CHAPTER 288

Jubilife was growing antsy. The city as a whole was fine, but the Poketch side of things had nearly collapsed for me once before and the tension was now reaching its boiling point, all while I was sitting in a hospital bed and doing nothing. Craig was in the city, now, and so he was getting approached by numerous suitors on Aubri Schneider's side with deals, though from what I knew by staying in contact with Ramon and the man himself, there wasn't much there other than her last desperate play to get the job she wanted now that her alliance had collapsed. I flexed my hand, clenching and unclenching it to probe at how much the pain had changed in the last two days, but it still hurt like shoving my hand in a bag of needles. I couldn't help but feel anxious at the thought of all the sneaking around going on at Poketch Headquarters without me around, but hopefully Mel would be enough to deal with it. At least the League was going to be Teleporting me there so I wouldn't be late. Already, I was able to walk a lot better and longer than before, and the headache was nearly gone. The nausea was still there, though.

What worried me more was the fact that just like my friends not involved with Team Galactic, I was going to look Melody in the eye and twist the truth when she inevitably asked me how I got those new wounds on my hands. A lot of people there were actually asking where the hell I was, because if I was texting this consistently, it meant I wasn't traveling, and if I wasn't traveling, they feared I would be late for the date we'd set at the end of this week. The 25th— three days before Princess' second birthday— was when it would all go down, and it was difficult to shake that uneasy feeling within me that things were far from over. I was a lucky person, luckier than I had any right to be, but my wins usually came with caveats these days, and while I did not know Aubri well, I knew she was not one to give up easily just because she was facing overwhelming odds.

"I feel so stuffed in this room," I groaned. "Whose idea was it to not give me one with a window anyway?"

Mimi chimed at the side of my bed—

"Mimi! What are you doing—"

Eating the aluminum handle by my bed, that's what they were doing! I quickly snatched them away, leaving the side metallic bar neatly dissolved, like someone had chewed through half of its width. Legendaries, they'd been so silent when doing it! There had been no crunch of anything! The little culprit was slightly larger than usual and looked mighty pleased with themselves, by the way their tail was wagging. Buddy dragged himself out of the bathroom, still dripping water all over the floor until the entire room became a slipping hazard. Thankfully, he sucked up all the water behind him, though. It was a nice little bit of training in a time when there was none.

I raised an eyebrow at Mimi. "I didn't know you needed to eat. You don't look like the type."

Meltan creaked and turned their eye into a thin line full of disappointment.

"I should have asked Claydol. Here, I'll ask them when they're back. There are plenty of shops out there that sell metal for other steel types that eat it or supplement their diets with it. You just never ate anything else, so… sorry."

I'd seen them spit away everything I'd tried to feed them, and considering the Pokemon they came from, I'd come to the conclusion that eating just wasn't something Mimi would ever do. I had to watch Jellicent slip into the role of a parental figure and lecture the poor little steel type, and their eye went all wobbly until they spat the metal back out and solidified it again, though it was rough work and looked nothing like the smooth aluminum it had been before.

"Points for trying," I smiled.

Claydol was gone, having been taken away to be inspected by the League nurses. There was still some minor damage to their artificial mind that made them occasionally glitch that needed to be taken care of, and though Claydol were rather rare as a species, every Nurse Joy had to learn how to treat every Pokemon they could possibly encounter. While it was a little endearing to hear Claydol glitch, I knew they hated when it happened and the last thing I wanted was for it to happen in a battle. Aliyah had left around an hour ago, having finished our second session, and now it looked like I was going to spend another day bonding with Mimi and looking at battles online, and for an hour and a half, it was that. There was something relaxing about it, just having nothing to do. It was part of why I'd been looking forward to spending a summer month with Cece in Unova before the Circuit started there, just her, me and our teams with our first real break in a year.

There were meaningless attempts to stop thinking about Lou, and though Aliyah had helped me realize that all of the blame did not rest solely upon me, that still didn't help me from thinking it, feeling like shit, or having nightmares about her. The words were nice, they made sense, but I didn't want them to. My fingers twitched, and I let the pain seep in as I pressed them together, wincing when it felt like needles stabbing into my fingers. I'd learned to stifle the pained moans and shivers, now. It was almost a subconscious action because it was what I deserved, and even Buddy hadn't noticed in the last two days.

