Chapter 275

Chapter 275

CHAPTER 275

Why was it that people woke up tired when they'd slept for longer than usual? Or at least that's the way I felt after having slept the entire afternoon and through the night inside of the outpost's Pokemon Center. My mouth felt so dry it might as well have been a desert, and my entire body felt numb. The sun was barely rising through the window, though Angel was blocking almost the entirety of the rays. It took a few seconds to situate myself and remember what had happened yesterday. The people I'd saved were alive and well, even if Daniel had a nasty gash on his thigh and their Pokemon needed to be healed extensively. I rolled out of bed, leaving Princess to claim the entire thing for herself as I nabbed myself ice water from the fridge. Lurantis had agreed to stay on this side of the forest, but had needed to get Oddish back with Kadabra. Now that she was back, she'd be able to hang out with Sunshine and Mudsdale all day today. Kadabra had unfortunately exhausted herself by Teleporting too many people too many times— and blamed me for it— so she'd need to take a break for a couple of hours.

It was hard to remember sometimes that the people I worked with were not of average skill level. Not every psychic would be able to Teleport these distances without growing tired.

I had two days left here, not three, then. I wondered about what to do to pass the time while I waited as I slowly went through my morning routine and scrolled through my phone with tired eyes. Intruding too much on Lurantis, Sunshine and Mudsdale might be a little rude, and while I wouldn't disappear, I at least wanted to give them some space. Training was a given, especially since Princess could fly us away from the outpost to have some peace and quiet. Sweetheart could use some more practice with earth-shaping and transitioning into Earthquake, but they never told you how difficult training Earthquake was. In theory, it was just a more powerful version of Bulldoze or Stomping Tantrum, plus we had created Earthbreaker specifically to make that transition earlier, but it was not only about the power behind the move. The level of intricacy needed to create an actual earthquake-like phenomenon that strong went beyond any other ground type moves we'd worked with so far.

Oh, well, power was also an issue, even if it wasn't the only one. There was only so much Princess could fix when the entire area went to hell, and Mudsdale had taken over since, but now that he'd be busy, it would get a lot more complicated. I could see now why people like Craig and Aubri went off in the middle of nowhere to create new moves and practice their old ones. It was not only about secrecy, but also about convenience. Jellicent floated behind me, asking me about my night. He told me about how he had snuck out of the Center while we slept to go practice in the lake nearby and had accidentally scared off every water type in miles.

I snorted as I scrolled through Pastoria's Gym website and smiled when I saw that Denzel had won his Gym Battle, and it hadn't been that close. 5-6, so the same as Chase's, but his Milotic had barely had a scratch on him when he took down Ludicolo. An impressive victory beyond a shadow of a doubt, given the fact that he'd also faced down Gyarados. I was sure his sponsors were very pleased and that his new merch was selling like hotcakes, though I hadn't seen anyone wearing any shirts quite yet. Altaria had been surprisingly effective, with her Cloud Nine ability negating Crasher Wake from stacking any Rain Dances like he'd done against me with well-timed switches, and the power behind her attacks was nothing to scoff at. She'd held her own until Kingdra took her down— the same Kingdra Sunshine had beaten. She wasn't quite seven-badge level, but she was definitely close. The fundamentals that Craig had taught Denzel had carried him far, and were still of use even today.

Now, he was going to leave Pastoria as soon as his team was healed and fly to Canalave with Pauline's help. I was happy to see he'd started his streams back up again too. Always quick to recover, this one, I thought fondly. I missed him dearly— I missed all of them, really, but I was not ready to see them yet. Not until I told them the entire truth, at least.

Well, I felt more capable of it than I was a week ago, so as long as things kept progressing...

"Oh. Mel called me."

I'd been deep asleep when she did, but she was happy about something, from the way she'd only called me once and then texted instead of calling me ten times in a row in a panic. People liked the fact that I'd gone into the woods to save trainers, apparently. I hadn't even done it with Poketch in mind, but it was a nice bonus, at the very least. Better have to have the board happy for when we'd meet, with the way Melody had warned me about the other sponsorship liaisons getting ideas. To be honest, I was surprised that Aubri hadn't spoken out against me at all, but for all the older trainer disliked me, she'd been very professional when we'd met for the photoshoot. Speaking out against people in your own company wasn't her style, now that I thought about it more.

Anyway, I dropped my phone into my pocket, deciding to ignore the fact that June and Aiden had already spread the story of our time in the forest in detail and that most didn't believe them. It was a good thing I hadn't done any training in Eterna Forest or shown off any of the new stuff all my Pokemon were working on, really. This was about the time to start hiding my Pokemon's capabilities from prying eyes in the Conference. Granted, they'd have one last opportunity to look at my team when I challenged Byron. Or multiple, if I lost.

