Chapter 74 – Crashing Down

CHAPTER 74 - Crashing Down

“Your old best friend Amy?” I asked, my eyes darting in between the two. She was making her way toward us now.

“Correct,” Cece said. “She must have flown here.”

“What do we do?” I asked. “Do we run and call the others?”

“No. I will confront her here. This is my fight.”

I nodded, agreeing to let her speak alone. Amy stopped at an arm's length away from us, still surrounded by what I assumed were bodyguards, who each had a Pokeball on their belt. She stared me down first and then let out an audible scoff.

“So she’s the one who’s got you wrapped around her finger, hm?” Amy said.

Her voice was high-pitched, and she had a distinct Kalosian accent. I wanted to retort, but restrained myself.

“What do you want from us?” Cece asked, ignoring her statement.

“I want nothing from her,” she sneered at me. “Your father sent me. I’m your last warning, Cece.”

“Do not call me that. You’ve lost that right.”

For a second, Amy looked genuinely hurt. “You’ve changed, Cecilia. The people you’ve been associating yourself with changed you. Your entire family sees that.”

“You’re the one who changed,” Cece said. “Ever since I’ve left Unova, it’s like a flip’s been switched.”

“Have I?” She said. “I have always been about familial duty. Always. My family owes everything to yours. I will do my duty toward them, as should you.”

“You supported me with my dad—”

“Supported, yes, but in no way did I ever express my approval for outright rebellion,” she hissed. “As I said, I am your last warning. Kick her and Denzel Williams out of your group. Everything has gone off the rails ever since they were added.”

“Never,” Cece spat. “The others will say the same.”

“The others' input is not being considered,” Amy said. “You didn’t think they would just let you fail with no consequences, did you? Everyone aside from Pauline has brought shame to their family, some more than others. Although that rat and her mother turned out to be traitors anyway, so we had to maneuver around them. I will speak with the group tomorrow morning to discuss your next steps.”

“You will do no such thing. You can’t force us to listen to you,” Cece answered. “You are blinded by my father. You can still be saved.”

“It is you who needs to be saved,” Amy exclaimed. “Think about it. Grace Pastel and Denzel Williams show up, and suddenly you don’t want to marry Louis anymore? What if they were sent by one of Clarence or Harvey’s rivals who desperately want to stop the marriage and ruin all of your reputations like Pauline was?”

I frowned. I had no doubt Cece would rebuke these accusations, and she was doing well with the confrontation in general, but Amy was turning out to be more… driven than I thought. I had thought her to be an evil person trying to manipulate Cece, but she seemed to genuinely believe what she was saying.

“The poison you spew does not sway me. There is nothing you can say to convince me to abandon my friends. Now step aside.”

Amy sighed. “You’ve truly been brainwashed… I didn’t want to have to resort to this, but I have to save you.”

I yelled and got ready to release my team as one of the guards grabbed Cece, but they didn’t take her like I thought they would. Instead, they just held her in place, and Amy whispered something into Cecilia’s ear.

“No… no, he wouldn’t have—” Cece said.

“I am your last warning, and you’ve now been warned. Stop playing these silly games. I will see you tomorrow. I expect your new friends to be gone by then.”

“And are you…?”

“Nothing’s been done to me. I know you can’t know for sure, and it would be easier not to believe me, but it’s the truth.”

Amy and her guards left the lobby after that. I called out to Cece, but it was as if she had been put in a daze.

“What did she say?” I asked again as we stepped in the elevator. “Don’t try to keep it to yourself. I’m here to help, and so are the others.”

“I can’t… I can’t tell you. I cannot.”

“You can,” I insisted. “I’m sure she threatened you or us with something, but what is it? I told you I would help you back at the outpost, and you agreed. Now’s the time to let me help.”

“I need to be alone,” she said. She opened her door and I tried to hold it open, but she was too fast and strong. I heard her lock it from the inside.

I slammed my fist on the door. “Cece! Let me in, Arceus damn it! Let me in, or I’ll have Elekid break the fucking door down!”

“Then I will release my team, and we will fight here,” I heard her say. She was right against the door. “At the top of the hotel. The damage will be consequential. You and the others might be hurt, along with innocent residents. I wouldn’t want that to happen to you.”

“Don’t say shit like that!” I hissed. “Just… please. Let me help you.”

