contract was anything worth my while, they'd probably offer me some TMs. Hell, even Retani Industries had done so, and they tried to scam me!

I hoped I'd be in another tournament soon—

"We're here," Cecilia gently told me.

"Oh, thanks."

We all stepped out of the tram, and Louis was thankfully waiting at the gate to the Cycling Road like he had said he would be, and he looked much better than yesterday. Confident in himself, maybe? I breathed a sigh of relief. It looked like I had been worrying for nothing.

"Good morning," Louis said, his voice steady. "I hope you weren't impeded too much on the way here."

"It's early in the day, so no," Pauline shrugged.

"Well," Emilia sniffled. "I guess this is it."

"Come on, Emi, cheer up," Denzel said, clapping her shoulder. "We'll be back together in no time."

"Yeah…" she sobbed. "I know. It still hurts."

Pauline hugged Emilia tightly. "Stay safe, okay?"

"You idiot, I should be the one saying that."

"Oh, we'll only have to deal with the occasional Pokemon," Pauline shrugged. "You'll have to deal with people. People can be assholes. Don't let yourself be pushed around. If someone's harassing you, tell me when we get there, and I'll fuck them up."

Emilia let out a tearful laugh. "I will."

She hugged us one by one and bid us goodbye as we stepped through the gate. There was a queue that was practically empty due to how early it was, and bikes were lined up by the hundreds beyond it, ready to be lent out to any trainers that passed through here.

"I wonder if they ever run out," I pondered.

"Of bikes?" Denzel said. "No, they have thousands of them in storage in the back. These are the only ones on display."

We shuffled through the quick queue, handing our trainer ID to a League worker there, and we were let through. Suddenly, Louis stopped us, looking into each one of our eyes one by one.

"What is it? Louis?" I asked.

The blond man sighed. "I came to a decision last night, and I think it's the only way I'm ever going to move past this. I think it would be best if I traveled alone for a while."

 

[Soussouni1]

INTERLUDE - FORUMS III

Welcome to the League Circuit Forums! The best website to get any League/Circuit related news!

General → Item_Discussion

Topic: How are we supposed to continue?

Original Poster: Raymond_Wheeler (Verified Trainer)

Date: December 4th 20XX

This is an unmitigated disaster.

As a lot of you reading this are, I'm a first year trainer. I thought I was doing pretty well for myself, I mean, I've beaten Volkner and Maylene, and I was going to be on my way to Hearthome. Unfortunately, I'm fucking stuck in Veilstone because potions are too expensive for me to afford any, so I can't actually make the trip through route 215 because the woods there are crawling with wild Pokemon. No matter where I go, I hear the same thing. Newer trainers are getting screwed over by the Bianchi Conglomerate, and our progress has been slowed to a crawl. Potions used to be barely fifty Pokedollars each, and now, they're fucking 200 a piece? I mean, this is outrageous! And that's not even counting the other stuff with inflated prices too!

At this point, the government needs to step in and do something, because a ton of trainers' journeys are being slowed down by this. What happens if someone can't make it to the Conference because of this? Older trainers won't get it, because they've got large sums of money saved, or they have sponsors that helps them out, but for us, the little guys in the middle of it all? We're getting screwed over like usual, and all we're getting is platitudes from the League and incompetence from the Directorate. They're supposed to fucking help us, and they're twiddling their thumbs.

Also, if anyone in Veilstone is willing to, I'd be willing to form a group to get through route 215 so we could get to Solaceon, thank you!

►Emma_Graham (Verified Trainer)

I'm in Pastoria, and I'm in the same boat. I can't get through route 212 without risking my Pokemon, especially that Arceus damned swamp. Off-route Pokemon kicked up a fuss and went onto the route recently, so it's even more dangerous, and rangers are saying it's going to take a week to get everything back under control. A fucking week? I'm already so behind on my badges, this is the last thing I needed to hear! And then this potion thing? I mean, holy shit, talk about the unluckiest year to start my journey!

►Kayden_Martinez (Verified Trainer)

The Bianchis can go fuck themselves and should pay us fucking reparations for what they're doing. Not only did they and the Obels get trainers killed, but now, they're trying to salvage their profits instead of doing the right thing. All they fucking did was offer some shitty PR apology. Harvey Bianchi spoke on T.V. recently and it was obvious he hadn't even rehearsed the speech beforehand, he was stuttering all over the place.

There's been a rumor that the gym leaders will meet sometime this month at the League, and they tend to be better connected with trainer issues than them, since they don't live on an island in the middle of nowhere and actually talk to their constituents. I hope that they try to pressure Cynthia into intervening, because this can't fucking go on. After just a few days of raised prices, I'm already completely tapped out of money, and no one wants to battle me because everyone is fucking broke. There's no way I'm making it through Mount Coronet at this rate.

►Dominik_Washington (Verified Trainer)

You're crazy if you still want to go through there after what happened to Grace Pastel, Denzel Williams, Cecilia Obel, and Chase Karlson. I'm sticking with the eastern side of Sinnoh this entire year.

►Kayden_Martinez (Verified Trainer)

That was another closed-down section of the mountain they tried to get through, not the official path.

►Gemma_Brady (Verified Trainer)

It's a shame what happened to them, but the problem is that this is showing no signs of slowing down. What if we have to deal with expensive supplies for the entire year? Multiple years? This could fundamentally change the dynamics of being a trainer for a long time.

►Raymond_Wheeler (Verified Trainer)

This won't be contained to just Bianchi Conglomerate products… the price of Pokeballs is starting to creep up too. The entire market is about to undergo a massive shock.

►Konstantin_Widdman (Verified Trainer)

I'm a third year trainer sponsored by the Bianchi Conglomerate, and they're trying to pressure me to renegotiate my contract. They want to lower my salary and are acting like some shitty items will be enough to compensate me. I mean, I really don't need a fucking Electric Gem, thank you very much, I'd rather get paid. They really want to cheap out and save as much money as they can from everything.

►Lillian_Webb (Verified Trainer)

Well, fuck. Fuck the Bianchis and fuck the Obels, I guess.

——

Trainers → Events

Topic: So, they're all alive somehow??

Original Poster: Joe_McCoy (Verified Trainer)

Date: December 8th 20XX

So this is a huge surprise.

As it turns out, the four trainers that were supposed to be dead in Mount Coronet are alive and well. Honestly, we don't know much right now, and by the time I post this, the information will probably be outdated because things are moving so fast, but they were first spotted by gRUR, a Snowpoint resident who managed to take a blurry picture of them, and now they're apparently at the Pokemon Center on Cross Street, the same one that has Candice's gym.

So let's review the facts. The ranger report stated that they all 'fell down a chasm opened by a wild Tyranitar.' Yes, you heard that right. A fucking Tyranitar. Now, I don't know about you, but I'd say that surviving that would be impossible, but somehow, they did. Then, they'd have to have survived in the depths of Mount Coronet, escaped, made it back to a route, and all of route 216 and 217 in fucking winter!!!! And aside from a few wounds, they seemed to have made it unscathed.

Now normally, I'd say that this doesn't pass the smell test, but ranger reports don't lie, and well, they are alive, so they must have made it through everything somehow. I'm honestly stoked to see trainers survive, especially since it fucks the Obel Energy Company and the Bianchi Conglomerate even further than they already are after Pauline King revealed the entire truth of the situation. Mind control, arranged marriages, abuse… just yikes. I wish it was possible to boycott the Bianchis without fucking ourselves over, but alas.

Returning to the original topic, I've gone through multiple media websites, and there are a bunch of interviews from Cecilia Obel and Denzel Williams lined up for tomorrow, so stay tuned for that. Denzel is back to posting on the forums again, so feel free to go ask him any questions, although he's probably feeling very overwhelmed right now, but hey, we want answers, damn it!

►Freddie_Gaunt (Verified_Trainer)

This is the best news I've heard this entire year. That entire story was so tragic, I'm glad that they managed to survive down there. I'll definitely be glued to my Center TV all day tomorrow! They're already blowing up everywhere, it's fucking insane.

►Rowen_Robinson (Verified_Trainer)

@Denzel_Williams is planning on doing a livestream at some point in the next few days too, so I'd keep my eyes peeled for that.

►Savannah_Contreras (Verified_Trainer)

Harvey Bianchi and Clarence Obel are fucked. Completely fucked. Not only do they have public opinion against them because of what they did, but now, they're going to get trashed by Cecilia, and we're going to get the truth straight from the horse's mouth. I hope she eviscerates them.

Keep up the pressure! That's how we get them to lower their prices again!

►Rap4God

Has this ever happened… ever? I mean, when's the last time first year trainers went through an unpatrolled part of Mount Coronet and lived? Hell, they only have two badges! This is some Cynthia tier shit.

►Keira_Harris (Verified_Trainer)

Let's not go too far, but yes, it is incredibly impressive. I've heard that they're challenging Candice, since they're already there, so we'll get to see them battle. I'm curious to see how far they've come after everything they've been through. I'm expecting them to win pretty handily, especially since Candice never usually fights at that level, but we'll see.

►FengaSuave

I just wish they were saying more, you know? I mean, Denzel is the only one active on the forums. Chase Karlson uploaded one video and then dipped, and now all he's doing is being toxic to people on his megathread. Cecilia Obel's only taking interviews, and Grace Pastel is completely radio silent. It's honestly kind of frustrating.

