Chapter Eleven: Complicated

And Everything Came Crashing Down

I felt fire around me as I jumped through the air. I had Annie's wrist in my hand and was pulling her with me. She screamed, but I didn't. I jumped on sheer instinct. It's like the voices got inside of me. Maybe they were inside of me from the start, or maybe I was just overly crazy. Like the sculptor: I heard voices and whispers, I found myself liking the peace the whisperer brought and I started to trust it. I started to wish they were around more. Maybe I was becoming a loon without even really noticing. I didn't know. I was clueless, but all the while I had instinct telling me what was going on.


My heart pumped with adrenaline. The jump wasn't a long one, but I landed on my feet and then on my knees. Annie was not as lucky, her fall was worse. She landed flat on her stomach. Huge groups of people were around us watching the tower turn to ashes. Some were even crying. Two of the four people running with us didn't jump and continued to run down the stairs. They ended up ashes too. The other two jumped. One with a few injuries, the other fine like me. It was adrenaline and fright that made us all run so fast. We were more than halfway down the stairs when we jumped, that didn't make the fall so bad. All of us spent a night in the Center. We were okay. Annie turned out to have bad rib injuries and a broken shoulder, but she thanked me many times for saving her. Everyone thanked me. But I knew that I didn't know that the temple was being bombed. The whisperer knew. That's the person I thank.

The days passed quickly. My night in the Pokémon Center was eventless. I caught up on much needed sleep and a shower. The next day I spent with Sally and Oliver. Sally fed me, which was nice, and even helped me wash my clothes in her wash basin. I trained a bit with Oliver in Eterna Forest. He only had one Pokémon so he helped me come up with strategies. During that time, my Bidoof had finally evolved into Bibarel. With the money I had won from the gym battle, I stocked up on food and bought a few Great Pokéballs. Apparently they were better Pokéballs used for catching higher-in-levels Pokémon.

I was in Eterna for a total of three days after the bombing. I helped clean up and talked with Annie and Serena a bit. Annie was working on making up another 'shrine' for Dialga and Palkia. So she was very busy with Serena. On my last day I woke up early. Sally cooked up some breakfast. It was a berry tart and very delicious. I sent Grandmother a letter telling her I was safe and such. I stopped by Annie's house and said goodbye to her. She checked out my egg again. She said to keep an eye on it because it would hatch soon. With that, I was off.

Oliver accompanied me as I traveled through Eterna Forest. He was my guide again. He insisted to come with me. He said I would be lost without him. So I didn't complain, even though I really wanted to. Don't get me wrong, I liked Oliver. But I would have chosen someone else to be with me.

We were nearing the end of the forest. I had said little to Oliver through the walk. He just joked around. He had a serious look on his face and stopped walking.

"What?" I asked. There were hints of annoyance in my voice.

"I just don't get you."

"Get me? What's not to get? I'm not complicated."

"Oh yes, you are. You may not think so, but you are. Cynthia, you saved people from being blown up. You thought you were attacked by a Hoothoot. You're just… Unreadable." He ran his hand through his brown and green-tinted hair.

"Thanks?" I bit my lip. What was I supposed to say? There was no logical answer. I sighed. "Things are complicated. I guess I am complicated. Here's the thing, I was really pecked and scratched on my hands. There was a horrible blooded mess! I grabbed leaves so the blood wouldn't get everywhere. When you checked my hands and there was nothing, I was dumbfounded, to say the least. Because I did see the blood, the mess, the attack with my own eyes! Do you believe me?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I do. Because I think you're an honest person… And I don't know why you would lie about that anyways… But it's just hard to believe it. How did you save those people? How did you know?"

I shrugged. "I didn't."

He shook his head. "I mean, I don't know who did it, somebody who has been attacking most of the towns has to be familiar with Sinnoh…And you're a trainer and you travel—"

"Wait, wait, wait. You think I did it?"

"Not necessarily. Do you have any idea who did it? I mean you've been around."

I scoffed. "You really know how to complement a girl, don't you? You know what? I think I can make my way out of the forest alone now." I stomped off.

"Hey!" He grabbed my shoulder.

I spun around. "What do you want Oliver?"

"I didn't mean it like that! I meant you've traveled around."

"I did not bomb anything. You just said I was an honest person, why would you even think, uhg!" I felt like pulling my hair out.

"Hey, I believe you. Don't stress! I don't like stressed Cynthia." He smirked. I glared at him. I felt like yelling a little more, mostly because I didn't know how to deal with the bottled-up mess called my feelings, but Oliver had a strange look on his face.

"What now?" I asked. Annoyance clear.

He cocked his head to the side and looked out to the forest. I turned around and looked. I didn't see anything, but I tuned into the forest and listened.