My phone buzzed against the table, which Mimi was very intrigued about. I grabbed it and placed it against their skin so they could feel the vibrations against their metallic skin, though I did warn them not to eat it. Their entire body shivered, turning into goo. I had noticed that Mimi tended to become more… liquid when relaxed and solid when anxious or excited.

"I can keep it vibrating for you to give you a massage if you want—" my voice cut off when I stared at Candice's name, along with her troll-ish picture in the background of the screen of her sticking out her tongue and pulling down her eyelid. Mimi screeched, tilting their head as they tried to pull the phone away from me. Did they think the phone was making me like this? It was a cute attempt to help, at least. "It's okay, Mimi. You can let go."

Jellicent rumbled to my side. Even if he had never cared much for people outside of our family, he knew about the troubles I'd had with Candice, including our recent meeting in Veilstone, and no matter how much I wanted to expunge that from my memory, the awkwardness would haunt me for a while yet.

"I should answer."

One more ring. Two more. Maybe not? They'd read the reports again, and now they knew I'd gotten an ACE Trainer and two of their Pokemon killed. What else would she think of me now? That I was the girl who'd gone into danger to get herself a new Pokemon and thrown lives away in the process? That wasn't me, but I couldn't deny the primary goal had been to catch Claydol. So was it me?

"I should answer," I repeated, almost to give myself the courage to.

"Grace. Hi."

It was a straightforward greeting, with a hint of enthusiasm mixed with nervousness and hesitation, from the way it wavered near the end. Beads of sweat formed and started dripping down my forehead and palms.

"Hey. Listen, I'm sorry—"

"Are you okay— oh, sorry, go ahead."

I cringed, given the fact that we'd spoken at the same time. "No, no, you can go."

Candice let out a nervous laugh. "Um, I'd rather you go."

I paused, wishing we could have one conversation that wasn't like this. "I'm sorry about the whole grocery store thing… uh, I was kind of out of line, asking you to apologize to Maylene in my stead, and stuff. And you know, just for being a weirdo in general."

"You were fine," she said. "I was weird too. You know, the vibes were off, that happens sometimes. Um, I heard about… yeah, Lakhutia. They said you were sick? Are you feeling alright?"

This was what this was, was it? I was hurt, and now she was taking pity on me. "Yeah. I'm fine, you know, recovering rather well. They say it wasn't as bad as it could have been because mercury poisoning sometimes screws with your cognitive function, so I got off pretty lightly." At least compared to others. Mimi stared up at me, and I rubbed their little golden head with a knuckle.

"You have a pretty bad definition of 'light'. You know, I think I don't want to be all overbearing because I hate when others do that, but you got fucked up, Grace."

"What did they tell you?" I muttered.

"Everything. I— well, normally we wouldn't have gotten access to it, but Cynthia wants to keep us in the loop with anything that happens to you because we're involved with the Team Galactic stuff, and you're a part of that, so."

"So," I repeated with a wince.

"So I know you kicked ass and got the ACEs out of that death trap!" she yelled. "And I know you're having a tough time, so I thought I'd check in and… catch up. I haven't really been the best about this."

A slight sigh escaped my breath. My arms felt so heavy. "You haven't done anything wrong. I was out of line, and I should have reached out earlier about the raid. To explain."

Candice stayed silent for what seemed like an eternity. "So it's been a while. I'm sorry about Lou, Cynthia said you were close."

She still didn't want to talk about it, then. My eyes drifted across the room's warm, beige walls, desperately looking for something to say.

"Hmhm. It's… it's—" hard? Arceus, look at me. Alive and well, and still whining. "It fucking sucks," I said, louder than I wanted to.

"Look, I can't pretend that I know what you're going through," my eyes widened slightly. I never did think I would be at the other end of that sentence, "and we both know that this has been awkward as hell, but the point I wanted to make here is that I want to try to be friends again."