►Madeleine_Gallagher (Verified_Trainer)

If she doesn't want to, she doesn't want to. Honestly, this situation will also have some drawbacks. There were already copycats trying to get through Mount Coronet's blocked entrance, and rangers had to renovate the abandoned building and actually stand guard there again to stop kids from getting themselves killed, but now that it's actually been confirmed that they survived, it's going to get even worse. My dad's a ranger, so I really feel for them. Their jobs are really underappreciated.

►Rowen_Robinson (Verified_Trainer)

Well, at least they got ahead of it and stopped any other trainers from getting themselves killed. What's the best channel to watch the situation develop? I'm flipping in between every news channel, and they're all behind the information we already have.

►DiamonDesin

Yeah, that's usually always the case. Reporters are probably scouring the forums to get information. You already have a front seat to everything that's happening, so just enjoy the show.

——

Trainers → Events

Topic: Post livestream AMA

Original Poster: Denzel_Williams (Verified Trainer)

Date: December 9th 20XX

My livestream was interrupted by Grace, and we aren't doing much right now, so I figured I'd move to a text-based format. Feel free to ask me any questions about anything you want, and I'll try my best to answer. Remember to subscribe to my channel to catch any future content, by the way, I'll try my best to keep it coming.

►Terra_Caldweld (Verified Trainer)

Why are you ignoring the fact that your friend just showed up into your room with a Larvitar??????????

►Denzel_Williams (Verified Trainer)

She caught it in Mount Coronet.

►Joe_McCoy (Verified Trainer)

Does it have anything to do with that Tyranitar that dropped all of you into that chasm? That's the only way I can make this entire thing make sense. Larvitar are way too rare.

►Denzel_Williams (Verified Trainer)

Wait, you guys know about the Tyranitar? Well, yeah, the two are linked, but I don't think I should answer questions directed at Grace in her stead.

►HeyYa123

Then ask her! Isn't she in your room still? Come on, we want info.

►Denzel_Williams (Verified Trainer)

Erm, how about no. Respect my friend, please. If she wanted to engage in this forum stuff, she'd be doing it. All you need to know is that she caught a Larvitar while we were in Mount Coronet, and that's her fifth team member. I won't answer questions related to Grace any longer, but feel free to ask anything about me.

►Cody_Atkinson (Verified Trainer)

Fine. Will you be battling Candice, and at what time? I feel like this could be the most watched series of gym battles in a while.

►AppWami

Catch anything interesting during your travels? When you weren't all fighting for your lives, obviously.

►Martin_Nelson (Verified Trainer)

Wati what? We can't learn more about the Larvitar? I'm out then.

——

General → Team_Galactic

Topic: Strange activity near route 222? (REMOVED BY A MODERATOR)

Original Poster: Throwaway2029349828389292

Date: December 11th 20XX

Throwaway account and posting from a coffee shop, because I'm feeling really paranoid right now.

The most you'll get from me is that I was recently at the resort in between routes 213, 214, and 222. One night, I couldn't sleep, so I decided to go for a walk, and I saw the strangest thing. There were a fuck ton of unmarked vans parked all around route 213 that had come from Sunyshore, and they were driving… somewhere to the west. I was too scared to get any closer and there were a lot of Pokemon and people around, but it sure looked like some undercover government shit to me. They're hiding something from us.

I went over the scene a thousand times in my head. Hell, I've almost gaslit myself into thinking it was all just a dream. I've tried to rationalize everything. I've tried telling myself that there was just an issue with a wild Pokemon gone rogue, or that they were just transporting something to another city, but it just doesn't make any sense. There were hundreds of them. Hundreds! Way too much to be dealing with a wild Pokemon, and even then, that's the rangers' job. And if they were trying to transport something, why not just shove it on a plane and call it a day? It's not often that cars drive on routes, and there were even helicopters flying overhead. I felt like I was in an Arceus damned movie.

Now, this could either be a nothingburger, and I'm worrying for nothing. I mean, this is the League we're talking about. If they wanted to hide something, why would they let themselves be caught with their pants down by me, of all people?

But I can't help but think… what if? What if I did come across something I shouldn't have? I managed to take a picture, so feel free to come to your own conclusions. I was terrified, so it's kind of blurry, but here it is.

(open image)

►League_Account_Official (Bot)

This post was automatically removed for breaking rule 22a (no alternative accounts). Feel free to contact the moderators to appeal our decision !

——

Trainers → Cecilia_Obel → Megathread

Topic: Everything about Cecilia Obel

Original Poster: League_Account_Official (Bot)

Date: September 1st 20XX

(Showing page 659/702)

►Goalducc42

So, it's me again. I honestly thought I'd never be doing these write-ups, since I thought Cecilia was dead. I honestly cried when I heard the news that she was alive. Her gym battle was really something else, especially that second half, so I'll try to do what I did for Gardenia's gym battle, but I might be a little bit rusty. I went on a forum hiatus after she fell down that chasm.

Slowpoke: Slowpoke really shone through today compared to his battle against Gardenia. I had definitely underestimated him, and especially his psychic abilities. It seems that Cecilia is leaning more toward those than his water type, which could be a sign for his evolution. As we all know, Slowpoke can either evolve into Slowbro or Slowking, but as it stands, and with how aware her Slowpoke seems and adept with his psychic powers, the facts can only point to it evolving into a Slowking. It's not like Cecilia lacks the money to afford a King's Rock.

But getting back to the battle, do you know how difficult it is for a Pokemon to deflect an attack as fast and powerful as Ice Beam? One only has to look to Grace Pastel's battle for that, with Jynx struggling to deflect Electabuzz's Thunderbolt. Ice Beam is in the same category. So for Slowpoke to have not only deflected, but returned the fucking attack to that Cubchoo is crazy. We didn't see much more, but his Zen Headbutt also appears to be incredibly strong, but Water Pulse seemed to be lacking, which is why I said that Cecilia was leaning into Slowpoke's psychic type. We didn't see much more of him because of Cubchoo's Yawn, but this thing is definitely a beast.

Zweilous: So let me start by saying that I was right when I said that this was a new Cynthia in the making. The forums or the gym battle database didn't exist when she was going through her journey, so there's no way to go for sure, but the stories remain, and her Garchomp was apparently incredibly powerful even as a Gible and Gabite. I think Zweilous mirrors that exactly, I mean, did you fucking see that Dragon Pulse? I won't call myself a dragon expert by any means, but that certainly is one of the most powerful ones I've seen from a Pokemon this 'low level.' Ugh, using that expression hurt me. But that's not it! Not only is Zweilous so incredibly powerful, but both of the heads can use different attacks, like when it dealt with Candice's Piloswine with that Incinerate-Dragon Pulse combination. Zweilous was also able to stave off an incredible amount of ice type attacks. I mean, does the type advantage even matter at this point? And they were fucking fighting themselves! This is still Cecilia's strongest team member, and his evolution only cemented that fact. And don't forget that she asked to get a harder gym battle, I mean, who even does that? And she managed to keep it relatively under control for the battle. By the time she gets to her next gym battle, which should probably be Hearthome, Zweilous will probably be fully on board, and I'd hate to be anything facing him.

Fletchinder: This thing is still employing the same strategy, and it's working. All she has is speed, and nothing else, but don't mistake my assessment for criticism. I mean, you saw how she literally took that Alolan Sandslash in one shot! Cecilia added Tailwind to her usual Agility-Flame Charge-Quick Attack combo, which made Fletchinder go even faster, but unfortunately, the attack was so powerful that it actually hurt her. This is actually a pretty massive problem, especially for a flying type as frail as Fletchinder. It means that after one of those combination attacks, she's basically done, since she can't even fly again, but this problem is temporary, believe it or not. When Fletchinder evolves into a Talonflame, this won't be a problem any longer, and she'll terrorize the sky.

Now, this isn't over yet. Keep in mind that there's still a secret fourth member of her team that she still hasn't even used. That's right, she won three-on-four again, ladies and gentlemen. At this point, I don't expect to see this Pokemon for a while, especially since it'll take so long for her group to get to Hearthome and Cecilia isn't the type of trainer that randomly battles others on the routes. Still, I think that anyone with half a brain should know that this girl is getting to the Conference.

►Donald_Barkley (Verified Trainer)

Another great writeup. I thought I hadn't seen you in a while, but I guess you were taking a break. That Slowpoke observation was actually very astute, and I hadn't made the connection between psychic capabilities and what they evolved into.

►AntiSalami

Yeah, it was something I wanted to bring up, actually. My sister's a trainer, and she owns a Slowbro. I remember asking her why she didn't pick Slowking instead, but apparently, just having a King's Rock isn't enough. There has to be a certain level of intelligence and psychic ability behind Slowpoke, or it won't evolve even with the item right next to it. Her Slowpoke was dumber than a rock, and it didn't change when it evolved, let me tell you that.

►Cody_Atkinson (Verified Trainer)

Oh, shit! So it's confirmed then, that's good to know. I wonder if she'll have a Slowking before her next gym battle then.

►Archive

I love your little summaries, but man, @Goalducc42, I have to ask. Are you in love with this chick or something? I don't mean to offend, but your simping levels are just so off the charts that I'm getting secondhand embarrassment.

►Goalducc42

Legendaries, I'm just a fan! I just want to see her succeed, alright? I know I gush over her a lot, but my heart tingles when I see her battle.

