CHAPTER 142

Solaceon was a small town that reminded me very much of Floaroma, but without an accent on the flowers. There was a city center that was decently built up with tall buildings just shy of being skyscrapers, and there were some pockets of suburbs isolated from the center and only connected through lonely roads. It was, however, larger than Floaroma, and unlike the small town, this was a proper city with an airport and a decent population. In between the suburbs and the city center, there were simply massive fields full of wheat farms and docile Pokemon that were mostly normal types. Sentret, Doduo, Staravia, Lechonk… there were a lot of wild Pokemon hanging about. I even saw a trainer try to catch a Deerling out there. Apparently, the organizers had set up the tournament area right next to the Solaceon Daycare. It was called a daycare, but in truth, it was Sinnoh's most famous and successful Pokemon breeding company. They raised all kinds of Pokemon of any type, which was almost unheard of since most breeders tended to specialize in a single or just a few types. The Daycare, as it was known, did not have such limitations. If I remembered correctly, Louis' Vulpix had come from here. Of course, they could also temporarily take care of your Pokemon— for a large sum— if you couldn't do so for any reason.

"Did you know that some trainers make money by catching rare Pokemon and selling them to the Daycare?" Denzel said.

"Yikes…" I said. "Couldn't imagine catching a Pokemon and just giving it away, I'd grow too attached."

"They've got to make that money somehow," Denzel shrugged. "But I get ya. They're almost all eight-badge holders too, so they're skilled enough to explore dangerous areas to capture rare Pokemon, and they have their license to go past the six-Pokemon limit, so it's easier to carry them."

"Interesting," Justin said. "What else do you know about this establishment?"

According to Denzel, the Daycare practically owned almost all of the undeveloped empty land here that they used to raise Pokemon. It was so huge that I couldn't see it in its entirety as we approached the fenced-out area. Apparently, the Daycare would lend the tournament organizers some of its land to run the entire event on. Another reason why Solaceon hadn't grown to a massive size even though it clearly had the potential to was because the Daycare held so much influence in local politics here that a simple vocal refusal from them would sink any expansion project. They wanted to keep the undeveloped land for themselves. The business was also run by the massive Hunter household, and all employees— who numbered in the hundreds— were a part of the family. Not figuratively. Literally. The thought of having hundreds of cousins, aunts, uncles, and siblings with names and personalities that I'd have to remember made my head spin.

Hunter was one of the names I'd seen in the Lost Tower. I guess that meant that the woman's family managed to realize her dream after all.

The Daycare itself was a massive, old-looking mansion that reminded me of the mansion in Eterna Forest. A small inscription above the double doors showed that it'd been in business since the year 1001. That meant that the Daycare was more than a thousand years old and basically near the Lost Tower in age, if the dates marked on the graves were anything to go on. There were also smaller wooden cabins surrounding it that I assumed most employees lived and slept in. But the Daycare wasn't where we were going. We entered another building about five minutes away that was swarming with trainers from all walks of life. We entered a queue to sign up for the tournament, and we turned some heads when people noticed us.

"Thank Arceus we made it," Denzel sighed in relief. "Another day, and we wouldn't have been able to sign up."

"Wait, we had another day? I thought today was the deadline," Pauline said. "Why'd you harass me to go faster then?"

"Because something could have delayed us," I explained. "Better safe than sorry."

"I hope Louis made it," Cece said, standing on her tiptoes. "I don't see him anywhere."

"Good luck finding him in this," Denzel groaned as someone bumped into him.

"So many people…" Justin said. "How are they going to fit all of us in the tournament?"

"Good question," Denzel shrugged. "But then again, it is supposed to be an extremely big event. It's not an annual thing like Floaroma. People actively came here for the occasion, since it probably won't happen for years after this."

"Some of 'em are probably just here to watch too," I said.

It took around thirty minutes for it to be our turn, and we each went to the counter one by one. I tried to catch a few conversations from the various groups of people here, and they were mostly about the toughest competition they'd have to face. I was surprised to hear my name come up a bunch, and I felt my chest swell with pride.

