CHAPTER 98

“Are you sure she’s fine? Maybe we should call them again.”

“The doctor said it was exhaustion, she’ll wake up soon.”

“I can’t help but worry—”

I opened my eyes and shot right up, bumping into Denzel’s forehead. He screamed, falling back and clenching his forehead to alleviate some of the pain.

“Grace!” Cecilia said, grabbing my hand. “We were so worried. How do you feel?”

I blinked a few times and moved my hands around, clenching and unclenching my fist. The headache was still there, but muted. The pain was practically gone, and I could see clearly.

“I think I’m alright,” I said. “Um, can I— can I have some water? How long was I out?”

Cece handed me a bottle of water and I started drinking.

“Not long,” Denzel answered as he stood back up. “Barely an hour. We called an ambulance for you and the docs said that you collapsed because you exerted yourself too much during your battle with Candice. You’re at the Center.”

I stared around, recognizing my room. “Right,” I nodded. “I was so focused that I guess I kind of forgot to breathe, but I feel alright now.”

“The doctor said that you needed rest,” Cece said, accentuating the last word. “So you’re going to stay in bed.”

“My Pokemon?” I asked.

“We gave them to Nurse Joy, along with all of ours that battled,” Denzel smiled. “Now come on, rest up.”

“Where’s Chase?” I said.

“He left a few minutes ago to get his alone time,” Cece said. “You know how he is.”

I laid back down with a sigh. I had won my gym battle, and I felt incredibly happy, but why had only one fight taken so much out of me? The fight against Gardenia hadn’t… but I hadn’t been thinking as much, either. These were the kind of battles that I wanted to have, though. The strategizing was my favorite part, along with the battle going exactly according to plan. Reading my opponent’s move accurately brought me a high that I could never get anywhere else. But that desperate, racing feeling I had felt when Candice brought out that Darmanitan had been exhilarating as well, especially when I had to scramble around to find a plan on the spot. A plan that worked. I closed my eyes, trying to replay the battle in my head. It didn’t bring me the feeling I wanted. It wasn’t the real thing.

I wanted more.

“I think I might have a problem,” I said.

“What? Should we call someone?!” Denzel asked, letting panic slip into his tone. Cece tightened her hold on my hand.

“No, no,” I laughed softly. “Nothing serious. I meant to say that I might be getting addicted to a certain style of battling. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do it any other way anymore.”

They both let out a relieved sigh.

“Your battle was certainly something,” Denzel said. “I was more nervous and excited than for mine.”

“Something?” Cece asked, looking at him. “She was glowing down there.”

“I don’t know what happened, it’s like it wasn’t even me down there,” I smiled. “It’s kind of all a blur.”

“I get that feeling,” Denzel said. “An intense battle can do that to you.”

“It was you, and you were wonderful,” my girlfriend said.

“Ah!” I exclaimed, suddenly remembering something with a twinge of disappointment. “Did I miss Craig’s battle, then?”

My friend nodded. “Yeah, we all did. He won, though. Candice took down four of his Pokemon. I was watching the video. Want to see it?”

“The video isn’t like the real thing…” I grumbled.

“You’re such a battle maniac,” he laughed.

“I told you I had a problem,” I said. “Anyway, I know I said I’d rest, but—”

“Absolutely not!” They both exclaimed in unison.

“Arceus, chill out!” I said exasperatedly. “I just want to take a shower. My clothes are all sweaty, and I feel icky.”

“Oh…” Cece awkwardly said. “Yes, go ahead.”

I nodded, hesitating to stand up. I sighed in relief when I took my first step, confirming that I was at least fine to walk. I grabbed a change of clothes, stepped into the bathroom, and basked in the water’s warmth. Even though I felt fine, my body felt so tired. Today I would rest, but as soon as my team was healed, we’d need to have a group meeting and talk about our next steps to improve. Then, there was also the need for me to analyze my battle footage and have my post-gym battle autopsy as I had done against Gardenia. I could think of a few things that had gone wrong already, but that would come later.

Maybe I could…

Ugh, later.

