Chapter 294

Chapter 294

CHAPTER 294CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m

"Your Togekiss has made a full recovery," the Nurse Joy said. "No harsh battling for another week! She has to take it easy and not strain herself too hard, understood?"

"Yup!"

I'd been staring at Princess' Pokeball the entire time Nurse Joy had talked about limiting her exposure to steel type moves and to take it easy with the training. It wasn't that her words weren't important to me, but I'd been looking forward to this for more than a week, and tomorrow was her birthday. After thanking the Nurse a second time and she told me about how Honey was doing, I grabbed the Pokeball and saw Mira waiting for me outside.

She wasn't fully there, though she did notice my arrival, and it took a few seconds for her attention to return to me. It wasn't the first time she'd done this, and it was pretty easy to understand what was going on. We hadn't talked about it beyond me asking her if she was sure this was how she wanted to live and her saying that not doing this was basically torture for her. On one hand, it felt good to have her confide in me, but on the other... yeah, I worried for her.

"Got your kid back?" Mira grinned.

I beamed. "Yeah! I wanted to bring her back to the apartment before releasing her. I think her not getting swarmed by everybody at first will do her some good, and she'll like the old sights." We started walking toward my apartment complex, and I could see Porygon2 blinking in and out of existence around Mira's head. "After, I'll have Dad drive us to that park for the reunion, though."

I'd do the same thing for Honey, and I knew he would need it. Growing a hand was only the first bit of recovery, he had to learn how to use it again.

"You guys are gonna give me diabetes if I come," she said. "Plus, I don't want to get in between all of you, so I'll head back later."

I shrugged. "If you say so. I don't think you'd do that if you stuck around, Mira. You're great to be around."

"Honestly? We should be expecting the message today."

Ah. The message from Pauline and Emilia after Alakazam and Gardevoir were done telling them about everything. I exhaled, and my pace slowed slightly. This was it. There would be no going back from this.

"How'd you even convince your ACEs of this?" I asked.

Her lips twitched upward. "Getting second thoughts? It's too late to stop this from happening, so..."

To our right, two teams of human and fighting types were playing a round of Basketball with each other, and the Pokemon were on the weaker side of things to allow the people to actually compete, and they were holding back. Still, the Machop, Hitmonchan, Mankey and Combusken were nowhere near out of breath. Beating a fighting type in terms of endurance was an uphill battle.

"I'm just genuinely wondering," I said, watching Hitmonchan score a three-pointer. "We haven't really been appropriate with state secrets, have we?" I ended in a whisper. "I'm guilty of that too."

"I told them Uxie told me to, and they changed their mind real quick. Carlos was nice about it, since they didn't really want two rogue teens to leak everything they've tried to keep under wraps— you like basketball?"

"Huh? I mean, not really. I kind of like throwing the ball around, but the last time I did it was with Denzel in Eterna. Hey, stop changing the subject!"

My friend threw her hands up in a placating motion. "I was genuinely interested, promise. Anyway, not that many people have Xatu or Gothitelle in Sinnoh, I mean, they're both rare as hell, which is why Pauline had to buy hers. Those that have a Xatu don't really know what their Pokemon would have to look at to see that the world's in danger—"

"I remember. You told me back in Pastoria. Gothitelle is like, good at seeing the future of who they've bonded to."

"With all the shit going on, I thought you might have forgotten."

"It's important."

"Right. Basically, since they're close enough to us, they're the only people directly put in danger, and I guess that hasn't changed even with me telling them to stay away. I wish we could have convinced them that future-telling is unreliable anyway. The League has teams of Xatu, but most of their predictions don't even come close to coming true. Abel's was an exception in that regard."

Which was why they hadn't gotten rid of him or his team. Each of his Pokemon presented an excellent opportunity for the League to use. I'd rather they have slit his and his team's throats except for Ditto, personally, but I was under no illusion that I was the one in charge or equipped to make those decisions. Mira and I continued making small talk until we reached my apartment, where Dad was already waiting with a bright look. He had missed Princess as much as I had, having known her just as long. Multiple times, he had asked me if she needed a gift, but I told him to keep it for her birthday.

