CHAPTER 336
There was sothing uniquely unbearable about awkward elevator rides, the kind of discomfort you couldn't experience anywhere else. Maybe it was the cramped space or the endlessly looping, terrible music. Or the way I kept glancing to the side at lody because of the tight confined space and how she kept tapping her heel on the floor. For what felt like the thousandth ti, she clenched her temples, and the motion was accompanied by the muttering of a coming migraine. My mind drifted, tempted by the thought of breaking free and soaring away on Princess just to avoid the weight of today's responsibilities. Running would unfortunately get fired, though.
"Any tips?" I mumbled, fingers fiddling together. "I an, what should I even say?"
"Just stay quiet unless directly spoken to. Mr. Remington's not soone you can talk to without thinking," lody warned. Out of her purse, she flicked open a tiny compact mirror and fixed up her already-perfect hairdo as if it needed to be adjusted. It looked perfect to already; the light brown locks frad her face like they had been carefully sculpted that way without her input. A single strand dared to fall out of place, but she quickly tucked it behind her ear, her movents precise and asured. She snapped the mirror shut with a soft click and sighed. "I just don't understand how a person can be this… unpredictable."
"Haha…" I let out an awkward laugh and scratched the back of my neck. "I'm just trying my best."
l sighed again. "I know."
"And I an, wasn't the battle great?" I asked with a slight lean, inching forward. I'd watched over the footage already, having downloaded it on my phone before leaving the Gym. Despite there being plenty of cringe monts—instances where I or my Pokemon had lost their character or once again missing obvious traps that could have been spotted like that Trevenant's trick, I hadn't felt the awful self-loathing that usually ca from analyzing myself. Granted, there was so loathing, and it most likely would have been different if I lost, but…
Honestly, right now? Who cared if I lost? I'd do another thousand battles like these if I could. It was too bad Gardenia would be busy from now on.
Kicking my feet and lanting at how long this elevator was—seriously, how tall was this tower—I continued, "I'm sure it'll sell… there are plenty of great monts. And Gardenia's tough! It's not like she went easy on ; I beat her starter! Kinda. I an she was holding back skill-wise, but it's still, like, a statent." Gardenia's Roserade had been far more versatile than I'd expected her to be. I was willing to bet her red bouquet could control flas as well as her blue one could control water, which was an amazing counter to fire types if she needed it. "No one can say I was just handed a victory over."
lody's lips flattened, and she crossed her arms. "It isn't about if your battle was of an appropriate level or not. Objectively speaking, you were given an advantage no other trainer will get," she said, her tone a little dry. I didn't bla her, considering I once again had screwed up Poketch's plans. "Oh boy, they are going to be up in arms."
I tried not to wince. "Yeah." For example, Aubri had already complained about getting unfair advantages due to my closeness to the League a while back. This would just reinforce her worldview and make her sour on again. "I guess there's no way around it."
"You start dating Maylene and you suddenly get to fight a Gym Leader twice? It'd be a miracle if we could even spin this any other way."
"I haven't even gone public with that yet!" Though I had been planning to today before talking to lody about it.
"People aren't blind, Grace," she chided. "You're not being discreet at all. We let it slide because you were doing a good job until now, but—"
The elevator finally dinged, and the doors opened to a wide room made of darkened tiles like obsidian. I quickly paced behind lody, who walked in large strides that were hard to keep up with. I'd be eting Remington McMillan for the first ti ever today, and needless to say, I was nervous. That was part of why I'd tried to justify myself to lody since I'd told her the news earlier today. My hip felt light with only Angel and Buddy attached to my belt, and I adjusted my Mimi-necklace for reassurance. In front of the doors was a straight-laced secretary at a desk sitting with a bored Kadabra levitating a strange, glowing brain teaser puzzle back and forth with her spoon.
"Sadie. We're here to see the board," lody said.
"Mr. McMillan and his son are inside and will see you in montarily," the girl droned. I pitied her, working in this somber room all day. There were windows, but the dark tiles made it feel like there was no ambient light in the room even in the late afternoon.
My liaison's eyebrows creased. "I thought it'd only be Mr. McMillan in today?"
"Landis wanted to sit in the eting," Sadie said in that sa monotone voice. She tilted her head, a finger on a tiny listening device in her ear, and she nudged her head. "Kadabra, send them in." The words were barely audible to due to her being way to my left. I touched my new hearing aid and lanted how worse it was than my last, even if it was just temporary until this was dealt with. At least this place was quieter than downstairs.
