CHAPTER 52

I ran through the power plant as fast as I could. How had I even gotten here? My legs felt sluggish. Slow, and unresponsive, like I was wading through water, but I kept going. Every corner I turned, she was there, waiting with a gleeful smile.

Mars.

She was everywhere, her knife in hand and Dusknoir at her side. She slashed her blade at me, cutting across my face despite me not being near her. I screamed and felt at my face. The pain was unbearable. My hand was slick with warm blood. Mars lazily approached me, skipping across the floor like a little girl.

“I told you, didn’t I? That I would find you again,” She said, before laughing wildly.

I spoke, but no words came out of my mouth. She gripped her knife tighter and stabbed me, over and over and over and over and over—

I jolted awake with a shriek, clutching at my abdomen. Frillish was floating above, watching me with intense worry. I groaned and sat at the edge of the bed, wiping sweat off my body.

“Fuck… that was… Arceus.”

The pain had felt so real. Even now, my body throbbed where I had been stabbed in the nightmare. It was our first night at the outpost’s Pokemon Center, and I had decided enough was enough. Cynthia told me that I needed to not get too dependent on Togetic’s power, and when the Champion gave you advice about something, you listened. That didn’t mean that she wasn’t sleeping with me, though.

“Prrri…” Togetic cried out with a sad look on her face. I grimaced. Seeing her sad was like someone was crushing my heart. Elekid got off from the wall he leaned on to sleep, and called out reassuringly, while Tangela looked up at me with his vast googly eyes.

“Sorry guys, I must have woken you all up,” I said. “I… I need a shower.”

I closed the bathroom door and stared at myself in the mirror, taking deep breaths to calm my beating heart. This was incredibly discouraging. It was as if I had made no progress at all, and I was back to step one, except the nightmares about Golbat were now replaced with Mars and Dusknoir. I shivered when the image of the ghost flashed in my mind.

“No point thinking about it, I’ll just scare myself some more,” I told myself, gripping the counter until my knuckles turned white. “Mars is gone… I’ll never see her again. I’ll never see her.”

I swallowed.

“Let’s shower.”

I took a while to wash myself. The warmth of the water just felt too comforting on my skin after spending so long in Eterna forest. Getting out, I realized I had forgotten to grab a change of clothes. I groaned and placed a hand on my heart as I left the bathroom. Still needed to work on that. I felt the door hit something, after which I quickly heard Elekid bark out an order. When I opened the door again, my Pokemon were back in their original positions, acting as if nothing happened.

“Were you guys trying to spy on me?” I asked. Elekid laughed and let out a noise I had learned to recognize as no. Togetic hid behind Frillish, who turned awkwardly, avoiding my eyes. “Hey, angel,” I smiled at Tangela. “Were they trying to spy on me?” I asked again.

The grass type extended his vines and touched my ankles. He was a bit odd, but then again, so was every member of my team, and I liked that about them. I still was nowhere near understanding how he communicated, though. He seemed to be non-verbal, instead preferring to use his vines to talk, or at least I had never heard him speak. Not a single sound.

“Thanks for worrying about me,” I said softly to my team.

I grabbed a set of clothes and spent the rest of the early morning browsing the internet. There was a lot I had missed, and I desperately wanted to catch up on anything trainer related. Apparently, some people had four badges already, but they were all people that had been trainers for years, like Craig Goodwill, the guy with the Salamence I had seen on television the day dad talked to me about leaving for Littleroot. Experienced trainers like him already had their flying licenses, so they could just fly around on their Pokemon and zip through the region like it was nothing. The most badges first-year trainers like us had were two. I felt a pang of worry at the notion that I was falling behind before remembering that the vast majority of trainers still had zero badges. Plus, the Circuit wasn’t a race. As long as I had the eight badges by the end, I’d be fine.

Apparently, my megathread had picked up a little bit of steam too. I really didn’t like reading it because of the toxicity it tended to garner, but the most recent messages since it had come out that I was one of team Galactic’s victims had been mostly supportive. Then, people discovered I was traveling with Cece and her group, which put even more attention on me. My performance at the Floaroma tournament was making rounds too. I blew a raspberry before turning my Poketch off. My name was starting to get big, and it’d get bigger if I kept doing good in the Circuit. People were starting to look me up and theorize about how an apparent nobody like me managed to be friends with billionaires.

How annoying.

Elekid touched my leg.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Kid!”

“Sorry, hon, no run today. My shoulder still hurts,” I told him. He looked down sadly.

