CHAPTER 127

"Grace! Why are you always late to parties I organize for you?" Emilia groaned as I entered her room.

I ended up being one hour late instead of fifteen minutes due to training for too long. Half-finished boxes of pizzas sat on the desk, along with different kinds of sodas. I instinctively felt my mouth salivate. I hadn't had pizza in so long.

"Uh, sorry," I responded, slightly bowing my head. "I got too engrossed in training."

"Training after that battle?" she said in disbelief. "First it was Denzel, now you. Trainers are crazy…"

"You've got to work for it if you want it," Denzel shrugged.

Cece walked up to us and led me deeper into the room. "You look great, love," she smiled.

"Oh… thanks," I meekly answered. She noticed my make-up! I felt all fuzzy inside. "The Poketch Company put make-up on me for a photo shoot."

"And you stayed?" Denzel said sarcastically. "Thought you'd leave running."

"Ugh, shut it," I groaned. "It was worth it for the money. I bought a bunch of stuff already."

"You made a good choice. Plus, the Poketch Company knows what they're doing. They won't use your face for a while. They'll need to wait until everything is ready they can push a marketing blitz," Justin said.

I nodded. "They did tell me that they'd wait a few days until they contacted me again. They're supposed to tell me what to post online, too."

My eyes settled on Pauline, who was being uncharacteristically silent. She was sitting in a corner and quietly staring at nothing in particular as she ate a slice of pizza, but she must have noticed that I was staring at her too long, because she quickly returned to normal.

"Watcha looking at, Grace?" She said snarkily. "I'm not giving you this. It's the last pepperoni slice, but it's mine."

"Nothing," I lied. The fight with Emi and the situation with Denzel must have still been weighing on her.

"Now that everyone's here," Emilia said, clapping her hands to garner our attention. "I want to announce… err, Pauline wants to announce something!"

"Don't flake out at the last second," Pauline said. "Tell them."

Emilia stammered out a few words before getting to her point. "Pauline and I… are da— together."

She looked around the room, expecting a massive reaction, but apart from me and Cecilia, no one did much of anything. I personally was just happy that she just trusted us enough to reveal this when she'd been keeping it hidden for so long.

"Yes, I suspected that to be the case after Grace and Cecilia said the same," Justin shrugged. "I was just waiting for you to say it to be sure."

"I figured it out earlier," Cece said.

"It's complicated, but I already knew," Denzel told us.

"See? I told you," Pauline smiled. She stood up and hugged Emilia. "No one cares! Does this mean that we can ki—"

"Not in front of them. And your hands are full of grease…"

"So why'd you keep it hidden so long, if I could ask?" Cecilia said.

Emilia sighed. "I don't know, I think was mostly scared of it getting out, especially to my parents. Which is why I need to ask you all to keep it a secret, at least for now."

Well, I was glad that this was finally fixed, at least. I heard a phone quietly vibrate on the nightstand.

"Pauline. Your phone," I said.

"Grab it and hang up for me, will you?" She said after groaning. "Don't want to interrupt Emi's party with any nonsense."

"If you say so…" I sighed, grabbing her phone. I raised an eyebrow when I saw that 'Mommy' was calling. "It's your mom. Should I still—"

The redhead shot up, stomped toward me, and snatched away her phone.

"Fucking finally, you called. You promised to keep me informed. What's happening?"

I couldn't believe that Pauline's mother just let her swear at her like that. My dad would never.

"Can't you put it on speaker?" Justin asked before being brutally shut down by a single glare.

"Okay… yeah…" Pauline muttered. "Sounds good."

She hung up the phone.

"Mommy's finally here to tell us what the fuck is going on with Harvey and Clarence," she continued. "She wants to meet us."

Denzel's eye twitched.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing. Um, when she says meet us, does that include Louis? Shouldn't we wait until he… arrives here? He's as much involved in this as we are."

"Mommy hates Louis and the Bianchis, so even if he were here, it wouldn't be happening. There's a reason she tried to get me to fuck up his engagement with Cece."

"I thought that was because a union between them and the Obels would be too powerful," Justin hesitatingly said.

"Yeah, but she hates them because they're already too powerful," she explained. "A union would have just made it worse, so she desperately wanted me to meddle. I'll send him a message when the meeting's done to bring him up to speed… even though he won't answer. Anyway, she wants to meet us at our villa."

Denzel coughed. "Excuse me? Villa?"