There was no answer. I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Her eyes were the same as they had been when we had both been held hostage by team Galactic. They were empty. Like she was giving up on everything.

“Cece!” I tried again. There was still no answer. I slammed the door with my foot and ran to Louis’ apartment, where I assumed the group was staying. I knocked as loud and as fast as I could, and he opened the door. “Louis,” I started before he could even complain. “This is a fucking emergency. Amy just showed up in the lobby and said something to Cece— something that I didn’t hear that made her completely give up on everything. She isn’t well, and I’m scared that she’s going to make a mistake. I need to speak to everyone.”

It took a few seconds for my words to register, and his face immediately tensed.

“Pauline’s at Emilia’s apartment, and Denzel is at Justin’s.”

“Gather them and tell them what I told you. I’m going to stay in front of Cece’s door just in case she tries to leave. Bring them there.”

He nodded, and we both ran off, me toward Cecilia’s door, and him toward Justin’s. I tried to knock on the door and call out again, but still, there was nothing. Thankfully, I could tell she was still in there due to a lot of clattering.

“What are you doing?” I asked. “Talk to me!”

Another thirty seconds passed, and she finally opened the door.

“Thank the Legendaries,” I sighed. “The rest of the group is coming, just talk to us and—”

Her eyes. They were worse than before, and it looked like she’d been crying.

“Where are you going?” I nervously said, my hand hovering over Togetic’s Pokeball. If push came to shove, I would need to have her use her powers. It wouldn’t be consensual, but I didn’t think I had a choice.

She hugged me tightly and apologized in my ear.

“There’s a letter on the table,” she said. “For all of you.”

I was confused for a second before I saw Slowpoke lazily walk behind her as his eyes turned pink. I suddenly felt a mild headache as my eyelids grew heavy. I tried to getting of Cecilia’s arms, closing my eyes as tightly shut as I could, but none of that worked.

“Fucking… psychics…” I muttered as I fell to the ground.

Psychic-induced sleep wasn’t like sleep at all. The closest resemblance I could find was general anesthesia, which my dad had undergone once for a surgery when he was younger. He had told me that it was like closing your eyes for a single second, and then immediately waking up hours later in the recovery room. That is what I felt as I woke up, and the feelings of having been tricked by Cece were still fresh in my mind. I was in a bed, under the covers, and I instantly shot up. It was Cece’s penthouse. I hurried and walked through the hotel room, still feeling drowsy from the Hypnosis and knocking things over. She hadn’t used the move against Gardenia, otherwise I would have known to be wary, but I fucking failed, and now she was gone.

The rest of the group was all sitting on the couch, asleep. I clenched my fists. They had failed to stop her too, somehow. Had they all been caught by surprise? The apartment was in a state of chaos, with items knocked all over the floor. It seemed Cece had hurriedly rummaged through everything before leaving, but it couldn’t have been to pack. Her backpack was still in her bedroom.

I shook Denzel, trying to wake him up, but there was no way to wake someone from Hypnosis, or at least not any human way. I felt tears streaming down my face as the reality of the situation finally sunk in. Cece was gone. She was gone, and I had no idea where. It wasn’t like I could just run off and look for her in the city. Eterna city was too big.

I grabbed my Poketch with a trembling breath and saw that only an hour had passed. I felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe that meant that the others would wake up soon, and then we’d be able to split up and look for her.

And then—

And then…

“Fuck…” I sobbed. “Cece…”

Through teary eyes, I remembered what she had told me. The letter on the living room table. It was there. I grabbed it with a shaky hand and saw that it had been roughly placed in an envelope with tear stains on it. It read ‘To my friends.’ I stared at my sleeping companions and decided to wait for them to read it out. It was addressed to all of us. I wanted all of us to be awake when I read it for the first time.

Three minutes later, Emilia woke up first. Then Justin, Louis, and finally, Pauline and Denzel. It had been like a chain reaction, with them waking up one after another. That probably meant that Cece had hypnotized them all at once.

“Cece, you bitch—” Pauline started yelling. “Where am I?”

“Cece’s penthouse,” I sighed, wiping away my tears. “Try to remember. She put all of you to sleep with her Slowpoke. She’s gone.”

“Because of Amy?” Denzel asked, struggling to get up.

“At least Louis got to tell you before she struck,” I said. “Yes. I don’t know what she said to her, but it completely fucked her up.”

