CHAPTER 54

“I… I lost?” Chase mumbled with a look of disbelief. “How?”

I huffed as I returned Frillish. I was about to answer before remembering I was being filmed and looked at by a lot of people. The battle had brought in even more onlookers that hadn’t been there at the start of the argument.

“Erm— just don’t bother her again, alright?” I said, trying not to look at the crowd. “Your words can hurt more than you would think.”

“How…?” The teen kept whispering. “How?”

Hoping that he had gotten the message, I dipped my head and decided to leave. Luckily, it seemed like most trainers were leaving as well now that the battle was over, and they weren’t grouping around me to ask questions as I had feared. I made my way back to my friends, who were among the ones who had stayed.

Denzel flashed a smile. “You were amazing. I’m glad you put the guy down a notch, his ego’s way too big.”

Something was off about that—

He clapped my shoulder and kept praising me.

“I’m lucky he didn’t know anything about my team and that he got overconfident,” I sighed. “But it was a good battle nonetheless.”

“He seems obsessed with us,” Louis complained. “I’ll definitely have to hire bodyguards when we get to Eterna city.”

“Hmph. It wasn’t bad, I suppose,” Pauline said. “I think you could have done better.”

“Don’t be an ass,” Denzel rolled his eyes.

“That’s literally her default behavior,” I joked, before clamming up and meeting Cece’s eyes.

“Thank you again, Grace. I’ve… I’ve never had someone go so far for me,” She said. “I feel like I owe you so much.”

I eyed her friends nervously, but they didn’t seem to mind what she had just said, which was strange. She had essentially put them down by complimenting me.

“I mean, it was nothing. Denzel wanted to battle him, too,” I said, avoiding her gaze.

“I definitely did, but I felt like Grace would be able to handle him better,” He said, winking at me. Arceus. “But that’s enough doom and gloom. What’s everyone doing now?”

——

The enormous lake next to the outpost didn’t really have an official name, but people called it Eterna Lake due to it being in between the city and the forest. Denzel, Cece, and I walked along one of the flat bridges linking the many islands together that permitted trainers to cross as we watched Feebas swim along the surface. His blue fins seemed to have fewer holes in them now, and his beige scales seemed to be slightly shinier. Frillish was also hanging around underwater somewhere, but I wasn’t going to hold him on a leash. He loved the lake, so I let him go wherever he wanted.

“Is Feebas faster than before?” I asked my friend. “He seems a little bit prettier too.”

“That’s probably because I’m feeding him actual healthy foods now. Feebas in the wild tend to eat a lot of trash and stuff, which is why they’re always in terrible states when they’re caught at first.”

Feebas jumped out of the water and created a huge splash. I squealed, covering myself from the frigid water.

“What an interesting Pokemon,” Cecilia said, seemingly not minding the cold water. She crouched and watched the water type approach her curiously. “Does it not bother you to not be able to use it?” She continued.

“Not at all,” Denzel smiled. “I’ve wanted a Feebas since I started planning my team a few years ago. You guys don’t know him very much, but he’s a great Pokemon.”

I was surprised at how much affection he had inflected in his tone. It was true that I hadn’t seen Feebas at all, but I had forgotten how many times Denzel had gone out of his way to be with him as much as he could when we were in Floaroma.

“I’ve had a team planned as well, but it has gone through… many iterations,” Cece said.

“Really?” Denzel raised his eyebrows. “I’ve always had one team in mind, y’know? Grace is more like you, I guess. She’s kind of going at it randomly.”

“Hey!” I protested. “I chose Tangela,” I said, affectionately holding the grass type’s vines.

The three of us had decided to go for a walk along the lake, and Denzel and I were using the opportunity to familiarize ourselves with our new team members some more. He carried Buneary tightly in his arms. The normal type was very attached to him, and liked being held all the time. I looked at her scarred ear with a pang of sadness. I was holding Tangela’s vine, which was mimicking a hand. Eterna forest was truly a strange place. On one hand, there were Pokemon that were bloodthirsty and incredibly aggressive toward humans, like Cece’s Scyther, and on the other, there were Pokemon like Tangela or Buneary, who didn’t seem to mind them at all— although I supposed that applied to all Pokemon. Obviously, Cecilia hadn’t released her Scyther for our walk. The bug type had to be tranquilized as soon as the Nurse Joys healed him. I was very curious as to how she was going to deal with Scyther. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be reckless.

“You did decide to catch it when we were at the outpost,” Cece smiled as she watched her newly evolved Fletchinder fly overhead. “But to be quite honest, there is no great disadvantage to not planning your team as long as you make it diverse enough.”