He'd gotten her one anyway. A weird, multi-colored cube-shaped puzzle toy meant for psychics that made my head hurt the longer I looked at it. The outer layer was transparent, but it was like staring at infinite reflections, or two mirrors perpetually bouncing light between each other. Meltan ended up whining the moment they set their eyes on the puzzle, their eye turning into a confused, wavy line until they retreated behind my neck.

"The goal is to align the mirrors inside until the reflection is completely straight," Dad explained. "I don't really know if it'll pose her a challenge or not, but the people there said it should be a decent distraction for a few days. There was a nice Hypno working there that explained it to me."

"You're used to telepathy, Arthur?" Mira asked. She was intrigued by the toy, probably wondering if she should get one or not.

"No, he could just write it down with a pen on a small whiteboard," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "It sells all kinds of Pokemon-focused toys if you ever want to take a look."

We spoke about that store for a bit, but eventually decided we'd stalled enough. Princess materialized in the middle of the living room, and when the red light left her body, relief filled my very being. Her fur looked so vibrant compared to when we'd been in Lakhutia, her eyes so energetic and full of life. The chirp of pure happiness that followed brought me close to tears, and I dropped to my knees to wrap my daughter in my arms, a sentiment she returned with her wings.

It took her little time to float off to Dad next, nearly knocking over a vase in the process. I had a feeling she wasn't used to the apartment being so small to her, and it was messing with her movements. Mimi climbed on the back of my neck, sending continuous pulses of shyness at the sight of this new traveling companion. That's right, they haven't actually met before, and Princess hadn't met Claydol, either— truly met them beyond battling together in the city. Hopefully she wouldn't hold a grudge like Sunshine... they could be similar, in that regard. Dad wrapped Princess in his usual bear hug, though she nearly knocked him to the ground in the process.

"Gee, all of this wholesomeness makes me feel uncomfortable," Mira said.

I rolled my eyes and let the moment pass. Togekiss hadn't seen Dad in a long while, so the hug lasted a decent amount of time. Mira's eyes widened when she got a hug too, and for a few seconds, she didn't really know how to reciprocate.

"Damn... she's so soft," she growled, almost offended. "Thanks for to warm welcome, Princess."

Togekiss hovered back my way, and I ran a hand through the fur on her head. "How's everything feeling? Good?"

The fairy gave me a hearty nod accompanied by an energetic chirp that made it difficult not to grin. We talked about the nurses and her experience for a bit, or at least until Dad and Mira felt left out. My father even asked how I'd gotten so good at understanding Pokemon without a psychic, and I dodged the truth by saying I must have had a talent for it. An excuse he didn't buy for even a second, but was nice enough to get that it wasn't something I wanted to talk about at all.

The curiosity stayed, though. Back in Hearthome, I'd been good, but not anywhere as quick. The back and forth we'd been having was as if we were two humans speaking.

The next hour or so was spent between us, just hanging out in the living room. When I showed Togekiss the old dent in the counter, her crown flattened against her head and she was desperate to pretend the cause for the damage hadn't been her. After all, she was Princess! Capable of drawing power from the moon to cut this apartment to ribbons, should she wanted, and possibly take the entire apartment down. How could such a small dent be worthy of her?

At least that was her train of thought.

Princess wasn't rude to Mimi or anything. She wasn't like she'd been with Sunshine, threatening to kill them in numerous ways, but she was harsh. Keeping her words short or straight up avoiding them. I tried to mediate, but it hadn't gone very well. I'd need to put Mimi, Princess and Sunshine in a room together soon to hash this out, because they kept treating them as someone they weren't, and they were smart enough to understand exclusion. Letting this fester in hopes of gradual improvement wasn't something I wanted, but forcing things had the potential to make things worse, too... damn it.

Right now, I needed to tell her about my hands. I'd asked her to follow me into my room, leaving Dad and Mira alone and her probably feeling very awkward right about now, and when Mira felt that way, she rambled. With Mimi there with them, I'd hoped that would be distraction enough to let Princess process the news at her own pace, even if we needed to stay here for ten minutes while she caught her breath.

"Been a while since you were in here, huh?" I smirked as I set myself on my bed. "Any memories jostled?"