"R—really?"

"Yeah! And it's not because you almost died or anything like that— well, being honest, that's part of it, but not in a weird pitying way, but in a 'you never know when the last time you'll see her is' way, so… friends?"

"Well, declaring it would be a good start, but that's doing five percent of the job."

Candice snorted. "I can go through those percentages pretty quickly. I mean, I basically forced you to be my friend when we first met."

"Are you kidding? Do you know how awesome that was to me back then? To talk to an actual Gym Leader beyond being given a badge, a TM, and money?"

"So Ms. Pastel is too cool to speak to Gym Leaders now, hm?"

I rolled my eyes, sinking into my bed slightly. "I think you'll be hard-pressed to get me to be as shy as I was back in Snowpoint."

"You made such cute googly eyes at me when I invited you and your friends to my apartment, though," the Gym Leader laughed. "Ah well, it'll forever be stored in my head."

This was… nice, wasn't it? Still awkward, but nice. Candice talked to me about being on lunch break for her Gym, and she teased me by dangling the ways she was preparing to fight Lauren's team right out of reach. While my friend hadn't made it to Snowpoint yet, the fact that Candice would be her eighth Gym Badge was common knowledge enough to have her strategizing in her spare time.

"You need to visit the island when you're better," Candice said. "The League's a great place to hang out. Maybe if you ask enough you'll get to talk to one of the Elite Four."

"I'm not sure about that. Maybe." I placed my head against the back of my bed and stared at the ceiling. "Who's your favorite?"

"Ha! Flint's hilarious! He's a real menace in a way that's easy to like. Lucian sucks, he's too serious all the time, and Bertha's kind of a hardass sometimes, but she gives great lessons and does good work. Aaron's cool but he'll talk to you for five minutes and then wander somewhere else. Only Cynthia can hold his attention for long— and honestly, who can blame him?"

Cynthia was a lot of things, but no one could deny that she was intense in a way that garnered everyone's attention when she entered a room like we were Mothim to a flame. Granted, I was pretty sure Candice was alluding to how pretty she was, which was also true.

"I'm kind of here at a bad time, though. It's all set up."

"Yeah, they don't have any activities they'd have for the Conference ready yet, I guess. You'll see how active it gets during Renewal Day. Some people just get a plane ticket to spend the day there, see the opening ceremony and maybe buy some merch, then head back afterward, or stay longer if it's a weekend. The island ends up being so full of people there isn't enough space in the hotels and the Centers."

Renewal Day was the first of June, the start of the Conference, and one of Sinnoh's holidays. It signified new beginnings, but also the start of a tough journey, which was basically what the Conference was supposed to be. Not every region gave the day off for the start of their Conferences, though. Unova, for example, did not. My lips twitched upward when I saw Buddy desperately watching Mimi so they wouldn't eat some other metallic part of the hospital room. The steel type had jumped off the bed a while ago, having grown bored of hearing a conversation they couldn't really understand.

"It's also the start of your three months off, so I guess you're pretty happy," I said.

"Yeah, it's the best day of the year for sure. Work's getting so exhausting I barely have any free time," she complained with a tired groan. "I'll have to show you around the place. I know the best spots on the island. Even Gardenia would agree with me."

My smile fell. "Hey… uh, listen. About Maylene, I want to apologize in person for the way I battled her during my Gym Battle. For deliberately trying to hurt her emotionally. And if this Team Galactic stuff doesn't go to hell, then the only place I'll see her again is here."

All of the Gym Leaders would be present the entire month, as was customary, though they sometimes left for up to a few days at a time to deal with happenings in their cities.

"I can set something up! If I push hard enough, I think she'll at least hear you out once, but the apology will be tough to sell."

"I want to try, at least. To say I did my best," I sighed. "I've— I've been on this whole confusing self-discovering thing since the raid, and I think that's what being good is about at the end of the day. Trying your best, even if you fail. And even when it hurts."

"Well, you've given it more thought than I have," she said before I heard some kind of slap. "Sorry, that was kind of dumb to say." A facepalm, then.

