Chapter Thirty Five – Confrontations pt 3

Tucker and Veronica collapsed on the grass in defeat, their bodies, respectively, veiled in a blood red and golden yellow aura for a fleeting moment. Adelina smiled proudly as Daphne and Daniel begrudgingly recalled their fainted Fairy type Pokémon back into their Poké Balls.

"Y'know, you two make a very interesting challenge," she praised, noticing how her Jellicent and Gothitelle were beginning to pant. "You've certainly ran laps around my darling girls; impressive!"

"Spare us the false compliments, Adelina, we know you're completely untrustworthy at this point!" Daniel said spitefully. "What reasons of vanity could you possibly have to turn your back on someone who believed you to be their friend?!"

"Vanity? What makes you think I'm doing any of this out of pure entertainment value?" Adelina asked, losing her smile...for a millisecond. "That being said...trying to break Alexa was amusing until she tried to surrender."

"She what?"

"Can't say I blame her," Daniel said in Alexa's defence. "She must have made it perfectly clear that she has NOTHING to do with you...right?"

"So she claimed...and I'm not saying she's not an honest girl, but, seriously, who's to say that she was being dishonest in the moment?" Adelina asked smugly.

"The fact that she sucks at lying," Daniel said bluntly. "I may not see her that often – by my own choice – but I know that much!"

"Besides, she has her own problems; why would she juggle dead wood at the same time?" Daphne asked rudely. Adelina scoffed arrogantly and glared angrily at the twins.

"Dead wood?! I am NOT going to let you get away with that, sweetheart!" Daphne and Daniel took out another Poké Ball each.

"Like you wouldn't let Alexa get away with her CRITICALLY INJURED Pokémon!?" Daniel questioned interrogatively.

"It's not MY fault she wasn't sufficiently prepared; she had NO supplies whatsoever!"

"A Hyper Potion can't cure a haematoma!" Daniel argued back. "Ty, you're up!" he yelled as he opened his Poké Ball.

"C'mon out, Al!" Daphne exclaimed as she opened hers. The two released streams of light landed on the grass and formed into a Hitmonlee with black fingerless gloves on his hands and a Hitmonchan with a black Expert Belt around his waist.

"More parallels? Why do I get the feeling that you'll end up becoming the next Tate and Liza?" Adelina asked, sounding completely disgruntled at the very thought.

"How is that any of your business?!" Daphne snapped.

"Well, I don't know if I'd be so willing to battle anyone with a nickname like Two-Tone," Adelina said insultingly. "Especially if they tried to look the part." Daniel and Daphne were mortified.

"...h-how did you-"

Before Daphne could inquire further, everyone heard a loud boom coming from somewhere just outside Striaton City. Daniel and Daphne looked at the towering smoke and panicked.

"Is the Daycare under attack AGAIN?!" Daniel complained.

"If it is, we have an excuse to drop the dead wood!" Daphne said mockingly.

"Let's go!" Daniel said keenly, immediately racing into the woodlands with his twin sister, Ty and Al following without hesitation. Dolores and Francesca looked back at Adelina worriedly, while Huey seemed to cower where he stood as he, and his comrades, saw how furious Adelina looked.

"I am NOT dead wood...but..." Adelina looked up at what was left of the towering pillar of smoke. "Better make sure things are okay..."

The hotel room's atmosphere felt tense; Alexa was walking aimlessly around the room with Ryder trying to stop her from doing so, Lily and Hailey sat on the sofa on either side of a rather ashamed Hayden while Colin and Harvey were the only adults standing up, looking between Hayden and Alexa. Alexa appeared to be between stress and dismay over what she'd just witnessed at the hotel's front entrance.

"Look, I know things are running high right now, but we can't let Adelina-"

"This hasn't got anything to do with her, Harvey," Lily said gently.

"It's my fault," Alexa said crabbily.

"Nobody's saying that, sweetheart," Lily said quickly. "But-"

"But I'm why Dad's been silent since we got back here," Alexa presumed. Hayden avoided looking at his daughter.

"That's on him, not you," Colin said calmly. "But, okay, if the problem isn't Adelina, then what is?"

"Do we really have to go through this?" Ryder asked protectively.

"I'm just trying to understand the bad blood here."

