Pedestal: Chapter 69

"K-Konstantin?" I asked, anger evaporating instantly.

"Yes?"

"…" What did I say? That I was sorry--I was. That I missed him--I had. That I didn't want him to leave again--I didn't. That I was still angry with him for saying such a thing--I was that, too.

"And who is this?" my father inquired in a carefully restrained tone. My mother had recoiled from the ghost fearfully and he put his arm around her, almost protectively.

"This is Konstantin. Kostya. He's… my Duskull," I guessed. He sort of was, and sort of wasn't, in equal measures. We'd been together for quite some time now, but he'd never had a pokeball. I only put a translator on him because I was tired of his dream visits (though it didn't exactly deter him from those). I fed him occasionally, but he also got his own food. He slept with me when it was cold or I had nightmares or after Nick left. Did that really make him mine?

"Since when?"

"Does this matter?" Konstantin asked with a smile in his voice. He seemed to enjoy trying to intimidate my dad.

"…Even if you suddenly have four Pokemon, that is not a full team!"

"I'll catch more, then! It's not that hard to fix…!"

"You'd still have to train them, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah, but that's what I am! A trainer! Get it now?"

"Stop fighting, both of you," my mother interrupted, firmly. Properly chastised, my father and I glared in opposite directions. I certainly wasn't going to give in. My mother sighed. "…Sweetie, I'm proud that you have a team. A team of four, apparently. But it's still much too dangerous out there."

I glanced back at Konstantin. "…Can you prove that it's dangerous out there?"

"Wh-What? Of course it--"

"It's only dangerous if that danger can catch me, right?"

"You don't have a bird to Fly away from danger with," my father pointed out.

"I have Kostya. Dad, if you can lay a hand on me, I'll stop training. But if you can't, then I will continue being a trainer. It's not dangerous if the danger can't catch up with me, right?"

"That's a stupid and rash idea--"

"That's just because you know you can't catch me," I shot back, perhaps a little masochistically. I didn't like cornering my own parents like this (or even fighting them in the first place), but I wasn't going to stop being a trainer. And it was true that I could dodge danger with the best of them. Konstantin's Shadow Sneak helped with that. Moreover, they just couldn't grasp that I had a pretty good team and could handle myself against other trainers.

My father reached out for me, and reflexively, Konstantin shoved me down into my shadow. We reappeared behind my parents by a good few feet, leaning on the front desk. My parents turned to me in flat-out shock.

"See?" I deadpanned, gesturing to the Duskull.

"That will not work against someone else with Pokemon. You're coming home. This argument is over." My father put his foot down, crossing his arms over his chest.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "…I was going to run away when you gave me Des. What makes you think I wouldn't think twice about running away now when I already have him and practically have a head start to boot?"

"We raised you better than that!"

"No, apparently you didn't! I'm not going to stop training, no matter what you say. You can try and call the cops on me, but just watch the news. They're not going to arrest the hero, are they?!" Calling myself a hero left a bad taste in my mouth. I wasn't a hero. I hadn't stopped any of this from happening. But that's why I had to continue with this journey, to be out in the world to stop future things from happening.

To stop Nick.

"You are out there all alone, with only those beasts to protect you…! Why can't you understand our worry?" my mother cried desperately, trying to guilt trip me into going back with them.

I cringed, but I would not be swayed. At least not enough to change my mind. "I have four Pokemon. That's a small army, isn't it? I told you--I'll catch a full team. Will that be enough protection for you?"

"Find a traveling partner." My dad spoke up again, cutting across my mother's guilt-inducing verbal attack. He gave me a level stare. "Get a full team and travel with someone else. Otherwise, we'll disown you."

"Dear!"

If we were playing low, then so be it. I stuck my tongue out at both of them, ignoring the unsettling feeling I got in my stomach for doing so. "I haven't even seen you guys for months! I've been living on my own anyway! What would it matter if you disowned your only child!"

"It would matter and we're not doing that!" my mother insisted, glaring at my father momentarily. "Can't you just see that we're worried about you? We don't want you to get hurt or--or worse. Training lately has been so dangerous, especially for young trainers--"

"Mom, I'm fourteen! I've been training for years now! It's only dangerous for the little kids with the one or two Pokemon who think they can conquer the world! I know that training is hazardous to your health lately, but I'm fine. I will be fine. I will come out of this fine."

"When will you come out of this, then? You already have eight badges. What else do you have to do?!" my father demanded.

"I told you--I have to defeat Nick--"

"Sayre is just another trainer! What will that accomplish?"

"I don't know, maybe rid the world of--or it'll--" What would that accomplish? I didn't necessarily want to call him a serial killer like the rest of the masses. He was a killer, but he was also my best friend. Had been. Was. Is. I wasn't quite sure on that one. "…It'll be a good thing for me to take him down."

"I still don't understand why this has to be you--"

"Because I have to! Because he was my best friend and he helped me and trained me and got me through most of the badges I have now! Because I had to watch as he turned into this monster that I couldn't stop, that I could've stopped, and it's always been my responsibility to try to keep him from doing this, but I failed, and I sort of feel a little guilty about that, okay?!"