“Unless you’re trying to become a gym leader right away,” Denzel added. “Did you know Gardenia already specialized in grass types before becoming the gym leader?” He said, petting Buneary’s head. She closed her eyes and let out a blissful sound.

“I didn’t know that,” I said. “That’s amazing. How did she even counter her weaknesses? I managed to barely win once against electric types with Frillish and Togetic, but still.”

“There are many ways around that,” Cecilia said, covering her eyes from a gust of wind. “But every trainer has their own ways of dealing with type weaknesses. I suppose we’ll have to see hers when we study her teams before battling in her gym,” She sighed nervously.

I wanted to grab her hand and tell her that everything was going to be okay. I hadn’t known that her father had disallowed her from losing at all. I thought back to her battle with Roark, wondering how nervous she must have been. Cece was good at hiding herself when she needed to, but I was glad that she was being herself with us.

“I can’t wait to get back into the city,” Denzel smiled. “There’s something about the atmosphere of thousands of trainers, each trying their best to train, studying the gyms, and asking for help or shit-talking on the forums that just can’t be beaten. Can I call it trainer culture? I fucking love trainer culture.”

I grinned. I did actually miss all those nights I spent studying for Roark’s team, which would have no doubt surprised my past self. Back then, I hadn’t really discovered the kind of trainer I wanted to be. Now, I knew that I thrived when I had information available to me, and if I didn’t, I bought as much time for myself in the battle as I could, scouting out my opponent’s moves and fighting style.

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“This trainer culture you speak of,” Cece started. “It is quite different in Sinnoh than in Unova.”

“Really?” Denzel said, raising an eyebrow. “Couldn’t imagine it differently.”

“Well for one, trainers can be quite rude here. Our forums in Unova are heavily moderated, and that influences real-life behavior as well. There aren’t as many deadly routes as well. I have to say, it was quite the culture shock for me to see that trainers with no badge were allowed through Eterna forest.”

“I mean, I guess that kind of makes sense,” He said. “But there’s a reason Cynthia’s the strongest Champion, you know? We make ‘em tough in Sinnoh.”

“That’s debatable,” I interjected. “Champions almost never battle, so there isn’t really a ranking.”

“No, I believe she is the strongest,” Cece said with admiration. “In many ways.”

“What about your brother?” Denzel asked. “Sorry for prying, I’m just curious. I don’t know much about Unova.”

I stared daggers at him, and he apologized with his eyes.

“Oh, Mark?” She said. “He’s quite strong, but he’s only been the Champion for two years after beating Iris. Cynthia would beat him handily.”

I sighed in relief internally. It seemed that Cece didn’t mind talking about her brother, or at least she didn’t show it.

“I can’t believe he beat a dragon master,” Denzel said with wonder. “I hope I can stand on the top one day.”

“No, because that’ll be me,” I said half-jokingly.

“Wanna go right now?” He playfully said.

“My entire team’s at the Center, big guy,” I said. “Of course, the only time you challenge me, my team is mysteriously missing. Coward.”

“Maybe I meant after they were healed.”

I grinned at him. “No, I think you just forgot, because you’re stupid,” I said. “Right, angel?”

Tangela blinked at him twice.

“What are you teaching this poor Tangela?” Denzel said dramatically. “You’re a bad influence on him.”

“He’s going to be traveling with us, so he needs to know who’s stupid and who isn’t.”

“You two really get along, don’t you?” Cece interrupted our banter. “That seems nice.”

I immediately deflated. “I mean, we’re best friends, I guess. We banter sometimes.”

“Do you think I could be like that someday?”

“With m— with us? Of course, you can,” I quickly said. “Hell, you can already call Denzel an idiot if you want. There’s no one here with us.”

“Why me?! Why not you?” He groaned.

“Because I don’t want Cece to lie,” I deadpanned.

We reached a large island and decided to stop there. There was no point in going too far without the others anyway. I looked on at Mount Coronet on the horizon. Its height boggled the mind. One of the fun facts I always read online about the mountain is that it was almost taller than the height planes flew at. It stood at a whopping thirty thousand feet, and people that were crazy enough to climb to the summit needed oxygen not to die— and that wasn’t counting the crazy wild Pokemon that made Eterna forest look like a kindergarten. Pokemon were tougher than humans and could live all over the mountain fine, even at its summit. Either way, I wasn’t suicidal. I was never going to climb the damn thing, and only trainers with eight badges were allowed to get to the summit anyway. Of course, plenty of trainers climbed the side of the mountain. It had many overhangs and flatter areas to make camp on.