Yeah, I couldn't very well tell her that I had to keep myself in check, but—

There was a knock at the door that was strange at first. Familiar in a way that made me think I was hearing things. Soft, yet purposeful, slow, and still with a sense of urgency to it, it was difficult to explain. I frowned, almost disbelieving at what I'd heard. Mimi squealed, having been spooked by the sudden sound and ran back toward my bed until they fell over and hit their head on the floor with a subtle clang while Buddy hovered over them and asked if they needed help standing up.

"Grace?" Candice asked. "Hello? Did my phone reception fuck off again! They sent guys for this earlier in the year!"

"Hey, Candice, uh, it was nice talking to you, but someone knocked at my door and I have to go. I'll text you!"

"Wha— okay?"

"Sorry!"

I hung up, swinging my legs off the bed and quickly grabbing one of my crutches, dragging my IV stand behind me. There's no way, I thought as I hobbled toward the door. Meltan screamed, hiding below my bed and possibly telling me to hide as well and be careful, though I asked Buddy to watch them for me. If this was staff, the door would be open already. I clasped the doorknob with a tightened fist, forgetting that my hands hurt like hell and cracked the door open.

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"What a cold welcome. Maybe I'll leave a bad review," the voice said from behind the door.

Me cracking the door open turned to swinging it open, revealing Cecilia standing behind it with a fond smile as excitement sparked in her eye. Some kind of choked, disbelieving gasp escaped my mouth as my crutch clattered against the floor, and my arms were around her before I knew it. There were tears and possibly snot while I buried my face in her shoulder and snaked my hands under her cotton shirt to feel the skin of her back, though with the way my hands were bandaged, I had to make do with my wrists and arms. The touch was electric, yet warm, and that warmth spread through my heart and had it flutter like I was floating on a cloud. I subconsciously inhaled, basking in her familiar yet comforting smell that suddenly had me relaxed, and I mumbled some half-formed words about having missed her so much I could die. I felt her hands gently caress the small of my back under my hospital gown, pressing us up close together until she began sniffling too.

"How?" I mumbled. "How?"

Cece let out a slight chuckle. "They asked me if I wanted to come after I made it to Pastoria earlier today. Needless to say, I said yes."

"But your Gym Battle, your—"

"I won't be signing up quite yet, and they'll bring me back after," she interrupted, cupping my cheek. "And even if they hadn't, I would have said yes."

"Legendaries— come in, uh, yeah. This is—" I stopped, somehow giggling and sniffling at the same time as I pointed toward the inside of my room. Mimi was peaking their head out from the corner and cried out when we spotted them. "This is Mimi. Did they tell you about them?"

"Hmhm," she hummed, offering a greeting to Jellicent as well.

I wiped my eyes and dragged her inward. "Do you want anything? Something to drink? Aliyah left me some teas here that I could make. The hospital food isn't that great, but if you're hungry, anything will taste edible."

"I'm okay, thank you, love," she said. I did not flush, but my chest did tighten, and in a good way. "Are you feeling okay? I should be the one asking you if you need anything."

I sat back on my bed. "Being frank, I've been waking up in cold sweats in the few times I've fallen asleep, I've puked four times since coming here, I can't eat anything without feeling like I'm about to hurl, and I have a constant headache, but it's all been getting better. They say I should be good to go outside tomorrow."

Standing in front of me while I sat, Cecilia outstretched her hand and gently clasped it around my wrist, trailing it with her thumb until she reached the edge of my bandaged hands.

"And these?" she asked.

"Healing slowly but surely. I haven't gotten a good look at them since we haven't changed the bandaging yet, but—"

She leaned into me, wrapping me into another hug. My skin was like a magnet to her hands, as was hers to mine. "I was terrified when I heard. Relieved you were fine, but terrified. Mercury poisoning and injuries like this?"

"I got off easy," I muttered.

There was a pained look in her eyes. "No," she exhaled. "No, you did not. Do you want to talk about it? To vent?"