►AntiSalami

Nobody tell him.

►Juan_Capmany (Verified Trainer)

It's true that if I was battling a gym leader, I certainly wouldn't ask them to go hard on me, especially if I had just been through Mount Coronet. I feel like all of these people are insane, but then again, I guess there's a reason they have three badges and I only have one.

►Yvonne_Cardinal (Verified Trainer)

I'm going to try to get to Snowpoint ASAP through the open route from Celestic. Candice might take it easy on me, and I certainly won't complain.

►DaftDunce

That is the dumbest shit I've ever read, especially with February coming up. Have fun dying alone in the snow, buddy!

——

Trainers → Chase_Karlson → Megathread

Topic: Everything about Chase Karlson

Original Poster: League_Account_Official (Bot)

Date: September 1st 20XX

(Showing page 530/542)

►Bryson_Chambers (Verified Trainer)

All I'm saying is that he was kind of the least impressive of the four. Sue me! Yes, he's excellent, and yes, he won rather easily. His strategy with Charjabug's String Shot was ingenious, and his Pokemon are powerful, but after seeing Grace's and Cecilia's battle, forgive me if I'm kind of underwhelmed.

►Candicefitinurmouf

I wouldn't say that if I were you.

►Chase_Karlson (Verified Trainer)

@Bryson_Chambers buddy.

►Candicefitinurmouf

Here we fucking go again.

►Chase_Karlson (Verified Trainer)

I want you to look back on your life and tell me if there's one thing of note you've ever done. Just one.

►Bryson_Chambers (Verified Trainer)

What? Why is this guy typing on his megathread, that's not allowed.

►Sally_Gray (Verified Trainer)

Are you new here? This guy's been doing this since September first, and the mods seemingly turn a blind eye to everything he does.

►Chase_Karlson (Verified Trainer)

@Bryson_Chambers I'm waiting, brother. Come on.

►Bryson_Chambers (Verified Trainer)

I'm not going to stoop to your level. If you can't take a little bit of criticism, then that's on you.

►Chase_Karlson (Verified Trainer)

Oh, I can take your criticism. I've read it, and I've determined that it's bullshit, that's all. Sure, I have work to do, and I certainly will admit that I didn't win in a flashy way, but I did win easily. What I did notice, though, is that you couldn't answer my question. Your profile is private, but I'm going to assume that's just because of your self-esteem issues and that you have zero or maybe one badge at most. What are you doing, man? Instead of shittalking online, why don't you do something with your life and figure out how to beat that gym leader I'm going to assume you're stuck on? Why feel the need to put someone down instead of working on yourself?

►Candicefitinurmouf

Wait, what the hell happened to you, you're like a whole different human.

►Bryson_Chambers (Verified Trainer)

I could say the same thing to you. And you're the one that swooped low and attacked the number of badges I had.

►Chase_Karlson (Verified Trainer)

Oh, so you can dish it out but not take it? Did I ever attack you in any way before you came into my thread and shit talked me? I didn't. And you want to know why I'm on here? Because obviously, I just beat Candice, and my Pokemon are still at the Center, so I had some free time. I've already worked out once this morning too. What did you do today? Stay on your comfy Pokemon Center bed and browse the internet all day? Go outside and get some sun, man, I promise you that you'll start having a more positive outlook on life. Instead of focusing on how good or bad other trainers are, work on yourself and what you can improve, along with your team.

►Emerson_Fessenden (Verified Trainer)

Holy shit, you just got fucking clapped @Bryson_Chambers

►Candicefitinurmouf

LMAOOOOOO

►Bryson_Chambers (Verified Trainer)

Blocked and reported.

——

Trainers → Denzel_Williams → MegathreadTopic: Everything about Denzel Williams

Original Poster: League_Account_Official (Bot)

Date: September 1st 20XX

(Showing page 604/610)

►BaaaaaaB

Roselia's poison is potent as hell, even if we account for Growth. Cetoddle is covered by a thick layer of fat to protect it from the cold and any attackers, so to see that it just melted off entirely made me do a double take. That'll take a while to heal, let me tell you that.

►Samuel_Panella (Verified Trainer)

Ouch. Feels bad, because I think Cetoddle are cute as hell, but that's battling for you. Can we talk about that Sylveon, though? I'm glad to see that Eevee finally evolved, but I honestly thought Denzel would pick one of the more physically inclined Eeveelutions, like Flareon, Jolteon or Umbreon. Sylveon tend to be special attackers.

►Olivia_Hill (Verified Trainer)

Did we look at the same battle? That Sylveon looks to be pretty physically inclined to me, especially that Play Rough. Fairy types are fucking creepy as hell, man. They'll commit the biggest acts of violence with an Arceus damned smile on their face like it's fun for them.

►LivingPokedex

That's the thing, it is fun for them.

►BaaaaaaB

Source: I made it the fuck up.

►LivingPokedex

I'm going to ignore that and chump check you right now. I live on the Lily of the Valley island and my dad works for the League. He's a fairy type specialist, and he knows more about them than you ever will. Fairy types' brains are hardwired toward violence, and I'm not making this up. For fairy types owned by trainers, that can be contained, and they'll just enjoy battling to a ridiculous degree, even if they're getting torn apart, but there's a reason fairy types are the second most dangerous type in the wild after ghost types. They'll attack you for looking at them wrong. The worst ones? They'll fucking torture you and laugh while they do it. Ever heard of Hatterene? Grimmsnarl? Mimikyuu? Sure, there are a few exceptions to the rule, but the fact of the matter is, fairy types are the most violent Pokemon out there, and it's not even close, and the more powerful they get, the more… wrong everything is when you fight one.

►BaaaaaaB

Okay, Arceus, my bad, I believe you.

►Farid_Trabelsi (Verified Trainer)

What do you mean by wrong, exactly?

►LivingPokedex

Fairy types have weird effects on reality. For example, they might get just too lucky all the time. If a powerful fairy type and a human flipped a coin a hundred times, the fairy type would win at least eighty games, but that's not it. Things can get really fucking weird. They can bend reality to their will to a reasonable extent, For example, a powerful fairy type will alter the environment they stay in and make it all… mind-bendy. It's hard to explain if you haven't seen it in action, according to my dad, but it's like their domain, I guess, and they have complete control over everything that goes on there, so needless to say, you wouldn't want to fight a fairy type on their turf.

►Nadia_Armstrong (Verified Trainer)

I don't think bending reality to their will can be reasonable in any way. Is this applicable in battle, somehow? I watch a lot of high level battlers, and I don't see it being done.

►LivingPokedex

No, it's not. It takes years for a fairy type to build their domain. They alter nature around themselves, so they have to stay in the same spot too. So obviously, they wouldn't be able to do it in a twenty minute battle. Like I said, reasonable. The domains also aren't always crazy. Sometimes, it just makes it hard for you to concentrate, for example. Is it otherworldly, eldritch shit? Yeah, of course, but come on, they're Pokemon, we're used to that already.

►Samuel_Panella (Verified Trainer)

Let's stay on topic, guys. Do we have any idea of when Denzel is going to stream again, or what? His AMA was overtaken by idiots who kept asking questions about Grace's Larvitar, so I didn't learn anything of note.

——

Trainers → Grace_Pastel → Megathread

Topic: Everything about Grace Pastel

Original Poster: League_Account_Official (Bot)

Date: September 1st 20XX

(Showing page 699/720)

►Archie_Nikolaj (Verified Trainer)

Remember when idiots earlier in this thread were saying that there was no way Grace Pastel was capable of planning against Gardenia because she had too many Pokemon? Strangely, they're all gone, or pretending they never held that opinion in the first place. Seriously, I know some people still don't believe this, but this girl planned out the entire first part of the battle. Just look at her fucking face during it, for fuck's sake, it's so obvious.

►Sonya_Hladik (Verified Trainer)

It hurts to admit, but I've watched the footage at least ten times, but I think you're right.

►Heterochromia

Holy fuck, did Grace's biggest hater finally see the light? Congratulations, Sonya! That's what I call improving as a person.

►Sonya_Hladik (Verified Trainers)

For the record, I still think she's overrated.

►Esther_Johnston (Verified Trainer)

Okay, but that part of the battle is nothing compared to when Candice used Darmanitan. I tried to cross-reference and see what gym level it was, but she's only used it years ago as a Darumaka, so there's no way to really know how powerful it really was. Still, the fact that she actually took it down is crazy, I really thought she was going to lose when I was watching it live.

►Gabriela_Somerkoski (Verified Trainer)

Want to know what I've figured out? The reason she won was because Candice didn't know that her Frillish had Recover and threw the battle by using Belly Drum. I knew that she was easily excitable, but that was seriously a huge mistake that cost her the entire fight in the home stretch.

►DouvDouv

Isn't it crazy that we're talking about what mistakes the gym leader made and not the trainer with three badges? I mean, yeah it was a throw, but honestly, I never would have thought that Frillish had Recover. I mean, it was almost out for the count when she recalled him, so I honestly thought that she had nothing.

►Veikko_Maunu (Verified Trainer)

In retrospect, it makes sense. I mean, why would you recall a Pokemon that's on the brink of fainting and waste your only switch-in if you didn't have a recovery move?

►Archie_Nikolaj (Verified Trainer)

Yeah, I'd like to see you catching that during a battle, big guy, let's see how you fare.