The psychic nonchalantly waved a spoon, and the great double doors rattled with psychic energy. The shield present had honestly been so weak even Cass would have been able to brute force it—no offense to them. They'd done a great job against Gardenia's Torterra today; I just felt like the protection afforded to such important people wasn't up to par with the threats they could face. And only one Kadabra? What if you just focused on her, making her concentration fray and allowing other assassins into the room? Hell, she could just die from a stray attack through one of the windows and there would be no more protection. What if—
lody interrupted my racing thoughts by stepping inside. Oh, Arceus, I was nervous. I found myself wiping the sweat off my hands before following her into the thankfully brighter room, even if it was practically empty; there were no decorations, no plants, no nothing besides the long table and a row of chairs, and the sunlight of the late afternoon basking the room in its glow. It was larger than you'd think, with a table long enough to fit the entire board and then so if need be. Small water bottles had already been placed beside what I assud were our seats. lody motioned to , and I anxiously shuffled into the comfortable chair. She sat to my right so I'd hear her.
It was my first ti seeing Remington McMillan up close. I'd seen pictures, videos, footage on the news—but most recently, I'd seen him from afar at Craig's ceremony.
He was just a man—frail, soft, and visibly aged. There were only wisps of white hair remaining on his head, arranged in a combover that was being asked to do the impossible. His skin was a network of wrinkles, so much so that it seed harder to find a smooth patch than not. Yet, unlike so of the other board mbers I'd seen at the ceremony, his eyes were sharp and dangerous, as if the years hadn't dulled the keen gaze that once built a technological empire across Sinnoh.
Built and maintained it, even with Cynthia's rise.
Beside him was a secretary of so sort with the sa earpiece I'd noticed monts earlier and a phone that I assud was here for her to record things. She glanced toward for a mont, then away instantly, almost uncomfortably. She was scared; fear was easy enough to read.
Sat at his side sat his son Landis, feet up on the table with a smug smile as he looked at . He looked absolutely delighted to be here—a stark contrast to his father's solemn look. There was a laptop closed at his feet, along with a notebook and a pen. From what I knew, he was in his forties and kind of reminded of what Louis would have been like had he never gotten a reality check in his formative years. Hell, he even had blond hair to boot, though his was more of a dirty blond like rather than Louis' pristine blond.
lody dipped her head for a mont. "mbers of the board."
I glanced at her, wanting to know if I was supposed to say anything before I rembered that she had literally briefed on this like an hour ago and that I'd just forgotten because of the anxiety. "M—mbers of the board," I mumbled. Only a mont later did I dip my own head. "It's a pleasure to et you for the first ti."
"Pleasure's ours," Landis said. I had to angle my head to the right, toward him and his father, in hopes of catching their words. "It's overdue, really. Dad says that it's not how we do things, but he's a little old-school."
A strange silence settled in—not awkward, but heavy despite knowing that Remington couldn't hurt at all. I was pretty sure he wouldn't even be able to knock on the ground physically. He had barely looked my way when I stepped into the room and was slowly drumming his fingers on the table. His son cleared his throat and sat properly, removing his feet from the table, and he muttered sothing under his breath I didn't catch.
"Now we can begin in earnest," Remington said with a polite smile he must have practiced more tis than I could count. "Grace Pastel. In all my years leading this company—fifty-two years—I have never had soone as unpredictable as you under Poketch's employ." He stroked his chin with a contemplative look, almost amused. "It's as if you know exactly how to tow the line between talented and useful, and liability who cannot be controlled. I wonder how you do it, sotis."
lody spoke up. "Respectfully, Mr. McMillan—"
"The young lady can speak for herself, can't she?" he interrupted her. lody hid her grimace well, but not her flexing fingers under the table. "Can you bla for being intrigued?"
For the first ti, he looked at . I t his milky, baleful grey eyes and stopped myself from sputtering out so non-answer to stall for ti.
"I had no idea today would happen at all. The battle was offered to as… more of a personal affair," I tried to explain. "I had no idea the badge would co along with it."
"Yet you took it regardless."
"I did. And I'd do it again." Oh God. I would do it again, but I'd spoken without thinking. "It was the best battle I've ever had. It was far more aningful to than so rematch against Byron."
