Chapter 92

What started as fun grew more and more frustrating as the afternoon went on. No matter what attacks she used or how she moved, Cherry could not beat Maple. Maple only needed to be healed every other round and with weaker medicines. Even if the annoying rain wasn't cutting the power to her fire attacks, Cherry doubted she could ever win. She felt completely outclassed.

At one point, Mark took her off to the side and counseled her on how she was fighting.

"It's okay, you can use Dragon Dance here," he had told her, "nobody will see and you'll be a lot faster. It'll help."

He was right, it did help. But it wasn't enough. Any time she used Dragon Dance was time that Maple could come after her with another Leaf Blade. Cherry could take no more than two direct hits before she was unconscious. After that, the next thing she knew was Mark giving her another Revive and that weird tingling sensation as her wounds closed on their own.

It was hard to tell if she was making any progress. Fire Spin gave her the worst headache yet around mid-afternoon-which was all for nothing because Mark told her it wasn't strong enough to be worth remembering-but that was the only sign. If she was hurting Maple any more than before, she couldn't tell. Of course, Maple was getting stronger at the same time and learning how to fight back. She was less and less scared of Cherry's Flamethrower every time it hit her.

She wanted to beat Maple. If she could do that much then Shinobi would seem like a joke. "Sweat in training so you don't have to bleed in battle." She liked that. Maple was tougher than Shinobi. She had to be. If Cherry could get her just once…

"Alright, that's enough," Mark declared, "let's stop for today."

"What?! Already?!" Cherry yelled. She had no idea how many rounds she had gone against Maple. But the sky did seem a little bit darker…

"It's been four hours, I'm almost out of medicine, and the rain's about to stop," Mark listed, "we're done."

"The rain's stopping?" Maple asked. She held out her hand. She could only feel a few droplets. It would stop entirely any minute.

"Then one more!" Cherry begged, "Let me try it out of the rain! I can beat her if there's no rain!"

"You don't have to beat her," Mark shook his head, "you have to beat Shinobi. And, thankfully, the sun will be out tomorrow."

"But-"

"You can beat her next time," Mark reminded her, "besides; we need to get something to eat. It's almost dinner time."

"Fine…" Cherry crossed her arms, "but we're training more tonight, right?"

Mark thought about that one. More training couldn't hurt, but he was starting to worry about Cherry. It was odd how quickly they had switched roles. Before, Mark was pushing her to train and now Cherry was doing the same to him. Apparently Claire had been able to motivate her in ways Mark couldn't imagine.

Unfortunately, there were side-effects to her newfound determination. All afternoon he had watched her grow more angry and frustrated at her inability to defeat Maple. He had to admit that after a whole afternoon, he expected Cherry to win at least once. Especially since Maple was not always at full strength. Rain or not, Cherry couldn't be that far behind Maple, could she?

Regardless, he could tell that Cherry needed a break. She needed time to relax and calm down before the match. If not, she'd go in still angry and much more likely to make a mistake.

"We'll see," he told her, "now, shake hands."

He made the two Pokémon-girls shake. Their fights had begun on friendly terms. He wanted to make sure it stayed that way.

Mark thought a lot about how friendly a Pokémon match could be while he had watched the two. It was just like when Cara had fought RiverofTears. They may have started as enemies, but they were friends before it was over. The realization came to him that he had forgotten that side of Pokémon battles.

Undoubtedly, it was because of his earlier battles on Himitsu. When he had first arrived, the island was unfamiliar and hostile. He had to learn everything he could while defending himself and Maple against threats like Team Deus and Tristan. Team Deus was still out there, but worrying about it would change nothing. His friends were safe. That was what mattered.

It was clear to him that he had been pushing Cherry too hard. The morning had taught him that, if nothing else. He would have to make it up to her. Show her that battling didn't have to be about winning or losing or who was stronger.

He had a different idea for what to do, that night.

"That was a lot of fun," Maple chirped, taking the smaller girl's hand.

"Maybe for you…" Cherry muttered.

"Cherry…" Mark warned.

"Fine…" she groaned, "yes, it was fun…"

"Good," Mark nodded. He turned back to Aurum. The old man never did go back to fishing that day. Instead he had watched them all from a safe distance away. He watched quietly and did not scold or interrupt them even once.

"We're leaving for today," Mark called to him, "thanks again, for your help!"

Aurum merely nodded and began walking towards his fishing chair.

"So…dinner?" Maple asked.

"Yep," Mark agreed, "you've both earned it."

Shinobi crouched in watchful silence. His ruby-red eyes darted back and forth over the room's other occupants. He watched for signs of weakness or breaking. But most of all, he watched with hope. Hope that by the time the night was over, his group of friends would be a team again. And they would be ready for any challenge.

"Silver…" Aroma coaxed, "why don't you start?"

"No," the human Absol pouted, "why are we doing this?"

"Because there's been a lot of tension between all of us, recently," Aroma explained, "and we need to work it out."

The Meganium-woman sat in the middle of Lily's bed. On her right, Silver slouched in the desk chair with his arms folded, tapping his foot impatiently. To Aroma's left, Lily crouched against the headboard of her bed. She hugged a pillow while surfing the internet on her laptop, which sat on the nightstand. Shinobi sat sentinel over them all on the opposite bed.

"Come now," Aroma urged like a family therapist, "we're all adults here. I'm sure-"

"Adults?" Silver interrupted, "HA!"