"Yeah. Villa. One of her driver's coming to pick us up. Is there a problem?"

Rich people, I scoffed.

—

Pauline's villa was stunning.

We stepped out of the car that had parked in a huge driveway leading up to the tall front doors that put Arlyle's parking lot to shame. The driver gracefully bowed and pointed us toward the entrance, whose beauty caused me to gasp in awe. The villa's exterior was made out of white stone and accented with tall columns and large glass windows that didn't even have a single smudge, no doubt thanks to the maid that was currently finishing up her cleaning. The building didn't fit at all with Hearthome's architecture, but that was probably why it had been built on the city's outskirts.

Denzel and I gaped like Magikarp as we stepped inside the building while Justin, Pauline, and Emilia told us to keep up. The foyer was bigger than dad's entire apartment and sported gleaming, black and white marbled floors. A crystal chandelier hung from the center of the ceiling. Maids and butlers greeted Pauline with a bow as she walked, but she just ignored them, which I found a bit rude. Maybe that was just how things worked around here, though. What I did notice, however, was that the butlers all carried Pokeballs with them. Maybe they also acted as bodyguards?

"How do they even reach that?" I asked, pointing to the chandelier. "It's so high. Do they get a Pokemon to turn it on?"

Emilia chuckled. "No, Grace, it's just for decorations. They don't actually use the Chandelier here."

"You've been here before?" Denzel asked.

"A whole lot. I'd spend entire summers with Pauline at Josephine's mansions when I was younger."

Right. Josephine was Pauline's mother's name, I had almost forgotten. It would have been embarrassing to get there without knowing. Or not? Maybe she'd ask us to call her Ms. King.

"Mommy's a real saint compared to Emi's parents, let me tell you," Pauline said as we walked up an arched stairway. "They're stuck in the last century. Even Justin's dad isn't that bad, although he's a bit sexist. If I hadn't been there, both of them would have ended up like their parents. Old minds."

On the second floor, the entire wall was made of glass. I stared down and noticed an indoor swimming pool with its own lazy river. How big was this place?! If the coming topic hadn't been serious, I might have asked to go in after meeting Josephine. I greeted a pair of maids as we walked through the wide corridor, and a butler was waiting at huge double doors.

"Hey old man," Pauline said. "She told me she'd be in her office."

"Ms. King is indeed in the office, Pauline," the butler said.

"Thanks, Pete," she said before opening the door.

Pauline was fierce, but if I had to describe Pauline's mother in one word, it would be intense. She appeared in her sixties, which was older than I thought she'd be, meaning that she had Pauline later in her life. Her vivid red hair had almost completely turned white, but the parts that still remained were brighter than Pauline's. Josephine looked at us, and I had to stop myself from recoiling. It felt like she was judging me and my flaws.

Pauline crossed her arm, practically glaring at her mother.

And then smiled and ran up to hug her.

"I missed you so much!" She yelled jubilantly. "How long are you staying?"

"Not too long, my dear," Josephine smiled. "Emilia, Justin, it's nice to see you again. Cecilia."

They both smiled and started making small talk with her, asking about business or life in general. The way Josephine had uttered Cece's name was a lot less affectionate, however, but I couldn't exactly call it disdainful either. It was more neutral than anything.

"We've largely avoided any hit from public outrage, and I'm planning on opening a branch in Hoenn. The constant warm temperatures would do wonders for our summer clothing that we never manage to sell here," Josephine explained. "But we aren't here to talk about that— at least not right now."

Her eyes settled on me and Denzel.

"Good afternoon, Ms. King," Denzel said with a strained voice. It seemed like this whole situation had gotten on his nerves. "I'm Denzel Williams. Your daughter's friend."

"And I'm Grace Pastel! Also your daughter's friend."

The woman snorted. "I know who you are. In fact, I know a lot more than you would think."

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"Mommy, I hope you're not spying on us again," Pauline frowned.

Oh. She'd been spying on us too? I thought it had just been Harvey and Clarence. I stopped myself from having any outward reaction, though.

"Oh, I've stopped those games," she dismissed. "But there are obviously other ways to gather information. Let's get to the topic at hand. Harvey and Clarence."

She paused for a few seconds, letting the weight of those two names sink in.

