Pedestal: Chapter 47

"You really didn't think this one out."

"I agree. Not very practical."

"Whatever." Her pitch betrayed her. Hanna crossed her arms defensively over her stomach, looking away. Nick and I exchanged a glance.

"So… What are we going to do with it now?" I asked. Nick nodded beside me. Konstantin, on my other side, bobbed in the air. Then, in unison, all three of us turned back to the offending object. It was a closet. A full closet, already filled with clothes. Hanna, after having bought too many clothes (thankfully not all of them mine, though most of them were), decided that buying a closet would be a good idea.

Not so much.

Now we had a lot of clothes and no where save a closet to put them.

"…Why didn't you just buy some suitcases?"

"Shut up!" Hanna exclaimed and shooed us out of the room.

That was how I ended up on a plane to Olivine City, staring at a closet full of clothes that was propped up across from us. This time, I was sitting next to Nick and across from Hanna, since we were still a little unconvinced when it came to the closet. Plus, I had to keep Konstantin away from him somehow.

"Kostya, stay."

Hanna, however, was not thrilled with sitting next to a ghost.

"Why can't you just catch the thing?" she hissed, cupping her hand around her mouth. I had a feeling Konstantin heard her anyway, since his red eye decided to take an interest in her as soon as she spoke. It was better than staring at Nick, which he had been doing, but it was still painfully obvious that neither of them liked the Duskull very much. I couldn't blame them, but neither could I do much about it.

"I don't want to. I don't like ghosts." Funny enough, I dimly remembered a time when I had wanted one as a starter. That was, thankfully, a long time ago. Froslass, Duskull, Dusclops and whatever else was stealthily haunting me--they kind of ruined it for me.

I didn't miss Konstantin's gaze returning to me or the little off-put sound he made.

I looked away, out the window, trying to ignore what that meant. I didn't want to be his trainer. I didn't care how strong he was, if he wanted to learn Future Sight, or whatever else. He bothered Nick, scared Hanna, laughed at pain and misfortune, and was generally not a good idea to add to the team. I already had enough problems keeping Carlita and Ike from beating each other… Well, actually, that would be pretty one-sided; Carlita was a fighter and much stronger (and bigger) than him. I knew, though, that Ike was leveling up fast, and a couple electrical moves or an evolution would probably level the playing field.

I sighed.

And I had only wanted one Pokemon when this had all started…

-.-.-

I came off of the plane feeling sick and tired again. I wasn't sure if it was because of the ride itself, or if I still wasn't up to par, or if Hanna, Nick and Konstantin were starting to wear me out.

When we walked down the stairs onto the tarmac, I almost tripped and an ultra ball fell out of my pocket. I jumped down the rest of the way and scooped Ike and his ball up, much to Nick's bewilderment. I didn't look at him as I quietly returned my Shinx. I also tried to ignore the way my heart was pounding.

Why won't I let Nick near my Pokemon? I asked myself, only daring a glance back when we got to the airport itself.

"Kostya," I whispered, and immediately the ghost was hovering beside me as we walked through the terminal. Was it because of how Konstantin was acting that was making me act weird? Or was it because I still mentally saw the black-haired man throwing the pokeballs over the end of the dock? If it was the former, at least I could blame Konstantin, no matter how unfair that was. "What do you have against Nick?"

The Duskull laughed nervously, wringing his paws. I raised an eyebrow; that couldn't be a good sign. "…D-Duskull, skull-dus-skull."

Definitely not a good sign.

We all piled into a taxi, Hanna giving directions while I tried not to think of the Duskull sitting politely on my lap (because of space issues, and the fact that Nick and Hanna wanted nothing to do with him). Too much was going on in too little time; traveling, getting back, Konstantin, Nick, Hanna, my team, this 'vacation'… I was still adjusting to what the black-haired man had done to us, I know, and none of this was really helping that. Or maybe it was; maybe I had to go out and get my mind off of it.

As if I were capable of such a thing.

The ride wasn't too long, thankfully, and when we got out by our hotel, the sea air assaulted us in an almost physical manner. It was refreshing, though. I inhaled and released it in a cough when Konstantin decided to float through my chest. I glared at him, slightly watery-eyed, and crossed my arms protectively to try to stop him from doing it again. At least he didn't laugh.

"Is your dad going to be joining us?" Nick asked, sitting on Hanna's bed as she directed where the closet should go. I was sitting beside him, with Konstantin on my other side.

"No. It's just us here. He's staying in Goldenrod to finish up his business, so we'll have to fly back there before we leave Johto," she replied absently. "A bit more to the left--ah, perfect!" The two men set the closet down with a loud thump. Hanna marched over, flung open the doors, and began tidying it. "You two had better go get your swimsuits on. I want to go to the beach now."

I knew not to argue with her bratty side. I got up, grabbing Konstantin's arm and tugging him along behind me, and got the suit Hanna had bought for me in the face. "You could have warned me," I muttered.

