CHAPTER 87

I stared at Chase, who was clenching tightly at his bandaged arm. From our time together, I had learned that he usually hated to show that he was in any kind of pain, so I was sure that if he couldn’t ignore the wound on his arm, it had to be terrible.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked, getting slightly closer.

“Yeah, I just feel a little lightheaded. I’ll be fine,” He answered. His tone wasn’t as boastful as usual, which worried me further.

“Do you need a break?” Denzel asked. “We’re in no danger, so it’s fine if we stop for a bit.”

“No, we keep going. The sooner we get to Snowpoint, the better,” he said.

“Well, I definitely agree with that, but let us know if you need to stop, alright?” I said.

“Don’t coddle me. I can handle it.”

There were no two ways about it, route 216 was a walk in the park. Houndoom walked in front of us, occasionally stealing worried glances at his trainer and scaring off any wild Pokemon while Fletchinder flew high overhead, stretching her wings. Eevee was on Denzel’s shoulder as usual, and I had all of my Pokemon in their Pokeballs. They deserved a break, and it wasn’t like anything was going to attack us here.

Still, the route was rather eerie. In every other route, there would always be the occasional trainer that we’d come across or signs of an old campsite that had been recently abandoned. There were no signs of human life here— not even footprints in the snow. I shivered as a strong gust of wind blew past us, jostling my hair wildly. Even Houndoom’s heat wasn’t enough to stop the cold winds from affecting me.

“We’re really underdressed for this,” I said, my voice stammering. “The wind makes it worse than inside of Mount Coronet somehow.”

“Well, we certainly didn’t expect to end up here, did we,” Cece grimaced. I shot her a knowing look, preemptively stopping her from apologizing. “How much longer until Snowpoint?”

“Well, going through all of route 216 and 217 takes a week and a half, so slightly less than that, depending on where we ended up? It also depends on the weather too— wait!” Denzel exclaimed, cutting himself off.

“What?” I asked.

He pointed toward a small, snow-covered green sign and ran toward it. We quickly followed suit, and Denzel wiped the frost off of the sign. It read ‘Route 217’.

“Holy shit,” he said. “We were so much further along than I thought we were.”

“So how much does that cut the journey by?” Cecilia asked, smiling slightly.

“Snowpoint’s less than a week away!” Denzel grinned. “Six days at most, and we’re back to civilization.”

I sighed in relief. “Isn’t that great, Chase?”

I frowned when I heard no answer. Houndoom turned back before letting out a distressed yelp, and I gasped. Chase had fallen to the ground, headfirst into the snow. We all rushed toward him, and Denzel flipped him over. I took off his coat and looked at his bandage— blood and pus were seeping from the wound and through the cloth.

“W—what do we do?” Cece stammered. “It’s infected!”

I swallowed. “We need to clean the wound, but that won’t be enough. This is worse than what happened to Emilia in Eterna Forest, way worse.”

“Okay, you guys take off the bandage, I’ll grab a new one and a towel,” Denzel said.

I winced as the bandage clung and stuck to the wound like they had been stuck together. Cece helped me unwrap it, and I gently bumped Chase’s face a few times to keep him awake. He was still breathing, but his face was dangerously hot, and he wasn’t even coherent. Through the word salad, I could only make out one word.

“Riolu,” he whispered. “Riolu.”

“You want to see Riolu? That’s okay, just hang in there, alright?” I asked as I nodded at Cece. Houndoom licked his trainer’s face as Denzel crouched next to us with a wet towel, and he started to clean the gash running across Chase’s arm. Cecilia grabbed Riolu’s Pokeball and released him. The fighting type screamed and grabbed his trainer’s face before shooting us a judging look.

“I’m sorry. I knew he was pushing himself, but I didn’t know that he was doing it to the point of collapse.”

“Rio!”

“I’m sorry,” I said again.

We swapped his bandage, but we had no antibiotics to give him. Still, this would hopefully prevent his condition from worsening.

“We need to let him rest and stay here for now,” Cece said. We agreed with a nod.

“With some luck, someone will pass through here. The transition point between route 216 and route 217 is the most likely to have people.”

“Okay,” I exhaled. “He’ll be— he’ll be fine.”