"Well, might as well catch some fresh air. Guys?"

Angel excitedly squirmed, and Princess groaned, asking to get back in her Pokeball to sleep.

"You've slept for as long as I have... but fine. I'll use Angel as a ride today," I said. "Let's go drop Sunshine and Mudsdale off and find something to do. Maybe give the kids a visit."

After returning them, my limping steps carried me out of the Pokemon Center, though I grabbed a quick bite on the way out and made sure I had enough for my Pokemon's breakfast. Lurantis would be waiting inside of the station itself, and it took Angel little time to bring us there with a steady rhythm. My ankle was actually starting to feel better, or at least it did when compared to the first day I'd broken it. I knew it would still be weeks until I could actually walk, let alone run, however. I would have released Buddy so he could go on his own and train some more, but people were starting to say he was terrifying. Honestly, I couldn't see it, with how goofy he got sometimes, but he did exude a hard exterior.

This Ranger Station was a mirror of all others, with a green roof and a tight, modern design that made it look sleek both inside and out. Lurantis had been waiting for us inside in a similar-looking garden with Oddish hiding behind her feet, though this yard was more flowery than the other. It was interesting to see how slow-moving the grass type was at the start of the day without the sun out. Even if Tangrowth sometimes got sluggish at night, he was never this affected by the lack of sun.

When I asked her while my Pokemon ate, she told me that she technically wasn't equipped to be out of the sun for that long, since she was Alolan, and all that time spent under Eterna Forest's thick canopy had taken its toll. She was building a tolerance for it, but it was a slow-going affair. Mudsdale did not explicitly tell her that she should quit if it was bad for her, but she guessed from a single look in his eyes, and she refused immediately, which gave Sunshine a good laugh. Lurantis valued this job far too much, and she wouldn't let such a small obstacle stop her. I was, however, angry that she hadn't told us before coming. Without Kadabra to Teleport us out, she would have been in an even worse state. The grass type brought one of her scythes-like arms up to elegantly cover her mouth and said that that was how building a tolerance worked. She wasn't used to going this deep in the forest for that long, and meeting with her long-lost companions had been a good reason to.

After breakfast, I left them to it and left the Ranger building. Once I made sure Kadabra's prowess had been emphasized enough to the Rangers, I was free of any obligations until Aliyah showed up. Might as well go check on the kids before I go and find a training spot. Close to the water would be nice for Buddy, but worst case scenario, he can just stick around on his own. Maybe I'd give studying Byron another try too—

"There you are!" June called out outside of the station.

She looked brighter than yesterday, that was for sure. Her face was free of any worry, which meant that Daniel Hall's leg injury wasn't too bad. Worse than what Emi had gotten during her trek through here, but recoverable, at least. She'd brought Edith Thurmond with her too, it seemed, though they couldn't look me in the face. Their light brown eyes just stared at their feet while they blushed, their relatively short dark hair drooping downward as they did so. It was chin-length, and kind of looked like a bob cut, but a lot more... messy and free-flowing.

"Come on!" June yelled, nudging them forward. "You've said that you wanted to meet her so many times already!"

How would Denzel go about this? He'd have a wide smile, get into his streaming persona and give his fans the best possible experience, even if that was just for thirty seconds. The problem was, I had no persona. Whatever, I'd just wing it.

I smiled. "Hi. How have you been?"

Edith finally spoke. "G—good. Thanks for saving us."

They didn't made their voice small like Lauren did. It was more of a nervous stutter. I looked around and saw that we were all attracting attention, which was probably making things worse for them, though June didn't seem to mind one bit. For the longest time, I'd been like that too, scared of crowds and people looking at me to the point of barely being able to function due to my anxiety.

"Why don't we go somewhere more private?" I asked, releasing Angel. The anxiety in Edith's eyes melted away, leaving way for awe. "My room will do. Unless your other friends want to come, or we go to Daniel's hospital room—"

"Edith can go without me," June said.

Her friend made some kind of half-hiss, half-grunting noise of pure disbelief.

"What? We've spent a lot of time with her already, so just go," she continued. "Aiden and Art are with Daniel, at the moment. You guys can come visit later, he doesn't like to be overwhelmed."

Why was she lying? I had my empathy at the lowest level it had ever been, and it was as clear as day. Still, there must have been a reason, so I decided to let it go.

"I mean, if you say so," I said with a raised eyebrow.