I finally changed into fresh clothes, and when I went to lay back down on the bed, I was surprised to see that Cecilia had changed the sheets so that I wouldn’t have to roll around in my sweat.

“You’re sweet,” I said, kissing her before getting under the covers. She smiled, and the kiss lingered for a few moments. “Thank you.”

“Please, this is just the bare minimum,” Cece rolled her eyes before snuggling up next to me.

“You kids sure are cute,” Denzel said.

“You’re half a year older than us, don’t call us children,” Cecilia said.

“Let me enjoy the small things in life, Cece,” he replied. “Anyway, now that you’re all freshened up, Emi and the others wanted us to call them. They were worried about you.”

“Worried about me?” I asked.

“Yeah, you collapsed on video,” Denzel said nonchalantly.

Cece frowned. “Didn’t you ask to turn it off?”

“On… video?” I muttered before gasping. I had been so excited to just get to my battle that I forgot to ask the gym trainer in the waiting room to turn off the camera! “Fuck. Fuck. I forgot.”

“Well… let’s look at the bright side of things…” Denzel tried.

“I’m waiting,” I sighed.

“Um, hold on, I’m thinking,” he said. “Ah, got it! You’re a good trainer, right?”

“I could be better.”

“Oh please, just take the win and move on,” he groaned. “Anyway, I’m going to act like you answered yes. You’re a good trainer. We all are. We fucking got three badges on our first year with no signs of slowing down,” he grinned. “That means that you were going to get a lot of eyes on you regardless, so it’d be better to get used to fame now. And it’s not like you have a lot to hide. New trainers progress fast. By the time we battle Fantina, we’ll have made a lot more progress.”

“He’s right,” Cece nodded.

“Yeah, that’s usually the case,” he shrugged with a smug expression.

“Don’t get too confident now,” she chuckled. “Imagine you still being in your shell at the Conference. You can’t turn off the cameras there, and there are reporters, fans, and hundreds of thousands of spectators on location, and that’s just in the stadiums. You’d be a nervous wreck, and it’d affect your battling. It’s better to get used to it as early as possible.”

“Right,” I sighed. “I still feel restless about it. Eterna is going to be hell. Anyway, let’s just call the others and get my mind off of this. Future me will deal with it.”

“Ouch. No love for your future self?” Denzel joked as he grabbed his Poketch. “Future Grace will probably be angry at you.”

“Well, we all have to do our part,” I said as I sat upright in the bed. Cece quickly made space between us.

Right, I thought. They don’t know.

“It’s a video call, by the way,” Denzel specified as he came in closer to get us all in the shot. Our friends answered immediately.

“Finally!” Pauline said.

“Grace, are you doing alright?” Justin asked.

“If Denzel or Cece hadn’t been with you, there would have been no way to get news about your well-being,” Louis said. “No one in Snowpoint said anything. The gym didn’t put out a statement or—”

“I’m fine, guys,” I smiled. I froze when I saw Louis’ thick scar running across his cheek. “They said it was exhaustion. That battle took a lot out of me.”

“That sure looked like it,” Emilia sighed. “I was exhausted just looking at it.”

Justin sprung up. “You all did excellently—”

“Move over!” Pauline exclaimed, pushing him away from the camera. “You three! You’re lucky that you’re all the way up in Snowpoint, or you’d be hearing my incessant complaints about being left behind. I want a third badge too, damn it!”

“You okay there, Justin?” Denzel asked.

“Yes,” he grumbled.

“Then you better have trained enough not to fall behind then,” Cece said. “Any progress on the third member of your team?”

“I found something, but I can only catch it on route 207 near Mount Coronet,” she said proudly. “It fits me perfectly.”

“Looking forward to it,” Denzel said.

“Really?! Um, I mean, yeah, thanks,” Pauline smiled.

“What about you, Louis? Any progress with Gible?” I asked.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Progress is… slow. I’ve had him let out his anger by making him fight Vulpix and Prinplup as Cece does with her Deino— her Zweilous. Nothing serious, though, it’s just practice, and he’s been struggling a decent bit. I’ve also tried to talk to him to make him understand that I can make him evolve.”

