Pedestal: Chapter 116

Maylene stopped by, successfully rousing me from bed, and informed me that we'd be expected to show up in front of the Sunyshore Pokemon Center at one, which only gave me a couple hours of preparations. It would be a couple days long, and out in the wilderness, so it was nothing to sneeze at.

What else was nothing to sneeze at was Hanna once she woke up and tracked me down. Thankfully, since she slept in later than I did, I had time to take a shower and get out of my pajamas—as well as accidentally give all of my team save Des one as well. As far as I could tell, Carlita actually wanted to get washed. Ike did not, but was chased in in a last-ditch attempt to avoid Konstantin, who, of course, gleefully followed him. Zarek wanted to get into the water, and Alice followed him, until she realized that would get her cloudy wings wet. So I had a screeching Altaria, yowling Luxray, cackling Duskull, and more wounds than I wanted by the end of it.

Hanna practically kicked my door down, and for a brief, serious second, looked all business. Then she caught sight of me blow-drying Ike and broke down laughing. He snarled at her, but I held out an arm to stop him. "Hanna, don't laugh at him. He's really not in the mood."

"B-But—!" she gasped, clamping a hand over her mouth.

"We took a shower with Trainer!" Carlita gushed, dancing from foot to foot beside her. Hanna nodded, teary-eyed, and managed to make it to my bed before she burst out laughing again. With a pillow to muffle it, Ike didn't get so annoyed, but still. I scratched him behind the ears to try to placate him. He shocked me, but it only made my arm go numb. It was nothing compared to when he shorted out earlier.

"I take it you're here to take me on one last shopping trip?" I asked, already tired of the day.

Hanna nodded, her eyes barely visible above the pillow.

"And most of it will be spent not on supplies, but clothes?"

Another nod. She glanced at Ike and the corners of her eyes crinkled up again, accompanied by a high-pitched giggle through the pillow. Ike growled at her.

"Jude will probably be coming, too, right?" I asked, for lack of another question. I tried to keep talking, if only to break up any potential bloodbaths. It was hard enough smoothing the ruffled feathers after the shower scene.

Hanna nodded once more. I sighed, shut off the blow-dryer, and dropped a semi-dry towel on Ike. (There were no really dry towels anymore. I felt sorry for the housekeeper who was assigned to my room and the swamp of a bathroom.) He laid down underneath it and set about to licking his paws. Konstantin floated over and tried to rub the back of his head with it, but a snarl and a snap of jaws chased him off.

"Alright. Let's go then."

Hanna took the pillow away from her mouth and gasped out, "I'm going to miss your team."

-.-.-

Jude couldn't make it, instead having to go complete a last-minute business deal at the other end of town. I convinced Hanna to go supply shopping before clothes shopping, since I knew she would gladly eat up my time with no remorse otherwise. I was busy stocking up on Full Heals and Full Restores—ignoring my conscience at Hanna footing the bill—and weighed the options of diversifying. Those two items would carry me through most minor injuries and health problems, but not all. Although, if this was to be a longer race, time would be the best healer. I did, however, grab a few more Revives for my bag as well.

"Done yet?" Hanna asked, swiping her card without batting an eye at the total for the items. I winced and shook my head.

"I need food for the team, don't I? At least some." Far too many times I had been camped out and forced to rely only on whatever dead things Ike and Konstantin brought me. That was made even worse by the fact that Des preferred no meat at all, Alice liked actual bird food, and I had no idea what Zarek would eat out in the wild. Thankfully, he was big enough that he didn't need any more baby Pokemon formula.

Hanna's impatience evaporated when she saw what sorts of food I picked out. Specifically, the fact that I bought very little actual Pokemon food. "Why are you stocking up on peanut butter?"

"It has lots of protein, it keeps forever, and it's one of the few things everyone likes." I paused. "Okay, Ike doesn't really like it… And Zarek's never tried it. But still, it works."