She hovered close to me, her fur brushing against my arm. Good things, I hope, she answered in a grown-up tone. Like she hated the fact that she'd once been a helpless baby.

"There's no shame in it, I mean, I was helpless too. Still am, in the grand scheme of things." My head turned her way, and I noticed her looking at my desk. "Remember when I'd be studying to barely pass a test and you'd complain about not getting enough attention?"

A pained grunt escaped her throat, and had she been capable of blushing, she would have. I get it now, Dad. I understand why you like embarrassing me so much.

The grass type excitedly bobbed up and down, grabbing me by the waist and pulling me up on his head. There was a sad mewl from Mimi, since they seemed interested in sticking by Claydol or Buddy. Those were the two they'd bonded with the most outside of me, and it showed. I ran a finger around the golden rim of their head, and their tail stopped waggling. I'd seen Dad and Mom's Herdier shake his tail when he was excited, but for Mimi, it mostly happened when they were nervous. It could happen, but not very often. Angel waddled into the forest, waving at a couple of Burmy hanging off a branch. Most Pokemon had left the area, retreating deeper into the woods when Sweetheart had roared, so I wasn't expecting to see them. Goes to show that some people are braver than others, I mused, though the leaves on their body were shaking, and not because of the wind.

"Sorry about that noise! You're safe I promise," I said as we passed them. I doubted they'd believe me, but at least I'd have tried. Legendaries, things were going to get so much easier when Claydol learned to Teleport... maybe I'd have Alakazam tutor them if they came back in time before I left, which would be the day after Mira's birthday.

The forest, having seemed so deadly months ago, was now a walk in the park, save for the branches that sometimes got in my face and tangled my hair. They weren't actually off-route and were well-maintained by the Rangers, but they had let a Scyther slip through. Looking back, a predator like them had probably decided to take their chances in the 'human lands' if it meant they could get easy prey. Still, I asked Angel to be on guard with Ancient Power in case an aggressive Pokemon attacked us or we walked near a Dustox colony. As it stood, I wasn't feeling anything nearby with my empathy, though, and that stayed the case even when Angel found a spot he liked.

Two vines popped up from his head in front of my face, and he signed that the soil was good here. High quality.

"Great— for now. We'll have to use bad soil soon just in case our plans don't work out and we'll have you train under Sweetie's Sandstorm, but I guess this is nice for our proof of concept. Down, please?"

The grass type set me on the ground, and I put Mimi on my shoulder before turning back toward Angel. He stared at me curiously through his large eyes, his countless vines writhing so subtly you'd miss it if you didn't stare long enough.

"It's going to be you, Angel. Not Sunshine. Not Buddy. Not Sweetheart. You."

I let the words settle, and their weight draped over the grass type. It was the weight of expectation, of being scared he would fail to battle up to my standards for such an important fight.

I softly clicked my tongue. "We aren't scared of failure." My hands draped over his cheek, and he gently pulled them away so I wouldn't hurt them. Smiling, I continued. "You'll do great. You used to carry the team on your back, when you'd just evolved and during the tournament in Solaceon. And it won't just be you." I turned toward where we'd just come from. "I'll have the arena ready for you, I'll have it just right, or as close as right as possible."

Silence. It was always silence, but the look he gave me in that moment had me grin from ear to ear.

"Now give it a try."

The vines were slow, at first. As Tangrowth closed his eyes, four vines planted themselves into the soil with a slight thud, meeting no resistance beyond the layer of grass and plant-covered dirt. There was a slight glow to each of them as he shivered. The air stood perfectly still, and the entire forest was silent. Suspended in time, with only me and Mimi to bear witness to weeks of work and dedication. Hundreds of minute adjustments to stop the nutrients in the ground from getting used too quickly and killing everything or too slow to sustain what was currently happening.

The four vines left the ground, and then split. Then again, and again until they became a torrent of writhing Ekans crawling across the forest floor. It was like watching water flood the woods. They took the path of least resistance, wrapping around trees, digging under collapsed branches or in some case burying them with only the creaking of the bark to show that they'd ever been there. By the end of it, an entire area was covered in it, far beyond the size of a Gym Arena.