“So like I said, Cece,” I started again. “You don’t have to hold back with us. I’d love— like it if you were completely yourself when it’s just us.”

“Then… may I?” She tentatively said.

“You have my blessing.”

She hesitated for a few seconds, but then let the truth out. “Denzel… you’re an idiot.”

“What? Why did Grace give you permission to call me an idiot? You people have this backwards,” Denzel grumbled as he set Buneary on the ground. The rabbit took a few steps forward before Tangela started rubbing her with his vines. She cried out and ran behind her trainer’s legs, pulling her cream-like fluff up to her eyes.

“Angel… don’t touch people without their consent,” I groaned. “One day, you’ll touch someone who gets angry easily.”

The grass type blinked once and wrapped its vines around my ankles.

“Yes, I’m fine with it, you can do it to me. But Cece, how did that feel?”

“That felt… that felt liberating! My heart is pounding so fast. May I say it again?”

“Don’t hold back.”

“So I’m the victim in all of this?” Denzel said with a half-smile.

Cece beamed as she looked at me, her dark skin glistening in the sun. Arceus, she was so beautiful. I wanted to get closer to her. I didn’t want our time together to be over so soon. I wanted to keep traveling with her. To learn more about her.

To help her break free from her family.

To hold her.

“Stupid. Stupid idiot!” Cecilia yelled happily as Denzel bantered back. Eventually, she fell to the ground and laughed so hard she started to cough and tears streamed from her eyes. “Oh! Oh, Legendaries! What a wonderful way to be friends,” She said.

Why was I ruining this moment? Why couldn’t I be happy for her?

“It is, isn’t it?” I said. “It really is.”

Why was I like this?

Denzel’s smile froze when he looked at me, and his face turned into a look of concern. It seemingly only took him a few seconds for him to realize what was going on with me. He mouthed to me, asking if I was okay, and I just nodded. He shook his head.

“I’m gonna feed Feebas,” He said. “Why don’t you two wait for me, and then we can start to head back?”

“Sure,” Cece said, breathing heavily and wiping tears from her eyes.

We watched Denzel leave and grab some food pellets from his bag, closely followed by Buneary, who grabbed one of his pant legs. Why was he doing this to me? Did he really want me to ask her now? After everything I told him?

“Thank you for taking me in, Grace,” She said, breaking the silence. “I feel like all you do these days is help me. If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to come to me.”

“Oh, it’s no problem,” I said, fiddling with one of Tangela’s vines. “Um…”

“Yes?”

“What’s your plan after… after we get to Eterna city?” I asked.

“Well, we’ll probably be staying at a hotel, and getting more food and supplies that are going to be sent to us. Why?”

I felt my stomach sink. “Ah, I mean, I just wanted to know if we could still hang out or something?”

“Oh? I assumed that was a given?”

“What? But it reflects badly on you, and you said your… you know.”

“My father wouldn’t like it, I know,” Cece said, her eyes suddenly turning icy and her face neutral. “Yes, that may be the case, but I’m willing to take that risk.”

“I don’t want to cause you any trouble—”

“You aren’t. This is my decision. If he dislikes it, then so be it,” Cece said, her voice almost faltering. “I want to be free. I can’t be a scared little girl forever. I don’t want to always rely on you to defend me. And it all starts with a step. One step of disobedience.”

“One step at a time,” Denzel said, coming behind us. “I like that saying.”

“So do I,” Cece smiled. “I don’t mind him knowing,” She said when she saw how worried I was. “If he is your best friend, then he is trustworthy.”

“I mean, I kind of figured, but I wouldn’t mind knowing more about it,” He said.

Cecilia explained her situation to Denzel. The engagement, the pressure she felt from her father. She didn’t go into the details, but it was easy to see that she had been emotionally abused. I hoped it wasn’t physical as well.

“Well damn,” My best friend said. “That’s some serious baggage you’re carrying. I’m sorry.”

“I want to be free,” Cece repeated. “But I can’t do it on my own. Will you help me?” She pleaded, looking at us.

“Of course,” I softly said.

“Fuck yeah, we will,” Denzel said. “I thought my mom was controlling, but this is just on another level.”

“Thank you,” Cece softly said. “Eventually, they will send people after me, you know? Both my and Louis’ father. It won’t be easy.”

“We’ll help you out,” I said. “And hey, by the time they do, we’ll be strong enough to fight back anything he throws at us.”

“Then it is decided,” Cecilia said as she stood up. She stared into our eyes with fire and determination. “The first step. We will keep being friends, even in Eterna city. In fact, I think we should be as public as possible with our friendship.”

“Well, that goes without saying,” Denzel smiled. “Let’s head back.”