"Why don't you just get them Pokemon food? You have a free lifetime's supply—"

"I know," I cut her off, feeling guilty. "But if worst comes to worst, either I or my team can eat it. Trainers think that way." I felt impossibly guiltier when I realized how that sounded—and the brief expression on her face that followed it. "No, Hanna, I didn't mean it that way!"

"I… I know that," she replied hastily. She turned away from me and plucked another jar of peanut butter off of the top shelf. "You're going to look ridiculous, carting around nothing but peanut butter, ramen, and healing items."

"I have bird seed in here, too," I pointed out. Hanna turned back around, smile back in place.

"Of course you do. Now! Ready for your new outfit yet?"

I checked my phone. We had an hour and a half left, which I thought was an obnoxiously long time to spend clothes shopping. Hanna thought it was a sin to go shopping with no less than three hours. The least I could do was give her the rest of my time. "Yeah, let's—" I was cut off as arms circled around me from behind and lifted my backpack.

I half-turned, surprised to find Vaikuntha inspecting the contents of my bag over my head. He grinned at me, but it wasn't completely happy. He looked rather frantic, actually. "Brother! I am glad to have found you!"

"Vai, what is it?" I asked, heart rate skyrocketing. Then again, the past couple weeks had conditioned me to think that when someone looked nervous around me, I had a very good reason to be, too.

"I have found out more details of our race!" He released me and handed my backpack back, offering Hanna a smile in greeting as he did so. "It will be longer than we originally thought, and it will be held in the north."

"Longer? How much longer?" As a group, we were collectively planning on three days, tops. Most of us were forgoing sleeping bags, so we could travel faster. But if it was going to be longer… "Wait, north? We're heading back to Snowpoint?"

"No!" Vaikuntha reeled back; it was apparent this was the first time this thought had occurred to him. "I think—If we were to head into such dangerous territory, the Gym leaders would have warned us, would they not? They do not want us to freeze to death! Or—Or they will supply us with clothing appropriate for the weather, yes?"

I wouldn't put it past them to do the latter, if only to keep us in the dark, but I was still worried about the possibility.

"Besides, brother, everyone has been to Snowpoint. It would not be held there," Vaikuntha added, voice stronger now. He nodded, mostly to himself, and beamed at us. "Pack more supplies! I am glad to have run into you with time to spare. If you find anyone else, would you please tell them as well? I want everyone to have a fair chance!"

That was so like him. Hanna and I both nodded, but when he made to jog off, I caught his arm and asked, "Wait, Vai, aren't you stocking up?"

"I will once everyone else has been warned," he replied, as if confused by my question.

"Who all have you warned already?" Hanna asked.

"Only you and Lola, you two are the only ones I have found so far."

"Vai, you have the entire city to search through, especially since everyone's going to be out and about. You won't have time to find everyone else and even if you do, you won't have time to re-supply!" I warned, but even as I said it, I knew he was fully aware of this.

He smiled at me and tilted his head to one side. "It would not be fair of me, or you, or any of us to have an unjust advantage over the others due to something like this, brother. I will be fine! I am a tough trainer, like you, and I am sure this challenge will not be that difficult."

He ran off again to find the others before Hanna or I could stop him. She sighed and straightened her headband, then placed her hands on her hips. "That boy… Is he really that selfless?"

"Yeah, he is," I agreed sadly. Throwing himself under the bus to give the rest of us time to pack properly.

"Well, come on then." Hanna grabbed another armful of peanut butter, and then nodded towards the ramen in my bag. "We're going to have to get extra for him. Sneak it into his bag before the race starts, okay?"

I grinned at her. "Will do."

-.-.-

By the time we tracked down a sleeping bag—so much for traveling light—Hanna had less than an hour to work with my outfit. She was justly outraged by this. So we had to restrain ourselves to only one large department store to work with, which she was also infuriated by.

On the upside, she turned all of this focus inward and managed to pick me out less weird outfits and more things I would actually wear. I think it helped that I semi-forced her to work with layers, because even if we weren't headed to Snowpoint, 'north' generally meant 'cold'. She threw me into a changing room with two sweaters and a pair of jeans. "I don't see why they couldn't move it back! One is way too early!"