Theoretically, I could have refused the badge sche, but I wasn't going to let Maylene's gift to go to waste, nor would I allow the battle to be stripped of part of its aning. It was reignition, yes, the rebirth of passion, but it was also a union between and my girlfriend, along with the approval of her family. That was what the badge ant to .
Surprisingly, he rested his cheek against the palm of his hand and humd—a far more… youthful gesture than I'd expected. "You're speaking in feelings, not in Pokedollars. Try again."
For a mont, my eyes could only blink. "Uh. Okay?" lody seed tense—more tense than I'd ever seen her. I could literally hear her teeth gnawing despite being half deaf. I leaned forward in my chair. "I an obviously people are going to be pissed when this is out, and a whole lot of interviews and preparations just went out the window. I was given an opportunity no one else has." Not that Gardenia was an easy fight at all.
I stopped to think for a mont, taking deep breaths as if to blow away the nervousness. A good thod I'd found to soothe my nerves was to remind myself that we were all weak, creatures of the flesh no matter what social power we amassed. I could kill him just as easily as he could end my career, really.
Besides the hardest of superfans like Edith, trainers' reactions would majorly range from indifference to hatred, especially since this wasn't the first ti I'd been put ahead by sothing other than my own skill. Hell, I was sitting in this very room because I randomly t Craig near Snowpoint and he felt bad we'd almost died in Coronet—not that he hadn't seen potential in . I was allowed to join the LTIP earlier and catch more than six Pokemon, I'd been given the secret to evolving Electivire, I was involved with the governnt, bla bla bla—you could honestly make an endless list of the advantages I'd been given. I didn't feel bad about it. Not anymore, at least. As Craig himself had once said: luck was one thing, but correctly assessing and making use of the opportunities at your feet was a skill of its own.
My bias was obvious, and this wouldn't move any numbers. Honestly, maybe trainers themselves were a lost cause, but that was the thing, wasn't it? I wasn't staying here.
"I'm leaving after the Conference," I said. "I doubt Unova will care for this at all."
"Better," he said, this ti tapping two fingers at once. I assud he already had these answers. Did he want to get to them on my own to see my worth? I hated the way he spoke. The way he only saw as a number to exploit. But I only saw the company he had created as a gaphone to spread my na far and wide, so I was using him as well—to a much lesser extent. He was the one with all the power and leverage, and he would be until I was like Craig. "What do you think, Landis?"
Like an unmuzzled Lillipup, or a pet having finally been given attention by its owner, he slicked his hair back with a lazy faux-grin. "I think it'd be a waste to let her go." My eye twitched. "Craig played things too by the book. She's risky, but there's also opportunity, especially in a foreign market."
"Well, if I based every decision off what you said, Poketch would have gone under twenty years ago."
Landis' cheeks reddened, but only for a mont. "Whatever you say, old man."
Their little… whatever this was had allowed ti to think. "It isn't like Sinnoh's market is completely ruined for ." Or at least I thought so. I was honestly speaking out of my ass and just trying to sound confident. "We should let ti pass post-reveal to see if sales for my rch and stuff take a hit. And honestly?"
"Hm?" Remington took a sip of water.
"I don't think civilians will care as much. I an the ones who are deep in trainer culture will," I said, thinking of forum-browsers. "But the vast majority of the people who buy my rch? They won't care beyond like, the first day, I bet." People like my dad, people like Jess from piano class? They had only gleaned the surface of what it ant to be a trainer. "They're going to think it's weird for sure, but one look at that battle, and I bet you we'll co out the other side of this more positively than not."
This, I was actually certain of, and these people were the vast, vast majority of people in the country and Poketch's consurs. The ones who only tuned into battles during the Conference or tournants throughout the year, or for a few trainers they liked, and nothing else.
"You should use more confident words when haggling to keep your position," Remington said in an almost fatherly tone. "But you're right. If you hadn't co to these very obvious conclusions, you would have been fired imdiately." My blood ran cold. Fired, not demoted? "I've no ti for people who can't think. Poketch is only for the best and the brightest." The glance at his son was very difficult to miss. "Keep going."
Keep going.
I'd only saved myself from a firing, not a demotion. Was I the only person in the world whose eighth badge was considered a bad thing? This stuff only fucking happened to !
I beat Gardenia's Roserade, her starter, and arguably most versatile and powerful Pokemon, I wanted to say, but that didn't speak his language. "Gardenia's almost synonymous with Roserade. Not as much as Cynthia and Garchomp, but when people think of her, they think of her starter too. having beaten her is very marketable to the masses, I th—no, it is. Plus, there are plenty of monts in the fight that can be turned into more rch, and it's already been selling very well."