Don't let it get to your head, I told myself.

The gist of the signup process went like this. The organizer took my trainer ID to make sure that I had never made it past five badges. People past the first year were allowed, but only in that circumstance. I paid a large entry fee, which the Poketch Company would pay back. It was their way of incentivizing me to enter more tournaments, and I'd welcome the help.

"The tournament starts in five days— five days from tomorrow, I mean," the man lazily said. "The brackets and your opponent will be announced three days from tomorrow. One hour before your battle starts, you'll have to notify one of the supervisors about your lineup."

The supervisors were the people who'd handle everything regarding the tournament after it had already started. That meant Kadabra barriers, creating the outdoor arenas— of which there would be five types— cleaning up after a battle, being the referee… they certainly had their hands full. Apparently, any supervisor inside of this building at the time would do. The tournament would last a total of eighteen days, and it'd be run so that every trainer would at least have a one-day break in between each fight. Battles would be in the double format with four Pokemon each and no switches, so the pairs that you sent out first would be even more important than I thought.

Only the top four would win a prize, which was ruthless for a tournament of this size. Even the Poketch Company would reward me for the top ten. If you weren't at least a semi-finalist, you wouldn't be winning anything. Well, that was a bit harsh. You would be gaining a lot of battling experience against your peers. There also was no group stage like the Conference. It was just a huge bracket. Along with 500,000 pokedollars, the winner would gain the Hyper Beam TM, which was the Daycare's contribution to the prize pool. Hyper Beam was one of the most powerful, versatile moves ever created, and almost every Pokemon could learn it with enough dedication. It also cost close to a million Pokedollars. Multiple millions, if you wanted a reusable one. Obviously, this meant that the TM was what everyone here was after, not the money. Second place would win 250,000 pokedollars and the Double-Edge TM. Third and fourth— so the semifinalists— would win 100,000 pokedollars and the Protect TM.

Another Protect would be huge for me, so third wouldn't be that bad, but I actually wasn't that interested in second place. Once upon a time, I had wanted to teach Double-Edge to Princess, but we weren't walking that path any longer. She was a special attacker through and through, and I was going to lean into that. I could, however, sell the TM, so getting second wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Hyper Beam, though? The only Pokemon I currently had powerful enough to learn the move were Jellicent, Turtonator, and Tangrowth. Turtonator wasn't going to battle, so I wasn't going to teach him the move, but if I had to pick… I… wasn't sure. Tangrowth combining it with Bind would bring a devastating combo if he could get it off, but Jellicent would have an easier time mastering the move and he would be able to combine it with Mist, which I hadn't used in a while.

Still, it wasn't like I'd be able to use the move on a regular basis any time soon. It took so much energy out of a Pokemon that only the strongest ones could use it without having to rest afterward, or multiple times in a battle, so it would be more like a final resort attack if I were to win it. Cynthia's Milotic and Garchomp could apparently dish them out like they were nothing, which was terrifying to think about.

Either way, we were done signing up. In three and a half days, my first opponent would be announced. I was the last one who had signed up, so I joined my friends outside. Cecilia was smiling with her Poketch in hand.

"Louis, Mira and Maeve made it yesterday, and they're already signed up," she said. "Chase is here too. He's been complaining in the group chat."

"As always," I sighed. "I guess he wants to see us before he leaves."

"Does this call for a meeting?" Justin asked.

"Sure, why not," I shrugged. I bumped an elbow against my old student. "Feeling nervous? You're twitching all over."

"It feels a lot more official now. The prize pool… made me realize that we three-badge holders are completely out of our depth here."

"Speak for yourself! Don't be such a downer," Pauline groaned. "I don't want my rival to be such a wet blanket. I'm gonna get as far as I can."

"You were just like me a few days ago," Justin said. He yelped when she pinched him in the arm and twisted.