"We're probably going to have to travel, and I'm guessing they don't want to travel so much during the night."

"Jetlag is the least of your worries! Ugh! They should just hand badges over to you and Vai and be done with it," she replied. I could practically hear her cross her arms. "You two are the sweetest boys I know and you've earned them, with all they've put you through!"

"Hanna, it's only a race… More like a trek through the wilderness. I do this thing routinely. No need to worry so much!"

"I'm not worried!" she snapped. I rolled my eyes. Full on denial. "I just—You have been through hell and you deserve this job. You need this." She tossed another shirt into the changing room with a huff. "Hurry up. I want to see these clothes on you before you leave!"

"Fine, fine. Yes, mother." I came out and twirled in the latest shirt. She eyed me, but eventually nodded in approval.

"Alright, I've decided. The black t-shirt with the pokeball design on it, the blue and white one, and then the long-sleeved blue one."

"You like putting me in blues."

"Yes. I do." She didn't seem disturbed by my shrewdness and instead tossed me a white jacket. "You look good in blues, and you can't ever go wrong with some well-placed black or white. Just—Just don't ever turn like that Lola girl."

"I promise, but only if you let me have these pants." I held up a pair of cargo pants that I had managed to sneak into the dressing room. Hanna glared at me for them. I pushed out my bottom lip and gave her my best Growlithe eyes. "Please? I've never asked you for any sort of clothes before and look at all the pockets they have! I need pockets! Think of all the training stuff I could put into them!"

"But with your hand wrapped up," she reasoned, "You wouldn't be able to use the pockets on the left side anyway."

"All the more reason to have more on the right! Please Hanna? I'll never ask you ever again for anything ever! It can be a really early birthday present!" I wanted the pants, I admit. They were denim, so strong material, and I was tired of attempting to shove all of my pokeballs into two pockets. Plus a phone, room key, random change, and whatever else I supposedly needed at the time.

"Fine," she gave in with a reluctant smile. "But only because you're going away to the great unknown and, knowing your luck, will probably get eaten."

I got my pants, and Hanna got the satisfaction of probably giving me nightmares later tonight. We had ten minutes before we were to show up at the Center by that time, and since it was a five minute walk, we took our time. I couldn't think of what to say, though. The next time I saw her, I would (hopefully) be a Gym leader. Or not. And that felt like it would be years from now.

A Gym leader that she would never challenge…

Even if she hadn't been collecting badges before, she might've started if she still had her team. I cringed and glanced at her out of the corner of my eye. She seemed oblivious to my train of thought.

Oblivious or not, however, it didn't mean she didn't have her own thoughts. Hanna very suddenly grabbed my mitten and yanked me into the nearest store. I nearly dropped the shopping bags in the process. I stumbled up beside her as she flagged down a salesperson with practiced ease. We were in an electronics shop, and most of the televisions along one wall were showing the Sunyshore Center. I still had to run the hurdle of one last media bout… Great. It looked like only the Gym leaders and Benjamin were already there, though.

"Wait—why are we in here? We're three blocks from the Center," I asked in confusion, looking back at Hanna.

"Because," she replied impatiently, tapping her sandal, "Don't you need another translator?"

"You don't have to—"

"I've seen how the little monster treats you, and you need it," she deadpanned. I couldn't argue with that point, though I didn't like her calling Zarek a monster, even in jest. "Come on, they even have cute little ones for baby Pokemon!"

"He's not that much of a baby anymore."

"He's still tiny, though."

"What about when he evolves?"

"Then… I don't know. It grows with him or stretches or something." She shrugged, but didn't seem too worried about it. I couldn't bring myself to be too worried, either; that would be a long time from now, if past experiences were anything to go by. Except Alice, she had evolved rather quickly, but she was also captured at a pretty high level…

I felt very sorry for the salesclerk who had to hold Zarek still in order to attach the translator around his arm. I offered to do it, but I guess he had wanted to impress Hanna (or rather, her credit card). Zarek stopped short of making him bleed—only just—and seemed a little more subdued. Maybe he was excited, or nervous. I couldn't tell his moods yet. But wait—I could simply ask now!