►Heterochromia

Noticing the little stuff like that is what separates good trainers from the greats. It's one thing to have the most powerful Pokemon, but if you're shit at strategy, you aren't winning anything.

►Candicefitinurmouf

Are you throwing shade at Candice, dude? Because I'm going to fuck you up if you are. Verbally, of course.

►Heterochromia

Calm the hell down, moron. Obviously Candice is a good trainer, she's a fucking gym leader. I was talking about the average joes like you and me. Also, weird to see that you're simping for Candice with that name you have. I'd say that you're the one disrespecting her. Don't you think she's heard that joke a thousand times already? It's not funny, and I'm honestly surprised that username is even allowed.

►Candicefitinurmouf

Humor is subjective.

►Dominique_Bertrand (Verified_Trainer)

Okay, let's not get sidetracked talking about what can fit in someone's mouth or not. Not only is Grace Pastel seemingly excellent at planning a strategy for a battle, especially against Candice of all people, but she's good at thinking of one on the spot too. It was clear that she was thinking about how to win the war, not the battle, which is why she sacrificed her Tangela and her Togetic to buy enough time for Darmanitan to finally go down to poison and Frillish's Water Pulse.

And now that her Elekid's evolved into an Electabuzz, she won't be lacking in firepower for a while, and then there's also that Larvitar she caught, which is going to obviously become a monster in battle. I do have to wonder what she's going to catch for her sixth, but it'll probably be a while until we see that. That Frillish should also be relatively close to evolving, and I don't know how far Tangela's progressed with Ancient Power, or if it even started learning the move at all, and obviously, we don't know how Electabuzz evolves, but hey, maybe she'll figure it out.

►Sonya_Hladik (Verified Trainer)

It kind of hurts me that I find myself rooting for her more and more each day… damn it. It's all because I thought she was dead, and it made me rethink all of my toxicity online.

►Homura_Natsuo (Verified Trainer)

Yeah! All it took for you to get your head out of your ass was for you to think a few children you'd been rude to were dead! Congratulations!

►ABCBA

Ouch, that was some dry fucking sarcasm.

——

Trainers → Lauren_Goodwill→ Megathread

Topic: Everything about Lauren Goodwill

Original Poster: League_Account_Official (Bot)

Date: September 1st 20XX

(Showing page 203/205)

►ChanseyEgg

Holy fuck, you guys will not believe this! Lauren is in fucking Hearthome, I just saw her get a room at a Center!

►Masango_Aboubakar (Verified_Trainer)

Are you sure that was her? She never gets rooms inside of Centers. We've already established that she only goes there to get her team healed at ridiculous hours at night to avoid attention, and she never stays long.

►ChanseyEgg

That was her, there's no mistaking it. All those sightings of her on route 207 were correct, she's going to be battling Fantina soon for sure. I'm going to try to get in to spectate now that we know that she only battles super early in the mornings.

►Christopher_Navarro (Verified_Trainer)

I'm going to do the same, since I'm in Hearthome right now, but I'm honestly intrigued to see if she's going to win on her first try or not. Winning against Fantina on your first try is basically impossible. I only won on my third, and I'm in my second year! Luckily I was battling her for the first badge, and not the second or the third, so it wasn't too bad.

►Aryanna_Taylor (Verified_Trainer)

Those illusions can be a bitch. I beat her last year as my eighth gym badge, and during my first try, I spent a good three minutes fighting a Gengar that wasn't even fucking real.

►ChanseyEgg

Wait were you the one in the illusion? Is that allowed? Glad to see a veteran trainer on Lauren's thread, by the way.

►Aryanna_Taylor (Verified_Trainer)

No, obviously she can't just trap her challengers into a nightmare while she destroys their Pokemon, or whatever, but that's not all ghost types can do. Basically, imagine a Double Team, but with an actual body, not just an afterimage, and that can also use moves that can hurt your Pokemon. That's what I had to deal with, and when I took it down, Gengar just laughed and appeared behind my Samurott's shadow and took her down. Fantina's just a bitch to fight in general, and that's not even the worst stuff I had to deal with. She's one of the only gym leaders that actually still have to hold back when fighting trainers with eight badges.

►Christopher_Navarro (Verified_Trainer)

Right, I remember hearing a rumor about her being better than every current Elite Four member, but she's desperate to retire so that she can fully commit to contests. She's often a judge during performances, you know? And she's always one at the Grand Festival.

►Masango_Aboubakar (Verified_Trainer)

Personally, I couldn't imagine giving up on Pokemon battling if I was that good, but I guess she's pretty old, so maybe she just got tired of it? Either way, we should probably stay on topic. Do you think any of Lauren's Pokemon evolved while she was on the road? They're all in the second stage right now, but it'd be crazy if one of them got to the third stage.

 

[Soussouni1]

INTERLUDE - THE LEAGUE

Cynthia calmly drummed her fingers along her old acacia desk as she read over her morning briefing, which was written and sent to her every day by League officials. The goal was to keep her informed of anything of note happening throughout Sinnoh that she might have missed. A dispute between Solaceon and Hearthome over who had water rights on route 209, a collapsed mine in the Iron Islands that had caused nine deaths and twenty-two injured, the Contest Committee's newest contest hall in Jubilife halting construction because of a strike over poor working conditions… it was just more of the same. Cynthia couldn't be everywhere at once, and the League helped to keep her up to date, which was especially helpful considering her mind was preoccupied with Team Galactic these days.

Garchomp stood tall behind her, as she usually did. The Champion's office was large enough to fit her entire team if she so wished. It was located atop of the League building's tallest spire, and she had a view of the entire southern side of the island from here. Not only did the Lily of the Valley island have the League building on it, but also hundreds of other facilities owned by the government, along with homes for employees and their families and schools for their children. There were stores for them to buy food and other necessities, a port and an airport to facilitate travel and resupply the League with anything it needed. Right now, the island only had League employees and their families— it was closed to any other civilians after all, but during the month of June, it opened, and hundreds of thousands of people would flood in from every region to watch the yearly Conference. Companies were already saber rattling over who would buy the most ad space for the entire event.

Those were thoughts for the future. Cynthia turned the page and let out a satisfied smile. The Bianchi Conglomerate was still practically begging for a bailout, saying that they were an essential company to trainers throughout Sinnoh. Of course, they were telling the truth. Trainers all over the region were having their journeys slowed to a crawl. The price of all supplies had increased, but the real problem was the price of potions, which had more than quadrupled in cost and showed no signs of slowing down. Negotiations with the Directorate were floundering, however. Sophie Richards, the new Prime Minister that had ousted Vernon in a tight vote, was struggling to get her caucus in line and not bringing anything to a vote. Of course, if Directorate members had the numbers, they could force her to bring a bailout package to a vote, but Cynthia had told Vernon to hold back for now. Sophie Richards wanted to give the Bianchis nothing, but Cynthia wasn't sure if that was because of her innate hate for trainers, or because Team Galactic was telling her not to. Memory extraction was off the table, but spying was not, and after having the LSS tail her for weeks and tap her phone, there was still no sign she was in contact with anyone she shouldn't have been. Friends, family, colleagues, everything appeared normal.

Unless she had a middleman that Cynthia had somehow completely missed. Something to warn the Secret Service about if they weren't on top of it already.

Still, most of Sophie Richards' new party wanted to bail out the company by lowering interest rates and giving them an injection of cash to keep them from having to sell too many shares. The company wasn't going to go under, but it struggling so much was hampering the trainer side of the economy, which was inadvertently going to have effects on the civilian economy as well soon enough. They were linked too tightly for the crisis to stay isolated from one another. Meanwhile, Vernon, who had been relegated to a simple member of the Directorate, but was still leading the pro-Cynthia camp, was surgically attempting to get people back on his side to try to regain his old position, but to no avail. No one was budging.

Of course, Cynthia could have swooped in, acted like a moderate, and possibly negotiated a bipartisan deal with Vernon's help. She still had plenty of allies in the Directorate who didn't hesitate to voice their support. It would have weakened the Prime Minister's position greatly, made her side look like a reasonable alternative, and shored up her support among new trainers who struggled with money and civilians who were tired of the gridlock.

But why act when her opponents were making mistake after mistake? Sophie Richards was like a fish out of water. She had wanted the position of Prime Minister, and she had expected it to be an easy job. No, it wouldn't be enough to just weaken her. That would mean that she would keep her job. Cynthia needed to wait for an opportunity to take Sophie Richards down in one fell swoop.

And she already knew how. The day just hadn't come yet. The economy would have to suffer longer.

Suddenly, Garchomp let out a low, menacing growl. A woman appeared out of thin air in front of Cynthia's desk and bowed.

She had no psychic types to Teleport with, but she somehow still managed. She was in her twenties, and her eyes were completely white, with no pupils to be seen, and so was her hair. She was sweating and panting heavily. It seemed that her abilities still took a lot out of her after all these years.

The League Secret Service had created her through experiments that most would consider… unnatural. She was unfortunately the only survivor, and she hadn't been replicated yet, despite Lucian and his psychic types working with the LSS to try to recreate someone like her.

"Good morning, Lou," Cynthia smiled. "Your report, I presume?"

"Yes, ma'am!" She said. Her voice reverberated through the room as if it was otherworldly. "Another Team Galactic base has been found in Jubilife, and I was instructed to report our findings as soon as possible!"