June was already running off, anyway, waving at us with that sharp grin of hers.

"Well, if it's just us two, I was planning on going training and studying," I said. "My therapist will probably show up in the middle of it, though. Want to go for a ride?"

"On Princess?" Edith gasped. "Oh, Legendaries!"

"Do you like her?" I asked.

"I—I do. She's my favorite," they muttered. "I'm one of the top contributors to her Trainerpedia page, you know? I've watched her fights more times than I can count."

"Trainerpedia? Oh, right, Denzel told me about it, once," I said. It was a website where all of the information about trainers could be written and edited, and each popular trainer had a huge community around their pages. "Sorry, I'm kind of bad at this. Anyway, do you?"

"I do!" they yelled.

Well, they were still shy, but it looked like their excitement had overtaken their timidity for now. I recalled Angel, who was sad he didn't get to be my ride again, and I released the flying type. Trainers watched as I strapped Edith onto the saddle— not too tightly, so they wouldn't be uncomfortable. They did these little flinches every time I accidentally touched them, which made it really hard to strap them in. Honestly, it was kind of weird how many parallels this entire self-reflecting journey had to my first one. Today's was that Craig had done the same thing for me up north, when flying us down to Eterna City, though I supposed I wasn't really flying Edith anywhere in particular. I just figured this would make their day, especially since they liked Princess so much. I handed them my only pair of goggles so their eyes would be protected, and then I hopped on myself.

"I can't believe it," Edith whispered. "I'm on— I'm on Princess."

"Take it easy for this one, baby," I softly said, petting Togekiss' head. I, for one, knew she was annoyed at having to fly two people when that second person wasn't Cece.

Togekiss gently lifted off into the air, and toward the East. Edith was shaking like a leaf, though I didn't know if it was from excitement or nervousness. Probably both, really. I was trying to finish stamping down on my empathy, so ignoring them forcefully made for some good practice. I was sure I'd be able to stay in Eterna City without passing out when I made it there, at least.

"Can I ask questions?" Edith said. They had to ask twice, because they hadn't been used to how loud the wind was this high up when flying, even at a lower speed.

"Go ahead."

"Is it true that Princess has no upper limit on her drills? Like, can she make a hundred at a time?"

"Well, there is a limit. We haven't really tested it in a while, but it's probably north of fifty? Fewer for spears. I won't say much more about it, though."

Edith stayed silent for a few seconds, and then gasped. "Oh, no! I won't put the information out, I swear! This is... between us."

Was disappointing a fan okay? I wanted to tell them no meant no instantly, but that was a rude way of going about things.

"I get it, but I really don't want to risk any leaks, sorry," I said. "Look at the bright side, you'll see us go through some routine training. It's all stuff I don't mind revealing."

First, I would have to figure out how to blow past the wall that was Byron. Either win through overwhelming power or tricks, Craig had said.

"Grace?"

"Hmhm," I grunted. "I was just thinking about the Conference, sorry."

"What about Cynthia? June talks about her a lot," Edith asked. "I mean, I know she'd win, but... would you be able to land a hit?"

"Oh, she wouldn't even let me see what happened, I'd bet," I smiled. "There's punching up, and then there's punching at her. It would be over in less than a minute, and the worst part is she wouldn't even have to do anything complicated to beat me. Like, she'd just loose her Garchomp on us, and that'd be that. Do you get it, though? The world is so vast, Edith," I exclaimed with a toothy grin. "This is just Sinnoh. Who knows what the other regions are like? How their trainers, Gym Leaders, or Elite Four fight beyond the few videos we get access to?"

It was difficult, getting through regional internet blocks, or at least if you weren't tech-savvy like Mira was. The only reason I'd managed to dig up a video of Steven Stone's old battles was because someone here had reuploaded them here in terrible quality years ago.

"Anyway, that's all to say that this? My team? This is just a portion of what's possible. The possibilities are endless."

Fire burned within me, rekindling what had dimmed after the raid. The warmth spread through my chest, and the world seemed a little brighter. Every breath felt fresher than the last. This was passion. Not lost— never that— but reignited anew.

"You're... really cool."

I snorted. "I'm not. My friends are way cooler than I am. Anyway, that Litwick of yours. How'd you catch it?"

"I can show him to you, if you want," they excitedly said. "He's my dad's, but he was never a battler until he handed him to me for the journey."

Ah, that made a lot more sense. Still, I wondered how their father got their hands on a true ghost, but stranger things had happened. Edith released the ghost, and coldness spread around the small, flickering flame. His bright yellow eyes curiously glanced at me, after which he waved with his stubby little arms and let out a small, ghostly hum that made my skin tingle.