“Good, good,” I said. “I’m proud of you.”

“You are the one who set me on the right path,” he nodded.

“And Justin?” Cece asked. “Any progress with your father?”

“I wanted to wait until you were back to announce it, but I’ve reached a deal. The best I could get, considering the circumstances. Instead of getting into the Conference twice, I only have to get in once. It’s frustrating, and I probably won’t be able to do it this year, but it’s all I’ve got. I can’t take over until he retires anyway, so I have time to get in. It’s just a shame that I’ll have to be doing this for the foreseeable future.”

“Oh, you’ll figure something out,” Pauline said. “Why don’t you send your dad a message by winning in the scummiest way possible? Try to stall every gym battle for twenty minutes, like against Gardenia.”

“The effects it would have on Pherzen’s image—”

“Come on, you’ve got to try,” Pauline scoffed. “I’ve read the contract. It says that you just have to get in the Conference, not how.”

“Plus, it’d be really funny,” Denzel said.

“Right?” She smiled evilly. “Imagine that, a man that just stalls making it to the Conference. I’d pay to see it.”

“Stalling is harder than it seems at first glance,” Cecilia explained. “There’s a lot of strategizing involved. There are a few people that specialize in underhanded tactics. I remember hearing about one in Kalos, but I forgot his name.”

“Even if I wanted to, I don’t even have the right team to do it,” Justin shrugged.

“Pokemon can do anything if you train them in the right way,” I shrugged. “Emi, what about you and your coordinator prospects?”

“It’s been… tough. What I’m suffering the most from right now is move variety, but I’m hoping to fix that by buying some TMs when I get to Hearthome. I wanted to wait to iron out the basics of my Pokemon first, though..”

“You’ll have to wait eighteen days for us to get there,” Denzel said. “Will you be alright?”

“It’ll get lonely, but I’ll manage,” she said. “Plus, I can finally start making connections. Hearthome is the hub for Pokemon contests, there are bound to be a lot of beginners like me there.”

“You’ll kick their asses,” Pauline said.

“That’s not even the goal,” Emilia said with a slight smile. “I appreciate your support, though.”

“So when will you start heading back?” Louis asked. “We’ve been dying to see you again, and you won your badge.”

“We haven’t even thought of that yet,” I said. “We’ll probably head back down south as soon as I’m alright to go. I’d kill to have a Pokemon that can Teleport.”

“Wouldn’t we all?” Cece laughed.

“Well, it shouldn’t take too long now that we can keep to the routes,” Denzel said. “Hey Emi, have you checked my livestream VOD? What did you think about it?”

“It was… fine,” Emilia awkwardly answered. I noticed Pauline squirming in place.

“Look at her face,” I grinned, pointing to Pauline. “She’s going to say something mean.”

“N—no,” she said, holding back laughter. “Not at all. It’s not like it was the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever seen.”

“It was my first time! Come on, give me some leeway!”

We kept talking about anything that came to mind, but after two hours, the call ended.

“That was fun,” I said, stretching.

“Now you can sleep,” Cece lectured as she laid her head back in the crook of my neck. “I’ll stick around to make sure you aren’t actually doing anything battling-related.”

“Ouch. Zero trust, huh?” I said, bringing her closer.

“Not when it comes to battling,” she smiled.

“Alright, I’ll let you two get some alone time,” Denzel said as he stood up. “Better check what Chase is doing too, he said he’d come back to visit.”

“Bye-bye!” I said as he closed the door. I tried leaning in to kiss Cece.

“You know I actually meant it when I said you needed rest, right?” She said.

“Ugh, you’re no fun. How about just one?”

“Just one.”

——

I woke up sometime later to a knock at my door. I rubbed my eyes, making sure not to move around too much since Cecilia was still asleep, and I gently got up, placing her head back on a pillow. It was dark out, but that didn’t mean much, since the sun always set early this far north during the winter.

“I’m coming…” I grumbled. The knocking wasn’t stopping at all. I opened the door and almost had to do a double-take when I saw that Candice was at my door.

“Hiya!” She said. “Can I come in?”