I grinned, but then my eyes settled on Denzel and Cecilia. Their eyes were hungry, and they were practically salivating. We were all gunning for first place. If I had to guess, Cecilia was already daydreaming about her Zweilous somehow using two Hyper Beams at once. Her brother was actually famous for his Hydreigon being able to use three. Denzel's Milotic would be able to learn the move, but Sylveon… maybe he could too.

And there was also his sixth Pokemon to consider, although I wasn't sure what it would be.

There was too much at stake to go in completely blind here. The money— on top of the bonus from the Poketch Company— would be crucial for my Shiny Stone, and the TMs were too valuable. I was still going to go in partly blind, but I would at least look up what Pokemon my opponents had so I wouldn't be completely blindsided.

"There are only five Centers here, and they're all fucking packed," Denzel said, browsing his phone. "There are definitely rooms left, but we definitely won't be next to each other. Bummer."

I opened my Poketch and scrolled to see if I had missed anything regarding the Poketch Company. There were just a few messages from Melody asking me to call her before the tournament so that she could give me some pointers on how to behave for the coming interviews.

Right. Interviews. I sighed.

"Chase is in the Center the closest to route 210," Denzel said. "Louis and his group are there too, so we might as well go and see what's up. Maybe we can all room there."

"Sure!" I cheered.

I was happy that we were meeting everyone again so soon, even though Chase was probably leaving tomorrow. I doubted that I'd see him before Veilstone after that, but I just hoped he'd get what he wanted in Celestic.

We had walked for twenty minutes, and we were still nowhere close to the Center. It was at times like these that I missed what big cities had to offer. Public transportation was a blessing. I stared up into the sky and almost swore.

There were damned trainers flying on their Pokemon to quicken their travel time! Damn it, I was jealous. There were a few flying types without trainers too. Must have been wild. Wild Pokemon in towns and cities were known to be peaceful.

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"I'll have to tell you guys something in private after this— you know what, I'll just do it when everyone meets," Cecilia said after looking worryingly at her Slowking. Along with Togetic, he was the only Pokemon out, at the moment.

We hesitantly nodded, and another twenty minutes later, we were at the Pokemon Center. We gave all of our Pokemon to Nurse Joy and booked our rooms, although as Denzel had said, we would all be on opposite corners of the Center. I'd still need to see Nurse Joy about telepathy, but that could wait until later. We knocked on Chase's door, ignoring the attention we were getting, and the boy let us in.

"Arceus, it smells so fucking bad in here. Open a window!" Pauline yelled.

"Nice greeting, asshole. I just finished working out, so if you don't like it, leave," Chase said.

I broke out into laughter. Before, his temperament would have angered me, but I just found it funny now. I wondered how it felt, to just say whatever was on your mind at all times. Even Pauline wasn't that blunt. The boy wiped the sweat off his body with a towel and opened his window, bringing in a cooling breeze.

"Nice to see you again," I said. "Bummer that you won't be able to participate."

"I know," he said, his eyes downcast. "I almost considered signing up anyway, but since I'd win, it would last too long and I wouldn't be able to fit in my trip to Celestic. Route 210 is long as hell."

"Are you well-read on it?" Denzel asked.

"A decent amount. I won't be going in blind."

"Good. The fog is vicious, so make sure you're prepared."

My mind flashed back to one of the graves in the Lost Tower. Land Of The Fog. Could it have meant route 210?

"And Pastel, I have something to tell you before I dip."

My eyes widened. "Tomorrow morning? I'll be there. I've got to start preparing anyway."

"No, I mean tonight. S'alright if you don't want to though."

"No, no, I'll stick around."

A few minutes later, Louis, Maeve and Mira entered the room. Mira was as cheerful as always, and Maeve looked extremely pale. She was probably nervous about the tournament. I gasped in surprise when I saw a Combee flying above Louis' head. Two of the heads looked absolutely cheerful, and the other was sleeping. It was the cutest thing I'd ever seen. We all greeted each other with hugs or waves depending on how close we were, and Mira couldn't help herself from commenting on the room's smell. Chase just ignored her, though, and he got up from his bed as soon as she sat next to him.