"Zarek, can you understand me?"

Judging by the way he turned to me and looked at me, I had a feeling he could, perfectly, and knew exactly what had just been attached to his arm. And he didn't want to lose the language barrier.

"Zarek, come on, speak. Just a test. If you want to stay quiet afterwards, that's fine."

He crawled away from me, but I simply picked him up. He looked away and didn't try to pinch me. I poked one of the horns on his head, and that got his attention again. "Don't." My Krabby jumped in surprise at the sound of the translator, making Hanna and I both laugh. He blew a bubble at me and shifted angrily in my arms.

"We weren't laughing at you," I reassured him.

"You're just cute," Hanna added.

He didn't respond. I figured I was getting a mixture of the silent treatment and his sudden shyness, but that was okay. As long as he had the capability of speaking to me in a language I understood, sooner or later he'd lighten up. I returned him, Hanna and I both apologized to the salesman again, and then we glanced at our phones to discover that it was three past one.

We ended up sprinting there, but much to my relief, I wasn't the last one to arrive. We were still missing Vaikuntha and Archie. Hanna and I collapsed onto the pavement beside Gardenia, panting. She smiled at us but didn't reprimand me, which I was thankful for. Her presence also kept most of the cameras away.

It did not, however, stop Jude from sidling over to us, Cossette in tow. The little girl threw herself at me gleefully and a dozen camera flashes soon followed. I ignore them as best I could and instead smiled and laughed helplessly as she chattered on in French. "Ready for this?" Jude asked, sitting down beside Hanna.

"More or less. As ready as I can be, I guess," I replied bravely. He laughed.

"Do not be mean!" Cossette scolded him, reaching across Hanna to smack his arm. This, of course, had him laughing harder. I grabbed Cossette's hand to prevent more abuse, and instead tried to scoot her off of my lap. It didn't work. She clung to my arm and nuzzled against it, telling me, "I will miss you. Véro will miss you and Rose will miss you and Manon will miss you and Jacques will miss you!" Somehow I doubted that last part.

"Cossette, it won't take too long. Just a couple days, okay?"

"And when you come back, you will become a Gym leader, yes?" she asked, eyes shining up at me. I smiled nervously and looked away.

"Uh, maybe."

"I will challenge you when this happens!" she exclaimed excitedly, hopping off of me to strike a dramatic pose. She probably could already stomp me into the ground if she let Jacques loose, but no need to encourage her. I got back to my feet to prevent her from sitting on me again.

"Why don't you become one of his Gym trainers instead?" Jude suggested. I glared at him for it, but thankfully, Cossette didn't know what the term meant. Then again, I doubted she would even become a real trainer. She was a Hanna-in-training, rich and spoiled and capable of owning any pet Pokemon she wanted.

Then again, with the rash of trainers who didn't 'deserve' their Pokemon getting killed off…

The mental image of Chase ripping into Cossette's Pokemon was not a welcome one. I shook my head, and when that didn't work, I beat it against the Center wall to drive the image away. I would not let that happen. I would become a Gym leader and fiercely protect all of those trainers under me. I would use all means possible to stop Nick in a peaceful way, to silence his followers, to put the training world back into balance. No more elitism, no more anger.

Archie arrived, leaving Vaikuntha as the last to arrive. Then again, hardly anyone noticed his absence—Archie was having a grand, drunken time distracting the press allowed to be there. Hanna wrinkled her nose in disgust and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Eventually, Nurse Joy came out with a literal bucket of cold water for him, and that sobered him, at least a little.