"Well, go ahead," Cynthia said, crossing her legs.

"The base was empty, save for a few straggling grunts that knew nothing of importance, and all of their data had been wiped, so nothing new was learned. We did, however, catch another member that had been trying to escape from the city called Gabriel Watkins, and we extracted his memories. It seemed that he knew a lot about Mars."

The Champion restrained her eyes from widening in surprise. "Did you make sure to interrogate him beforehand?"

There had been multiple incidents reported about League trainers not following guidelines and immediately extracting Team Galactic members' memories without asking them questions first. Luckily, she had gotten ahead of it before any of it could leak to the media and placed the culprits on unpaid leave. Rules were meant to be followed. They could be bent, but not completely ignored.

"We did, ma'am! He was the one that recruited Mars. According to one of our Kadabras, he found her wandering the streets of Jubilife, and she didn't remember who she was or what she was doing there. She already owned all of her current Pokemon— including that Dusknoir, but she didn't seem to know where those came from either. Mars worked with this Gabriel individual for a few days until some higher-ups came and whisked her to 'Veilstone HQ,' which confirms our suspicions that there is a base in Veilstone, which appears to be their main base of operations. Gabriel Watkins heard of her promotion as a Commander a few weeks later."

"Could her amnesia have been an act?" Cynthia asked, leaning against her chair with a heavy sigh.

"That's impossible to know for sure," Lou quickly answered. "But it seems that Jubilife has been completely cleared of Team Galactic. End of report."

"If he knew so much about her, I'm surprised that Dusknoir didn't intervene to stop us like for that other grunt. What could have been the difference, I wonder? Thank you, Lou. I have another request for you," Cynthia continued.

She used the word request, but it would be an order. Cynthia couldn't help but think the LSS had missed something with Richards. A way she was communicating with Team Galactic that was somehow discreet enough to avoid the Secret Service's perceptive eyes.

"Start spying on every member of the Directorate. I want to know their exact habits, schedule, and if they started deviating from those in any way, shape, or form since Rotom leaked all of our communications. Start with… Joey Rumsfeld, Paula McCarthy, Erika Anri, and Isaac Matthews."

If what Cynthia suspected was right, then…

"At once," the woman answered before disappearing.

The LSS never ceased to impress, Cynthia smiled. As her thoughts returned to Team Galactic, her gut was telling her that Mars hadn't been faking that memory loss, and her gut was almost never wrong, but that raised more questions than answers, and the League was still in the dark about the other Commanders.

"Well, it's about time," Cynthia muttered to herself after checking her watch. She rubbed Garchomp's rough scales and recalled her before stepping out of her office.

The Champion walked down the long, spiral staircase that led out of her office. People asked her again and again if she wanted to install an elevator here, but Cynthia always answered no. She enjoyed the League's building too much to sully it further than it had already been. So much history lost to modernity for the sake of practicality. She knew it to be the sound choice, but she wanted to preserve the old gothic architecture wherever she could. On the way to her destination, she was greeted by hundreds of League employees, and she always responded with a warm smile and a nod, along with their names. Jonathan, Terry, Sally, Alima, Caleb— it didn't matter how long ago Cynthia had seen their faces or heard their names, she always remembered and let them know that she did.

Names were important. From names, loyalty could be slowly forged, and each time Cynthia showed that she remembered, that loyalty grew just a little more potent. And Arceus knew that she needed loyalty— the League was the only untainted part of the government Team Galactic hadn't gotten their hands on, although they had no doubt tried.

Cynthia passed by Bertha's office and gave her a warm greeting. The Elite Four had done a good job during the raid in Eterna, and she had expected nothing less. She was the one that handpicked them, after all, although Bertha had been there before Cynthia had even been the Champion. Whereas the Champion focused on running the entire Region in cooperation with the Directorate, the Elite Four focused on running the League itself, and were right under Cynthia when it came to authority. The League was one of the paths many trainers chose when they realized that they weren't good enough to be the Champion, but still too good to just give up Pokemon battling. That meant that they often harbored excellent talents. Talents that would be refined and perfected as they spent more time working for her. Whenever an Elite Four member retired or died, the Champion had the power to pick their successor, although tradition dictated that she would pick someone the Elite Four member wanted. It was the polite thing to do.

Cynthia hadn't been polite. When she had just become the Champion right before turning sixteen, the Elite Four had been composed of old men entrenched in their position that had hoped to use her as a puppet, even after she had wiped the floor with them in battle. They didn't know who they had been dealing with. Cynthia allied herself with Bertha and forced them out one by one. They couldn't exactly be fired— not unless there had been a gross abuse of power, misconduct, or a crime committed, but there were other ways to force them into an early retirement. It had taken years of scheming and hard work, but it was where Cynthia first learned to sharpen her political wits. The first person she chose was Lucian. Years later, she had picked Flint, a close friend of Volkner who had chosen to work for her while the gym leader decided to work for the Sunyshore gym until he was eventually picked as a successor. Finally, the most recent addition was Aaron, who despite being the weakest of the four, showed a lot of promise. Plus, it wasn't just about how good they were at battling. They had to be good at running things at the League, and Aaron excelled at that.

It was, however, the first time in centuries that Sinnoh's Elite Four was only composed of type specialists, which was often a fun fact newer trainers liked to tell.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting?" Cynthia asked as she stepped into the room. It was deep under the League, away from prying eyes.

In front of her, seven gym leaders stood out of respect, but Maylene stayed seated. Candice and Volkner had hesitated, but the peer pressure had made them stand.

Today, the truth would be revealed, but they would also all be tested.

"Not at all, darling!" Fantina laughed heartily. "It is not often that we all meet, but I'll take every opportunity to avoid battling by relegating my gym battle to my trainers. It is such a bore compared to contests! I'm at the end of my rope."

"We agreed. Four more years, Fantina," Cynthia said. The Kalosian woman was too skilled to be lost just yet. When she retired, nothing would force her to join the fight against Team Galactic if she didn't wish to do so.

"I know, I know. My successor is nowhere near ready yet anyhow," she sighed.

"Volkner, how are the Porygon working?" Cynthia asked.

"Doing great," he answered. "Our digital space should be completely safe from Team Galactic's Rotom. It cost a very hefty sum though, so I hope Sunyshore sees some money from the League—"

"Can we hurry this up?" Candice groaned. "This place blows, I hate it here. Everyone's so serious all the time, it ruins my mojo."

Cynthia stared at the young woman for a split second. She seemed to be happier than usual. Something good must have happened to her recently.

"BAHAHAHAHA," Wake laughed loudly. "You're completely right, Candice! Think about how much more they could get done if they took things a little bit more lightly."

Wake was a character, as always. Thankfully, he had changed from his usual outfit before teleporting here and was wearing normal clothes.

Roark groaned. "Please, have some respect for Cynthia. You two are embarrassing us as gym leaders."

"Right," Gardenia nodded. "If she called us here, then it must be important. Important means that it's serious, so pipe down."

Roark and Gardenia. The two most loyal of the younger generation of leaders, but something was off about them. For Roark, his father's presence probably rattled him more than he let on. There was a lot of bad blood between them, and it had taken the young gym leader a long time to work past his inferiority complex. Gardenia, however… ah. Cynthia understood when she shot an apologetic look at Maylene, who ignored her completely. They were fighting, and it was taking a toll on her emotional state.

"It brings a tear to my eye to see all of the younger generation taking this so seriously," Byron smiled. "With people like you, Sinnoh's future is bright."

Roark clicked his tongue in an irritated fashion, but Byron ignored him. He wore his usual ragged clothes— a white shirt and beige pants with holes in them, a habit he had picked up from his time living on the Iron Islands, Sinnoh's poorest region.

"Can we just get to the point already?" Volkner sighed. "I was in a groove at my gym, and I didn't have to think about anything, it was great. I'd like to get back to that."

Cynthia met Volkner's eyes, and he averted them after a few seconds. He was still angry with her, but less than he had been, which was good news. Only Maylene seemed to be just as furious as she had been when she learned that League had watched as trainers died in Eterna Forest due to Team Galactic's device and done nothing.

Cynthia smiled. Everyone was here. She had assessed all of them. The pieces were set.

"Very well. We can start," she said. "Maylene, I know you're angry with me, but please pay attention."

"Screw you. You're all monsters."

Cynthia had expected that answer, which was why she had spoken to her in the first place. It was meant to be a hidden provocation.

"Maymay, please," Gardenia pleaded, her eyes tearing up. "I've apologized a million times."

Maylene's eyes widened. She hadn't expected Gardenia to start crying, and Cynthia noticed a moment of self-doubt, but it was Roark who finished the job.

"Maylene, we've all made mistakes. We could have done better, but what's done is done, and look at the results. Team Galactic is on the backfoot now!"

"I don't know," Maylene grumbled. "I still don't like it."

"Will you at least talk to me?" Gardenia sniffled. "Please."

"...Fine."

"Sheesh, what did I say?" Candice sighed. "Depressing."

The first step was completed. Cynthia was good with people, and she knew what made them tick. Reconciliation was needed as fast as possible so that every gym leader could work together toward the greater good, which was stopping Team Galactic. It had taken a slight nudge, but it had worked.

The Champion cleared her throat. "I've summoned you all here to talk to you about Team Galactic's true intentions," she said. Immediately, they all sat at the edge of their seat. "I've already told you that they wanted to mess with reality after the attack on the Valley Windworks power plant, but that wasn't it. We have learned a lot about them in recent weeks."