"Are you avoiding me?" The pink-haired girl said.

"Obviously."

"Come on," she whined. "Let's be friends!"

"Nah, I'm good."

"Louis!" I exclaimed. "When'd you get that?!"

"Good afternoon to all of you," he smiled. He seemed a lot happier— no, happy was the wrong word. He was probably feeling a weight off his shoulder now that his dad was behind bars. Plus, he'd managed to get the money out of his private account out, so he wouldn't have to worry about that. "I caught her on one of the honey trees on route 209. She seemed to have been kicked out of her hive."

"That's two rescues in a row," Maeve said. "First Pawniard, now Combee."

"So now you talk!" Mira laughed. "You should have seen her when we signed up for the tournament. She didn't eat anything the entire day. She wasn't even nervous against Fantina."

"You don't understand," she shook her head. "The last time I was in a tournament, it did not go well, and it sapped me of all my confidence. I still haven't recovered."

"Sorry," Louis said.

"You were better," she shrugged. "I did give you the finger afterward."

"Aww, such wonderful memories! While you all were kicking around Floaroma, I was in Canalave beating Byron's ass!"

Canalave… right. Lauren had taken the same path as Mira, and she was also here somewhere. I had her number, so I hoped that we'd be able to meet before the tournament began. Despite the potential danger… I would have liked to introduce her to the group. She was a lonely girl, just like Chase had been, and I felt like friends would help her get out of her shell. Plus, I felt like I owed Craig with how he had recommended me to the Poketch Company. With how much he doted on her, I knew that he'd be happy if I helped his sister.

Although she could berate her brother like there was no tomorrow.

I'd keep her a secret for now, at least until she gave me the okay. I unlocked my phone and shot her a message, and I was surprised to see that she saw it immediately, although she didn't answer.

Left on read again, I thought with a shrug. I focused back on the conversation.

"Anyway, Louis didn't even check to see if Combee was a male or a female before he caught her! He would have kept her even if she'd been a male," Maeve said.

"Male Combee are known to be extremely weak since they don't evolve," Justin nodded.

"I saw a Pokemon in need, and I wanted to rescue her," Louis said. The bug type lazily buzzed above his head. "She couldn't survive for long outside of her hive. I won't be using her in the tournament, though."

"That's fair," Denzel nodded. "Anyway, Cece you had something to tell us…?"

"Yes. It's about the tournament— sorry if you feel excluded, Chase."

"Nah, go ahead. I don't care."

Cecilia continued. "Close the window and the curtains."

We frowned, but Chase obliged her.

"You know how I used Fletchinder and Slowking to spy on all of you?" She asked. We nodded. The only one who had really cared was Pauline since she considered it an unfair, dirty tactic. "It's already started here."

"Hm?" Denzel raised an eyebrow.

"While we were walking here, I had Slowking out, right?" She asked. "We had a few Pokemon following us, trying to catch on to what we were saying. Luckily, we didn't really talk about anything of note, but they were here. One of them was so small that Slowking could barely even sense it. One was a ghost of some kind, he didn't exactly know. According to him, those feel like holes rather than presences, so he can easily tell. The others were all flying types or Pokemon capable of flight."

"Oh, I thought those were wild," Denzel said.

"Me too!" I yelled.

"No, they were trained. They were explicitly following us. We're all well-known, so we'll be targets for spying."

"Right, Craig talked to me about this at Savika's cabin," I muttered. "He said that trainers at the top spy on each other a whole lot to try to figure out the new techniques that they'll bust out at the Conference months in advance. That's why he wanted to train on Mount Coronet after gathering all the badges."

"He has eight now, so he should be on his way," Denzel said.

"Damn assholes," Pauline said. "That shit should be banned."

"Really? I think it adds to the enjoyment," Mira shrugged. "Makes it feel official and serious, you know?"

"But wait, the odds of them facing us are astronomically low," I said.