During the commotion, no one noticed Vaikuntha slink onto the scene. Except, apparently, Lola. When I finally did notice his arrival, they were already in a heated, hushed discussion, Vaikuntha not frowning, but definitely not smiling. I started to head over towards them—only to get grabbed by Maylene and dragged over to where Volkner was gesturing everyone over. I waved halfheartedly towards Hanna and the other two, really hoping that it wouldn't have to be a goodbye-until-this-is-over wave.

"Alright then," Volkner started after clearing his throat. We were arranged in a giant circle, the few reporters allowed onto the scene squeezing in between us or holding cameras above our heads in order to capture what was going on. I glanced over towards Vaikuntha. He didn't seem to be paying attention, eyes on the ground near his feet instead of the electric Gym leader. Lola, on the other hand, was staring up at Volkner with her usual flat expression, completely uninterested in whatever had transpired between the two of them. "Let's get this show on the road."

There was an expectant pause, and then we realized, with no small amount of horror, that that was it. We weren't getting any sort of explanation beforehand. We really were going into this completely blind.

And as soon as that realization hit us, the circle around him collapsed as we surged forward. I saw Sela elbow Gardenia and a reporter out of the way and seized him by the front of his coat, snarling something about strategy. Cameras flashed all over. Keith and Alicia pulled her away from him, and I was suddenly and roughly shoved out of the brawl of a meeting and deposited on the sidewalk in front of the Center. I got back to my feet, ready to join in again in the name of answers, Hanna and Cossette in matching poses of concern in my peripheral vision.

And then, two golden arms wrapped around me with an astonishing grip. My surroundings instantly changed, and I found myself in knee-high grass. The sun was in a different position overhead, there were a couple of trees in the distance, and it was unnervingly silent.

I stared at the grass in front of me, shocked into stillness. I had just been Teleported out of Sunyshore and was now in the middle of nowhere. I didn't recognize the area—then again, I could hardly recognize every patch of grass in Sinnoh… Had they been planning this all along? Just to knock us a bit more off balance?

And I could absolutely not push the little thought of what if this wasn't the Gym leaders' doing? out of my head.

My fears were put to rest and I heaved an embarrassingly large sigh of relief when Volkner stepped onto the scene, letting go of an Alakazam. He looked me up and down and I shakily got to my feet, smiling at him. "This is the challenge, right?" I asked. I had to ask. They shouldn't give me such a fright, dang it! I could've had a heart attack and died.

"Of course it is," he replied, furrowing his brow in confusion. "What else would it be?"

I stayed silent. He looked away, apparently realizing a plethora of things it could have been.

"We still have a couple moments for everyone to get situated, but I'll start explaining the rules to you," he pressed on briskly. I nodded, trying to focus on the matter at hand. This was it. This was it, the last of the Gym race. Now or never for the position. "There is no time limit in which you have to finish. It's simply until everyone is done. Winning does not mean it will net you a position as a Gym leader, but, well… It naturally won't hurt your chances."

I nodded again. They wanted a failsafe, just in case something went wrong. They didn't want to have to place anyone into a position. Plus, they probably wanted to have a big reveal at the end.

"I'd plan for a few weeks, though," Volkner said, looking off towards the distance. I noticed a mountain in that direction; Mount Coronet? "Depending on which route you take, how straight your path is, and various other difficulties you'll have to get past."

I nodded once more, feeling a bit like a bobblehead at this point.

"The end of the race is there." He nodded at the mountain. "Stark Mountain. We've decided to take pity on you and you won't have to go in it, but the main entrance on the south side is where we'll be waiting."

Stark Mountain, Stark Mountain… Why did that name seem familiar? It wasn't any place I'd been to before, though, I knew that. So this would be a trek through unknown territory. Oh well, it had been a long shot anyway.

"There are two main routes you'll be able to take, and you can pick which one you'd prefer. One is longer, but it also has two stops with Pokemon Centers. The shorter way is basically a straight shot, but no stops. It's up to you which you want to take. The shorter way is due north, and the second route is west of here."