Elekid missed our runs, and I did too. The doctor I saw yesterday told me to take it easy and not move around too much though, because it caused too much friction on the wound. Cece’s arm was in okay shape, and she would just have to keep an eye on it as the Paras’ bites healed. Emilia’s leg would be fine, but right now, she needed a lot of rest, painkillers, and antibiotics, which meant that we would stay here for a little bit.

“Well, I can’t move too much, but there’s no use staying in my room all day,” I told my team. I fed all of them some berries I had bought the day before— except for Tangela.

“Alright, guys, I’ll get you out of the ball later,” I said as I recalled them. Soon enough, we’d have to start our regular training back, but they deserved a break after everything we had gone through. I stared at angel. “You’re with me this morning,” I told him. He tilted his body and stared. “Don’t worry, I’m not making you fight yet or anything,” I continued, trying to guess what he was thinking. “I just want to hang out, just you and me.”

It was still early morning, meaning only Cece would be up. My heartbeat quickened when I thought of her. Would it be fine to just go find her? It was 6:23 am, so knowing her, she’d be training her team somewhere. I felt Tangela’s vines caress my back as another one tapped the door handle.

“Oh, sorry,” I said, snapping out of my crush-induced freeze. “Let’s go.”

Tangela followed me as I walked through the Center’s empty halls. I was probably luckier than the average trainer when it came to building my team. Aside from Frillish, no one had given me any difficulties yet, and Elekid sought me out. I placed my hand over his ball. I still didn’t know how he could sense ghosts so well, but I sure wanted to find out. I walked out of the Center and looked into Tangela’s eyes. He squinted slightly and shook himself.

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I tapped my chin, looking at the sky. It was an overcast morning, and the sun was just starting to rise, peaking over Mount Coronet to the east. “Are you sad that there’s no sun?” I asked. The grass type blinked twice.

“Does that mean yes?” I asked again.

Tangela blinked twice. Again.

“I’m just going to assume that means yes, then.”

I kept walking through the outpost, looking for nothing in particular, and certainly not for Cece. I totally didn’t want to run into her or anything, but it wouldn’t bother me if I did. I spent the next hour trying to learn Tangela’s quirks. I had neglected him in the forest, and I wanted to remedy that. Right now, I was crouched, and he was feeling the individual creases in my palms.

“Angel, that tickles,” I chuckled. The species was fascinating to me. He did everything through vines and touching and was engrossed with human skin. I had to stop him from touching others a few times on our walk.

“Hey, look, the sun is out,” I told him as rays peeked through two huge clouds. The grass type shivered in excitement and closed his eyes as he soaked in the sun’s energy. After he finished, he tapped my back softly to signal that he was done.

“Well, let’s head back in then,” I told him. No Cece this morning, huh? It would have been too convenient to get some time alone. “I need to eat breakfast and meet the others.”

I recalled him and went to the Pokemon Center cafeteria. Denzel wasn’t there— and he wouldn’t be up for another few hours. He had earned his right to sleep in after having to wake up so early every morning in Eterna forest. Pauline was eating alone. I bit my tongue. On one hand, I wouldn’t say I disliked her anymore. After our experience in the forest, I couldn’t bring myself to. On the other hand… she was definitely still not my cup of tea.

“Ah,” I let out, as she saw me. “Well, can’t eat alone now, that’d be impolite.”

I grabbed some sausages and hashbrowns and sat in front of her. She chewed on her food slowly as she stared into my eyes.

“Morning,” I tried. “Sleep well?”

She swallowed her food. “Not really,” She said, fiddling with her hair. “I was with Emi all night.”

“That’s sweet,” I smiled. “So, I hope you don’t mind if I ask this, but are you guys best friends?”

“Well, obviously,” She rolled her eyes. “Emi’s the person I care about the most. We’ve been together for a while,” Pauline said as her face softened. “She was always so meek. I had to be there to protect her.”

“I see…” I muttered. “Well, for what it’s worth, I think you’re doing a great job.”

“No need to flatter me,” She huffed.

“I’m just telling the truth. You’ve been great to her.”

Pauline wiped her mouth with a napkin. “What’s your angle?”

“There’s no angle, I just want to try to get along,” I sighed. She was more amenable in the forest, but it looked like getting back to safety had made her get back to her ruder self. “Wouldn’t that be nice?”

“I recall you saying that you disliked me multiple times, Grace.”

