Chapter 61

"I'm hungry…" Cherry whined as she followed Mark down the hallway of the Pokémon Center, "can't this wait? Her room is down the hall from us."

"Kim said she had some news about Team Deus," he reminded the small Charmander-girl, "it'll only take a minute." Kim's fight had taken an unusually long time. Most of it was devoted to Cotton's battle with the human Glalie. Cherry had complained she was hungry at the start, and that was an hour ago. "We'll eat soon, I promise," Mark sighed. Soon, he realized, is a relative term, though.

Giving up on her trainer, Cherry turned to Maple. The Leafeon-girl shuffled along behind them, her eyes on the floor and her ears drooping forward. Cherry was about to ask if she would help her find something to eat, but she thought better of it when she saw that forlorn expression.

Cherry had only been with the two a short time, but something wasn't right here. Whatever was bothering Maple, Mark either didn't notice or ignored it. He hadn't once asked her if anything was wrong, though it was obvious from looking at her. Cherry had known since they were still in the woods, but what could she say? Mark should know, but he wasn't doing anything.

"Here we go," Mark announced. He knocked before opening the door into Kim's room.

"-difference does it make?!" Kim was yelling, though it wasn't clear who it was directed at, "we won, didn't we? It's a team effort, asshole!"

"Uh…hey, everybody," Mark crept into the room, afraid to get drawn into the argument. Cherry was right behind him, but she held the door to wait for Maple to catch up.

"Hey, noob," Kim lightly punched his arm, which was still sore from when Aurum had hit him with his fishing pole that morning, "what'd you think of our win?"

"Very impressive," Mark nodded, "guess you're going onto Round Two…as well." He fumbled with the phrase.

"Yep, that Blake guy was a tough son of a bitch," Kim mused, "lucky you two didn't have to fight him." Once Cherry was in the room, she took a long look at the occupants. The little Jumpluff-girl was missing, but both the human Raichu and Vaporeon were there. Volt was in the worst condition, with his head wrapped in bandages. As he leaned against the wall, he looked so dizzy he might pass out. Sprinkle, the Vaporeon-girl, sat on the bed. Though her wounds were healed, she rubbed at the spot where her burn had been.

"Hey! We…" Mark glanced over his shoulder at Maple, normally she would have jumped in at this point, but there was only silence, "we would've been fine."

"Uh-huh," Kim teased, "electric, ice and fire against grass. Yeah, you would've been fiiiine," she let it dig at him for a few more seconds before adding, "I'm just teasing, you whiny noob. It's the luck of the draw, anyway. Besides, I kicked Tristan's ass last time."

"Uh…good job…" Mark thought he was being subtle, but Cherry easily caught his sideways glances over at Sprinkle. The rest either didn't notice or didn't care. Volt was doing the same, except his dizziness made him stare a bit longer. The Vaporeon-girl was the unspoken main attraction in the room.

"Damn straight," Kim nodded, happy to detail her old victories, "Sprinkle swept him. The guy has a history of getting his ass kicked by Eeveelutions."

"Did she, really?" Maple's voice was a timid whisper, by the door. She had her hands cupped in front of her. Cherry had never seen her do that before.

"Yep," Sprinkle chirped from the bed, "Cerberus thinks he's tough, but he's just a wittle puppy." She giggled, quiet and girlish.

"Oh," Maple nodded, looked from Mark to Sprinkle and back to Mark again before looking at the floor.

Kim paused. Her own gaze shifted around the room. She happened to catch Mark glancing at Sprinkle again. Oh, he wanted to stare, that was obvious. But he didn't need to stare for everyone else to get the hint. Volt was old news, but the sixteen-year-old boy was not. This could be fun.

"Oh, hey," Kim began, "you guys haven't met Sprinkle yet," she waved the Vaporeon-girl forward, "come say 'hi.'" Sprinkle's usual crowd of perverts made Kim sick, but Mark was a quiet teenager who thought too much for his own good. She couldn't resist seeing what happened when she put the curvy, scantily-clad Sprinkle in front of him.

Just the look on his face when she jumped from the bed to the floor was priceless.

"Nice to meet you," Sprinkle shook Mark's hand politely, "Kim's told me lots about you."

"S-she has?" he stammered.

"Yep," Sprinkle bounced, "nothing bad. She says you worry a lot, but you're still a nice person."

"Uh, yes," Mark drew a blank on how to answer but words were coming out anyway, "yes, I'm a very nice person. Thank you for noticing. Very nice." Idiot, he thought. Sprinkle giggled, though. That was nice to see, but it made him feel like even more of an idiot.

"Smooth, noob," Kim snickered, "smooth."

"And you're Maple, right?" Sprinkle moved on to the Leafeon-girl. She hugged her and Maple could feel her…pressing into her. However, she did not hug Sprinkle back.