“And she didn’t say where she was going?” Justin worriedly said. “Not even to you?”

I shook my head. “I want to look for her, it’s been more than an hour. We won’t ever find her. Togetic’s too slow in the air and she can’t see well at night, so getting her to find Cece in Eterna would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Frillish can see, but he’s too slow as well. It’s… not looking good,” I said, breaking down. “She— she left us a letter. She wanted us to read it.”

“I refuse to give up,” Louis exclaimed. “We can split up. We can try to find her, she couldn’t have gone far.”

“I agree,” Emilia said. “But I think we should respect her wishes and read the letter first.”

Denzel walked up to me and stroked my shoulder as I opened the letter. The handwriting was still beautiful, even though she must have been so rushed to finish writing it.

My dear friends

It has been a wonderful journey. I loved going through it with all of you, through the good, the bad, and everything else. I have never loved a group of people as much as I have loved all of you. You must all be confused, but I cannot tell you what Amy told me without putting you all at risk. Unfortunately for me, Grace is right now hitting my door again, so I must hurry and write what I have to say. A personalized farewell for each of you. Some of it may hurt, but it is the whole truth. Now, let me start where it all began.

Louis Bianchi - First, I must apologize to you, Louis. I am sorry. I never loved you in a romantic manner, even though I pretended to for a large part of our journey. As you know, this marriage was forced onto us by our fathers, and I purposefully seduced you so I could potentially have an easier time in the future. This was before I learned to know you— to truly know you. I now know that there are no ulterior motives behind your enthusiasm in our engagement. I know now that you are nothing like our fathers. They are ugly, evil creatures that do not deserve to call themselves human, while you are a good man with a good heart, despite what others may think. People tend to judge you before they truly get to know you, and I was guilty of the same. At the start of our journey together, I hated you, Louis. I hated you with everything I had. I saw you only as a vessel through which my father could inflict suffering upon me. But still, with my mind clear as it is tonight, I think I am finally ready to call you a friend. I am sorry I had to tell you this way and that I let the matter sit for so long, and for manipulating you. Find someone who truly loves you and deserves you. P.S.: try to not stare at women that interest you as much as you do, we can tell.

Justin Gardner - Justin, when we first started traveling together, I thought you to be the most sinister man imaginable. You rarely spoke to anyone other than Emilia, and you were a reclusive man. I thought that you were silently observing my every move to report back to my father. But then you slowly opened up to us, and I realized that you were just another person, as I was and that you had just been shy and passionate about business. I learned that you too, were being forced to go through the Circuit, but unlike me, you found little joy in Pokemon battling. I would like to tell you not to force yourself through this if you don’t want to, but I’m afraid our parents have something else in store for us. To me, Justin, you are the pivotal member of the group. An element of stability and normalcy we desperately needed to keep pushing forward. I hope your dreams of taking over your father’s company materialize. I am sure you will be doing great things in the future. Much love.

Emilia Lussier - Emilia, you were the one I always found it the easiest to get along with, even at the start, but that may have been because I already had a preconceived image of you built in my head. I thought you to be weak, and therefore not a threat to me. But I was wrong, Emi. You are the strongest of us all. You hate traveling in the wild, you hate Pokemon battling with a passion, and yet you keep pushing yourself for us. You made it through Eterna forest, and we wouldn’t have without your crucial help. The strongest person is someone who can stare their fear in the face, put their head down, and keep striving forward. Unfortunately, I am not as strong as you are, even though I wish I was. The contest you brought us to see was wonderful, and I wish you well in your endeavors to become a Pokemon coordinator. Make sure to ask for the other’s help when you need it. The world of coordinators seems like a ruthless one, even worse than the world of trainers. Still, if your parents let you try, I know you will succeed. You are not holding us back, and you never were. You are a part of the group. You are a friend we love.