I had Aliyah for that, but there was no denying that there was a difference between a therapist and my girlfriend. There was a beat of silence as I hesitated, though I ended up nodding slightly.

"Um, can we…" I trailed off, eyeing my bed. "You know, be like old times? Eugh, now that I say it, old times was like a month ago."

Cece giggled, then took on a haughty, exaggerated tone as she placed a knee on the bed. "Far too long without cuddling for you, of course. Remember when you said I was the touch-starved one?"

"You've been keeping that one in the tank for that long? Now who's the fairy?" I teased.

"I learned from the best."

She lay down on the bed, and I did the same. Our legs intertwined as we sprawled out on the mattress and I leaned comfortably against her, finding support and solace in the familiar soft feel of Cece's chest and slow heartbeat. She traced nonsensical patterns on my back in a rhythmic fashion with her finger with one hand and continuously ran a hand through my hair with the other, always with gentle motions that could have had me fall asleep within minutes. There had been a fear rooted deeply within me that had me thinking the next time we saw each other again, she would be terrified of me, but she wasn't. It was just like we were before, and there was only comfort for her and I. Mimi had climbed atop the bed, and Cecilia squealed when they reached her leg exposed by her skirt and the cold metal touched her.

"They're an adventurous one, don't mind them," I laughed.

"I was just surprised at how cold they were."

"I'm still figuring out how temperature works and which means what, so that's a work in progress," I said. "Anway… I guess I should start."

There were no new revelations in what I told her, since she'd known what had happened already, but saying it out loud, laying everything out, it felt good, still. I felt her heartbeat quicken when I got to the fights and slow with relief afterward like she hadn't known how the entire story of my time in Lakhutia would end, but hearing about someone you loved nearly dying would probably have that effect on you. Her arms squeezed me tight, and she moved a strand of hair behind my ear, her touch lingering slightly.

"You did good," she muttered. "I know you're hurt, but you did the best you could have done in that situation, no matter what you think. And I know you had no way to know, but will you try to be safer now? For me?"

I sighed. "I'll try— I want to. But you have to try, too. That Steelix business in the Iron Islands?"

"I wasn't hurt, and my gift is far better than yours when it comes to dangerous situations," Cecilia slowly said. "Though I wonder if it'd have worked on Melmetal if we needed to run away. We haven't met an upper limit yet, but there's surely one, especially since we're half a Shard."

It still surprised, the way she spoke of the Voice so easily now, but I was not about to criticize her on its use when the only reason she'd used it since the raid was to escape a raging Steelix. We needed to hold each other up and make sure neither of us slipped, though she was a lot less likely to than I was. The way I'd almost convinced myself to take revenge on Zoroark after Lou had died was proof of it.

"Let's both try, then. And look, it's not like there are going to be a lot of Lakhutias in Unova, right?"

Cecilia smiled. "The people might as well be that."

"Oh, people are just people. As long as my head's still on my shoulders and I can keep being with you and battling, I'll count my blessings," I said. "Did you walk around the island while coming here?"

"They Teleported me in front of the building, so no."

"We should go check it out tomorrow when I'm cleared to walk," I beamed. "They've been doing rehab stuff with nurses coming in and helping me."

My girlfriend smirked. "Think we can sneak inside one of the stadiums? I hear they're all empty."

"Oh? Where did that rebellious streak come from?"

"It's fun," she rolled her eyes. "And no harm's done if we're caught. Don't you want to see how grand the stadiums are? They're the largest ones in the region!"

An excited squeal from Mimi nudged me in her direction, though Jellicent did not look happy about it.

"Granted, I doubt we'd get far. Maybe we should just ask. Do you think they'd let us in?" Cecilia asked.

"You're the soft power girl," I said. "But just letting you know, you're supposed to be the responsible one."

—

"Are you sure you're alright?"

My hand tightened around my crutch. "Yes. I don't need to be put in a wheelchair, that's nonsense."

"I don't think the nurse was trying to be rude, I just think she meant that it would be easier on you."