Wind blowing leaves. They made a rattling sound as they shivered on the branches. A buzz of a bug somewhere hidden in the shadows. A caw of a bird overhead. Oliver breathing behind me, my own breath.

But there was something else, something far-off.

Talking. Leaves cracking.

I looked over my shoulder at Oliver. He stood very still, head cocked, eyes steady. He sensed something was off. "You hear that?" I whispered. He nodded.

I felt the presence. The whisperer returned. Like I did with Annie, I kept cool as it whispered in my ear. "Go."

One word. That's all it took. I started sprinting out into the forest, Oliver right on my heels. The presence gone, it only stuck with me for one word. I knew exactly where I was going.

The statue. We came to the cabin, the other two statues in sight. We were headed to the statue clearing. The statue with the poem. The trees around it were blazing. We were just gaping at it. We were dazed.

"No!" Oliver screamed. He tried to run into the flames, but I grabbed him. "Let me go!"

"Oliver, calm down! It's gone!"

"It can't be." He dropped to his knees. It was obvious Oliver felt connected to the statues too, but for a different reason. I was connected on a much powerful level; he was connected because it cleared his head and brought peace.

I dropped down next to Oliver and put my arm over his shoulder. The presence returned. I heard weird sounds in my head. Possibly the whisperer was weeping.

Did you do this? I asked in my head. By doing this, I felt like I opened some door that is supposed to be sealed. Some door that let something all-too powerful in.

"No." I heard.

Do you know who did this?

"Yes."

Would you tell me?

"Do not be fooled. Think, think. You already know."

What? The presence left.

"This is so wrong! Who would do this to my town? My town is great! The temple hasn't hurt anybody… And this statue is artwork!" Oliver stood up. His breathing was normal.

"I think we both know this statue was more than that." I said.

He nodded. "You're right." He sighed. "I guess I always knew that. I have been drawn—hey!" He yelled. He pushed passed me and looked into the depths of the forest. I went to his side and peered into the shadows. I saw a group of people in brown cloaks sprinting away. They all had their hoods up over their heads. "Hey!" Oliver yelled again. I grabbed him before he could chase after them.

"It's not worth it, you'll get hurt!"

"How could I get anymore hurt, Cynthia? They've hurt my family! You know what's going to happen? Because of the bombing, we citizens are going to have to pay some sort of tax. That's going to hurt my sister. She works anywhere she can get paid, and we still struggle. If she didn't have the garden, we would all be dead. Me, Ray, Caylie and Sally. But now, what will happen?" He was very worked up.

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. What was I supposed to say? I had nothing comforting to say. "I don't know." Comfort wasn't anything I was good at.

He sighed then shook his head. He was calming down. We turned around and faced the other two statues. Our eyes bugged out of our heads when we saw them. They were slowly crumbling to the ground. Eventually they were nothing but rocks with a pink gem on top. Oliver walked over and reached for one. The tips of his fingers touched the pink jewel. "Hey!" He yelled and pulled back his hand quickly. He blew on his fingertips. "They're… Hot?"

"What?" I walked over to one. You could see energy pulsing through it.

"It's like it's alive."

I studied it. It was a rare and expensive jewel that had power of sorts. "How did our little friend afford these?" I pointed back to the cabin.

"I don't know." Oliver shrugged. "Possessed people could have connections, right?"

I scoffed. "He wasn't possessed."

"Sure. He just talked to 'other' things."

"No, he—" Then it hit me like a rock. He talked to the things the statues represented, which were Pokémon. "Pokémon, he talked to Pokémon." I shot up. Does that mean I talk to Pokémon?

"What? You're freaking me out!"

"In those entries we read, it said that our friend got to see the models for these statues, and the statues were Pokémon, right?"

"Yeah. And?"

"So he wasn't possessed, Pokémon just talked to him!" I was smiling and I had way too much enthusiasm in my voice.

"Cynthia, I don't think you understand, that means he was possessed."

I sighed. "You're right… Right?"

"I think so." He let out a nervous laugh. "You're complicated, you know that?" I couldn't help but laugh at my own ridiculousness.

We studied the gems again. They were way too hot to be touched. Soon we got our bearings together and left for the end of Eterna Forest.

On the way to the end we talked about the statues. Oliver had calmed down instantly. He really didn't seem like a livid person. We exited the forest quickly.

Oliver turned towards me and smirked. "You're going to beat those gyms. Don't worry. The way you trained the other day was like a true, strong trainer."

"Thank you." I smiled. "I guess we both kind of got dragged into the statue mystery, didn't we?"

"Yeah, yeah." He laughed. "I'll stay here with my family, but I'll be sure to write you once I find out more about the statues and the bombers."

I nodded. "And I will do the same. Who knows, maybe if we put out heads together we can figure this out."

"There's no 'maybe' to it, we will figure it out."