"Tell us everything this time," Volkner said.

"Of course. You're all ready. But first, we'll have to go through a small lesson about Sinnoh's myths."

Cynthia noticed Candice start to pale.

"Myths?" Roark asked. "Does that truly matter?"

"If Cynthia says it does, then it does," Byron shrugged.

"I wasn't asking you—"

"It is important," Cynthia interrupted. "But it was fine to ask."

She was toeing the middle line, as she always did when talking to Byron and Roark at once.

"As you know, I fancy myths and history. It is my hobby, even though I've had less and less time for it as the years went on," The Champion continued. "It is said that when Arceus created the universe, it created three guardians that were born from the same egg. Mesprit, who represents emotion, Uxie, who represents knowledge, and Azelf, who represents Willpower. These beings gave humans the capability to learn, the ability to feel, and a will—"

Cynthia observed the gym leaders' reactions. Maylene was rolling her eyes. Roark did not believe in myths, but he was still listening, and so was Gardenia. Volkner yawned and leaned against a wall, but his attention was hers. Byron and Fantina were staring at her, and Wake was sitting down with his legs splayed out to a ridiculous amount and a huge smile on his face.

Candice was shaking, and Cynthia already knew why. Legends and myths scared her. It reminded her of the ritual.

"—Now, it is also said that these three sleep at the bottom of three separate lakes in Sinnoh. The League took a while to make the connection, but after finding Lake Valor next to Sunnyshore and the reports about the newly found Lake Acuity, we are now sure that those lakes are where these three Pokemon are sleeping. Of course, there's also Lake Verity, which was apparently kept hidden by the people of Twinleaf for generations until Team Galactic found it on their own, and we still don't know how they plan on waking them up."

"Come on!" Maylene yelled. "Those are just stories! Try to take us seriously for once in your life!"

"I am taking you seriously," Cynthia said, staring right through the young gym leader. She swallowed and settled down. "Now, why would Team Galactic want to know the locations of these Pokemon? Well, it's said that Mesprit, Azelf, and Uxie are capable of calming Dialga and Palkia down, but they're also capable of summoning them. For those unfamiliar, those two hold dominion over time and space respectively. That is the only theory we can come up with. Now, we don't know what the exact purposes of this would be, but I don't have to tell you that the results would be catastrophic. The world could potentially end."

Cynthia paused, gauging their reactions. She had dropped that last sentence like it wasn't a terrifying prospect, but Champions couldn't appear terrified. She needed to be strong. Confident. And hope that feeling would trickle down to the gym leaders as well.

"The world could… end?" Roark muttered in disbelief. "Are— we should tell everyone! Call— call the other regions for help—"

"And who would believe us?" Cynthia said. "Like Maylene, the vast majority of people don't believe in myths. The International Police is helping because they think that Team Galactic are just terrorists."

That wasn't the entire truth. Team Magma and Team Aqua had been stopped years prior in Hoenn, and Cynthia only heard about it after the fact in a highly classified report that only she and the other Champions knew about. The world would have ended, but only because whole swaths of the planet might have been rendered uninhabitable, either being submerged in water or covered in magma because of Groudon and Kyogre. This situation, meanwhile, could mean the universe could just blip out of existence. The fact that Hoenn had gone through terrorists wanting to summon Legendaries before meant that Wallace could have perhaps give her the benefit of the doubt. The truth was a lot more simple. Regions were simply self-serving. Even though brutal wars were a thing of the past that the younger generation didn't have to live with— even hers— regions still distrusted and competed with each other, and help wouldn't come until Team Galactic had already summoned Dialga and Palkia. Needless to say, that would be too late.

"How would they even get these three Lake Guardians under control?" Byron asked calmly. "They need their cooperation to summon Dialga and Palkia, from what you've told us."

"And they need them to potentially control Dialga and Palkia themselves," Cynthia added. "But the answer is, we don't know. We don't even know if they're catchable with Pokeballs, or if they'll force them to do so using some other way. We know very little about all Legendaries— a lot less than I'd like— but the LSS and I believe they have a plan and that they aren't just acting in a rash, unpredictable manner," Cynthia explained.

"Is that why you've been sending all of those League trainers to fortify the lakes?" Gardenia asked.

"That is correct."

"And are we sure that they'll hold?" Fantina asked. "If what you say is correct, then an attack will no doubt be coming."

"We're doing everything in our power to make sure that the lakes never fall, and we've been sending reinforcements in a discreet fashion," she answered with a slight smile. A reassuring one, this time. "Keep in mind that they need to capture all three guardians. Team Galactic has less manpower than we do."

"And to think I was a mere four years away from retiring," Fantina sighed. "Although I suppose retiring is meaningless if there is no world left to enjoy contests."

Cynthia shot Candice a reassuring look. "Are you alright, Candice?"

"Y—yeah," she said, her voice trembling. "Uh, who else knows about this other than us?"

You understand better than anyone in this room, don't you? Cynthia thought to herself.

"The Elite Four, the Secret Service, and a few trusted members of the League," Cynthia said. "So not that many people. Needless to say, this meeting doesn't leave this room."

"Of course," Wake said, his boastful attitude suddenly gone. "What do you need us to do?"

"I need you to get back home and act like everything is fine," Cynthia smiled. "Which I know will be a difficult task with the burden you now bear. Be on high alert, especially Candice, Volkner, Wake, and Maylene, since you're the closest to these lakes. And cooperate with anything the LSS asks of you."

"We will," Roark said. "Thank you for trusting us with this."

Candice nodded, her skin pale. "I understand better why you let what happened in Eterna Forest happen. This can't get out. The danger Team Galactic poses cannot get out."

"Yeah, I get it," Volkner sighed. "I'm back on your side. I guess I should have known there's a reason for everything you do."

"Thank you. And sorry for hiding the truth from you for so long."

"I would have rather not known," Candice said. "I would have rather stayed in the dark."

"You cannot. Being a gym leader comes with responsibilities. You know that."

"I do. I do, but…"

"Can we leave?" Maylene interrupted. "I don't believe this story. I think you're taking things out of proportion."

Her fingers were trembling, and her words were slightly slurred. She was terrified, but a part of her was still in denial. It was understandable. She was still young. Maylene would come around. Today had been a success.

"You may go," Cynthia nodded. "Have the Kadabra show you out."

Cynthia had revealed everything now, and the gym leaders were back in her camp. Maylene would come around in a few weeks. Information was often withheld by the League, but it could also be revealed at the right moment to build up trust. And what better moment to pick than when three gym leaders had started to think that Cynthia was the most evil being in the League that was simply abusing her power? She had needed to act now, lest they get any ideas of speaking to the public or the press.

Yes, that just wouldn't have been right. Cynthia wasn't an angel by any means. She had done terrible things, and today, that had been manipulating all of the gym leaders by revealing important information at the best possible time. Cynthia liked each and every one of them from the bottom of her heart, but she couldn't afford to only do what was right. She had to make tough decisions for the greater good. Cynthia was a Sinnoh's Champion. A leader.

And leaders led.

---

A/N: And there it is, the end of book/arc three (Ch 77 - this). As usual, I'll be taking my one day break, so there won't be a chapter tomorrow. I'd say this arc was pretty good. My chapters are longer on average without my pacing suffering because of it, and looking back on the earlier chapters, my battle writing has improved massively. If there were one thing I wish I were better at, it would be giving the other Pokemon who don't belong to Grace a more solid personality, but there's only so many words I can fit on the page, and I think the story would have probably slowed to a crawl if I did that. One thing I'll try to do next arc is explore the characters' team's dynamic instead of having their individual personalities written out. I think that's probably doable. Denzel, Chase, and Cece's teams are already described in detail, but not the rest of the cast. Anyway, I'm rambling. This chapter was kind of meant to mirror Interlude - The Directorate, and I hope how the League is run makes sense, especially how I chose how the Elite Four are picked. The Champion picking them has always been my headcannon.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 103

"I came to a decision last night, and I think it's the only way I'm ever going to move past this. I think it would be best if I traveled alone for a while," Louis said with a pained look.

I inhaled sharply as I felt my heart drop. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean exactly what I just," he sighed. "I… something is wrong with me, and I need to be away for a while."

"So you weren't fine," Pauline said. "Come on, after all this time, we're finally reunited and you're just leaving?"

"I have to do this. Don't try to convince me otherwise, my mind is already made up," he said.

"So what now, then? Are you still going to Hearthome at least?" Pauline asked.

"I plan on doing that. I will still be participating in the Circuit, I just need to spend some time… reflecting."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Justin asked worriedly. "It'll be dangerous in Mount Coronet without Cece, Denzel, and Grace's experience. Plus, your Gible..."

Louis offered his friend a thin smile. "Thank you, Justin, but I'll stay safe, truly. I appreciate the offer."

"Louis…" I hesitated. "Do… can we fix this somehow? You can't just leave. You're—"

"It's not up to you to fix this," he interrupted. "It's up to me. You've done nothing wrong, Grace. Something must be up with me because none of these… feelings make any sense."

"That's okay, feelings don't make sense most of the time," Denzel said, clapping his shoulder. "You stay safe out there, man."

"I will."

"Wait!" I yelled. "Is there really nothing? I— I feel like we can work this out, if we just talk."