I frowned. “Excuse me—”

“I’m coming in, alright? Oh, sorry, I didn’t know you had someone else in there. You sleeping in the same bed? She your girlfriend? I kind of sensed that vibe from you two. Cool, cool,” Candice babbled as she stepped inside.

“Grace…?” Cece muttered as she got up. “What’s going on—”

Her soft demeanor immediately turned to her calm, confident self when she saw that a gym leader was in the room.

“Leader Candice,” she said smoothly. “What brings someone of your stature here?”

“Two things!” She exclaimed, making a ‘v’ sign with her fingers. “First, I wanted to apologize again for my battle against you, Cecilia!”

“You mean… me?” I asked.

“Right, you’re Grace. Um, that’s awkward. Anyway, you passed out because I pushed you too far, and it’s unbecoming of me as a gym leader. But! I want to make it up to you by inviting you and all of your friends to my apartment!”

“To your… apartment,” I repeated. “Wha… how?”

How was I casually talking to a gym leader?

“Yeah! That’s what I said! I don’t know why you had to repeat it all mysterious-like. Um, I’ve already told your two buddies, they were just in their rooms. The friendly one almost fell out of his chair when I asked, but the grumpy one said that he’d only come if I had something worth his while, so I lied and said I’d give him my training routine. He was so silly! That’s, like, a gym leader’s most deeply held secret! Obviously, I wouldn’t just give it away. Anyway, we’re all waiting for you. Oh! And Craig’s going to be there too.”

My head spun as I slowly registered the ramblings of this madwoman, but I gave a hesitant nod. I wasn’t about to refuse a gym leader’s request. Cece and I quickly put on our coats and stepped outside. Chase and Denzel were already in the hall waiting.

“So you’re back on your feet, huh?” Chase remarked, staring at me.

“Yeah, but I’m still taking it easy,” I said.

“Well, let’s get going then,” he shrugged. “I’m leaving as soon as I get what I want, and then I’ll get back on the road at some point tomorrow.

“Stop being so emo,” Candice said. “I’m feeling happy tonight, I did better against Craig than usual, and all of the battles were a lot of fun. I don’t want you to ruin the mood.”

“I don’t remember asking you,” he said.

“Sorry about him,” I apologized. “This is just how he is.”

The gym leader smirked. “There’s already so much doom and gloom in the world, y’know? Might as well spread some good vibes where you can.”

Candice lived in one of Snowpoint’s dull, blocky complexes about fifteen minutes away from the gym. We took the elevator to the top floor and entered her apartment.

“Crap, I forgot to lock the door,” Candice sighed. “Well, not like anyone would snoop. Welcome to my humble abode. Make yourself at home and all of that.”

I wiped my shoes on the rug and took them off. Candice’s home was just as small as it looked from the outside, but it wasn’t like there were many options in Snowpoint. Plus, she did live alone. From what I could see, the kitchen was connected to the living room, and there was one bathroom and bedroom. The apartment was filled with a lot of… out of place decorations. There were scary paintings on the walls like a small girl holding a knife drenched in blood next to a… corpse, but there were also some cute decorations, like a Snorlax bean bag, and a big heart that read ‘live, laugh, love.’ None of it actually fit together. It was just a mishmash of different colors and moods. Craig was sitting at the dining table, typing away at his computer like he usually did. He smiled when he saw us, but he looked pale and tired.

“You kids made it,” he said. “Grace, how’re you doing?”

“I’m good,” I replied. “You, on the other hand…”

“Candice went hard on me and forced me to use mega evolution,” he sighed. “Now I feel like shit.”

“No problem,” she laughed. “Drinks? I have juice! All kinds of juice!”

“Sure,” I said. “Can I release my Larvitar here?”

“You have a Larvitar? That’s so cool!” Candice exclaimed. “Go ahead.”

We all asked for different drinks, and I released sweetheart, who looked wary to be in a place with this many people. I wanted to use the opportunity to get her used to strangers, but I’d keep a close eye on her to make sure she didn’t do anything foolish, like tear up a couch or something. Denzel and Cece were talking to Craig, and Chase was harassing Candice about her training routine.