"Clarence is still wrangling with Unova's government, but the Bianchis have started to recover. For some reason, the Directorate changed their tune unnaturally quickly and passed a massive bailout, and the bill's gone to Cynthia's desk. She is going to sign it within the week. Delaying it any further would hamper her popularity, especially with trainers. Of course, a few companies tried to worm their way into their monopoly, but they all failed miserably. Potions are the products that showed the most promise, but none of their bootleg tonics worked as well as theirs. How unfortunate," she sighed. "Still, at least they showed the world that the conglomerate was not untouchable, which was music to my ears."

I nodded, remembering that Chase had bought a cheaper alternative to potions to get himself through Mount Coronet, which he had also complained about it. That must have been only one of the alternatives.

"So the Bianchis have stemmed the bleeding, but the Obels have not— partly because there are actually other options for energy in Unova. I am sure you will enjoy your father squirming for a while longer," Josephine said as she looked at Cecilia. She responded with a smirk. "But bleeding does not mean that they are toothless. My little birds have told me that they are still determined to merge despite their setbacks."

"Here's what I don't get," Justin said. "I am sure Cecilia and Louis marrying would have made things easier, but why can't they just merge without that?"

Josephine smiled. "A common question. You see, you are correct. A merger between two companies is a complex process that involves a range of headaches, like negotiations of terms, financial valuation, regulatory approval, integrating both operations… especially since the two have very little overlap. Energy and trainer supplies don't mix. Therein lies the problem. The Bianchi Conglomerate and the Obel Energy Company operate on such a different level that there are actually factions within both that oppose a merger."

"I remember back in Unova, Clarence had a lot of fits about… he called them holdouts," Cecilia said. "That might have been what he meant."

"Yes. Companies are not a monolith. There are factions within factions within factions, all with different interests. Personally, I believe that a merger, if successful, would be catastrophic. A company of that size would be able to ignore government regulations, which are already extremely loose in Unova. Imagine the Bianchis expanding in that region, free from Sinnoh's rules and regulations. That thought kept me up for multiple nights."

"But the merger could also fail," I said.

"It could, but I did not want to take the risk. A choice I would have learned how to live with if it bit me in the ass," she shrugged. I could see where Pauline had gotten her way of speaking from. "Continuing on my point, Harvey and Clarence knew that forcing through a merger would scare off investors and start a civil war within their own companies, so they opted to take a slower route. Making advantageous business deals with themselves, and slowly intertwining their companies together, but that wasn't going quickly enough, and they knew that they would die one day. You see, there is nothing those two sorry pieces of shit want more than leave a lasting legacy."

"That is why the engagement came in," Emilia said. "It was obviously nothing more than a political marriage."

"Yes. A simple cog in the merging machine, mind you, but one that could blow the entire process up if it failed in a spectacular, humiliating, and public fashion, which was originally the plan," she smiled, looking at her daughter. "Either way, they have not given up. They will try to bring you back into the fold. It is my understanding that Louis is currently traveling alone?"

"He has two friends with him," Denzel said. "Uh— at least that's what Chase said!" He quickly added.

"Ah, my knowledge was out of date. Good for nothing informants," she annoyingly sighed. "It is good that he isn't isolated, but we'll have to make sure that these two friends aren't subtly using his isolation to bring him back into his father's camp."

"They aren't," Denzel firmly said.

"You know something," both me and Josephine sprung up at the same time. I looked at her and awkwardly shuffled before apologizing. The woman continued. "You know something, otherwise you wouldn't be so sure."

"Damn it," he said, scratching his head. "I… I met Louis and his new friends. The other night. Remember when I said I was training? I was training with them."

I knew he had looked off! Louis being here made sense, since he had been right behind Chase, but I felt a hole in my heart at the fact that he didn't want to see us yet. Cece stared at the floor dejectedly, and I grabbed her hand to comfort her.

"You ass! Why didn't you tell us anything?!" Pauline yelled.

"Because he wants to be alone, still," he said. "Don't try to meet him. I fucked up and broke his trust. I promised I wouldn't say anything."

"Well, this is good," Josephine said, ignoring their little scuffle. "Keep training with them and observing them. If they have no sinister intentions, then we will clear them of any suspicion. I feared that Louis was the most susceptible to betrayal, dumb as that child is."

Cece clenched a fist. "Don't badmouth him."

Josephine rolled her eyes. "Next, I believe that they'll also come after you again."

"That would be economic suicide," Justin shook his head. "They won't be able to come back from another scandal of that scale."