I stayed silent as we exited the hospital with Mimi around my wrist and Jellicent and Slowking shadowing us. The steel type did not move or let themselves be known, but the small jolts of excitement I occasionally felt were hard to miss. The early morning sunlight cast a warm glow on the brick roads that covered the entire Lily of the Valley island and hot air blew into my hair. Where the streets weren't paved, grass and flowers covered the entire area. White and pink Lilies that gave the place a sweet and slightly spicy smell. The Pokemon Center was right in front of the general hospital for convenience, though they were far too big to be combined into one building.

This was by far the largest Center I'd seen, stretching twenty floors into the sky and being larger than one of the blocks in Jubilife City. Most of it, from what I knew, weren't actually rooms, though there were a lot of those too due to the influx of trainers that would arrive even before June. Even those who did not battle in the Conference would organize mini-tournaments or fight here to emulate the strategies going on in the big Leagues, so they needed multiple of these mega-sized Centers to make sure they had enough room to accommodate as many people as possible. Still, there was a massive research department that worked on new Pokemon healing methodologies and tried to find ways to perfect Ditto Cellular technology. Despite being so large, the design stayed largely the same. Sleek white walls on the outside and a red roof, while the inside kept the same warm, orangy tones that so many trainers called home.

It was too early to pick up any of my Pokemon but Claydol right now, and the Nurse Joys told me they were in a great state. Their memories would still have holes in it, but any glitches that stopped them from moving and had them frozen for a few seconds had been cleared. Arceus bless Nurse Joys and their help. It almost feels like magic sometimes, I thought to myself.

I looked up at my girlfriend as we left the Center and she leaned in as she placed sunglasses on my head.

"Oh, right. I forgot those," I said.

"I grabbed them while you were too excited to double-check if you'd taken everything before leaving," Cece said. She already had hers, the same matching ones I'd bought her for her birthday. Her ring, too. Unfortunately my bandages made wearing it a little difficult, so mine was still in my drawer.

"Now I can look like a blind, crippled old woman," I said, half-teasing. Cecilia's hands wrapped around my sides as she placed her forehead against mine. "That was a joke, no need to get all worried."

"Mm. I'm just making sure. I know how you feel about… well, your recent lack of mobility."

Legendaries, she was so nice to me. I pushed down the feelings of guilt that continuously festered deep within and crawled their way to the forefront of my mind any time I had an iota of fun or felt a tiny dose of happiness.

"Ready to meet Claydol?" I turned to Slowking. It was hard to miss Jellicent's fearful rumble. He was terrified of what they'd get up to if given the chance.

Goodness yes, you've teased me enough about them. Let me meet my kindred sibling.

"Eh, they might be a little ruder than you think. I haven't really seen them interact with anyone that isn't me, Mimi, or Buddy."

Someone with a selection of 20,000 jokes cannot be evil, the psychic said with a solemn look. That is heretical thinking.

I rolled my eyes, clicking to release Claydol who hovered a feet up from the ground or so, their six eyes continuously scanning their surroundings, though one of them settled on me and my wrist. Mimi excitedly chimed at the ground type, though I had to pat them for them to stay quiet. We'd talk all about the sights when we got back, but for now all they could do was watch. It hurt to see, but Meltan didn't seem to care, at the very least. They were so overwhelmed by the League that there was no way they would complain about having to stay quiet.

Salutations, my King. These two individuals appear to be among your followers. Prior to addressing that matter, I must inquire about the rationale behind the persistent probing conducted by an assembly of pink-haired women. Seeking clarification for enhanced understanding.

I waited for a few seconds, realizing that one, he was talking only to me, and two, he'd meant the Nurse Joys. "These aren't my followers. Cecilia's my girlfriend, and Slowking's one of her Pokemon, so you can talk to them too. And I told you about the nurses!"

"Please select designation for individual known as Cecilia: Lover, Queen, Wife, Consort—"

"Girlfriend is fine," I snorted. "Queen is kind of funny, though, but no." Cecilia's eyes fluttered at me. "Argh, you know what fine. Queen is fine."

Designation complete, Claydol finished.

Claydol, my fellow comedian. I know this is in short notice and that we just met, but is it true that you have many jokes at your disposal? Slowking asked.