"Your numbers are above what was projected now that you're pulling your weight," he admitted with smiling eyes.
I nodded. "I'd be willing to bet that the dent won't even be noticeable after a bit."
"What about your reputation?" Remington pushed. "You spin a pretty story, but Craig was beloved by all trainers and was a symbol of what it ant to tread that path. That is how he sold so well. He was simple in an extrely effective way. What if your co-workers suddenly no longer want to work with you? What trainers say trickles down to the ears of their families. This has never happened before in the history of this country. The networks are definitely going to run with it in the weeks leading up to the Conference, and your run there is now going to be tainted and bogged down by questions of whether you should even be there in the first place."
That was true. If I got crushed, then their expectations would be t and they'd laugh at . If I did well and had a deep run through a combination of luck and skill, then every trainer who lost to would complain and say that I shouldn't have been here. You could spin that I wouldn't have lost against Byron—though honestly, in hindsight, I was pretty sure I would have. Gardenia had just been the best at reigniting my passion in a way Byron never could have t.
I was in a lot of trouble.
"I'm waiting," Remington said.
So as you do when you were in trouble, I fought my heart out.
I could do more interviews now that I was freed from training—a blitz explaining myself and how I deserved to stand among the other trainers who had made it to the Conference. In fact, I could work twice as hard now in general, even if the fact that this ant less Maymay ti just as we'd begin dating officially left a foul taste in my mouth. I could have my friend Denzel make use of his contacts in the trainer community to give a leg up—he even knew the guy who made a podcast that was currently blowing up; Goalducc42 was topping the charts every ti he and Archive released an episode. Granted, Archive being the paranoid, anti-governnt person that he was, would not appreciate getting a leg up, but he wouldn't have to be included, and worst-case scenario, Denzel knew other people. I was close with the League, yes, and Remington knew they needed , just not what for. That ant I could be used as leverage. A middleman of so sort between Poketch and the governnt. Getting them huge favors was a lost cause now that the world was saved, but he didn't know that and he'd been the one basically pushing to make myself look better than I was. Mostly, I was expecting small favors here and there at most.
Like getting this man more psychics for free. God.
"You have awful security, by the way!" I was nearly panting. "I'd get at least three of those Kadabra if I were you, it's not like you can't afford it! See what I an when I say the average person doesn't know much about battling? You just have a single psychic there to make you feel good about yourself—"
Landis snorted, nearly vibrating.
"—you can't tell the difference between a good and a bad barrier. Or one that lets sound in or not. Or one that isolates for temperature. Or a one-way barrier. Or—" I smothered the rest of my rant when I noticed lody stare at like I was clinically insane. Instead, I grabbed a water bottle and downed it all in one go, but I swallowed wrong and was gripped by a coughing fit. "S—sorry."
Remington's nose was mildly wrinkled, though his son was fighting not to burst out laughing. "That'll do, Ms. Pastel. Thank you for your ti today; I'll relay this eting to the other mbers of the board, and we'll take a vote to figure out our next steps within the next few days. For now, well… feel free to continue your work and to announce your new relationship on your socials."
lody spoke up before I could have any hopes of putting my foot in my mouth. "Thank you, Mr. Remington. We'll be looking forward to the results of the vote." After standing up, she placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Let's go, Grace."
"Oh. Uh, okay. Thank you, Mr. Remington."
My liaison didn't wait long to freak out at . The mont we were back in the elevator and she used her keycard to click on the ground floor, she—
"I think you might have saved your job."
She finally allowed the lines of exhaustion to show on her face. A huge sigh slipped through, and she leaned against the wall of the elevator as her hands tightly gripped the railing.
My heart skipped a beat. "Did—did I make good argunts?! How do you know?"
"You made decent argunts. You should have been more detailed on a plan to restore your reputation instead of just plugging the holes on a sinking ship, but you did well without a plan." Her eyes widened slightly. "I'm sorry, Grace. I should have briefed you on this. Usually, Mr. Remington would have just let speak, so I didn't know he would test you like this."
"It's okay. I an, I figured it out. I think."
"Anyway, don't get your hopes up. It's not a sure thing, but the way that eting finished so open-ended? I know him well enough to figure that he would have crushed you right then and there if he'd been demoting you. He's a very straightforward person with no bullshit."
