Hello again! Here we go!

Pokeball 4: Clash

It all started over in one of the double battles hosted by their restaurant. Cilan was partnered with the customer, while Chili and Cilan were partnered with each other.

It should have been an easy match for Chili and Cress, but, as often happened nowadays, their Pokemon got in each other's way as their Trainers bickered and kept changing orders. The Trainer was skilled as well, as his Unfezant took out most of the opposing Pokemon in two or three hits. Cilan won easily, and graciously accepted his victory. His brothers skulked off-stage together. The audience ate the sibling squabble up, as they always did.

When everyone was gone, leaving the triplets to clean up the mess, the mood was far more sour.

"Your Simipour knocked out my Simisage with its Scald attack!" Chili ranted, wringing his rag tightly as he squeezed out the water.

"Because you ordered it to get in the way!" Cress snapped back. "I thought we agreed that I would battle the Unfezant while you took care of Simisage!"

"But then I thought that would be too predictable, so I changed it!" Chili answered.

"Indeed, and you succeeded, because I didn't predict your plan either," Cress growled back.

"Um, r-really, that's enough," said Cilan with a timid smile. "You win some, and…uh, well, sometimes you don't."

"Yeah, easy for the winner to say," Chili replied. "You hardly even did anything in the match! It was all that dumb Unfezant."

"W-Well, I couldn't help that it moved, um, faster than any of my Pokemon…" Cilan answered. "I was just lucky, really, to have such a talented partner."

"Definitely lucky, considering you are certainly the weakest one," Cress added. "You have the worst victory record of us all."

"Yeah, we would've beat you easy if that customer wasn't a stupidly good Trainer," Chili agreed.

Cilan glared at his siblings, but said nothing.

"Oh, pretending to be a tree again, brother?" Cress growled. "You're just too tall and mighty to bother with your brothers' opinions?"

Cilan still stayed silent.

"You think you can simply ignore anything that doesn't agree with you?" Cress went on. "You're not strong enough for that. You would be devoured on your own. Most likely in a literal sense, with nothing but bones for wild Stoutland to chew on."

At those words Cilan's stony stature began to wilt. But Cress had no time to savor it, as Chili punched him in the face.

"What the hell, Cress?" Chili spat, as a stunned Cress rubbed his cheek. "What makes you think it's okay to say something like that? You're the one who thinks he's better than everyone else! You don't even pretend to hide it! And guess what? You're not!"

"Oh, and I suppose you are?" Cress snarled.

"No!" Chili barked back. "We're triplets, dumbass! We're all equal! We're suppose to work together!"

"Then what's the point of us competing for the last several months?" Cress answered. "It's so we could see who was the best of us, right? It's so we each could become stronger on our own, right? So maybe I don't have to put up with you. Every. Single. Day. Right?"

"You wanna leave? Then get outta here!" Chili shouted. "Go on and see that the rest of the world won't put up with your crap either! You're nothing without us babying you all the time! Be better off without you! Don't even bother-"

"Leave," Cilan hissed, glaring at the ground. "Both of you."

Both brothers turned to Cilan in shock.

"What'd I do?" Chili protested, seeming almost hurt. "I was defending you, dammit!"

"I…had have…enough. Of both of you," Cilan spoke quietly. "Always fighting, always shouting, always dragging me into things I don't want to do, blaming me for things that are not my fault." His narrowed eyes rose from the floor and locked onto them. "I hate fighting. I always have. I even hate Pokemon matches. The only reason I'm here fighting nonstop is because you two forced me into it. We're supposed to be all about unity, but…" His eyes saddened. "It's not anymore. I don't know when that changed, but…it's not working. For any of us. We just clash."

No one said anything after that, because no one had a way to dispute it. Silently, separately, they went to their rooms, and spent their night thinking about where their solitary journeys would begin.

IIIIII

So it's hit the boiling point, and they can't even pretend to get along...

But don't worry, it's not ending here. I'll be doing a final chapter to wrap this all up properly. It'll be up sometime in the next few days/weeks. See you then!