Chapter 45

CHAPTER 45

“We need to do something about Louis,” Pauline stated firmly.

Cecilia and I looked at her confusedly. It had been a few hours since we had settled down, and Louis had just kept sitting down and moping like a child. Pauline had gathered Cecilia and me to talk, and now she was saying this?

“What do you mean?” I asked. “Also, I don’t even think I should even be here, I—” I winced and hissed through my teeth as I felt a wave of pain flare up. “I’m not even a part of your group.”

“You’re here even though I dislike you because you seem to know what the hell you’re doing,” She said. “And so does Cecilia. Your friend Denzel needs to cool off and is protecting his new Pokemon like a Kangashkan protects her young, so I didn’t want to bother him.”

“Alright, but what are you implying by doing something?” I asked her, frowning.

Pauline smirked and grabbed a strand of her hair. “Nothing as horrible as you’re imagining. I just meant that we need to talk to him and set him straight. As mommy says, there’s nothing a good yelling can’t fix.”

“I think that thinking is seriously flawed—”

Cecilia spoke up for the first time. “Forget it.”

“Huh?” Pauline said, raising her tone and getting closer. She was so aggressive all of a sudden that I felt the instinctive need to make myself smaller. “Are you joking?”

“No. I won’t take any action, and you shouldn’t either. Louis will get better, just let him be,” Cecilia said.

“He’s going to get us killed!” Pauline yelled. “If anything happens to Emi, I’ll make his life a living hell! Do you believe what you’re saying, or are you too blinded by the fact that you’re fucking a hot, rich, eighteen-year-old?”

I inhaled sharply, calming the rage I felt bubble up inside of me. I couldn’t blow up, not now. I couldn’t.

“Stop it…” The dark-skinned girl said weakly.

“Why? You’re not coming to your senses, so I need to slap you a little bit with my words until you do!”

“Please—”

“Shut it!” I hissed. “Can’t you see you’re hurting her?! Let’s… let’s not fight, alright?” I said as my arms slumped. “Not now after that attack, and especially not here. We’re all on edge.”

“I know we’re all on edge, I’m not dumb,” Pauline said. “But we have a clear culprit who’s not pulling his weight, and he needs a dressing down.”

“I agree, but again, let’s let him recover a little bit first, yeah?” I told her. “If we hit Louis when he’s down—”

“Just stop!” Cecilia said. “Leave me out of this.”

She stormed away, her voice shaking. I wanted to run after her, but it seemed foolish. What would I even say? Apologize? No. It would be best to apply my own advice and let her cool off, even if it hurt me to see her like this.

“Hmph! I thought she was better than this,” Pauline said. “What do you say, then, Grace? Will you let your feelings blind you as well?”

I felt my heart jump out of my throat. Did she know?

“W—what?”

“As much as it pains me to say this, Cecilia sees you as a friend, but sometimes, even friends need to be argued with for the good of the group.”

I sighed in relief. “I agree with you,” I started, before raising my tone. “But that shit you said about Cecilia being too dumb to know something was wrong because she has… sex with him. That was too far! You’re a terrible person, Pauline. I hope you know this.”

“I thought we weren’t supposed to argue in the forest,” She smugly said. “Oh well, you’re not the first one to tell me this, and you won’t be the last.” She finished as she lazily left.

I clicked my tongue. This girl’s entire way of thinking got on my nerves, but I let it go and decided to take a break like everyone else. To distract myself from the pain in my back, I made my way to where Denzel was, and Frillish followed me since he was out while Elekid was resting. He was in a secluded part of the camp, away from everyone else, crouching next to Buneary. It was sleeping in such a serene and peaceful way, so I quietly tip-toed up to him. Eevee was standing near, listening for any threats and watching over the normal type. Surprisingly, Budew was also out of her ball, still with her usual angered expression, but softer than I had come to expect.

I crouched in turn next to my friend, who looked at me and smiled. We stayed quiet not to wake up Buneary, but one look at him was enough to understand quite a lot. I could see how much anger he still had left over from his fight with Louis, and that he was trying to calm himself down. I had seen him angry before, like when he was defending me during the tournament but not that angry, and it was honestly shocking. Denzel Williams was snarky, and big, but soft-spoken, so to see him start a physical fight like this?

Eterna forest took a toll on us all.

Buneary rustled, waking up slowly. It flinched when it saw Frillish and me, but Denzel reassured her and pet her soft head.

“Sorry,” I told Buneary. “I didn’t mean to wake you up. I’m Denzel’s friend,” I pointed at my Pokemon. “This is Frillish. He’s one of my partners. Don’t mind the creepy stare.”

“Bun…”

I grabbed my Pokedex and scanned the little rabbit, hoping to learn more about her species.

Buneary, the Rabbit Pokemon. When it senses danger, it perks up its ears. On cold nights, it sleeps with its head tucked into its fur. Its ears are always rolled up. With enough training, they can be forcefully extended to shatter even a large boulder.

“She’s still shaken, and scared of everything,” Denzel said softly. “But at least she’s healthy. I think that cut on her right ear will scar, though. Potions aren’t that effective. If it had been a Full Restore…”

“That’s League only,” I told Denzel. “Don’t beat yourself up. Even the others couldn’t procure those, and they have all the money in the entire world.”

“You’re right,” He said. “I just feel like I could be doing more, you know? I let you get wounded, and you could have inhaled too many spores, or been bitten somewhere worse. What do I get? I get nothing.”