"Hmm…" Sprinkle peered at Maple, looking for something that wasn't there. Maple's depression was obvious, but Sprinkle still looked confused. "Kim said you're usually cheerful…"

"I'm…tired," Maple closed her eyes and shook her head, "I get tired once the sun goes down."

"Hungry too," Cherry groaned from Maple's side.

"I'm sorry, I don't know who you are," Sprinkle knelt down in front of Cherry, "what's your name?"

"Cherry," she answered. She peered at Sprinkle, wondering what was so special about her. Her face was pretty, but…was that it? Whatever it was, only the guys seemed to pick up on it.

"Cherry?" Sprinkle nodded with approval, "that's cute. It matches your hair." She cupped a few strands to get a closer look at it.

"Sort of," Cherry pulled her hair back, "actual cherries are a bit darker."

"I see," Sprinkle nodded, more amused than anything.

Cherry looked back and forth between Mark and Maple. There was something going on in this room that she didn't understand. Something that nobody wanted to talk about. And yet everybody kept looking back and forth, reading the looks in each other's eyes. What in Arceus's name was going on?

"Well, it's still pretty," Sprinkle concluded, "and so are you." She patted Cherry on the head and grew even more confused when the girl scowled at her.

"So, Kim," Mark started, "you said you had some information on Team Deus?"

"Oh, right," lost in the drama that Sprinkle naturally created she forgot why she had called them here, "I came up with a theory about who we're up against."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, from looking at their base, they had to get that money from somewhere," Kim explained, "nothing in that place was cheap and to hide it underneath the island like that…whoever's funding them has to be involved with the tournament."

"Go on," Mark stopped glancing at Sprinkle as Kim divulged her theory.

"They built it right underneath the island without anyone noticing. Now, there's been a lot of construction around here. The hotel, the Pokémon Center, the stadium, all of that stuff was built just so they could have the tournament here. They had to put it here. It's quiet, it's remote and without the tournament, it was just a quiet little fishing village. Nobody knew what all of the digging and drilling was really for and nobody cared. But do you know why nobody cared?"

Mark shrugged. Cherry was having difficulty just keeping up.

"Nobody cared because none of the islanders paid for it all. Everything came out of the pocket of the man who founded the tournament."

"Alfred Silph," Mark finished.

"Exactly," Kim grinned as she nodded, "he paid for the tournament, the stadium, everything. And while it was being built, he was building that little laboratory of his."

"So, you're saying that he started the tournament to trap human Pokémon here?"

"Exactly," Kim finished.

"Then…" Mark considered the idea, but saw no flaws, "It all fits…" It did. Alfred Silph had poured millions of dollars into this project. Why? Just so a tiny and scattered population of human Pokémon could come together. What was in it for him? The answer was research subjects.

Human Pokémon were at least twice as powerful as normal Pokémon, but they were also smarter and more independent of their trainers. Nothing in the world could stand up to them. But they were too few. No one knew how they evolved, but if they knew it was possible, then it might also be possible to force it. But it would take money to make a project like that work. And Alfred Silph had plenty.

"So, what does all that mean?" Cherry asked.

"It means we have a very powerful enemy," Mark sighed. He looked around the room. Two humans and four human Pokémon; they were the only ones that knew. Even with Lily and Eric they were still a very small force. Were they meant to take on the creator of the Evolution Cup on their own?

"We need evidence," Mark concluded, "if we can get some evidence out of that base then we can expose the whole thing."

"You want us to go back down there?" Volt managed to protest, "Need I remind you how thoroughly we got our asses kicked last time?"

"I wasn't there last time!" Sprinkle put in, a little too happily.

"Sweetie," Kim put a hand on her shoulder, "you're strong and all, but we almost had to leave you for the horny mob last time."

"Oh," she pouted, "then what do we do?"

"Guess we're back to square one, huh?" Kim asked Mark.

"Guess so," he shrugged, "we'll talk to one of the Four and see what happens."

"Speaking of which," Kim brightened, "how was your group session with Aurum?"

"I killed fifty Aipom," Cherry declared, the flame on her tail swishing energetically.

"Cherry, you didn't kill them," Mark reminded her.

"I could've…" she smirked.

"Sounds like fun," Kim snickered. She liked Mark's little friend.

"Uh, actually, I wanted to ask you something…" Mark started.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well, Aurum's pretty busy with the three of us. Uh…Lily, Eric, and me, I mean. But I can only really train Cherry right now and she needs a lot of time to catch up."

"Okay…" suddenly this felt like the reverse of their last conversation. Did he pick up that behavior from her? No, probably not. Both of them were awkward, Kim realized, just in different ways.

"So, anyway, there's not much for Maple to do," the Leafeon-girl snapped to attention at hearing her name, "but I don't want to leave her alone with everything that's going on with Team Deus. So, could she stay with you for a little bit? Just until Cherry's caught up."