"Don't worry, Grace," Louis replied, shaking his head. "I've gone over the options a thousand times in my head. If I were to keep going, I'd grow to be insufferable. Jealousy is a vice I'd like to avoid."

"Damn it," I whispered to myself.

I needed to rack my brain for solutions now. It was as I feared. Louis felt hurt by Cece and me dating, but I had never expected for him to just leave to try to get over her. It was all so sudden. Maybe we could put the relationship on hold for now? No… No, I could never do that. What about cutting down on PDA until we got rooms for ourselves at the outpost and in Hearthome? I… I didn't think that Louis would be convinced by that.

"Well, since we're going in the same direction, I'll wait here for a few hours while you make it through the cycling road so we don't accidentally meet," Louis stated. "That would be awkward for all of us."

How was he so nonchalant about this?

"Louis."

All of our heads turned toward Cecilia.

"I'm sorry."

Our friend gave her a pained smile and chuckled. "Don't apologize for any of this. It's not you or Grace. It's me."

"Make sure to contact us," she said. "And come back, you hear me?"

"I will, it's a promise."

There was nothing I could think of in such a short amount of time to salvage the situation. Louis handed us his part of the huge tent they all carried and Denzel put it in his bag, although it was a tight fit. After that, we each grabbed a bike and left.

Louis was gone.

Just like that.

——

One hour into the Cycling Road, we pedaled past the first rest stop. Cycling through the entire road would take an average of six hours, and each hour, there was a rest stop in case trainers wanted to eat, drink something, or, well… rest. The Cycling Road was organized in lanes, exactly like a normal road, where trainers could come and go using the different sides, although the vast majority of them were going in our direction. The only people that were on their way to Eterna were either trainers from Sinnoh's eastern side, past Mount Coronet who were on their way to challenge Gardenia, or trainers that had gotten defeated in battle and that desperately needed to get back to a Pokemon Center. Needless to say, battling on the road wasn't allowed to stop people from damaging it, but the latter had especially increased with the price increase in potions that was showing no signs of slowing down. All those dejected stares made me feel bad, especially since my friends were rich, so if push came to shove, we'd share potions like we did in Eterna Forest, but my mind was preoccupied with Louis' sudden decision.

"You feeling alright?" Denzel asked as he slowed down and pedaled next to me.

"No."

"Well, I knew that, but I just wanted to start the conversation somehow— ah, I'm not helping, am I?" he sighed. "Sorry."

"It's okay, I just keep thinking back. What could I have done differently? Maybe I could have… we could have delayed revealing our relationship until we were in Mount Coronet."

"Come on, that would have been a terrible idea, and you know it. Louis might have made a mistake, or staying with you might have hurt him irreplaceably. You did it the best way you could have."

I tried to fight him, but I knew deep down that he was right. I wasn't thinking straight. "Yeah… yeah, I guess. I still feel like garbage."

"Well, let's try to cheer you up," he smiled before nodding to our right. "Look at Pauline."

I turned my head and couldn't help but at least smile at her. She was struggling to even pedal straight, and Cecilia and Justin were flanking her to try to stop her from falling, which she had already done once. Thankfully, she wasn't wounded, and her pants stopped her from scraping her knee.

"This is— this is discriminatory!" Pauline yelled. "What about the trainers who can't ride bikes!"

"There are walkable paths on both edges of the road," Justin said.

"Shut it! Nobody asked you!"

"You basically just did…" Cece said.

I chortled and turned back toward my best friend, who was doing the same. I could tell, however, that there was a certain pain behind everyone's laugh. They almost felt forced. As if they were trying to distract themselves from what had happened only an hour earlier. Cecilia had asked me how I was doing more than twenty times already, but I was more worried about her. I wanted to speak to her, but not while she was having some iota of fun. I'd do it tonight.

"I knew she couldn't ride a bike," I smiled.

"Well, she can, just barely. She kind of reminds me of those bikes for little kids with two little wheels attached to the back one."

I gasped. "That's so right! That's why she can't keep her bike straight!"

"I can hear you, jackasses!" She yelled.

"That was the point," I said.

Arceus, this all felt so fake. Plastic. I tightened my hand around my bike's handles and felt my jaw clench.

"Not working, huh?" Denzel said.

"It was nice for a bit, but no," I replied. "You went to talk to him last night. Did you talk about anything? What did he tell you?"

He raised his eyebrows slightly. "I had to ask for a while to get into his room. People were staring at me like I was crazy," he said. "But he did let me in after a while. It's simple, Grace, he's heartbroken."

"I… I thought so," I exhaled. "I don't exactly understand, but it was the only thing that made sense. What did he say?"

"That's… I can't tell you. He told me in confidence, and I'd be betraying his trust," Denzel said.

"Fine. I just wished I could have been there to listen. Maybe I would have found a solution."

"You can't predict everything, Grace," Denzel said. "Sometimes, you've just got to let the chips fall where they may and adapt. Pick the best path forward."

"I just can't understand that," I shook my head. "That's an anxiety-inducing way to live. I'd never be able to do it."

"Eh, you learn to care about the things only you can affect after a while," he said as we passed a slower trainer. "You taught me that."

"I did?" I asked, genuinely surprised.

"Obviously. All those pep talks you gave me weren't for nothing," Denzel smiled.

"But that was only for Pokemon training!"

"Well, congratulations, you played yourself, I now live by those words vicariously," he chuckled. "It's like my whole life philosophy. I just like to think that things will work themselves out somehow."

"I sure hope so," I said.

"Doesn't hurt to be optimistic."

"It hurts twice as bad when you're wrong," I countered.

"Okay, but it makes you lead a much happier life, so I'll take my chances," he shrugged.

"Grace, are you alright?" Cece asked, surprising me so much I almost jumped. "Did I scare you? Sorry."

"It's okay, I'm just feeling jumpy," I said. "But yeah, I'm okay, although I could be doing way better. I think it'll just get some time to let the fact that Louis is gone sink in."

"He'll come back," Cecilia said, clearly sure of herself. "He promised."

"See? It'll work itself out," Denzel smiled.

"Guys, how long until the next rest stop?" Pauline huffed. "I'm dying over here."

——

Going through the entire Cycling Road ended up taking ten hours due to how many rest stops Pauline asked for. I almost expected to see Louis pedal across us due to how much longer it had taken than it should have, but he was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he ended up passing us while we were on a break. Either way, I couldn't keep worrying about this. Louis would be fine. If he wanted to travel alone, I would begrudgingly accept his choice, even though I still wished it could have been different.

Not everything could go my way all the time. It was easy to sit there and think that if I was in his position, I would have done something different. I was almost certain I would have stayed. I had traveled with them while still thinking that Cecilia had been genuinely dating Louis for a bit, but everyone was wired differently. And who was to say I wouldn't have gone crazy eventually and left? Imagining Cece with someone else now… that made me sick to my stomach.

Louis was suffering, but only he could move past this. I would believe him and meet him back with a smile whenever he decided to come back.

There was another gate at the end of the road that was identical to the previous one, and we handed our bikes back before leaving. I stretched my legs and turned to Denzel.

"How much longer are we traveling today?"

"Probably until we can see Oreburgh with the naked eye," he answered. "Should be a few more hours."

"Oh, right, I almost forgot we were getting close to the city again," Pauline panted. "That bike ride tired me out."

"Well, this is still the easy leg of the journey. It'll take a week to get to the outpost at Mount Coronet's entrance," Denzel said. "And you want to catch your Rufflet there, right?"

"Yes, obviously. If I don't, I can still try to find one after we pass through the mountain."

"Well, let's get going then," Justin said. "We should make good ground today."

I turned back toward the Cycling Road and noticed that it had been built over an older segment of route 207.

"Intrigued?" Denzel asked. "Trainers are still allowed there, and it leads to a cave system. There are rumors that you can find wild Gible there, if you look hard enough."

"Okay, you lost me at cave system," I said. "Plus, it'd waste too much time."

"It's nowhere as dangerous as Mount Coronet, but yeah, let's not start randomly wandering into caves. That seems like a recipe for disaster."

"With our luck, something would collapse the ground under us, and we'd get trapped again," Cecilia said sarcastically. "Let's go."

——

It felt good to be traveling with so many trainers on the road again. Route 216 and 217 had been far too quiet for my liking. Something about route 207 being filled with so many trainers filled me with a grand feeling I couldn't explain. Maybe I just enjoyed seeing my fellow co-workers after so long. Cece smiled as she watched Fletchinder fly overhead while Sylveon stood on Denzel's shoulder. Growlithe and Gothorita, who I hadn't seen in a long time, walked alongside Justin and Pauline while Togetic lazily floated with her head on mine.

Of course, there was also another reason for this giddy feeling. I approached a pair of trainers that were traveling together.

"Hey," I waved to the two trainers. "How many badges do you guys have?"

"We both have zero," The boy answered. "Why?"

"Way to embarrass us, dude!" The girl said. "Don't you know who that is?"

"No— wait, fuck! Grace Pastel?! Shit, that's her group back there," he gulped, nodding toward my friends.

"Calm down," I smiled. When I didn't have to deal with a crowd, I could handle my fame rather well, although it still felt weird to just be recognized in the wild. "I wanted to ask you for a battle with my Larvitar."

"Won't you just roll any of us over?" The girl asked.