"Hey, little guy," I said. "He smells really good, too. My therapist would probably kill for one of these."

"Don't worry about his flame potentially sucking life energy and stuff, he learned to stamp that down a long time ago."

"Oh, they can do that?" I tilted my head, imagining all the ways I could utilize that technique. Edith could too. It'd be good for them to at least develop ways to use it in case they were ever attacked by something looking to kill. "That's pretty cool."

"You're not scared? Even my friends are creeped out by him."

I watched Litwick bob up and down as his flame danced in the wind, his wax-like skin dripping down all over his head. "This guy? No, he's a real cutie," I said.

"I knew you'd get it!"

—

Aliyah ended up coming while we'd been training and talking, though she disappeared soon after as usual and left us to our own devices.

Edith did end up asking for my number, which I gave them. That way, they'd be able to brag about knowing me to people online, or at least that's what they told me. They were a lot of fun, when breaking through their shyness, though it took a while for them to get out of that fan headspace. I liked instilling wisdom as much as the next experienced trainer, but I wanted to make friends too, or at least acquaintances. I brought Edith back to the outpost after we finished training a few hours later, though they'd asked me to watch their team train to give them advice before we went. They were less of a planner than I was, but our instincts while battling were similar, with how ruthless they enjoyed being. I did have to tell them to chill out with that aspect when training, though. All it did was have them waste potions, which was hard to remember, were actually a limited resource for most trainers. That hadn't been the case for me since I'd befriended Cece and the others, so I'd gotten a really huge shortcut in that regard.

They also asked if they could come with me when I left... which wasn't something I'd expected. It made a little sense when thinking about it. Their friend Daniel would be out of commission for weeks, which basically meant that the Circuit was over for him. As blunt as it was to say this, I doubted that any of them would manage to beat Gardenia on their first tries, and since this was the end of the Circuit, Gym Leaders prioritized people with a higher amount of badges, like six and seven, so they weren't going to get many attempts. I'd be happy to be proven wrong, but this was the assumption all of them were going with too.

They were a tightly knitted group, and most didn't want to leave their friend festering in a hospital while they progressed without him. Edith, however, had been desperate to spend more time with me, since I was leaving soon and had taken the plunge. Since they weren't going to try the badges any longer, they figured they'd try to travel with me. I was sure, after all, that if Denzel had the opportunity to, he would have loved to travel with Craig.

I had refused.

The places I was going next— the Lost Tower, visiting Bellatrix, and finally, the ruined city would be too dangerous for a trainer like Edith, and just like Denzel, my ACE Trainers wouldn't protect them. I had considered dropping them off in cities while I went where I needed to, but I had no idea how many days I'd spend for each of my visits, and that'd mean Edith would just be alone in a city most of the time. If that was the case, they were better off with their friends. Really, I liked them, but I also didn't want to lose my alone time either. I did promise I would buy them and all of their friends a ticket to the Conference so they'd be able to come and watch, though, so at least I had that going for me. They were pretty pricey, and their parents hadn't planned on chiming in. Anyway, I'd spent some time with the rest of Edith's friends and played the part of a responsible trainer, who totally wasn't someone who was constantly fumbling in the dark in search of herself. As they all grouped up around me, looking in my direction like I was the best person in the world, I realized something when I stared at Edith, and they averted their eyes with a blush.

They liked me.

The feeling had been developing since they'd actually met me, and I'd become less of an unreachable celebrity crush and a tangible human they had spoken to. Since I had been essentially putting my empathy on mute, I hadn't figured it out until now. It was the hue of a deepening and passionate crimson. Not deep yet— only deepening and growing with every moment, layer by layer. The texture hardened, grew more solid, and that gave the emotion weight. I could have ignored it. I should have. But I had grown curious when I had noticed it, and so I delved deeper. Mesprit had told me that people liking me would be something I loved, as had the previous Shard of Emotion. And this was not love yet, far from it. Still, it was so intoxicating I had to actively stop myself from falling deeper. The worst of it was that even though I did not like them back, or even entertain that notion, that messed up part of me that would never leave wished I could stay longer and keep enjoying this. It was easy to imagine why my predecessor had made a cult, after all. Hundreds— thousands of people, loving him more than anything else in the entire world? How must that have felt? He must have grown addicted to the feeling, perpetually growing his group and molding them to his liking to chase even higher bliss until he died of old age.

I cut the meeting short and left soon after. I couldn't do this. I couldn't.