“I did at the time,” I said, containing a groan. “I still think you could be nicer, but you’re a nice gal. Just misunderstood.”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion of me,” She said as she got up. “Enjoy your breakfast.”

Yikes. Maybe I could bring myself to dislike her again. I was willing to try to get along, but eventually, I’d stop just taking the hits—

“Ahem,” Pauline said behind me. I turned. “I forgot to thank you for helping us get through the forest, and also for being so good to Emi,” She hesitated. I could tell she felt embarrassed doing this. “I— I won’t forget it! Bye!” Pauline yelled, storming off.

Well, there was progress being made after all.

——

Even after finishing my meal, I waited to see if someone else would show up. Unfortunately, no one came, so I left. I considered just knocking on Cece’s door, but I didn’t want to come off as too stalker-ish.

“Arceus,” I told myself.

Now that we were out of the forest and my priority was no longer survival, I couldn’t help but get these thoughts about Cecilia, and they were irritating me to no end. I made my way to Denzel’s room and knocked, but there was no answer. I slammed my fist against the door again and again until I heard some muffled complaints on the other side.

“What the hell is going on— Grace?” He said before yawning. “Whaddya want?”

“I’m lonely,” I simply said. “Hang out with me.”

“I was sleeping—”

I ducked under his arm and walked into his room. Eevee barked happily and climbed on my good shoulder. “Hey, little guy,” I smiled, petting him.

“Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed today or something?” My friend asked as he laid back down under the covers.

“Why?”

“You look irritated.”

“It’s annoying how perceptive you are,” I said, pinching his leg through the covers. He yelped.

“Alright, you’re not irritated, you’re just angry,” He said. “Spit it out, I don’t want you to keep being annoying.”

I pouted and brought my two fingers together in a threatening manner. Denzel lifted his legs away from me.

I let my arms fall to the bed. “I keep thinking about Cecilia, and it’s making me angry,” I said.

“Angry, why?”

“Because I can’t stop,” I said. “I can’t help but be scared too. I mean, Eterna city’s just two days away, right? Our agreement was to travel together until we reached the city, so what if… what if…”

“You’re wondering if you’ll still be friends after,” Denzel said.

I nodded. “I can’t help but think that every minute I don’t spend with her is just precious time I’m wasting, y’know? I have until Emi gets better, then two days, then it’s over.”

“You can still hang out together in the city,” Denzel said as he sat down next to me. “And hell, maybe we can travel together again to Hearthome. I wouldn’t really mind, I’ve grown to like her group.”

I shook my head. “I can’t. People are talking shit about her online and spreading rumors because she’s traveling with us. She already has so many haters… I don’t want to bring her even more trouble.”

He put his hand around my back and brought me close. “You really like her, huh?” Denzel said quietly. “I thought it was just a crush.”

“I’m so stupid,” I said, clenching his bedsheets. “I have no chance, and I still can’t stop myself from imagining things.”

Even though Cece didn’t love Louis, at the end of the day, she was still going to be forced to marry him. I hoped that she’d escape somehow and find freedom from her father, but she looked like she was so utterly traumatized by him that I couldn’t imagine her going against his will.

“You’re not stupid,” He said. “You can’t control who you fall in love with, right?”

“Blergh,” I said. “I just feel blergh today. And it started so well too. I was getting closer to Tangela.”

“Here, how about this,” My friend started. “Instead of worrying about stupid trolls online, you just do what you want and ask Cecilia to hang out with you in Eterna city? I’m sure she’d say yes.”

“I dunno,” I said. “Maybe.”

“Well, now I know you’re just scared of asking her out,” He grinned.

I felt my face heat up, and I shot out of the bed. “What time is it?” I asked, changing the subject.

He grabbed his Poketch. “It’s 8:24 am,” He answered, thankfully dropping the subject. “Oh right, we were supposed to meet at nine in the lobby to plan the trek to the city, I almost forgot.”

“Well, you should thank me for waking you up then,” I playfully said. “Well? I’m waiting.”

“Screw off,” He laughed. “I’m going to step in the shower real quick. Mind keeping Eevee company? We can leave right after.”

“Sure,” I said. I released Togetic, who chirped happily at the sight of her furry friend. I sometimes had to remind myself that Eevee was the Pokemon she had known the longest.

Togetic pulled on Eevee’s tail and laughed as the normal type escaped and ran away from her. I watched them play in silence with a smirk.

Anything to distract myself from our two group’s impending split was a win in my book.