Denzel and Cece started to set up the tents while I stuck by Chase with Houndoom and Riolu. I put his coat back on and placed mine on top of him. We’d need to start a fire soon to keep him warm, but this was all I could do for now. Riolu closed his eyes and placed a paw on Chase's forehead, which started glowing bright blue. I didn’t know what was going on, but I was sure he was helping somehow. I wasn’t well-versed in aura enough to understand, but the fighting type shot me another worried look.

“Can you tell how bad it is?” I asked.

“Ri,” he nodded with a grim expression.

I didn’t have the strength to ask if it was fatal or not.

“Riolu,” Denzel said from behind me. “Can we borrow Zangoose to gather firewood?”

Riolu nodded and grabbed Zangoose’s Pokeball, releasing her and explaining the situation. Her perpetual frown turned to worry as she stared at Chase, who was barely holding onto consciousness.

“You stay,” I told Denzel. “I’ll go get the wood.”

“Alright.”

Followed by Zangoose, I made my way to the nearby tree line and watched as the normal type adeptly cut down branch after branch with Slash. I hurried to grab as many as I could. Luckily we had Houndoom to light the fire—

“You won’t light a fire with that, girl,” I heard to my side. “You’ve got to use old wood.”

Zangoose hissed, and her fur stood on end. My head snapped toward the voice. It belonged to an old woman, either in her late fifties or early sixties. She was in a coat twice as thick as I wore with a furred hood, and she carried a heavy-looking axe and an enormous crossbow on her back.

“It’s unusual to see trainers here this time of the year,” the old woman said with a hint of disdain.

“Uh, hello, my name is Grace,” I said after hesitating for a few seconds. “I’m— I’m traveling with my group further that way, but one of my friends is wounded and needs help. Please.”

She groaned. “Another wounded? Is he a kid like you, at least?” she asked.

“Yes! He’s fifteen, like me. Do you have a house nearby he could rest at? We don’t have any medicine for him, and his wound is infected!”

“Well, first, tell your Zangoose to calm the hell down,” she said. I only just noticed how tightly she was gripping her axe.

“Sorry!” I exclaimed. I tentatively placed a hand on Zangoose’s shoulder, hoping she had gotten used to me enough not to mind the contact. She didn’t. “Calm down, she’ll help us.”

Her hair stood back down, and she got back on all fours, which she always did whenever she didn’t fight. The old woman placed her axe in a small holster.

“Okay. Are we good?” I asked.

“Lead the way.”

When we got back to our just built-up camp, my two companions stared at the woman behind me with a mix of relief and confusion.

I preemptively spoke up. “She’s… what’s your name?” I asked.

“Savika,” she simply said.

“Savika,” I nodded. “I met her in the woods, and she said that she could help Chase.”

“That’s the boy?” Savika asked, leaning toward him slightly. “He looks worse than the other one I have with me. I live nearby, but if I’m to help you with this, you have to promise to never disclose that location. Am I understood?”

“Sure!” Denzel said, getting up right away. “Thank you so much. Um, let’s hurry up and pack everything again.”

Savika watched with a curious eye as we scrambled to put everything back into our bags. Riolu gave her a respectful bow, which she ignored completely. After we were done, she picked up Chase like he was nothing, carrying him in her arms, and led us back into the woods, back off-route. It took around fifty minutes or so, and the terrain grew more and more treacherous until we reached an enormous lake. The water in the distance was so clear and calm that it was as if it was covered in a thin sheet of ice.

I took a breath at the beauty of it all.

“Grace, this is like— this is like Lake Verity.”

I nodded. Whereas Lake Verity gave me a sense of complete easiness and calm, this one made me feel… it was hard to explain. It was like I was smarter somehow. Like my thought process had been slightly sped up. I felt like if I ever had something on the tip of my tongue, the answer would come to me right away without fail. It was like I was more knowledgeable.

“Like?” Savika raised an eyebrow. “There’s no other place like this,” she said, nodding toward the left. Her house sat close to the lake’s shore, and we followed her.