"If it's about what I said about you, I'm sorry," Harvey said seriously.

"What did you say about me?" Alexa asked in puzzlement.

"I essentially called BS about you battling Adelina. I'm sorry I came to that conclusion." Alexa huffed; she didn't seem to care at this point. "How much stress are you under anyway? You're close to looking paranoid."

"I saw my Dad traumatising my boyfriend; how much stress do you think that warrants?" Alexa asked in a low frustrated mumble. "...but, no...it's not that..."

"Just...just a bit of a rift between her and her father," Lily said quietly.

"A bit?!" Ryder growled. "He ripped her heart out!"

"Pack it in, Ryder, this won't help," Colin advised. Confused, Harvey looked over at Hayden.

"Are you SURE this isn't about my proposal?" Alexa looked at her uncle in bewilderment.

"Wait, what proposal?" she asked.

"Harvey, don't-"

"It's about time it came out anyway; Hayden even said he needed to run it by Alexa just now!" Harvey said to Hailey.

"What proposal!?" Alexa asked impatiently.

"Harvey, now's not-"

"No! If it concerns me, I have the right to know!" Alexa snapped furiously. Harvey sighed.

"After your battle against the twins...I had this idea that you could travel again," he explained carefully. Alexa's eyes widened, but not with delight. "Not necessarily for another eight gym badges and another Pokémon League placement; you have enough of those as it is! U-Unless you want to, in which, by all means, go for that, but...I mostly thought of the idea so you could get your self-esteem back." Alexa stared at her tallest uncle in complete silence, which concerned everyone until she suddenly scoffed.

"I-I'm sorry; is this for real right now?!" The adults and witnessing Pokémon were surprised to see Alexa completely livid.

"Lexie-"

"No, Mum! Dad criticised me for keeping something from him when he – and possibly the rest of you as well – was tucking THIS in his pockets all this time!"

"But we haven't-" Alexa suddenly stared at Harvey nastily.

"Found the time to tell me?! How about the day the idea first popped into your head!? Or, like, at ANY point BEFORE the Contest?!" Colin stepped forward.

"Alexa, try to stay-"

"I am BEYOND the point of trying to calm myself down!" Alexa screamed angrily. Hayden was listening to Alexa's fury with a look of horror on his face; to him, it felt like he was experiencing a sense of deja vu. "My Zoroark could die at ANY moment within the next few hours and ALL because I was ambushed by a woman whom I, personally, had no direct quarrel with and tried to use a private subject matter against me! Moreover, I try to do the right thing and share this subject matter with my parents before they heard it from HER, but I ended up making things EVEN WORSE!" Lily suddenly stood up and confronted Alexa.

"That's not true!"

"Isn't it, though?!" Alexa glared daggers at Hayden. "HE'S inclined to disagree – HE EVEN SAID SO HIMSELF!"

"Sweetheart-"

"Look, Chick, this is why I suggested the idea in the first place," Harvey said gently as he tried to place his hands down on Alexa's shoulders; to his shock, she backed away before his palms touched her shoulders.

"Then WHY did you have to wait until Xavier wound up in SURGERY to bring it to MY attention?!" she asked, almost tearfully. None of the adults could find an answer to Alexa's query and averted eye contact from her sheepishly. Alexa scoffed again. "Today must be a very fine day for hypocrisy."

"Alexa!" Hailey tried to step forward and confront her niece.

"No, she's right," Hayden said quietly. Alexa quickly turned around and stormed into her bedroom, very nearly slamming the door in Keenan's face as she entered. Concerned, Lily hurriedly followed Alexa into the bedroom just in time to see her pouring her backpack's contents all over her bed; an assortment of spray bottles, water bottles and Seal pouches poured onto her duvet.

"Alexa, what are you doing?" Lily asked timidly.

"Making sure I don't make the same mistake again," Alexa said grumpily as she took off the belt bag from around her waist and poured its contents onto the bed; her wallet landed on the duvet along with the Poké Balls belonging to Phoenix, Ryder, Jollie, Purukin and Chutney.

"I-I don't unders-"

"You don't have to," Alexa muttered quietly as she returned her wallet and Ryder, Jollie and Phoenix's Poké Balls to her belt bag. Keenan walked over to her as she tossed a few of her spray bottles into the belt bag.