"Affirmative. 21,340 jokes."

Please grace us with one of them.

Claydol stared my way, and I nodded. It was then that I realized that by jokes, Claydol had not meant one-liners that Slowking found hilarious due to how bad they were, but actual long-winded stories and comedic plays, and they voice acted each character, creating special effects and sounds for immersion until I realized we would never get to the end of Livia's adventures pretending to be a man to become a Lakhutian priest if I didn't ask for Claydol to cut off the mental link until they were reciting the play to Slowking only.

"They're far more computer-like than I thought," Cecilia whispered in my ear.

"Right? Lehmhart was a… well, golem that was built for menial tasks, but Claydol needed to be more, at least in that city. I thought I'd be finding an empty shell, but they're a lot of fun. Mimi's fun too."

There was a small spark around my wrist, and the little rascal clearly agreed. The League was mostly pedestrian-based, though there was a central street called Lily Avenue that led to the League building itself that split in two and originated at the island's airport and seaport where trams that reminded me of Eterna City except a lot larger and longer ran all day. There were also bike lanes to the side and people often rode their Pokemon, but we were headed to the trams. We passed by a small school on the way there, one of the few that were on the island where children of League employees would be able to get an education. In a way, the Lily of the Valley island almost felt fake. It was too perfect. There was no trash littering the ground, no chipped paint on any building, the trams were too sleek. It was a blend of futuristic and old architecture that meshed seamlessly together. There were LED screens on the streets, displaying announcements and the weather for crying out loud! Even as a girl from Jubilife, it felt like a lot, and Cecilia was also taken aback. I'd almost expected her to do that cute thing where she brought up that Unova did it as well, but apparently not. I kept glancing at her and the way the sun shone on her perfect brown skin. The way her cheeks dimpled when she smiled and talked my ear off about city design or the progress she'd made bonding with Scizor. The way she knew exactly what level of worry to express without being overbearing.

"You've been staring," she said.

"You have, too! And I'm just taking it in. Recharging to make up for all the daily doses of Cece I've missed."

She laughed. "Obviously. But sometimes, a girl wonders— ah, the tram is here."

The tram had sleek edges with red and white glossy paint, along with Sinnoh's flag painted onto its multiple cars. Cecilia helped me take the step up the tram, and I huffed as I sat in one of the nearly empty tram cars. There was actually enough space here for Claydol, and the amount of stimulation they'd been under had nearly short-circuited them. Every few seconds, I heard a soft chime about an update, and Slowking and Buddy were the ones showing them the ropes and catching them up to speed with modern knowledge. I raised my wrist to the window so Mimi could stare, and Cecilia sat next to me. Morning commuters were already at work at these hours. Honestly, living and working here didn't seem that bad.

"I hear Unova's League is on top of a mountain. Sounds like a hellish place if you ask me," I said.

"Ha, ha," she scoffed. "It's true that it's a relic of an old tradition, though. Leagues are usually in places hard to access, like Indigo. Even this League was difficult to access before modern times."

"All I'm saying is that this is the place with the LEDs. Hey, have you ever been to the Unovan Conference?"

"Once when it looked like Mark was going to go all the way," she reminisced with a regretful tone. "Clarence didn't want me to get any ideas until he changed his mind, of course. It's a lot more… rustic than this. I believe it's because Unovans find it to be a better experience to get away from the modernity they're so used to. It's essentially the same as here, though. A small city where government employees reside. I do have to admit, Sinnoh has us beat in which one I find more appealing."

I feigned a gasp. "What?! Admitting defeat so easily?"

She shrugged. "Sometimes one has to know when to retreat."

The ride to the largest stadium— the one where every battle from the top thirty-two onward would take place— was a short one. Barely ten minutes, and we were out of the tram. It was an oval-shaped behemoth of steel and glass, dominating the skyline and being more prominent than the League building itself in the distance. The facade was a mesmerizing blend of reflective glass and metallic surfaces and shimmered in the sunlight. There were digital billboards where Cecilia told me advertisers were supposed to buy space, but obviously they weren't running quite yet. Surrounding the massive structure, carefully landscaped greenery provided a little break on the eyes.