My breath was cut short when I saw a Salamence drinking water from the lake. Its scales looked tougher than steel, and some of them were discolored throughout its body. Scars from older battles. The dragon was at least eight feet tall— with a wingspan much larger than that. Cece stared at the dragon with a childlike smile on her face, as if she was completely enamored with it. She was probably imagining a future in which Deino was just as powerful. Salamence stared at us from afar as we entered Savika’s home.

It was a… modest home that had clearly been handbuilt by Savika herself. The wood was rough, and it was somewhat small, but I supposed that was enough for one person. On its side was a small barn-like building where at least one hundred wooden logs sat arranged in a long pyramid, protected from any snowfall, and there were a few solar panels on the roof. Before entering the house, she stared back at us.

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“No Pokemon in the house,” Savika said.

I was about to ask why, but I held myself back. She was already helping us, and it was her house, after all, meaning that we would follow any rules she had. My companions recalled all of their Pokemon, and I recalled Chase’s.

“Remember, not a word about this place to anyone. I’ve already had enough intruders for a lifetime.”

We walked inside of the small foyer, wiping our feet on a rug.

“Coats on here,” she pointed at a makeshift coathanger as she carried Chase further in. We took off our layers and followed her in.

The only thing that grabbed my attention was a hideous, giant yellow flag that read ‘DON’T TREAD ON ME,’ with an Ekans hissing threateningly at nothing in particular. It was so big that it practically took half of one of the walls.

“We have a lot of those in Unova,” Cece whispered.

“Weird,” I said.

The fireplace was prominent as well, but other than that, it was a basic home. She had kept it going the whole time, so the house was warm. I dragged my hands against one of the rugged wooden walls and let out a hearty chuckle. I was in a house. After so many harrowing experiences, it felt so relieving to finally be in one that I was tearing up. Cece and Denzel shared my amazement and were all smiles.

Savika went into her bedroom, and I heard her speak to someone.

“I thought I told you to watch for more threats,” Savika said, her voice muffled. “I have a wounded kid. Get off my bed.”

“My bad, I was just really tired,” a male voice said back. “It still hurts to stand up.”

“Don’t be a child.”

It took me a few seconds to recognize the man who walked through the bedroom door. He had wavy, jet-black hair that went down to his neck and a badly-trimmed beard. He was usually always clean-shaven.

Denzel’s mouth was agape.

“Are— are you Craig Goodwill?!” He yelled.

The man scratched his head. “Yeah,” he said with a small grimace. “Sorry if I don’t live up to the reputation. I can’t bother putting on my usual confident act right now. As you can see, my leg’s been in better shape,” he said, pointing at his bandaged member. He limped slowly toward us, barely able to put any weight on it.

“You… um, sorry, I’m just a really big fan, I— I heard you were going to Snowpoint. What happened to you?” Denzel asked, fidgeting nervously.

Craig sighed before sitting down on a chair, and Savika walked back in, searched through her cabinets, and grabbed a few bottles full of pills. I could only steal a glance, but she had a motherload in there, as if she was going to hold out here for years.

“Savika, can I tell them?” he asked loudly.

“Go ahead.”

“I was flying on Roxie— that’s my Salamence— on my way to Snowpoint to challenge Candice, but she noticed a group of individuals down on the ground. Usually, I would have just chalked it up to being trainers, but there are no trainers here at this time of the year, especially not in a group that large. The people from Snowpoint either take the ferry to Canalave during the summer to start there, or they fly out if they have a license. I got a bit suspicious, so I ordered her to follow them. They found this lake and started attacking Savika here, who is a wonderful, helpful woman,” he said loudly so that she could hear. “So I swooped in to save the day. Unfortunately, something I often forget is that criminals don’t abide by the rules of battle. I would have easily dealt with them, but I took a nasty Slash from a Purugly. I guess that’s what I get for underestimating Team Galactic and only using Roxie for the fight.”

My heart jumped into my throat. The nonchalant tone that he used when dropping the name of Team Galactic was disturbing, and I instinctively felt my teeth begin to chatter. My palms began to sweat, and my throat was so tightly closed that I could barely breathe. I— I couldn’t even see straight. What was happening—

I felt Cece wrap her hands around me, and she brought me into a tight hug.

“Calm down. It’s okay, they aren’t here anymore,” she whispered as she caressed my hair. “You’re safe here.”

