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.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“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.”