"No, she's never battled before, and she's still young," I said. "It won't be as one-sided as you're thinking, and I'll even give you a potion to heal your Pokemon afterward. How does a one-on-one sound?"

"Okay, you're definitely on!" She said. "Sammy, film me!"

"What? Why are you battling her and not me?"

"Because you owe me after begging to try Gardenia over and over again. Oh, you were on the brink of a breakthrough, weren't you? Just one more time, and you were totally going to beat her! Now we have no chance of making it to the Conference because of you!"

Samuel's wince worsened the longer she went on, and by the end, he already had his Poketch out of his pocket.

"What, you think Fantina would have been any different?! She's literally famous for being impossible for new trainers to beat, and there's no way I'm going through fucking Eterna Forest to get to Roark and Byron. The first year's always experimental anyway, Sheena," he grumbled. "At least now that we know we won't make it, we get to travel through every town and try every gym once to get some experience."

"Shut your mouth and film, Samuel," Sheena hissed. "And your hands better not shake all over the place. We're posting this online when we can, win or lose."

They certainly were… something. We made some space, and we both grabbed our Pokeballs.

"Go, Koffing!" She yelled, releasing the small poison type. It looked on with a blank stare and kept itself afloat by releasing the gases in its body.

With a smile, I released Larvitar. "Sweetheart, listen up. This is a battle. Your first battle. Let's give it our best."

Larvitar stared back at me with wonder and then nodded. "Tar!"

Time slowed as I stared at my opponent. She looked nervous, but she was hiding it behind a veneer of excitement. No, she was excited. She was battling someone famous. The terrain was rocky, which was perfect for Larvitar, but Koffing being able to levitate meant that we only had Rock Throw to work with, unless we were going to knock it on the ground somehow. From what I knew, Koffing's defenses were excellent, so that was unlikely to happen, especially since Larvitar was still so young.

What she did have, however, was control. My perception of time returned to normal, and a strategy clicked into place.

"Rock Throw, hit it from above," I said.

"Smokescreen!" she yelled.

Koffing coughed and hackled a few times, releasing thick smoke from its mouth to hide from Larvitar. I frowned. Why try to dodge when she could have countered with an attack? Was this a trap of some kind? Larvitar shook her hands, ripping a large rock from the ground and lifting them upward.

"Lift a few from under him," I quickly added.

More rocks burst from the floor and through the smoke, clearing it enough for Larvitar to get Koffing within her sights. She yelled and sent the one she still carried on top of Koffing, knocking him toward the ground.

"Crap! Get back up!" Sheena yelled.

"Again," I said.

Every time Koffing tried to float back, Larvitar would hit it with another Rock Throw from above. This was strange. Why keep trying to float up when the best move was to attack? Spraying Larvitar with a poison type move would shift us to the defensive and allow Koffing to float back up.

"Horn Attack," I ordered. "Keep it down."

Larvitar clumsily ran toward Koffing, keeping it grounded, and lowered her head right before reaching the poison type. She wasn't powerful enough to run him through— which was good. I didn't want to force her Pokemon back to the Center if I could avoid it.

"Smog!" My opponent yelled.

Finally, I thought. No way to protect Larvitar from gases with an attack, but maybe…

Koffing released a poisonous, purple gas. Larvitar couched, clearly in pain, but she had held on long enough.

"Payback."

With an evil glint in her eyes, the rock type slammed her entire body into Koffing, who flew off toward its trainer. It fell to the ground unconscious shortly after. Togetic clapped happily, congratulating her sister, who puffed up her chest proudly.

Her friend Samuel burst out laughing and stopped his recording. "You fucking suck, Sheena! Serves you right!"

"It's Grace fucking Pastel, what do you want me to do?!" She hissed, recalling her Pokemon.

I called Larvitar to me and praised her. Her Rock Throws left nothing to be desired, and he Payback had been incredible as well. Horn Attack could use some work, but she would lose the move when she evolved, so I preferred to focus on the other two moves. Plus, I was going to start teaching her new ones soon.

"Good battle," I told Sheena, handing her a potion. She reached to give me money, but I refused. "It's fine, you were honestly doing me a favor, and things are getting expensive, right? Keep it."

"T—thank you," she said. "Um, how— how was I?"

I let out a pensive hum, thinking back to our short battle. "Your Pokemon's good enough to get your first badge, but you need to work on thinking quickly. When something doesn't work, switch it up. Instead of asking Koffing to get back up, you should have made him attack me right away before we got anywhere close enough to hit you with Payback. If you had done that, you could have regained the initiative and won."

"Grace, are you done? We're leaving!" Pauline yelled.

"Yeah, coming!" I said. "Good luck to you guys," I said.

So what exactly did Larvitar lack? The power issue would be solved with her getting stronger with age and training. I had no doubt that by the time we were in Hearthome, she'd be as powerful as Tangela is now physically, or maybe stronger. I sprayed her with a potion, recalled her, and opened my Pokedex.

"Nice one," Denzel said. "I bet you made their day."

"Maybe," I said. "Would you believe it if I said that I almost overthought so much that I thought she had been trapping me?"

"Because it felt too easy?" Cece asked. "I'd believe that."

"No need to brag," Pauline said.

"Come on Pauline, you're already admitted that they had gotten really good. You were on the edge of your seat during their battles with Candice—"

"That was a secret, Justin! I just want to catch up, alright? I'm going to battle as many trainers as possible!"

"You do that," Denzel said.

"What's with the tone?"

"What? That's my 'happy for you' tone."

I ignored their shenanigans and thought back to Larvitar. Rock Throw had been good enough to knock Koffing out of the sky, but that was because the poison type was slow. If I ever sent her out against other flying types, which was a type she would need to counter in the future, then she would need to learn Smack Down. Rock Slide could work— it was basically Rock Throw, but improved in every single way, including the quantity of rocks, but Smack Down was easier to learn, so I figured it would work well as a bridge between the two moves. I also wanted to teach Larvitar Stomping Tantrum, which would serve as a good base to hit multiple foes at once if we ever needed it, and the ground type would certainly help cover a few weaknesses in my team.

Plus, something about sweetheart stomping the ground all angrily sounded really cute.

——

"Woah," I said, in awe of the view ahead of me. "That's beautiful."

In front of us, Oreburgh stood in all of its glory. The heavily industrialized mining town that supplied Sinnoh with most of its coal and other minerals was chugging along. It was funny to see it after so long, especially when it was so close. If I had a Pokemon with Rock Climb or that could carry me, I could have made it there before the evening even ended, but without them, it would take months to make it back.

And all because the Cycling Road wasn't completed.

"Let's stop here," Denzel said.

"Wait, you actually meant right here?" Pauline asked incredulously. "This is a famous spot. Other trainers will stop by and harass you for an autograph or whatever."

"I agree with Pauline, which is a rare occurrence," I nodded. "Let's get a bit further and get near the edge of the route."

"The city would have been so beautiful at night," Cece sighed. "But alright."

Finally, after another hour of walking, we set up our tent, and with my legs feeling like lead, I sat down inside of the tent while Pauline was tasked with starting a fire outside with her Charmeleon with Justin and Cece. Denzel, meanwhile, had gone off on his own to try to fix his team's relationship issue. Seeing this huge tent after so long reminded me of the time I had to sleep separately from the rest of the group because of my nightmares. They were surprisingly almost gone now. I still had them once in a while, but most of the time, I slept peacefully, which was doing wonders for my mental health. I had been stabbed by Mars in my sleep enough for a lifetime.

"Grace," I heard Cece say as she entered the tent. "You wanted to talk to me."

"Yeah. You know why already," I said with a thin smile.

"Louis, of course," she nodded.

"Over the course of the day, I changed my mind a lot," I started. "I started by thinking that we had made a mistake and that we could have somehow prevented him from leaving. But then the more I think about it, the more I think that a confrontation was inevitable."

"I think so too," she said. "I wasn't going to delay telling him about us for any reason, and you already knew I thought he wouldn't take it well. I just didn't think that—"

"That he would leave," I completed her sentence. "But he did. He said it wasn't our fault, and that he was the one that needed to fix his own issues, so I'm going to take him at his word and believe that he'll succeed."

Cecilia sat and leaned against me. "I know he will. He's strong. He gave up the most out of any of us when he came to save me in Mount Coronet. Louis loved his father, you know? I never loved mine, but he genuinely loved his, and now Harvey's shown himself to be a monster. I think I underestimated how much of a toll everything was taking on him. He's changed since we left."

I nodded. "He's serious all the time."

"Yes, but it goes deeper than that. There were cracks forming below the surface. I think that if he had stayed, there would have been a massive fight, and he knew. He loves us too much to subject us to that."

"He's grown a lot, hasn't he?" I sighed.

"We all have," Cecilia replied as she turned toward me.

Right. We were alone. I leaned in and—

I jumped when I heard someone clear their throat. "Sorry to interrupt?"

It was Justin, who was leaning into the tent and waiting to enter. "Justin. What is it?" Cece asked.

"So I was interrupting. My apologies, but Denzel is gone, and you two are way better at battling than Pauline is— don't tell her I said that, she's still angry at me for that gift," he shuddered. "My head has been swirling with these thoughts since our phone call after your gym battles with Candice— no, since my battle with Gardenia, even."

"These thoughts?" I asked.

"Using stalling as a strategy," he declared. "I think I want to figure out how to do it."