“Did I say something wrong?” Craig asked. “I know they’re a big threat, but… damn, sorry.”

I felt my breathing calm, and I hugged Cecilia back tightly.

“Grace has had a traumatizing encounter with… with them,” Denzel explained as he shot me a worried look. “The fact that they were here isn’t helping. Will they come back?”

“Well, no, because they’re dead,” he said with a grimace, his face paling. He paused for a few seconds, clasping at his shirt and took a deep breath before continuing. “Roxie went crazy when she saw me bleeding on the ground and saw red. Savika buried them and cared for me since I saved her. I’m going to turn myself in when I’m better. I should be able to fly in a few days.”

“So, will you go to prison?” Denzel asked worriedly.

“No, I’ll be fine,” he sighed. “I’ve worked with the League before for some jobs, and they know I’m planning on applying for a job if I don’t win against the Elite Four and Cynthia this year. I’m one of the best trainers in the region, and they know they need me. The rules are…flexible. I want to feel bad for what happened, and I do, to some extent but… I mean, it’s Team Galactic. I can’t bring myself to. I just hate the fact that Roxie actually killed people. The League will probably bring me in for questioning and ask to be brought to the scene. Savika doesn’t want that to happen, though, but there’s no choice.”

“What’s with her?” I asked, finally well enough to speak now that I knew we were safe. “Why does she live alone here?”

“She’s kind of a loony—”

“I’m perfectly sound of mind,” she said behind him. “I’m just living off the grid. I don’t trust anyone or any League. They’re a sinister force.”

I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. I could already tell from her flag that she was anti-government.

“How long have you lived here?” Cecilia asked.

“Twenty years or so,” she said. “I didn’t count, and I don’t really keep track of the days here.”

“Either way, thank you for helping Chase,” Denzel said. “Will he be alright?”

“Yes, he will. He should wake up soon, and then I’ll have him on antibiotics. I don’t have a bed to house all of you, but I suppose you can make yourselves at home.”

——

I stepped into Savika’s bathroom, which had a giant human-sized pot that served as a shower. Apparently, all of the water she used came from the lake, and she’d heat it up with the electricity she gathered with her solar panels. I stepped into the pot and let out a sigh of relief as I felt the exhaustion wash off me. Cece and Denzel had already washed and had stepped outside to hang out with their teams.

Team Galactic… Craig just mentioning them being in the same spot that I was in had sent me into a full-blown panic. I clenched at the edges of the bath and swore internally. Craig hadn’t hesitated. He had flown down on his Salamence and completely destroyed them, but I couldn’t even hear their name without having a panic attack. I wanted to be like him. I wanted to be able to stand up to the people that had scarred me for life, and yet I couldn’t. Of course, my team was probably good enough to beat a few grunts, at the very least. The ones that had been all over the power plant when I was held hostage there didn’t seem like much these days. Mentally, however, I wasn’t ready at all. It wasn’t like I wanted to seek them out. I wasn’t insane. But if I ever met them again, I wanted to do something, at the very least, as Chase had done. I didn’t want to be powerless any longer.

Somehow, I’d need to overcome my trauma.

I took a deep breath and exited the bath. I didn’t want to waste too much of Savika’s electricity. It was strange to see a woman live off-route without any Pokemon, but that crossbow and those bolts had looked threatening enough. She had managed to survive somehow.

I dressed, walked back into the living room and saw that Craig was looking through his huge bags. Plural. He apparently carried at least five everywhere he went, because his team needed a lot of food, especially his Snorlax. It was still surreal to think that I was in the same house as last year’s Conference finalist and the man I usually only saw on television. He acted differently in real life, though.

“Grace,” he smiled at me, handing me potions from his bag. They were Hyper Potions. “Take it as an apology for earlier. I’m sorry for bringing up those terrorists like that without thinking… Denzel told me you were one of the hostages at Valley Windworks. Terrible, what they’ve done to you.”

“I can’t accept this,” I said, shaking my head.

“I already gave a few to your friends. Come on, it costs nothing to me. I get more than I’ll ever need from my deal with the Poketch Company.”