"Oh, they might not need to," she said dismissively. "Let me tell you a story, children. When I was but an infant, the Great War was just teetering out and taking in its last gasps. A war so great that every region saw some of the fighting, and Orre's land was so irreplaceably altered that it still has not recovered. A war so great that avatars of the great Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno rampaged across the skies to snap humans out of their folly, bringing death and destruction wherever they appeared. I do not remember anything about it, and the generation that fought in it is all but gone, but I do remember the ramifications."

My throat suddenly went dry at the mention of the Great War— a war that caused so much death and trauma that there hadn't been another one since. It had originally started between Kanto and Johto due to a border dispute, as wars often used to do, but it quickly spiraled out of control, and two alliances formed, with each region picking a side to support. Sinnoh had been on Johto's side, but we had been spared from most of the fighting.

No one had won. The war ended in a status quo. It was started by humans and was ended by Legendaries. According to my history class, at the height of the conflict, there were as many as ten avatars for each Legendary bird flying around and ending battles left and right. Tens of millions of deaths— both human and Pokemon— for nothing.

"People say that there hasn't been another war since, but that isn't exactly true," Josephine continued. "Do you really think Kanto and Johto would ever stop being at each other's throats? They're like oil and water, and the hatred they share for each other runs deep. Some might call it generational," she cackled. "No, lower-scale conflicts are still taking place, but it is all about plausible deniability. Unmarked trainers doing covert operations and sabotage. You sometimes hear about it on the news, but they're always labeled as terrorists with no allegiances."

"What if they're caught?" Emilia whimpered. "It could spiral into another war, couldn't it?"

"Oh, it could," she said. "But it hasn't yet. No region wants to be the one to press the trigger first. Sometimes, they are caught, and I have no doubt that despite what the governments say, their memories are all extracted whenever whatever mental protection they have run out. Regions know that they are doing this, but they don't want another war. Cooler heads have prevailed until now, at the very least. They know their choice would have consequences."

It was the second time that Josephine talked about choices, and it reminded me of myself. I took a deep breath, calming myself down from the mention of wars.

"Did I scare you?" She asked. "I don't tend to mince my words."

I could see where Pauline had gotten her behavior from.

"The point is, so long as there is plausible deniability, then it will be to Harvey's and Clarence's advantage. I don't know exactly how they'll come at you, but don't expect it to be as obvious as before. I would think that they would still at least wait until you get out of Hearthome, though. You've garnered too much publicity again. A little bird told me the Poketch Company was going to make an announcement soon," she said, looking at me.

I stopped myself from reacting, but she probably caught me, since her lip twitched upward. She really had informants everywhere. It was true that I was becoming the face of the Poketch Company, so that publicity wouldn't fade any time soon. Still, what she was saying made sense. They could hire a random thug to kidnap Cecilia, and there was no way he would ever talk if they got caught. Hell, even if they got caught and confessed, it'd be their word against Harvey and Clarence, who would undoubtedly deny everything. It wasn't like the League would extract memories from every criminal out there.

"I could try to protect you covertly, but they will always outpace me and hire more people. There is a bit of good news, though," Josephine said. "Or I suppose it could be considered bad news."

I inhaled and braced myself for what she was about to say.

"Abel contacted me."

"Excuse me?" Cecilia asked.

Immediately, my mind went to the worst possibilities. Was she being mind controlled? Was being here even safe? My hands instinctively hovered over my Pokeballs— a learned fight or flight response that any trainer knew all too well.

"Mommy… are you okay?" Pauline asked.

"Oh please," she laughed. "I did not actually see him. Did you notice the added security, Pauline?"

"I did. There are way more butlers than usual. Did he breach—"

"He did, back in the mansion in Jubilife. Walked all over the place, uncaring about any cameras, and somehow avoided every single butler. They were all checked for mind control, don't worry. And it was weeks ago, though, so he could be anywhere."

"Did you at least warn the authorities?!" I exclaimed.

"Calm yourself, girl," she sighed exasperatedly. "I did, but nothing came of it. I kept the message he left me for myself, though. He seems very mad about the fact that your and Louis' father fleeced him without a care in the world. He wanted to contact them through me, but I didn't bother trying to respond."

"Obviously…" Pauline muttered.

"Can I check?" Cecilia asked.

Josephine raised an eyebrow. "Check?"

"I own a Slowking… he's recently evolved, but I think he should be at least able to sense if your mind's been messed with."