"Perfect."

My voice was a whisper, like I was terrified being too loud would ruin his concentration despite knowing that wouldn't be the case. Each vine was a limb, and he had thousands of them at his command. Only a small circle around my feet was clear of them, and Mimi jumped off my shoulder to touch the... ocean. One of the many vines poked at their side, and they tried to cut it immediately with a needle-like sword. Was I a bad influence on them?

"Give me a Power Whip."

Before I'd even finished talking, vines behind us wrapped together into a braid until they were as thick as a tree and glowed neon green. Good. Then, more popped up, though at the fourth, his focus began to lapse. Still, he could use it at any point on his field.

"Spores."

Around a hundred feet away from us, a puff of yellow, green and purple spores burst out from below the vines with a series of small explosions until they petered out.

"Solar Blade."

It would be with singular vines, this time, partly because of focus and time spent charging the attack, and partly because of lethality concerns. Three vines glowed bright white from the undergrowth and stood straight up. One of them cut across a tree, though Angel held back and only dented the bark. They weren't many, not yet, but that was fine. The advantage was that we could strike from anywhere.

And vines could hold opponents down, trip them up and push them around, too. A fire could always be cut off at the source and isolated, but should push come to shove, Angel would be able to run through the nutrients in the soil to regenerate his vines so long as he still had nutrients. It would be somewhat of a last resort.

"You did great," I exhaled. "So, so good. I'm proud of you."

He blinked slowly, and the entire field shook as one as his vines convulsed with excitement. It was like dropping a pebble into a lake— the emotion rippled like water.

We had our strategy. What we would be building towards.

Now my job was to get Byron's arena there to allow him to do all of this. From a swath of rough steel to...

Well, what we were standing on, minus the trees. Byron would resist, he'd fight and try to drag me onto his idea of what the arena should be shaped like, but I would drag him there kicking and screaming if I had to.

"Give me a Power Whip. Let's try to push to five."

—

"Shut up! You did not come up with that move for Lauren."

It was late in the evening now, and we were both back at my apartment. Princess at at the foot of my bed working on solving her puzzle while Mimi watched it in silence, too shy to get too close or speak up. From what I knew, their words were alien to my team too because they didn't speak. They used body language and felt, but beyond some vocalisations that were gibberish, communicating would be difficult. Princess was an empath, but being as good as I was would be a tall order. Sunshine was snoring besides the bed, and Buddy slowly elongated parts of himself to make his head look like they had spikes all over as a challenge he'd set for himself to work on his fine control. Mira's Porygon2 was her only Pokemon out, but like ninety percent of the time, she was out of view, on her phone.

Mira wriggled her eyebrows with that smug look she had gotten so good at. "What can I say, I was feeling mighty inspired that day."

"You don't come up with moves. That's not something you do! Your idea of battling is whittling Pokemon down while keeping your distance with Teleport or flying or—"

"Hey! I'll have you know that I've progressed beyond that stage," she said, clearly faking her offense at my words. "I'm training too, you know? And Lauren said Gengar was fun to fight!"

"I'm sorry, but calling a Gengar interesting of all things isn't the compliment you think it is."

Mira shrugged. "It is. For her."

She was smiling, so I'd let it go for now. Personally, I really wanted to fight her Gengar, but his idea of a fight was to pop out of nowhere and spook his opponents unless he was in a good mood. He wasn't very well-behaved.

"That move won her the battle," I muttered at my screen. I didn't remember how the conversation of Lauren had come up from her telling me about the drawings on her cast, but we'd segued into her Gym Battle and decided to watch it again. "Damn, who even are you?"

She pushed me on the shoulder. "Stop acting like I'm stupid or something."

"It's fun. Miss Knowledge not knowing how to battle—"

Poketch devices were all linked. Tablets, phones, watches, laptops— everything was connected through a system I didn't really understand. That was the reason why I'd seen Emilia's message pop up in the top right of the screen. Mira and I froze, looking at the text spelling out 'we need to talk'. Simple, but to the point.

"Well," Mira sighed. "Time to face the music."

At the same time, the clock hit midnight.

It was Princess' second birthday.