She kept talking about the different mbers of the board until the elevator reached the ground floor, and how this was essentially a one-man dictatorship run by Remington McMillan. Hell, my suspicions about one of them being senile were literally confird! Essentially, this ant that whatever he said would be law, even if there might be one or two votes of dissent for flair. The conversation continued in her car. The activity of the city was too much for to focus on, and I was finding myself having to turn my hearing aid off in busy areas so the feedback loop wouldn't give a headache.
"What he appreciated was being spoken to straight up like he likes doing—nothing to try to justify your actions, just trying to co up with a plan to fix things. Maybe it reminded him a little of Craig," she tried guessing, holding the steering wheel with a single, relaxed hand. "Though that thing at the end was way too far—what possessed you to talk about his security of all things?"
"I just couldn't help it. It's so bad, l!" I whined. "He'll thank if he ever gets attacked by so criminal."
"Usually he would have had nothing there. The Kadabra's a new addition after the bombings," lody nonchalantly said.
My eyes nearly fell out of their sockets. "Huh?!"
"He hired her as a precaution—"
"A single Kadabra? For bombs of that magnitude?" That was nearly laughable.
"It's a serviceable bodyguard for the purposes of what he needs. Plus, he hates spending money."
"What about hearing damage from the explosions? What if—what if the building collapsed?" Arceus, now I felt naked without Buddy or Cass around . "What about the inferno after the explosion, lody? Has he given any thought about the inferno?! Does he want his skin to lt off—"
"Relax, Grace. You're not—" she stopped and blew a tired raspberry. "People don't really think like that. Just loosen up, okay? Team Galactic's gone. Today, you get to rest, but from tomorrow onward, you'll be working even harder. And rember, if things go south, Mr. Remington is still liable to drop you."
I leaned against the window. "Yeah. I know."
But the most important part was that I had survived through this, if only barely. Of course, things were never easy, but they could have been worse. I'd need to start figuring out how to approach things from now on, especially with my co-workers.
And what would Marley say?
To cheer myself up, I ssaged Maylene about going public soti tomorrow and finally getting those matching hearing aids.
—
The next day
Cecilia was glad her dream skills seed to have transferred to the real world. She stood outside in the crisp Floaroma air, hamr in hand, staring at the wooden beams in front of her. The rhythmic clink of tal striking nails felt natural, as though her body knew the motion instinctively. She braced a plank against the fra and raised the hamr high, bringing it down with just the right amount of force. Despite disliking such labor, the nail drove cleanly into the wood, the impact sending a satisfying vibration up her arm.
All around her, people were working on Louis' land. They'd been hired by Justin's father to help in the construction of his sanctuary, and while Louis was more of a leading figure, organizing what should go where and rearranging plans over and over so the end product would be one-to-one to his vision, Cecilia had asked for manual labor. Her Pokemon were helping as well, or at least as best as they could. Even her Hydreigon was helping to transport materials. Cecilia was glad to see Justin's Pokemon participating as well, though they stuck to Louis for the most part. Especially Audino. The normal type clung to his shirt like a lost child in a mall.
She missed Justin. She glanced at the sky as mory of him stalked her mind, and for a mont, she felt a little silly at the thought of him observing his friends live their lives. Chase liked to imagine this with his parents. It made things easier for him, and not wanting to disappoint them was part of what gave him his inexhaustible drive.
Sweat clinging to her skin, Cecilia wiped her brow after taking off her cap for a mont and decided to take a breather. The cabin she was working on would be used to store dry foods, but right now it was just a ager wooden fra. Feeling horribly parched, she decided to make her way toward a help desk that had been set up at the edge of Louis' land.
The terrain itself was like much of Floaroma—a flat plateau covered in flowers. A few Beautifly floated lazily above, their wings shimring in the sunlight as they flitted from flower to flower. Near the edge of a small stream, a Pachirisu darted between the trees, its bushy tail flicking with excitent. In the distance, a Roselia stood still among the petals, blending almost seamlessly with the vibrant colors around it. Life was everywhere you looked.
They weren't altering the landscape as much as they were adding on top of it, and most of the final project would be open-air—Cecilia had seen the blueprints a dozen tis. It was Grace who had helped Louis procure this piece of land, or at least helped him look into it. As much as it hurt to see him begin to gravitate toward her again, she understood. She'd never done as much for him as Grace had, helping him not with only this, but also his struggles with the knowledge of the end of the world, his troubles with Gible back at the start of the journey, and a million other tiny things that eventually added up into a mountain.