“C’mere, sweetheart,” I beckoned her. She approached me and hugged my jeans.

“She’s the cutest!” Candice smiled.

Chase scoffed. “You said you’d tell me!”

“All in due time, young one,” she said, shushing him. “This is a part of it, I’m teaching you patience.”

“Bullshit.”

“Well, feel free to leave and miss out on my awesome training,” Candice shrugged. She handed each of us our drinks. I had asked for grape soda, which she thankfully had. I sipped on the drink and felt at the Poketch in my pocket.

Well, if a video of my battle had been recorded… I discreetly grabbed my Poketch and went on the Snowpoint gym’s website. I quickly found my video and handed the device to Larvitar.

“Here,” I said. She stared at the screen with a curious expression. “Be careful. Don’t break it, alright? You weren’t here to see the battle, and your siblings aren’t there to tell you about it yet, so I figured I’d let you watch it so you don’t feel left out.”

I pressed play on the video, and she stared at me with a wide smile on her face.

“Tar!”

“No problem,” I chuckled. “Enjoy it, alright?”

I stepped away from her and made my way toward Craig, Cece, and Denzel, who had been joined by Candice and Chase.

“...telling you that all of you guys have potential, you just have to not let the fame get to your head,” Craig said. “And don’t expect too much for your first year. In my opinion, you’re good enough to get seven badges— maybe get to the Conference, but don’t expect to wipe the floor with the competition there. It’s like an entirely new world.”

“I’ll deal with ‘em,” Chase shrugged.

“Ah, Grace,” Craig said. “I never told you, but that was some good battling.”

“Got some tips for me?” I smiled as I sat down.

“Sure,” he said, to my surprise. “You’re like Gardenia, that’s perfectly fine, but when the battle slips out of your control, you struggle to slow the rhythm back down and take the reigns again. That’s something you’ll learn with experience.”

“Candice wasn’t supposed to use that Darmanitan, though,” Denzel said.

“Sure, she wasn’t,” the older trainer replied. “But there’ll come a day where, either in the Conference or a tournament, or another gym battle, there’ll be a Pokemon that makes you slip up and changes the flow of the battle drastically, where you go from winning handily to suddenly being on your last legs. A paradigm shift. My point will still apply there.”

“Paradigm? What is this, a lecture?” Candice complained.

“I know you know what that means, Candice,” Craig said. “You just like acting dumb.”

“Aw, thank you! I am the smartest.”

“I’m asking you to stop doing it,” he sighed.

“I thought you weren’t going to give us advice, though,” I said with a hint of smugness.

“Yeah, but do you know how hard it is to turn down Lillipup-eyed new trainers?” He groaned. “Plus, it’d be better to light a fire under my sister’s ass so that she stops being a loner and that she has people to push her further. She’s been having it too easy.”

I nodded, happy to know that we were all at least at Lauren’s level. “Oh! What advice did you give Denzel, by the way?”

“Mostly just some small things to iron out, but he’s actually the one I’ve had the least to say to. He’s not too flashy, but he feels like a consistent trainer, and consistency is key. I’d say he has a lot of hidden potential, but he has to unlock it. He’s a lot like me in that regard. There’ll come a time when he’ll probably be the most annoying to face between the four of ya.”

“So, you’re saying he’s the most powerful between us?” Chase asked. “I call bullshit. Seems like you’re biased because you see yourself in him.”

“You all have strengths and weaknesses—”

“What a boring answer…” Candice grumbled.

“Let me finish! Arceus, you’re hyper today. You all have strengths and weaknesses, but some of your styles will fare better against different kinds of trainers. There’s no definite answer.”

“Like I said. Boring.”

The raven-haired man looked to be on the brink of breaking down because of Candice’s antics, so he changed the subject.

“By the way, I had a proposition for you kids,” he said. “When are you leaving?”

“Probably in a day or two when I’m done resting and our Pokemon are healthy again,” I said.

“Tomorrow,” Chase answered.

“Great! I have a proposal that would benefit all of us,” Craig smiled. “What do you say I fly you down south on my Salamence?”