I smiled. "Thank you for being my guide."

He bowed. "At your service anytime. I am tour guide of Eterna Forest. Actually, only your tour guide." He laughed and ran his hand through his hair.

I laughed and rolled my eyes. "Goodbye, Oliver." I grinned and walked off toward Floaroma.

"See you, Cynthia." He waved before walking back into the forest.

Sweet freedom didn't come fast enough. I was on my own again. No one was 'guiding' me or anything. I was completely alone.

I let out Bibarel, my newly evolved Pokémon, so he could carry the egg pouch on his bag. Bibarel was much bigger; his fur was longer and curlier, his legs were noticeably stronger. He didn't have any problems carrying the bag. I enjoyed having my Pokémon around with me. I let Budew out from her Pokéball and she sat on Bibarel's back. I laughed at them; they acted like brother and sister sometimes. Unfortunately, Gible didn't feel that way towards her fellow Pokémon. Or to me for that matter.

After walking a bit, I came upon a pond. Buizel were resting on the water's edge and fish were splashing around on the surface. I stopped and looked at the Pokémon. They were so peaceful and harmless. Why would Lea treat them so badly?

A Psyduck crawled out of the water. It waddled towards me. I gave it a strange look. This was either going to be like Budew, or like Hoothoot.

Then the Pokémon growled and cocked its head. "No, no. I mean no harm." I put my hands up. The Psyduck kept staring at me and I got nervous. I grabbed the bag from Bibarel. "Tackle." Bibarel quickly tackled the Psyduck. It backed away, but then looked deep into Bibarel's eyes. He fell over and started rolling around. "Bibarel?" He stopped rolling and jumped up. "Rollout." I commanded. Bibarel tried to use Rollout, but completely missed. That's when I realized he was confused.

"You know Confusion, huh? How about we make this fun." I said to the rival Pokémon. I returned Bibarel and looked at Budew. She had jumped up on my shoulder. "Ready to battle?" She jumped down and squeaked happily.

"Budew, Mega Drain." Budew used the move almost flawlessly. Psyduck cried out and then collapsed to the ground. While it was down, I threw a Great Ball at it. The ball shook a few times, then 'dinged.' I knew I had caught the Pokémon. I picked up the ball. "Welcome to the team."

I trained a bit with Psyduck to familiarize myself with its moves. I also brought out Hoothoot, Bibarel and Budew. Eventually I tried Gible. To my surprise we all made great progress. I learned Gible knew a new move. And the best thing: Budew evolved. She was battling Bibarel and was doing quite well, and then light surrounded her. She materialized into a beautiful Roselia. She had what looked like a crown on her head and she walked very regal. Her roses, or hands, were just buds, but I knew they would bloom soon. You could tell she had toxins and poisons pumping throughout her body. She was much, much stronger then she was before. And she could only get stronger.

Hoothoot was getting stronger and he stopped trying to attack me. He would evolve soon also. All my Pokémon impressed me. They were my Pokémon, my team.

I left Bibarel out of his ball so he could carry the egg again. The egg was very heavy, and it moved around a lot. I was excited to see what would hatch from the egg.

I journeyed through Floaroma and Jubilife in all of one day. By the time I was standing in the white building in the Golden Cities the sun was setting. I had traveled all day long. My ankles were killing me and the man at the desk wasn't helping.

"Name, please." He said.

"Cynthia Everheart."

His head shot up. "Cynthia? As in the trainer?"

"Yes?"

"Oh my! Everyone here loves you! Everyone was so happy to hear you beat Eterna's gym, now you're here to beat out gym!" He squealed.

I fake smiled. "Thank you. No if you don't mind I am quite tired so—"

"Right, right, right." He quickly filled out the form and typed things on the electronic pad. "You're free to go. I'll be watching the battle, I'm rooting for you!"

I nodded and walked through the doorway. As soon as I exited, the crowded streets of Hearthrome greeted me. I heard someone yell my name, and then everyone turned towards me.

"Cynthia! Cynthia!" They all yelled. I couldn't help but grin; they were all cheering my name.

Soon, this is how it will always be. I thought. And that couldn't have been truer.

[7]


Authors Note: And TCB has a cover photo! It's just the name with some stars, as you can see, but that's the 'cover' I had on the document. Better then nothing. Also, I have a poll on my profile totally not related to this story, but if you guys would like to vote, please do.

Ah, the plot thickens. You guys may have thought 'Filler chapter' but this was actually very important! Let's just say that a chapter very soon will be a HUGE chapter! Not in length (Although that may be huge too) but in importance. At first I didn't want you guys to say what you think is happening, but now I'm sitting at the edge of my seat wondering... Be nice, tell me what you think!

Thanks for reading! And don't forget to drop a review while you're at it.