Almost as if on cue, her phone rang. For better or for worse—no, it was clearly for the better—gone were the days where she expected Grace to call. These days, it was either Temperance calling to chat when they weren't together or Emilia checking in. This ti, it was the forr.
"Hi babe," she said in a sing-song voice. "Not too busy, I hope?"
"I can give you so ti; I'm currently taking a break," Cecilia said. "What's your deal today?"
The Unovan had smoothly integrated herself into Temperance's group, but that ant that she'd needed to learn the politics of it, along with dozens of different nas, wants, and needs. She was honestly still getting the hang of it all, but they were all mostly nice to her, and it felt good to et new people. She'd even gotten so of their numbers and been added to so group chats that admittedly she had not interacted in yet. What this ant, however, was that Temperance had found in Cecilia a good listener. 'Good' as in she just let her talk and barely said anything back, but besides her Pokemon, Cecilia was the only person Temperance could speak about this with. Heaven forbid she didn't look or sound perfect at all tis.
Cecilia could sympathize with that suffocating state of mind.
"Ronaldo's been down in the dumps since we started dating." With a pensive sigh, she paused, and Cecilia heard her rolling around in her bed. The sa bed she'd been in when Cecilia had left this very morning.
The Unovan scoffed. "Did you spend all day doing nothing?"
"What? It's not like I have a Grand Festival to prepare for. I deserve a break, Cece."
She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Whatever. What's this about Ronaldo?"
"I'm trying to figure out how to cheer him up. Maybe I can set him up with another girl and we can do a double date thing."
Cecilia rolled her eyes so strongly they nearly receded back into her skull. "And have you hang off my arm the entire night? Are you stupid? Do you want to torture him?"
"Not like you aren't doing the sa thing to your other friend," Temperance dared to fight back. "I'm surprised she's still hanging out with us. She obviously isn't coming today because you aren't."
Emilia…
Emilia was odd, really. Sotis Cecilia wondered why her friend even looked at a person like her this way and why it seed to get worse the longer this new relationship went on. Why even like her, and why lie about it? She'd asked twice more if there was a problem with the state of things, and twice more Emilia had said no. And she didn't even use the situation—being with people she could forge connections with to further her career—to her advantage. Instead, all she did was attempt to babysit Cecilia out of fear that she would fuck up sowhere.
Cecilia wasn't naive. She knew that this thing with Temperance didn't have legs to stand on for long, even if her girlfriend wanted it to. It was just new. Sothing other than Grace to experience—
However, that justification fell flat when she kept pretending it was Grace under her and not Temperance during the nights they spent together. Still, this was fun, and Temperance was good at making her laugh sotis.
"You're right," she finally admitted. "I'll talk to her again today and try to convince her to stop coming." There were only so many hours in a day. Between training and integrating herself within a new circle, there was very little of it, but Cecilia was sure she could make ti for her if she needed it.
"Did you just… relent to sothing? Am I changing you—"
Cecilia hung up on her. She hated that idea, now, the notion that she was being molded by soone. She let out a silent laugh, knowing that she might as well have been fighting shadows with how ineffective she'd been up until now to counter this. But little by little, she was becoming soone. A person.
She was still climbing those stairs.
One bottle of water later, Louis found Cecilia sitting under the cool shade of Lehmhart's body. She fought away mories of Grace complaining about the heat with a shake of her head. With her, she had a snack Temperance had bought instead of made. It was an artisanal energy bar, elegantly packaged in matte foil with gold accents that cost way more than it was worth.
"Doing okay?" Louis asked, patting the Golurk on the leg. Lehmhart answered with a high-pitched, satisfied sound. His range was improving massively lately thanks to Temperance's training.
He had grown into himself, fully becoming the man he was always ant to be, embodying the potential that had once only lingered as a promise. It was one thing to speak of a dream, and another to make it a reality.
"I suppose." Cecilia crouched and slowly munched on her snack. "Where's Audino?"
"With Ninetales. He's been struggling the most," he said. "What do you think about our progress so far? At this rate, we'll be ready to welco Pokemon, both wild and trained, by the start of the next Circuit." His voice brimd with the excitent of a boy on his birthday in a way Cecilia couldn't help but smile at.
They spoke of the sanctuary for a few minutes. Of future plans and how Louis was studying how to care for different Pokemon types on his own ti with the very book Justin had planned on bringing him back from the Canalave Library before he died. Hiring was already in progress, and while his first few years would be backed by Justin's father, it was his hope for this sanctuary to run on donations sooner rather than later.