"Alex...?" Alexa ignored her brother, though without really meaning to, as she closed up her packed belt back, returned it to its usual place around her waist and stormed out of the room. Keenan and Iara joined Lily in her pursuit of her angry daughter.

"Where are you going?!" she asked in shock.

"Checking the damage Keith just suffered from," Alexa replied viciously.

"Alexa, you can't run away from this!" Lily said persuasively as she tried to stop Alexa from reaching the hotel room door. Alexa turned back quickly and faced her worried mother in frustration.

"I'm not! I'm running from HIM!" she exclaimed, pointing at Hayden. Hayden in particular was mortified by Alexa's response; he felt hurt. "Figuratively speaking, mind you." With that, Alexa turned around and walked through the door, Ryder and Jollie racing towards her.

"Alexa!" Lily tried to stop her again, but Alexa slammed the door behind her, Ryder and Jollie. Hailey walked over to Lily and held onto her to settle her nerves while Harvey did the same for Hayden. Keenan was unsure of what to do, so he returned to his room with Iara, closing the door behind them gently.

"I swear...she is so much like her father it's frightening," Colin said quietly.

The smokescreen around Troy and Peggy cleared; Marco and Polonius were severely bruised and beaten, but were far from tired. Mac and Lukie, however, looked equally as battered and were bleeding from various lacerations all over their bodies, but were panting very heavily; they were losing to the two Ghost Pokémon. Troy looked towards the ongoing chaos in his paddock; Michael was valiantly battling against a mindless Lucy with some backup from a Dedenne, while Perri, much to Troy's relief, was prioritizing the protection of the pregnant Purugly, shielding her from Brent's blind one-armed wrath. The Purugly constantly tried to fight Brent with Perri, but Perri continued to ensure that Purugly did not move an inch off of the ground. Troy looked back at the halted battle in front of him, biting his lip in frustration.

"...w-what are we going to do...?"

"Blu, Blu...!" Troy took out another Poké Ball from his pocket.

"Keep going until I've exhausted all of my options," he replied sternly. "I have no idea what's going on, but I'm going to end it... Zane, I need your help!" Troy called as he unleashed his Archeops from his Poké Ball. However, before any further instruction could be given, Troy and Peggy saw Zane's eyes turning cloudy and pale before the Archeops roared violently. The sudden turn horrified Peggy and Troy in particular.

"What-"

"Zane, what's wrong!?" Zane roared as he charged towards Peggy; Troy tried to intercept his Archeops, but the First Bird Pokémon slammed his skull into Troy's shoulder and shoved him out of his way, allowing him to resume his assault on the petrified little girl holding her Swablu for dear life. Troy recovered from his assault, though with a very large, tender and prominent bruise on his shoulder, and watched as Zane bore his teeth to Piper.

"Troy!"

"Peggy, run!" Troy called. Zane lowered his head, intent on biting into the frightened Swablu, but a spiral of concentrated air crashed into the Archeops' shoulder, knocking him backwards. Al zoomed passed the confused child with his right boxing glove enveloped in a pale blue aura, slamming the glowing glove straight onto Zane's jaw, defeating the Archeops in one blow.

"Peggy!" Peggy and Troy looked back and smiled joyfully as Daniel and Daphne ran over to them.

"Daniel! Daphne!" While Daniel checked on Peggy and Piper's health, Daphne checked over Troy's.

"Troy, what's going on, what happened!?" She suddenly gasped when she saw how violent Marco and Polonius looked at Mac and Lukie, who were too busy trying to prevent the Ghosts from getting to Troy and Peggy. "MARCO! What are you doing?!"

"T-They won't listen...!" Troy winced as he strained to stand up properly. Peggy and the twins looked up at Troy in confusion.

"What do you mean?!" Daniel asked impatiently. Troy held onto his bruised shoulder as he began to observe the anarchy around him again.

"I-I think they're being manipulated...I tried to have Zane back Mac and Lukie, but he turned against us...it was like he had no will of his own...same with Marco and Polo..." Daniel kept his eye on his Banette; he began to notice how, underneath the enraged bravado, stoic Polonius appeared to be and began to notice that his eyes were paler than he recalled.