Konstantin used a Shadow Sneak to get me out of the Center. I was done with my parents. They wouldn't stop me from continuing this. We walked away from the Center rather quickly, since it'd be better to avoid a scene with my parents bursting out and yelling at me some more. Konstantin floated around to my other shoulder, glancing back at the building with a nervous chuckle. "…I've almost missed that nerve of yours, comrade."

"We still need to talk, too, you know," I muttered with a sigh. This whole ordeal had been too much stress in too little time. My parents were probably going to worry themselves into heart attacks now. I probably should go on to catch a bird, if it would put them at ease (for whatever reason).

Oddly enough, I was already attached to that idea, too. It wasn't even the pokeballs that were like heartstrings anymore; my imagination was plenty.

"…Kostya, do you think that was the right thing to do?" I asked, tilting my head back to look at him.

"What do you mean?"

"Just… all of that. How much of that did you hear, anyway?"

"Comrade, if I may, once again, be the one to knock some sense into you…" He floated closer and leaned his arms on the top of my head. "I would be much less worried about what I, an ally, heard, and more worried about what that human with the camera heard. It probably was not the smartest idea to say you were once best friends with the Nick human. Especially that it was all your fault."

I halted in mid-step. I'd been so wrapped up with my parents that I had forgotten about the cameraman and reporter right there in the Center with us. That… really hadn't been one of my smarter moves. "Kostya, you're not above scaring humans, right?"

"What would prompt you to ask that?"

"Go steal that camera from them and destroy the tape inside it. I don't think that conversation needs to work its way onto television just yet. Make sure it doesn't."

Konstantin chuckled darkly, saluted, and floated off. I continued putting distance between me and the Center. My phone was already buzzing in my pocket, but I ignored it. So what if I'd been rash. They also were. I was going to keep training and that was the end of it.

To make matters worse, I'd admitted aloud a lot of things in that conversation. That I was definitely going after Nick. No more stalling. No more paranoia, right? Just… necessary precautions. I tugged at the necklace around my neck. I was still safe, so it must've worked. I'd have to train harder, too, and work out a whole bunch of problems with my team. I sighed, realizing I still had to deal with that problem.

Plus, apparently I needed a full team. I had toyed with the idea for awhile now. The Tournament also helped to reinforce that idea; if I had a larger team, I could take down more. But getting two more Pokemon--or was it three? Should I officially catch Konstantin?--required time, and effort, and training them up to par. I hadn't had much fun doing that with Ike, so I wasn't looking forward to that.

I also had to make sure another pair of personalities meshed with my already haphazard team. Des and Carlita were still good with each other. No doubt they weren't fond of Ike right then, and Konstantin wouldn't be welcomed with open arms, either. I had better smooth all of the ruffled feathers and figure out what to do with the Pokemon I had before going off and trying to catch more.

The phone continued buzzing in my pocket. My parents just would not give up, would they? I eventually had to finish that argument, too (wow, my track record with the world at large wasn't very good), but it didn't meant I was happy about it. Irritated, I finally whipped it out and glared at the number.

It wasn't my parents calling.

It was Hanna.

I hesitantly opened the phone and squeaked out, "Hello…?"

"Finally! Now stop your stomping off and let us catch up! We've been yelling at you and trying to call for the past ten minutes!" she shouted into the phone, then hung up with a click. I halted and stared at the phone with a blank expression. Not a minute later, a teenage girl tackled me from behind. The running start she'd had meant we both went face-down into the sidewalk below.

"H-Hanna?" I ground out, trying to push myself off the ground with her still on top of me.

"Okay, get up now." She got off of me, dusted off her skirt, and extended a hand down to help me up. As soon as I was on my feet again, she wrapped her arms tightly around me. The hug lasted for a beat longer than what was strictly necessary. "…I've missed you, idiot."

"I've missed you too. But why are you here in Jubilife?" I asked softly, hesitantly putting my arms around her as well.

Just as soon as I did that, however, she jerked away and held me at arm's length. She glared fiercely at me. "Are you kidding me?! First there was those crazies with the TV and their tournament, then there's you, and then there's Nick, and now there's the TV again broadcasting it all!" That hardly made sense, and I was there for most of it.

"What miss Hanna here is trying to say is that we saw you on the telly and had to come investigate. It's not often you see an acquaintance or two making the news, right?" I jumped as Jude spoke. I hadn't noticed him come up, not with Hanna suddenly in my face. He waved and offered a smile. "And since you were obviously in town, we decided to drop in for a visit."

"Right. But you two didn't need to…"

"We came anyway," Hanna said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "…Are you okay?"

I cringed and tried to maintain my smile. I couldn't help but think that I should be the one asking her that. If Jude wasn't there, I probably would have. I scrutinized her, still smiling blankly, and found the same girl I'd known for so long. She didn't have any casts or bandages on this time, but her brown hair was the same, her fashion-conscious outfit was the same, her grin was the same. What wasn't the same was the black bracelet tied around her wrist, or the fact that her smile didn't reach her eyes.

"I'm fine," I replied.