"Do you have a na for it yet?" Cecilia asked. "'The Sanctuary' isn't great."
"I haven't thought of it much, actually. I was thinking of either naming it the Floaroma Sanctuary—"
"Co on. You can do better than that," she teased.
There was a mont of tension in the air. A fist clenched at his side, and the chewing of his own tongue. Cecilia noticed his neck tighten as his next breath only squeezed past his contracted esophagus.
"Listen, Cece—" he groaned, as if speaking to her was suddenly the most difficult thing in the entire world. Feeling the rebuke suddenly co, the Unovan found her mannerisms mimicking Chase's as she lowered her cap until she couldn't see his face. "This is… this is a huge project of mine. I've been working toward it for half a year now. I—I know you're feeling hurt, but please don't… project that onto ."
"What?"
"You've been aner ever since Grace broke up with you. And you're angry, I can tell!" She could see his arms move with his words, each gesture akin to those one would make when trying to calm down an aggressive beast. "And this new girlfriend of yours… well, I don't know. Just don't take it out on —it feels belittling. Please."
"I—I wasn't being serious."
"The words cut all the sa. I know others like Chase or Pauline can take it, but not . And I wouldn't do it with Emilia either if I were you. She'd been acting odd lately. I don't know."
The flowers at her feet swayed in the wind. "I thought—" no, that wasn't what she should have been saying. Justifications would bring her nowhere. Her eyes shut tightly, and she bit her lip. "I'm sorry. I should leave, shouldn't I?"
"That's not what I—"
"I get it. You don't want to leave, but honestly, it might give you so peace of mind if I did." He'd be better off if Grace was here instead of her. He'd wanted to go back to her anyway. Cecilia finished her energy bar in one bite and shot up. Louis' face was wrought with pain. "I'll leave you my Pokemon here and co back at the end of the day."
"Hold on, I—"
"Of course, I'll have to take Lehmhart to fly. Could you change into your rocket mode, darling?" Cecilia stared up at the construct, whose eyes dimd, and with an ethereal sigh that let her know he would eventually stop doing this, his body began to shift.
The plates along his body began to grind and shift with a slow, deliberate movent, revealing the intricate chanisms beneath the ancient armor. He used to be slower at this, much slower, and it would still be suicide to use it mid-fight, but the sound of the change masked Louis' complaints and pleas.
Wait.
She was just—
She was just running away again, wasn't she? Doing the exact sa thing that had lost her Grace.
The realization struck her like lightning, and she found herself suddenly hyperaware of every tendon, every bone, every skin cell in her body. Lehmhart stood there at the ready, his engines brimming with energy and warping the air below them with heat that made both Louis and Cecilia sweat and made the flowers below lie flat against the earth.
Cecilia exhaled. "Never mind, I'm staying." Lehmhart thrumd in relief as well.
"Thank the Legendaries." Louis held out his hand, but lowered it. "I never wanted to chase you away. I was just… you know. Just don't say hurtful things, even if I know you don't an it." She found herself hugging Louis tightly, continuously apologizing in his ear as her eyes welled up with tears. He struggled to return it, but he did eventually. "You're trying to pretend you're doing fine, but you aren't."
"I'm trying to move on," she said, head still on his shoulder. "But I can't."
"It hasn't been very long."
"That's what Emilia says—wait, what was that about her acting odd?" She ended the hug and held her friend at arm's length.
"I don't know. It's like she's a lot less energetic than usual lately when talking, or at least that's what Pauline noticed the last ti they were together a few days ago—actually, they should be together right now in Heartho. It's unlike her. Do you know sothing about it?"
Louis had been so focused on work that he'd rarely lifted up his head to see what was happening around him. While he knew what was generally happening, he had no idea Emilia had decided to stick to Cecilia to watch her or that she most likely had unrequited feelings for whatever reason. The Unovan figured that being with her while she was with Temperance wasn't very fun, but if she was acting this way even with Pauline…
"I do know," Cecilia said.
Maybe it was ti to speak to Emilia and tell her that she shouldn't be involved anymore.
It'd hurt her, but… they needed to talk more seriously. And if push ca to shove, if no accord could be reached;
To protect her feelings in the long term, maybe Emilia was better off no longer being friends with her.
"Louis, I think I might need to leave after all."
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