"You could have caught it," she replied easily. "Should I wear my purple one or my tan and blue one?"

"Yes." She huffed and turned around just as I walked out the door. Konstantin was carrying my swimsuit for me as we walked down the hall towards my room--I was two down, with Nick in between us. At least, it had been that way until Nick caught up with me, took my key, gave me his, and turned me back around. "Why?"

"You're the median between us, so you get the room between us," he said with a matter-of-fact tone. "She decided on the purple one, in case you were curious. Now chop-chop, before--get it away!" It was right about then that Konstantin decided biting Nick would be a good idea.

I grabbed one of the teeth on his skull mask and yanked him away from Nick, who was halfway down the hall by that point. I rolled my eyes, unlocked my door, and went inside. "You need to stop doing that," I told him wearily, pulling my shirt over my head and tossing it on the bed. "Can you get me a towel out of the bathroom?"

"Dus!" He excitedly flew off. I followed him and shut the door as soon as he was in the bathroom. "Du--"

"Don't come out until I'm done changing. You're enough of a creeper as it is," I replied through the wood. I had dealt with my team and the same problem before, but it was different if it was my team, as opposed to a semi-wild Duskull that just happened to be following me.

Ten minutes later, the four of us--myself, Nick, Hanna and Konstantin--were on our way to the beach.

-.-.-

"Oh, wow."

"Haven't you ever been to a beach before?" Hanna asked, putting her sunglasses on top of her head as she gave me a look.

"Just the Sunyshore ones."

"Olivine has much better beaches," she replied simply, taking her towel off of her waist and throwing it down underneath a free umbrella. I had to agree with her. Sunyshore had nothing like this. It seemed like an infinite expanse of white sand, with sparkling waters on the horizon. The lighthouse was visible across the bay, cheerful and protective, standing over a couple of buildings barely visible. Kids ran about excitedly and their parents sunbathed or read underneath umbrellas, along with their Pokemon who were just as excited as the children were.

"Pokemon-friendly, huh?" Nick asked, sounding impressed. I saw Hanna sneak a look at him and blush, then turn back to her sunscreen.

"Of course. You think I wouldn't want to let my Pokemon out?" I ignored her; of course she'd want to show off her Pokemon, and as far as I knew, Nick hadn't seen them. But I was used to Isabella and Alexander. Instead, I released my three.

Des was immediately pressed up against my leg, staring out at the water with something like shock. I knelt down beside him, scratching his ears. "C'mon guys, it's finally vacation time. You don't have to go in the water if you don't want to. Play on the beach instead, or sunbathe, or do whatever."

"Don't get stung by the Tentacool, though," Nick commented dryly, gesturing to a sign that advised just that.

"That too." I nodded. "Also, Ike, don't get your cast wet if you can help it." He looked disappointed, ears drooping. If a sad kitten didn't give me a guilt trip, I didn't know what would, so I hastily added, "You can still play on the beach, and we'll come back later when it's all healed up if you want to swim, okay?" He looked up at me, not completely happy again, but at least not looking so tragic anymore.

I stood back up and turned around to see that Hanna had more to boast about than just Isabella and Alexander. I blinked, and her newest Pokemon blinked back. It looked kind of like a snake, only with hair and a fish-like tail. "…What is that."

"This is Millie, my Milotic. Isn't she beautiful?" Hanna sighed dreamily, throwing her arms around the Milotic. I nodded. It was a pretty Pokemon, even if it was large and scaly. I couldn't help but stare, though. Millie just seemed so… calming. She turned her head and seemed to smile, skin sparkling in the sunlight.

"Don't stare too long. They're known for calming people, but they can hypnotize you, too," Nick whispered, putting his hand on my shoulder, effectively snapping me out of the trance. "Come on, let's go swimming."

"Actually, I want to play with my…" I turned back around and found that my team had all but abandoned me already. Even Konstantin had vanished. Figured. "…Fine."

"Going to take off your shirt?" Hanna asked idly, stretching out beside Millie. I noticed that Isabella and Alexander were also gone, though I was guessing they had run off to have fun. Des would like that.

"No, probably not." I'd had bad experiences with sunburns in the past, regardless of how much sunscreen I slathered on myself. I'd rather spare my back and shoulders the pain and deal with a wet shirt.

"Come on, then. Swimming! Race you!"

I responded to Nick by kicking off my shoes and sprinting down the sand towards the water. I tripped over a napping Arbok that I tried to vault over, unfortunately. Nick, laughing, ended up barely sidestepping a Mareep and smacked into its trainer.

At the end of the trainer and Pokemon obstacle course, Nick won. Kind of. I tackled him and we fell into the shallows at the same time, so it was probably a tie. He picked me up and threw me out into deeper water, and I responded by splashing him. So what if it wasn't the most mature of responses. It was fun.