I continued my nodding, trying to absorb this information. The end was Stark Mountain. North was the short way, west was the safe way. It didn't sound too hard yet… Then again, who knew what sort of monstrosities were roaming the area around here?

As if reading my mind, Volkner's eyes narrowed. "Yes, there are wild Pokemon. There will also be trainers. If all of your Pokemon faint, you have to go back to the nearest Center."

"What if you take the short route?" I asked.

"There is a small area due south of here that has one. A half hour walk, if that." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder in that direction. "But if you go back to that area, even if it's to heal your Pokemon, we will take it as you giving up."

I nodded more seriously. Okay. So it was definitely an all or nothing challenge.

"While traveling, only five minutes of flying is allowed per day. And if you use it three days in a row, you will be disqualified. Also, no Teleportation unless it is back to the disqualification Center, or in case of extreme emergencies." Uh-oh. We were getting into the warnings; I winced, and he noticed. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "We have to tell you the safety information, even if it makes you nervous."

"I know, I know," I said, but it wasn't as if I wanted to hear this. It just reminded me of the Abomasnow and media attacks. Neither were pleasant. My hand was still in its mitten, too.

"If you're seriously attacked, stuck, seriously injured, or any other important thing has come up that qualifies as an emergency, shoot three attacks into the air, equally spaced apart. Fire, water, or electricity works best. There will be cameras in certain areas that we'll be monitoring, as well as occasional fly-overs to check on everyone as best as possible. Oh! Also," Volkner said, fishing around in his pocket. He eventually pulled out some sort of necklace with a little black box attached to it. "Wear this at all times."

"What is it?" I asked impulsively, taking it from him and slipping it over my neck. It was surprisingly light, considering its size.

"A GPS tracker. If it remains stationary for more than eighteen hours, we will come and find you. It's also so we can keep tabs on who is where," he said dryly. "So even if you get lost, you won't really be lost."

That was actually a huge relief. I stuffed it under my shirt and grinned up at him. "You do care about us, after all," I couldn't help but say. Volkner rolled his eyes. "So… Is that everything?"

"Not yet," he replied. "But nice try. Traveling together with another trainer isn't strictly illegal, but we don't recommend it. At all." In other words, he didn't want me tracking down Vaikuntha right away and making a team effort of it. "Remember, you are competing."

"I know…" I said, ducking my head.

"Active sabotage is illegal, of course." I brought my head back up to stare at him, but he was looking up at the clouds. "But, say, if you happened to cut down a branch that blocked part of the path, then you wouldn't be aware of what could feasibly happen afterward, would you?"

"You… You want us to turn this into a competition!" I accused.

"Naturally. We want to see your ingenuity—and how badly you want to win."

I crossed my arms but growled out, "Fine." It didn't mean I would be participating in any such thing, however.

"A final word of warning?" Volkner asked, and I nodded to allow him the chance to speak. "The wild Pokemon around here are strong, some of the strongest in Sinnoh. There will also be species you have never encountered before, more likely than not. Keep your guard up. I strongly recommend you keep a Pokemon or two out with you at all times, especially when sleeping. We want to keep you safe, but we can't babysit you."

"You've been doing a good job of it so far."

"Teenagers," Volkner griped, placing his fists on his hips. "You have no idea what we've had to put up with, what we've had to do in order to keep you brats safe. And you've been nigh ungrateful for it all, too."

"It hasn't been easy on this side of the fence, you know," I snapped, but without much venom. I was aware he had done a lot for me, for us. For trainers everywhere in Sinnoh. And yet… He, they could have done so much more. With that thought in mind, I mirrored his posture and told him, point blank, "I'm winning this. And Sinnoh and its trainers are shaping up."

He half-grinned at me in disbelief. The necklace under my shirt beeped once, and then, what sounded like a pager went off. Volkner dug around in his breast pocket and pulled the device out, glancing at it before raising his eyes once more. "Let's see you win this, kid. The clock's ticking down."

I only paused long enough to grin as hard as I could, shoulder my backpack, and then I sprinted off to the west.