"They're not taking any chances," Denzel said. "But when we're assigned an opponent, expect that person to start gathering information on us, not only online, but through spying. Is that what you're saying?'

Cecilia nodded. "Yes. Of course, I am also suggesting you do the same, if you wish. I certainly will."

"Your team is kind of tailor-made for that," Denzel said. "At least until Fletchinder evolves. She's small and quiet."

"And I will take every advantage at my disposal to get ahead."

The room fell silent for a few seconds, and everyone was no doubt thinking about spying methods. I didn't exactly want to do it, mostly because I wanted to get better at improvising, but if I got further in the tournament… I'd probably have to start doing so eventually not to fall behind. But who…? Togetic could fly, I suppose, but unlike most flying types, her hearing wasn't that good— only slightly better than a human. The others were lost causes, since they were too big.

Jellicent… well, there was that thing that Mathilda had told me about him, but I still had no idea how to go about increasing his ghostly side. If I did, though, it would probably mean that he'd be able to disappear and reappear like true ghosts.

Right now, though? It was a bust, and I could easily see who had come to the same conclusion as I had. Justin, Louis and Mira tried to hide their disappointment, but I could read them easily. Pauline wasn't even going to try. Mira had her Haunter, but she probably didn't want to risk him being alone with any humans. Still, if she was signing up, she'd at least figured out how to get him to fight without killing things, unless she'd caught something else. I had studied up a bit on her after meeting her in Fantina's gym, and I knew that she also owned a Kirlia, Magnezone, and Kadabra, although one of those might have evolved by now.

Cecilia had her Fletchinder and Slowking tactic. Denzel had his Froslass, although his lack of psychic would probably hamper his understanding, but maybe Sylveon would be able to relay the information. Maeve— which I had also studied on— had her Staravia, which had excellent hearing.

"None of that shit will matter the further in you go, though," Chase shrugged. "Near the end of the tournament, you'll have seen your opponents battle at least a few times."

"Is that your attempt to cheer me up? Thanks Chasey!" Mira said.

"Don't you even dare call me that."

"Well, it depends on if they try to sneakily learn a move during the tournament, but yes," Cecilia said. "It will mostly matter for the early rounds. The gist of what I was trying to say is, be careful, and work as secretly as you can. As it stands, nowhere is far enough away to protect you from prying eyes, but maybe be on the lookout for any Pokemon and don't reveal anything crucial."

"Thanks for the warning, that completely went over my head. Big tournaments are something else," Maeve said.

"Yeah, there's this excitement that's been building up," I smiled. "I can barely stop myself from shaking."

"Man, getting that 500k would be sweet," Denzel said.

"The money is obviously second to Hyper Beam," Cecilia retorted.

"Well, I need to save. I've got a Shiny Stone to get for Roselia, and… uh something else."

"You're terrible at hiding things, but I'll let that go," Pauline said.

"What were you even thinking when planning your team? You need to be rich for all that stuff," Maeve said. "I barely managed to afford a Water Stone for my Staryu."

"Well, I was a kid with big dreams," Denzel said. "I'll figure it out."

Soon enough, people started filtering out. Mira was the last one to leave, although she asked Chase to stop ignoring her texts. I was oblivious, and even I knew that she was obviously crushing. Well, he didn't appear to care whatsoever though, so that was too bad. I stayed behind to hear what he had to say to me.

"Ahem," he coughed. "Thanks for hearing me out, Pastel, I appreciate you."

"Hm? What's wrong?" I said, suddenly worrying. This wasn't like him.

"I didn't really want to talk about this, but Riolu wanted me not to keep it all bottled up, and he said that he didn't mind if I told people. Since you're kind of the closest friend I have, I felt like you should be the one to hear this."

I was his closest friend? Arceus, I was going to tear up.

"Why are you crying? I didn't even start."

"Uh, it's nothing, just some dust in my eye," I said. I opted to sit at the edge of his bed, and I waited for him to start.