"I think you're right...but...but what's-"

"We can worry about that when the Daycare Centre isn't a Nightmare Centre!" Daphne exclaimed. "We need Ty and Al to help out!"

"You're right. Ty, you up for this?!" The Hitmonlee looked back at Daniel confidently.

"Lee," he nodded. Al grinned at Daphne as he nodded.

"Mon-chan!"

"Okay, then, Al, use Fire Punch on Marco!" Daphne instructed, despite looking and feeling heavily hesitant. "...sorry, Marco..."

"Ty, Blaze Kick on Polonius!" Daniel instructed. "My apologies, Polo..."

"Chan!"

"Lee!"

Al and Ty charged towards their targets, fist and foot burning in brilliant orange flames before they crashed the burning limbs into the faces of their respective targets. Daphne covered her eyes just before her Hitmonchan punched her Dusknoir's face in, unable to witness her own Pokémon brawling against one another.

"Mac, Lukie, you hanging in there?!" Troy asked. Lukie and Mac looked back at Troy with heavy hearts.

"Boar..." Mac shook his head.

"Wahh...Wahh..." Lukie panted, also shaking his head. Troy smiled gently as he returned his drained Pokémon back into their Poké Balls.

"Whatever you two did with Marco and Polo, it was enough to give Mac a run for his money!"

"Marco and Polo are our second strongest Pokémon team," Daniel explained. "Roland and Rhonda are our strongest, but they're tired from Adelina."

"Peggy mentioned something like that; I was gonna come help you, but then all this happened!" Nobody seemed to notice a Pikachu sneaking up on Peggy from the ground level.

"It's okay, we brushed her off as soon as we heard that explosion."

"That was a Fire Punch clash between Marco and Mac," Troy explained. Piper spotted the Pikachu, but Troy suddenly had an idea. "Hang on! Piper can use Sing, can't she?!"

"Yeah, why?" Daphne asked.

"Just an idea based on what Grandpa did a while ago; he-"

"PIKAAA!" The Pikachu leapt towards Peggy, veiled in his own electricity. Piper flew out of Peggy's arms and inhaled deeply.

"BLUUUUU!" Piper exhaled the largest pillar of green flames that she could possibly expel from her tiny little body. The flames crashed into the Pikachu's head and knocked him down to the ground, but it wasn't enough to deter the Electric Mouse Pokémon. Troy and the twins were alarmed by the Pikachu's appearance and Piper's noble act.

"Why is everyone trying to hurt me!?" Peggy asked tearfully.

"Blu-Blu-Blu!" Piper said furiously. Daphne held onto her panicky sister gently while Daniel clenched his fist; he began to see a connection between Adelina's presence at Striaton Academy and Troy's Daycare suddenly falling into disarray.

"Don't blame the Pokémon, Peggy..."

"Pika...!" The Pikachu surrounded himself with electricity that was aiming directly at Piper.

"Blu...!" In retaliation, Piper began to absorb sunlight into the two antennae on her head. Troy had another idea and looked towards Michael in the paddock.

"MICHAEL! SUNNY DAY!" he shouted as loud as he could. The Ninetales looked back at Troy and gave his master a firm nod before he straightened all nine of his thick and bushy tails; within a mere second, the sun's rays intensified over the entire route.

"BLU!" The extra sunlight allowed Piper's Solarbeam to charge in a matter of moments, consequently allowing Piper to attack Pikachu with the concentrated beam of solar energy before Pikachu could attack with his tremendous lightning bolt. Pikachu was pushed back from the force of the Solarbeam and fainted after crashing into the staircase leading up to the Daycare Centre. Before anyone could praise Piper for her victory, the little Swablu suddenly began to shine in a beautiful blue and white glow that swallowed her entire figure completely.

"Whoa!"

"W-What's wrong with-"

"There's nothing wrong with her, Peggy, she's...evolving!" Daniel exclaimed in shock. Sure enough, Piper's tiny Swablu figure ceased to exist as the light consuming her morphed into a shape that almost looked like Annabelle; her neck grew longer, but her head grew smaller and her cranial streamers grew longer, her five tail feathers sprouted and her cotton-like wings grew longer and fluffier. When the glow finally faded, Piper had evolved from a little Swablu into a juvenile Altaria, being the exact same height as Peggy from head to talons.