“Denzel—”

“Think about it,” He interrupted. “Every time, you’re the one that something happens to, and I’m always fine. The attack when I first caught Budew—”

The grass type screeched and turned away.

“I already forgave you for that—”

“Then there was you getting kidnapped by team Galactic, and again, I couldn’t do a thing,” Denzel said in a hurt tone.

“Denzel, you can’t blame yourself for that—”

“How can’t I? I wasn’t there.”

“You were taking care of Eevee!” I said, raising my voice.

“Taking care of him how, Grace? He was already with the Nurses. I couldn’t do anything more, I could have come back!” He yelled. Eevee barked, and we paused and looked around the forest. Nothing was there. Denzel lowered his tone before continuing. “And now this? You get a fucking chunk of your back ripped out by a Paras, and again, I keep coming out of it fine. Why? Why?! You’re my best friend! Do you know how worried I am about you? That you’re just holding everything all in, and that one day, you’re going to go back to how you were on that hospital bed?”

“I’m… this isn’t the time, Denzel! I don’t blame you for any of this!”

“That doesn’t matter. I keep failing you, over and over. I need to be a better trainer, or one of these days, something—”

He stopped when we heard an argument back at the center of the camp. He took a breath, looking at me awkwardly.

“It’d be better if you went to check. I’m still pissed at Louis, and I feel like I’d only add to the tension,” He said.

I sniffled and left, wiping my eyes on the way back. Frillish hovered quietly above my shoulder, offering me some comfort. I was glad he hadn’t gotten angry at Denzel, at least. I wiped away more tears. Why did it hurt so much?

Ah.

It was our first argument. Our first actual argument. And the fact that it looked like there was no easy way to fix things was like pouring salt on the wound. I composed myself before stepping into camp and saw Pauline and Louis arguing. Emilia was crying again, this time on Justin’s shoulder as he watched the clash with melancholy. Cecilia was nowhere to be seen.

“Grow a fucking pair, Louis! You appointed yourself leader at the start of this journey, then act like it!” Pauline hissed.

“Quiet, you! I’ve tolerated your foul mouth and temper for months, and I’m tired of it!”

“I never fucking liked you, Louis! And I bet nobody does, but we’re all forced to suck up to you because of your shitty dad! Hell, I bet even Cece feels the same!”

I frowned. First, she said Cecilia was blinded by love, now this? Her words didn’t make any sense, she just said anything to hurt as much as possible. Pauline used her words like a weapon.

The blond man froze for a second. “Lies.”

“All I’m asking is for you to take a little bit of responsibility, Louis. Not even one Arceus damned apology out of your mouth!”

“That’s funny, for you of all people to be talking about apologizing—”

“Alright then, you have no argument, so you bring it back to me, like usual.”

I shook my head in disbelief. The entire group was collapsing before my very eyes, and it hadn’t even been my or Denzel’s fault. Their entire dynamic had been broken from the start. A facade. I started looking around for Cecilia. I feared the worst, but she was just sitting in her tent, shielding her ears, with her Fletchling worriedly looking at her. I stepped inside while Frillish stayed out, since I told him to monitor the situation outside and intervene if the fight got violent.

“Thank the Legendaries,” I sighed. “I thought you ran off. Are you okay?”

She was just muttering something that I couldn’t hear, rocking back and forth over and over. I leaned in further to listen in.

“Father, no, it wasn’t me. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t me. I’ll do what you want, I’ll follow the deal. Pauline did it. She provoked him...”

“What the hell,” I muttered. I stepped closer and grabbed her shoulders. “Cecilia?”

Cecilia kept rocking her body back and forth, continuously speaking to her father even though he wasn’t there. There had to be some sort of abuse going on. I bit my lip, feeling pain in my heart. It hurt, seeing her like this.

“Cecilia! Your dad isn’t there!” I said, shaking her. “You’re with me. It’s Grace.”

The girl slowly looked up at me, and her thoughts seemed to clear, as her face turned from anguish to embarrassment.

“Grace… I’m sorry. I… my dad…”

“I understand,” I just said. I could clearly see she didn’t want to get into it. “Just know that I’m here, ok? Your friends and your Pokemon too. You’re not alone.”

“I don’t know. Are they my friends?”

“I think so. I think they like you. Even Pauline, even though I don’t like her. And hell, if they aren’t, I’m still here. And I’ll stay here. Just don’t break on me, alright Cecilia?”

She nodded. “Call me Cece.”

“Cece,” I said softly.

“Sorry Fletchling,” She said, gently petting the bird. “I must have worried you.”

“The situation is really bad,” I said. “Pauline and Louis are fighting. Emilia’s a mess. Justin is fine, but he seems like he just doesn’t want to deal with it, and I just had a fight with Denzel. You know them. I need you to help me fix things.”

“I would, but I just can’t,” Cece sighed. “I can’t bare to look at Louis right now.”

I took a deep breath. “Alright.”

“I’m sorry—”

“Don’t apologize. Sort yourself out. I’ll fix it,” I said as I got up.

She just stared at me in bewilderment, but I just left her tent. I ran my hands through my hair, shook my head, and slapped my cheeks to focus.

Cece had traumatic issues with her father, and something else going on with Louis.

Justin wasn’t motivated enough to do anything.

Emilia was two steps away from breaking down.

Pauline was a bitch to everyone that wasn’t Emilia.

Louis was a coward who thought he could do nothing wrong.

And Denzel had some form of survivor’s guilt developing because of me.

And it was up to me to fix it. All of it.