“You’re sponsored by the Poketch Company?” I gasped. “My dad works for them too.”

“That’s one of the companies that sponsor me, yes,” he said before pausing. “You remind me of my little sister, you know? She’s your age.”

I raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

“Well, first, she’s a trainer like you, but she also always refuses any help I want to give her.”

“Is she? I haven’t really heard about her. What’s her name?”

I really thought I would have heard about his sister, since he was famous.

Craig grimaced. “Yeah, she’s keeping a low profile, or at least trying to— She always asks for gym leaders to turn off their camera feed before they battle, she travels alone, and she never sticks around cities for long. Her name’s Lauren. Last I heard, she was making her way to Hearthome, but she doesn’t want anything to do with me,” he sighed.

I let out a pensive nod. If I were the sister of a potential Champion in the making, I’d probably hate being in his shadow as well. Cece didn’t seem to mind much, though, not that she was particularly close with her brother.

“So she’s got two badges?” I asked. “What Pokemon does she have?”

“Three, not two,” he corrected me. I refrained from making a face. It’d be stupid to compete with someone I had never met. “She beat Byron right after beating Roark, and then moved on to Gardenia. She owns a Duosion, Lairon, Magmar, Grovyle and Palpitoad. I offered to get her a Bagon at the start of her journey, but she refused. It would have been perfect to round out her team, too,” he sighed again. He seemed to like doting on her.

My eyes widened at her Pokemon, however. That was an incredible team, and she would probably go toe to toe with Cece, or maybe beat her. For some reason, I did feel the need to compete with her, after all, even though it was stupid.

“Well, I’ll look her up whenever I get to Snowpoint,” I said.

“Damn it,” he shuddered. “She’s going to be pissed.”

“Hey, how does it feel to be one of the best trainers in the world,” I asked after a pause.

“Exhausting, but fulfilling. For some reason, the better you get, the less you actually get to battle,” Craig sighed. “That’s why I’m going off to Mount Coronet to train after I finish gathering all the badges again, I need to get my head back in the game. Speaking of Mount Coronet, you must have gone through there to get here, no?”

“It’s a long story,” I said with a sigh. “But we did.”

“Well, you sure have potential, kid,” he smiled. “But I digress. I know this is going to sound like some sob story, but it’s the truth. When I first started my journey ten years ago, the point where I stand at now… I thought it’d always be out of reach. I started out with a Bagon, but I still failed over and over. I wasn’t the best at anything, but I worked hard consistently to make up for my deficiencies, and now here I stand,” he said. I could almost see his television persona now. I realized now that it wasn’t completely an act. It was just how he must have been when passionate. “Atop of it all. I’ve almost reached the summit, and I’m sure that this year will be the one.”

“The one where you beat Cynthia?” I asked. I honestly couldn’t believe him, but he seemed confident in himself.

“Oh yes, but beating Cynthia’s just reaching the summit. I want to go further. I want to touch the skies,” he grinned. “Champions never battle each other. I want to change that. I want to beat every single one after I take Cynthia’s seat.”

Touching the skies, I repeated in my head. Something about the expression called to me, tugging at me like a rope. It was a feeling that I couldn’t explain.

“I’ll take your potions after all, Craig,” I said. “Thanks a lot.”

“Oh? Alright then.”

I was afraid I couldn’t swear off the League Circuit after all. I had just found a way to battle the gym leaders while staying out of the limelight— asking not to be filmed. I hadn’t even known that was possible. This, plus the fact that Snowpoint was empty of trainers meant that it was going to be possible to battle Candice. A fire had been lit in me. A challenge I couldn’t just ignore, as if I was starting my journey all over again.

“I’m off to train,” I told him. “I’m going to beat you in the Conference, and then I’m going to beat everyone else. You just gave me more inspiration than you’d know.”

Candice was next, then I’d crush the other gym leaders one by one. I had been looking for a goal beyond becoming the Champion for a while, but I felt like I had just grasped it. I would take Craig’s goal and mold it to my liking. I wouldn’t just beat Cynthia, I would defeat them all. And I wouldn't stop myself at the Champions. I'd beat all of the gym leaders too.

I’d be the one to touch the skies.

I’d become the best trainer in the world.