Pauline shook her head. "Don't! What if there's an accident—"

"I told you I hadn't met him in person, but do what you must," she shrugged.

Cecilia released her Slowking and hurriedly asked him to scan Josephine's mind. The psychic type raised an arm, grunting slightly. After a few seconds, he stared at her. I saw her wince and bite her lip to suppress the pain from telepathy, but she recalled him right after.

"Nothing. You're safe."

"Now, let me continue," Josephine said. "Abel does not care about you any longer, Cecilia, although I believe you knew that already. If you didn't, then you're horribly out of your depth. He wants to be paid in full, and he wants a ride out of Sinnoh, but they don't want anything to do with him any longer. Aiding a criminal of his stature would be too much if it got out again, even for them."

"Can't he fly home? I know he can't exactly walk up to an airport, but a trainer of his level must have a flier," Denzel said.

"Why ask questions we don't have the answer to, young man?"

"That's how he thinks—" I sprung up.

Josephine spoke over me. "Maybe he doesn't have one. Or maybe he wants his money before he leaves. Either way, we don't know. Personally, I'd be content to let him run around the region if Harvey and Clarence get what's coming to them. They're almost walking around with private armies these days, and I hear the latter wants to fly back to Unova soon."

"If Clarence flies back to Unova, then Abel will go after Harvey," I said. "He also worked with him, and I don't think he'd care who paid him, so long as he got his money."

"Correct. Well, you've been completely filled in now, but it'd be a shame to see you leave so early. Feel free to enjoy the villa for the rest of the day, if you wish. Pauline, come talk to me before you leave."

"Alright," Emilia sighed. "Why don't we just… relax and take our minds off of this for the time being."

—

"Grace," Pauline called out. "We're going to the pool, do you want to come?"

Arceus, this whole ordeal made it impossible for me to have any fun, and I was in a mansion with butlers meeting my every need. Or villa. Whatever the difference was, I didn't know. Josephine had said that they wouldn't strike right now, but I couldn't be sure. Plus, the fact that they'd be more discreet about it made it all the more dangerous, since they probably wouldn't hold back anymore about trying to hurt us, although Cece would probably be kept unharmed. Before, I felt like they would at least not hurt children, but now? No holds were barred.

At least I didn't have to worry about mind control any longer. I still hated Abel, but it did feel somewhat comforting that he was after our enemies instead of us.

But there was another possibility that worried me. He wanted to contact Cece's father, so—

"Grace… hello?" Pauline said again, waving a hand in front of me.

"My bad. What'd you say?"

"Pool time! I saw you looking at it. I've lent Emi and Cece some of my swimsuits— although you'd probably need some of my older ones."

I groaned and kicked her leg. "Shut it!"

"Ow! You little shit! At least I snapped you out of your depressing self-induced downward spiral. Come on, let's take your mind off of things."

I sighed as I stood up. "Fine, go get me a swim… a…"

Swimsuit. Of course, I needed a swimsuit if I wanted to swim. I was such an idiot.

I gripped the left side of my waist and felt my scars tingle. I didn't want it to be exposed.

"Nevermind," I said. "I think I'll stay here for a bit. I might swing around later."

Pauline smiled sadly at me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "I get it. Just know you've got nothing to be ashamed of, yeah? And you're not staying here alone, by the way. At least come dip your feet into the water. Cece will kill me if I leave you here."

"'Kay," I quietly said.

My mood immediately turned up again when I saw Denzel push Justin into the water completely clothed, and then jumped in himself.

Also completely clothed.

Luckily for them, this was an indoor pool, so they'd suffer when we had to leave out in the cold, but right now, they were having fun. Cecilia ended up sticking by the edge with me the entire time.

Seeing her in a swimsuit was flustering as hell.

—

Later that day, we barely made it to the gym before closing time. It was time for Cece, Denzel, and I to sign up. Our battle would actually be sooner than I thought— one day after Emilia's performance. Chase would be battling on the day of her contest instead, so unfortunately, we wouldn't be able to see his battle. I had no doubt in my mind that he'd win, though.

I had wanted to go first to slowly ease myself into improvising before the Solaceon tournament, but I needed an impressive win for the Poketch Company. I was confident I'd pull out a win no matter the order we went in, but I needed it to be as impressive as possible. That meant I was going third again. Denzel was going first, and Cecilia was going second.