"Did you think I'd fall for that? Whatever, it's about Celestic, but you probably guessed it already. Riolu… Riolu isn't exactly mine. He was originally my mother's, and they were both born in Celestic. She died when she gave birth to me… the fucking shitty hospitals in the Iron Islands are probably to blame, but I can't even bring myself to be sad about it. It's like… she was never there, you know? I don't remember her. I never knew her. It's like this gaping hole inside of me. Something is just missing," he said, gripping his shirt tightly at his chest.

"Oh. I… I had no idea about any of that. Sorry."

"Nah, not your fault. I mean, I've only told my team this, so it's not like I expected you to know. Anyway, my mom met my dad when he traveled through Celestic, and long story short, he charmed her pants off so much that she ran away with him after leaving her folks a letter."

"What? How old were they?"

"Sixteen."

"What about her family?"

"They hated his guts."

Yeah, that made sense.

"Err, something happened to my dad, and he lost his Pokemon… he never told me what it was, but I was pretty sure that they died, and from the way he kept blaming himself his entire life, he probably fucked up somewhere. He retired during his second year, and my mother joined him when he went back home in the Iron Islands. She wasn't exactly a trainer. She was just hanging out with him during his travels with Ri. When she died, Riolu passed on to my father."

I felt my throat tighten. From his tone, I could tell that his father was—

"My father died. Recently. I don't want to go into it," he said. I nodded and let him continue. "Riolu was passed onto me… but even now, I don't feel like he's mine. It feels wrong. Like I stole him, or something, I dunno. When my mother died, her family apparently came to take her body to bury her in Celestic, which is why we're going. We want to visit her grave for the first time. It's really important to us both… and maybe I'll go see my grandparents in the process. They know I exist, but they never contacted me or wrote anything. They probably despise me too, but I want to hear it from their mouths."

"Maybe they…" I trailed off. I knew he wouldn't like pointless optimism. That wasn't how to cheer him up.

"I dunno, I don't really care what they think of me. I mostly just want to learn about my mom through them. Dad never spoke about her, since it hurt him too much. Blew up at me a couple times when I brought her up as a kid," he said. "I don't even have a picture of her left… we lost our house— I—"

He exhaled and clenched his forehead. For a second, I thought he'd cry, but he didn't.

"So yeah, It'd be nice if they had a picture to give me. I have one of my old man. Want to see?"

"Of course."

Chase grabbed his Poketch and scrolled through his pictures until he reached one of him and his father from one and a half years ago. They didn't share that much in common, although they had the same eyes and face shape. His face was caked with dirt and dust, and he wore a large, yellow helmet with a headlight. What surprised me was that Chase used to look like a stick. He'd been thinner than even Justin, which was a far cry from what he looked like now. Maybe expecting his thirteen-year-old self to be well-built was too much, but I'd expected to see traces of it. He'd also been extremely pale compared to the relatively tanned face he had now.

"He was really happy there," Chase smiled.

I offered a smile of my own when I saw how widely Chase was grinning in the picture. "You were happy too. I've never seen you smile like… ah, sorry."

I was so dumb.

"Don't worry, I won't give you shit for it. My dad was a miner, if it wasn't obvious. That day, he and his buddies found a new section of the cave in the mines that had a lot of untapped iron. It was supposed to be the key to getting us the fuck out of our misery… miners in the Iron Islands are paid by how much ore they bring back on a daily basis, and with a vein like this, we were finally going to move to Canalave."

What happened?

The words died in my throat. I couldn't ask.

Chase closed his phone. "I guess that's that."

"Yeah. Thanks for opening up to me."

"Thank Ri the next time you see him, he's the one that convinced me. I'll be leaving tomorrow morning."

"Good luck."

"Thank you, Grace. I mean it."

My eyes widened at his use of my name, but it didn't end there. He offered me a tight hug, and I was sure I heard him quietly sob in my arms. I just rubbed his back and let him cry.

"It's okay."

He'd been carrying this alone for so long.