"There are multiple entrances," I whispered. There were some bored-looking officials standing guard at the two visible ones, along with a few of their Pokemon. "I guess we just walk up and ask?"

"Do you think they have high enough clearance to know about us?" she murmured back.

"Maybe. I mean, they're no ACEs, but people in the Lakes knew about us mattering, at least. Only one way to figure it out, though."

And find out, we did, given the recognizing look the three men and three women gave us. I guess it'd be weirder if they didn't know us, I thought, though it would have been fun if they didn't. Sometimes, I did miss being able to go anywhere without attention, though that was hard to say when I'd caught a Tyranitar, Claydol, Turtonator and now a Meltan. A long-haired man with his hair tied into a chignon beckoned us, and he whispered to his co-workers while we approached him.

"Cecilia Obel and Grace Pastel? What brings you here?"

"We would like to get a look inside the stadium, if possible," Cecilia smoothly said.

"I… you're not going to battle, are you? The fields aren't ready yet and it'd be a shame if one of our poor field engineers was given an extra shift."

"It's just to get a look around," I added. "No battling, I only have a Jellicent and Claydol on me anyway."

Though maybe we would have been tempted if we could, I mused as I smothered a smile. Cecilia seemingly thought the same thing, with the way she softly bumped my elbow. We were probably being really annoying right now, weren't we?

"I suppose we can let you in," another dark-haired man answered. "But we'll send Jen to keep an eye on you."

Jen ground her jaw in annoyance, something which I wouldn't blame her for. We were giving her extra work, even if it wouldn't be tough work. We thanked the League Trainers and were led deep into the stadium. The empty and silent corridors wooshed with the energetic hum of ventilation and fans, and we kept going until we reached a gate that led us to the concourse level of the stadium. There are so many seats here— enough to have tens of thousands of people watching. Even Buddy was mesmerized by the sight, and Mimi sent a familiar approving shock up my arm. The arena itself was… well, not ready, just like the League Trainer had said. It was just a slightly concave field of rock and earth, but I knew there would be all kinds of arenas in the Conference, more than even the Solaceon tournament.

"Want to head down?" Cecilia whispered, almost breathless.

"Yeah."

Jen stayed leaning against a pillar with her Ledian hovering next to her while we made our way down. Slowly, with my leg and the way I quickly ran out of breath, but Cece was there to help me. We climbed down the hundreds of stairs until we reached the bottom level of the arena and entered the field.

The silence was deafening. There was wind whizzing past my ears and slight echoes of life outside of the stadium, but other than that it was just us. Almost by reflex, we began walking in opposite directions until we reached our opposite platforms, with Claydol and Jellicent following behind me.

It was fake. It wasn't real, but I was standing there, and she was facing me. I could almost see the crowd, buzzing in my ears, the commentators sitting in their booths and calling out our moves, the sheer amount of destruction we could bring about on this field as we fought and gave it everything until both of us were on the verge of passing out. I closed my eyes and imagined it. Felt it. There was an excited shiver down my spine, like a jolt of electricity that made my hair rise. My skin felt warm, but I still felt grounded. For months, I'd been pining to stand here for real, to be among the best of the best in the country and to actually thrive and belong here.

I was not there yet.

I saw Cecilia's lips move, but it was impossible to hear what she'd said without a microphone. Somehow, I felt like I knew the meaning of her words, or maybe I was just high off being where I'd dreamed of being for so long and pretending to know what the hell she was saying. It was a challenge. A real one, this time, not that the one on the phone had not been real, but that was that and this was… this.

She raised a finger, pointing at me, and I imagined her words as her dress and hair fluttered in the wind. One day, we will stand, maybe not in this stadium, but in another, and on that day, I will beat you.

"No," I whispered with a savage grin. "That'll be me."

"May I get an insight into what exactly is happening?" Claydol asked out loud. "This is strange behavior."

Buddy told him to just let it happen, and Mimi squirmed on my wrist.