"Ti-ruuuh!" Euphoric, Peggy rushed over to her newly evolved Altaria and gave her a big hug that Piper had no problems with accepting.

"Piper, thank you! You saved me!" Piper nuzzled Peggy affectionately.

"Ti-ruuh~!" Troy turned his attention to the paddock; he saw that Michael and, more alarmingly, Perri were on the verge of collapse due to exhaustion.

"There's no time for congratulations! Piper, we need you to sing the Pokémon to sleep! ALL of them, even the ones who haven't turned!" Troy cried desperately.

"Ti-ruuuh!" Piper nodded as she took flight. Daniel and Daphne returned their Fighting Pokémon back into their Poké Balls just in time for Piper to begin singing a soothing melody; as she sang, multicoloured musical notes escaped her beak and caused the Pokémon they bumped into to fall into a peaceful slumber. Piper flew around the entire area slowly, making sure her lullaby sent everyone in the vicinity to sleep. One of the stray musical notes disappeared into the bushes just below the Daycare Centre. Eventually, Piper's song reached its end, and so did the chaos; not only were Marco and Polonius asleep, but every Pokémon in the paddock, including Michael and Perri, were sleeping their stresses away. Everyone took a moment to appreciate the calm Piper's lullaby had brought to the Daycare Centre; the chaos felt as though it went on for so long Troy almost forgot what peace and quiet sounded like. Troy eventually smiled towards the Hawkstone siblings, notably Daphne and Peggy.

"...shouldn't you be in school?" Daphne laughed slightly.

"Shut up, Troy..."

Ryder and Jollie kept their eyes on Alexa, who was still carrying the exact same look of complete rage she harboured at the hotel room as she made her way into Join Avenue. She seemed to slow her pace down and soften her demeanour as soon as she walked into the market-like route, neither of which had escaped Ryder's notice.

"A-Alex...? Are you-"

"I'm...I'm sorry, guys...I'm just..." Alexa strayed away from the straight and narrow road ahead of her to sit on a nearby bench along the route. "I-I couldn't take it anymore...!" Concerned, Ryder and Jollie sat on either side of Alexa; Ryder rested his paw on Alexa's shoulder, while Jollie rested hers on her thigh as she looked up at her distressed Trainer with worry. "...i-it was too much...!"

"I know...your stress is through the ozone..." Alexa ran her fingers through her golden hair until she found several tangles; she remained silent as she pulled her hair apart to untangle it manually.

"Sounds about right," she sighed finally.

"Buneary...!"

"So, uh...what do we do now? I guess going back to your parents is out of the question," Ryder guessed.

"Yep," Alexa said quickly. She leaned back and kept quiet as she began to consider her remaining choices, Ryder and Jollie watching her slightly anxiously throughout her pondering. "...we should be in Driftveil in little over an hour if we leave now."

"Driftveil?" Ryder questioned.

"It's like I said; I want to check on the damage Keith suffered through... Plus...I said I'd see him if I couldn't nip things in the bud...it's apparent that I made things worse instead..." Now Ryder and Jollie had further reason to fear for Alexa's well-being; it was evident that Alexa was starting to believe her father's harsh words.

"A-And going to Driftveil on foot will give both you and Keith time to collect yourselves?" Ryder asked, hoping to change the subject. Alexa nodded.

"Exactly; the more time we take, the better." Ryder and Jollie smiled at Alexa.

"Lead the way, m'lady."

"Bun-bun!" Alexa chuckled as she pulled her Lucario and Buneary into a gentle cuddle that they happily returned to her.

"Thanks, guys...it's good to know I still have someone in my corner..."

"You've always got us – and the rest of your Pokémon – in your corner."

"I know...that doesn't mean I appreciate it any less...thank you."

"Bun-eary~!" Jollie nuzzled Alexa's cheek, making her laugh.

"And I love all of you, too." Alexa chose to hold her Buneary in one arm as she and Ryder stood up from the bench and looked towards the gateway that led to Nimbasa City. "How many times have we been to Nimbasa City now?" she asked as she and Ryder made their way towards the city in question.

"I think we all lost track ages ago," Ryder laughed.

To be continued...