I wandered around the skies on Princess in silence as I cleared my head, ignoring the subtle giggles at the back of my head and perpetually convincing myself that I hadn't done anything wrong. I hadn't messed with Edith's emotions, or anything. Just spoken to Edith and looked for a few minutes because my curiosity got the best of me, but when I realized what was happening, I stepped out and understood it was... well, it would have been wrong to keep them around, because I'd just be leading them on to use them to make myself feel good. My heart was Cecilia's, and I missed her now more than ever.

"Let's head back down, shall we? Thanks for letting me think."

Togekiss chirped, saying that she was always willing to spend time with me when I needed it and that she'd been working on her Lurantis and Oddish statues anyway. I was starting to like flying to clear my head. The cool and crisp air made it easier to think, and there was no one here but us and the sound of the wind. I forwent protocol, not going through the Ranger building and instead landing directly where Turtonator and his friends had been talking.

"You four are in the exact same position I left you in," I said with a tired smirk as I dismounted Princess.

Mudsdale, Turtonator and Lurantis turned toward me, though the grass type retorted by saying Oddish was in her arms instead of on the ground this time.

"I came to hang out. Lurantis, Mudsdale tells me that you were the planner for your team before Gym Battles? I'd like some input from you if possible, since you've fought Byron before and Sunshine doesn't have any useful input beyond the simplest play-by-play."

Sunshine snorted, saying that her plans didn't pan out half the time and that Drampa and Oranguru were the ones who had truly pulled the strings, causing Lurantis to blow some kind of powder in his nose that launched him into a sneezing fit. Their fight wouldn't have been at the level we were currently at, but it was a start. I sat down next to the three and listened.

—

"Are you sure about this?" I muttered. "Can't we— come to an agreement somehow?"

The sun was setting, now, and Mudsdale had announced that he'd chosen to stay here with Lurantis. The ground type lowered his head, brushing its side against my face as the others looked on with saddened faces. We'd only known each other for a few weeks, and yet it felt like a part of me was about to leave. I'd expected him to come to a decision tomorrow before I was set to leave, not right now. His decision had not only been due to Lurantis wanting to stay here, but also because he knew the dangers that would lurk in my future. Not only about the looming threat of Team Galactic, but the fact that I'd be going head-first into danger out of my own volition too. Mudsdale was a fighter no longer. I'd have to ask the Rangers if he could stick around and become a training instructor for the other Pokemon who worked here, though his service wouldn't be as useful here as in the swamp down south, but ground types always had their uses.

And in the end, despite the fact that I'd always told him I would never force him to fight, he was still entitled to wish for a peaceful life. What he wanted and what awaited me was simply incompatible, or at least that's the way he'd said it. I wanted to try negotiating, saying that I'd never release him during fights, but I knew it wouldn't work, and I had promised Lurantis that I'd let Mudsdale come to his own decision. So I forced myself to hold back in the tears, and I smiled.

"I'm happy for you. Really," I said. "And hey, we still have one more day, right? So let's make the best of it."

I left to sleep extremely late that night, and Sunshine accompanied me back to the Pokemon Center while I rode on Angel's head. I stole glances at him, and though it was difficult to see in the dark, I could sense that there was melancholic air about him. He was not sad, however, or at least not as much as I was.

"How're you feeling?" I asked.

The dragon grunted and said he felt like he should be asking me that.

"Goodbyes are always tough," I muttered. "I really thought... I don't know, that I'd figure something out. I guess life doesn't always work out that way."

There was a way about Mudsdale which I thought had helped smooth the transition between my current self and who I'd been in Pastoria. The peaceful way he carried himself, maybe, always attempting to diffuse situations rather than escalate like I'd grown so used to.

Turtonator looked at the starry sky and sighed. He was sad— how could he not be? But he was happier to see that Kamaile's surviving teammates had finally stepped over the hill and were starting to move on. Their old trainer would always be in their memories. The kindness he had shown each of them, the laid-back way he'd gone about things and his sheer enjoyment when he explored the world. Yet, they were capable of walking their own road, now.

"You're... right," I said. "You've all grown in your own ways. I think Kamaile would be happy."

Turtonator nodded in agreement, and Angel caressed us both with his vines.

The next day passed in a flash. I didn't avoid Edith, because it wouldn't be fair to them, but despite wanting to sit them down and tell them that... this entire thing wasn't happening, I just ignored it instead and acted like I hadn't figured out they had a crush on me. I figured that since I was leaving, they'd stop liking me, and we'd stay acquaintances at best, since we weren't going to see each other until... well, the Conference, if everything went well.

I mounted Princess, and the world below us became a blur as we sped toward Eterna City.