"Sure," Kim agreed without hesitation. She had no reason to believe it would be a bad idea. But right after she agreed, Maple's big, brown eyes looked straight at her. What was that expression? She looked lost, but there was a hurt in her eyes as if Kim had just betrayed her.

But it was too late to take back what she said.

"Okay, that settles it, then," Mark sounded relieved, "I mean, if it's okay with you, Maple."

"Uhh…" Cherry thought Maple was going to become as dizzy as Volt with how her eyes shifted around the room. She checked Mark, then Sprinkle, then Kim, then went back again. Kim was the only one that showed any unease. Mark and Sprinkle were both oblivious.

"If you don't think I can help," Maple sighed.

"Maple," unexpectedly, Mark walked up to her, "Cherry and I just need more time to train. Once we're ready to fight Lily you can train with us again."

"You promise?"

"Promise." He smiled at her and Maple couldn't help but smile back.

"Wow," Sprinkle giggled, "Kim was right, you two are cute…"

"Can we eat now?" Cherry groaned, once more.

Long after Cherry and Mark had fallen asleep, Maple remained awake.

Cherry was nuzzled against her, the girl's flaming tail draped over the side of the bed. It glowed orange-red in the darkness, her personal night-light. Maple peered at the light, watching the flame flicker. Every now and then Cherry fought something in her dreams and it flared for a brief moment, but no one else ever woke.

She watched the light make shadows along the wall. Monstrous shadow-creatures loomed down around the room. But once Maple knew they came from objects as simple as a lamp or a desk chair, they lost their wonder and the room became boring again.

Maple wanted to sleep. She was tired enough for it. All of the energy started to go out of her whenever the sun went down. That had been true even before she had evolved into a girl. Her brother, Eclipse, was the opposite. He was an Umbreon and he loved the night.

His Pokéball was there. It sat on the shelf along with Maple's and Cherry's and Jitter, Maple's other older brother. She was the youngest of that year's litter; the smallest and the weakest, too. Eclipse had been born first, in late spring and next came Jitter in mid-summer. Maple was the last, in the fall. She was the little baby that Mark had taken a special liking to. She had only been a couple months old when he picked her out.

She stared at the Pokéballs a while longer. Her big brothers were inside. Would they want to become humans too? She thought not. She was the only one that had listened to their mother's stories when she was small. Jitter could barely sit still long enough to listen to them and Eclipse thought they were too simple and romantic.

"Life isn't like one of those stories," he would tell her. Mark didn't name them until they evolved, but they knew each other well enough by scent and markings. They didn't need names. Nor did they believe names were important. Only humans believed in names.

It was not even two years ago when Eclipse had told her that life wasn't a story. It was a short time ago, but Maple could barely remember it. She had evolved twice since then and proved to herself that the stories were true.

What did it matter, anyway? Eclipse had still been right. The stories didn't tell truths, they just told beautiful lies.

She wanted to open up his Pokéball and hit him with a Leaf Blade, just for being right.

But that wouldn't make her feel better.

And it wasn't just her. Many other Pokémon evolved into humans just to have their dreams thrown back in their faces. The little Charmander-girl sharing her bed was one of them. She had evolved for the same reason Maple had. Cherry had loved her trainer, but he abandoned her in a cell under the ground. Who could do that to someone who loved them so dearly?

And what about the experiments that Farin had used against them? No Pokémon wanted to exist like that. They had been twisted and warped into soulless fighters. All at the whim of some evil organization that still had no face.

Yes, Eclipse was right. Life wasn't like the fairy tales she grew up believing in. It was filled with pain and hurt and broken dreams. They fought against it, but it was never gone. Sometimes it even felt like the hurt was winning.

But she had known all that before. Eclipse was right, sure, but it didn't matter. It shouldn't have mattered. She could still stand, she could still fight. She could…if only Mark would stand with her.

She supposed that was why she was still awake.

It wasn't just how he looked at Sprinkle. It wasn't just that he didn't tell her about Suicune or that he wouldn't touch her anymore. They were just signs. They weren't the real problem.

Maple's brothers had called her a naïve fool for believing those stories and dismissed her as their hopelessly romantic little sister. Then she evolved and proved they were true, only to lose her parents and the world that she had known since she had been born. She had lost Mark once and they became stronger for it. But even that strength was failing. She didn't want to face it, but she had no choice.

Mark was abandoning her. He was pushing her away and she had no idea why.

Eclipse was right. The stories were stupid.

Mark didn't love her. He had tried to love her, but he couldn't. He didn't look at her the way he looked at Sprinkle. He comforted her, but it was only because she was a friend, nothing more. And she would never be that something more to him.

When Maple finally fell asleep, she was still crying.

AN: well, that's the end of Day 5 and Round One. 48 chapters devoted to the longest section of the tournament (I'm counting from when they get to the island at Chapter 13). Introductions, back stories and fights galore, but no Mewtwo…

Well….cya next time and thanks much for reading!