Pauline King - Pauline, your hair fits your temperament, which I know you’ve heard a thousand times before, and I know you hate hearing it, but it is true. You are like a storm, never letting up and hurting everyone around you, friend or foe. That is what I believed when I met you. You were quick to anger and knew the most vicious ways to hurt someone with just words. That is why I largely avoided you until we got closer to Floaroma. I believed that if I ever angered you too much, you would see right through me, grab a metaphorical knife, stab me with it, and twist. I thought you would be able to also see right through my reluctance to marry Louis, and then my whole cover would be blown. Evidently, you did, since you let that slip at our kerfuffle in Eterna forest, but I don’t blame you for it. Instead, I will thank you for hiding my secret this entire time, through no benefit of your own. I know you are extremely protective of us, and I love you for it, but still, I must ask you to relax once in a while. Sit down, breathe in the air, and look at how beautiful the world is. You don’t need to be ready to fight at all times, although now would be a great time for you to be. When you see Amy in the morning, I want you to give her hell. Don’t let her speak. Talk over her, insult her, rip her apart. Make it as difficult as possible for her to get a single word out. Thank you.

Denzel Williams - Denzel, you are this group’s light. In the darkness, we can always count on you to be a steady man to look up to. You always look at the bright side of things, and you’ve been an instrumental friend, especially when it came to breaking me free from my cage. I wish we could have spent more time together, but if I could have one thing, I would ask you to let yourself cry at least once. It is good for the soul, and Grace has told me about your issues. I am sure a good cry will help. You will not be less of a man for it. I also have some advice for you and your dream of building a personality online. You should work with Emilia and start from the ground up, doing what coordinators do, but on the trainer side of things. I am sure you will find great success there, and that will be something for you to bond over. I did not know you as long as the others, but you have been a great friend all the same.

Gra Grac Grace P Grace Pastel - Grace, when I first saw you in Oreburgh, and you defended me from Chase Karlson, I thought you to be one of my fans. Since my novelty hadn’t worn off yet, there were a lot of them at the time. I thanked you, paid you no mind, and left. Then I met you again in Floaroma, and I practically assaulted you and accused you of being a spy. Little did I know at the time, us signing up for the same tournament was just a coincidence. And what an amazing coincidence it turned out to be. Your desire to improve at Pokemon battles immediately gripped me. It wasn’t often that I met someone as passionate as I was, and yet sometimes, I think that you are even more so. I see it in your eyes. No matter how nervous you are, your eyes are always full of fire and a desire to beat your opponent. You are the most beautiful when you battle. You brought the group back from the brink of destruction in Eterna forest, and for that, I must thank you with all my heart. Without you, we might have all perished in the forest. I wouldn’t want that to happen to any of you. Still, it wasn’t until you defeated Chase Karlson at the outpost that I knew you were different, even though I didn’t realize it at the time. From that point on, I wanted to get closer to you. To learn more about you, and to just be together. When your life comes crashing down in mere seconds, it is a lot easier to think clearly. I think I like g found out something about myself tonight that I never thought was possible, and again, it was thanks to you. I think I’m in lov I know you will possibly be the most crushed by this, but you must pick yourself up. You have too much potential to give up on battling. I know that if you keep working like you have been, you will become the Champion. You are special, Grace. I want you to know that.

Well, I suppose it’s time then. I know this must be sudden for all of you, but I’ll be leaving for Mount Coronet. If I cannot escape from my father, I will go down to the most dangerous place available to me. I do not want to die a pitiful death, and I’m sure I will be fighting some wonderful battles before then, but eventually, I will fall, since I wasn’t strong enough to free myself. I am devastated that I will not be able to fulfill my promise with the first person that gave me hope, but alas. With me gone, my father’s hopes to enrich himself and create a lasting legacy will be destroyed. Oh, what I would pay to see his face when he learns of my demise. I have another letter in the envelope here for the press that you shall give them after I am confirmed to be missing or dead by the police or rangers. I want my father’s reputation and company to be ruined. As my last act, I will abandon the name of Obel. I am now Cecilia, and for my last hours at least, I will be free.

-Cecilia

I could barely keep reading when I finished the letter. My throat felt clogged and I struggled to breathe. Tears and snot fell over my face, and they did the same one everyone else’s. We were all crying.

“We can’t let this happen,” I sobbed. “We have to go. We have to save her.”

“Mount Coronet,” Denzel sniffled. “It’s supposed to be closed, but I don’t think there are any rangers standing guard. I— I don’t think they thought anyone would go there.”

“It’s only been an hour,” Pauline said, her face in her hands and tapping her feet. “We can make it.”

“Grab everything,” Louis said, his voice resolute and his eyes red. “Get dressed. We have to go and save her. She must live.”

We all nodded.

“And then I will have a word or two to say to my father,” He said, clenching his jaw so tightly that veins were visible on his forehead. “I will never marry her. The deal is off.”