"Hey!" Lily yelled. She grabbed a second pillow and threw it at him. She missed and nearly toppled a lamp, instead.

"See what I mean?!" Silver shouted as he caught the lamp. He said it as though it was all the evidence anyone would need.

"Now, now," Aroma breathed deep to keep herself calm, "we won't get anywhere unless we respect each other," she turned to her trainer, "Lily, don't throw pillows."

"I'm sorry…" she apologized in a small voice.

"And Silver," Aroma turned to her lover next, "don't interrupt."

Silver didn't respond. He only turned away so Aroma wouldn't see him rolling his eyes. This whole thing was ludicrous and unnecessary. What had he done to deserve this? As far as he could tell: nothing. Hell, he had done a few things that should excuse him from this ridiculous scene. Things like…oh, who knows? Maybe leading a rescue mission into the base of Team Deus to save the woman he loved?! Did that ring any bells?!

"Silver…" Aroma coaxed again, this time with a sharper edge on her voice.

"Fine," Silver shrugged and turned back.

"Good," Aroma nodded, "that's good. Now, as I was saying, we're all adults here. There's no reason we can't work through our problems," she paused and took hold of Lily's left hand in her left and Silver's left in her right, "that way we can get along together again. And we can be a team and a family. Now how does that sound?"

"And we can all live in Fairyland, where it never rains but there's always a rainbow, and you can have candy for breakfast and-"

"Silver…" Aroma cut him off, gritting her teeth.

"What?" he groaned, "And you said not to interrupt."

Aroma closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

"If you don't start taking this more seriously," Aroma warned, "then you're going to be sleeping in the lobby tonight."

"Fine…" he gave in, "I'll play along."

"Good," Aroma exhaled. She bounced their hands up and down. "Now…the key to a nice, happy relationship is communication. So, we are going to sit here and we are going to talk."

"What about?" Lily asked. She'd rather go back to her laptop.

"We are going to talk about how we feel," Aroma said serenely, "and we'll find a way so that everyone can feel better."

"Okay…" it was Lily's turn to look away and roll her eyes.

"This can work," Aroma encouraged, "you just need to be open-minded and give it a chance," she paused, wondering how to move forward, "uhh…Shinobi. Tell us about how you feel?"

"Excuse me?" the human-Ninjask responded in his usual, emotionless voice. He hadn't realized that he was included in this.

"HIM?!" Silver was incredulous, "he doesn't feel squat! NEXT!"

"Silver!" Aroma scolded.

"Right, right, sleeping in the lobby," he nodded quickly, "okay, let's hear it, then." He leaned forward and propped his head on his free hand, "how do you feel, Shinobi?" Aroma and Lily watched the human Ninjask expectantly.

"Umm…" Shinobi searched himself.

"Take your time," Aroma encouraged.

"I feel…" Shinobi closed his eyes and concentrated, "I feel…sad…"

"Good, Shinobi," Aroma nodded, "thank you for sharing. And-"

"I also feel…disappointed," he went on, never opening his eyes, "Sad and disappointed. Yet also frustrated and angry…"

"And why do you think-"

"Sad, disappointed, frustrated and angry," Shinobi's voice grew oddly anxious. None of the others remembered a time when he put any inflexion in his voice at all. "I am sad, disappointed, frustrated and angry. Mistress Lily loves and cares for all of us. Yet Silver only thinks of it as smothering and restrictive. He responds by running away to Aroma, who gladly accepts. She welcomes him and thinks nothing of Mistress Lily's own feelings. And while Mistress Lily is heartbroken, there is nothing I can do because her only concerns are the feelings of Silver and Aroma. And now we all sit here playing games so that Aroma can clear her own conscious and run away with Silver. I am sad for Mistress Lily. I am disappointed with Silver and Aroma. And I am frustrated and angry at myself because I can do nothing to help."

He opened his eyes.

"Well…uh…" Aroma stumbled, "Silver…do you have anything to say to Shinobi?"

Silver looked at Aroma with an alarmed expression. It was a look that asked if he had heard her right. Had she really just asked him to stop the runaway freight train with nothing more than a thirty-foot nylon rope?

"Uh…Shinobi…" Silver racked his brain, trying to come up with something to appease the ninja, "I…hear what you're saying…and I respect your feelings," Sweet Arceus, HELP! "But…you forgot something…"

Shinobi's red gaze shifted to Silver.

The human Absol took a deep breath before continuing.

"Aroma and I are in love," Silver explained. He squeezed Aroma's hand. "I love her and she loves me. It is very important that we stay true to those feelings. I am sorry that you feel the way that you do, but we do not mean to hurt you or Lily."

He exhaled and leaned back, giving Aroma's hand another squeeze. They all watched Shinobi, wondering how he would react.

After a moment of quiet contemplation, Shinobi nodded.

"I understand," he said in his usual tone.

"There…" Aroma smiled, taking it as a sign, "now don't you both feel better."

"I think so…" Silver agreed.

Shinobi closed his eyes, "…somewhat." To the others' relief, he did not elaborate.

"Good…" Aroma nodded, eager to go on, "and Silver. How do you feel?"

That was the point where it all started to fall apart.

Maple heard the shouting the moment she stepped off the elevator with Mark and Cherry. She turned to the others, but neither of them heard it yet. It was muffled and far away so she had trouble making it out. She hoped it wasn't coming from Lily's room…

Though Cherry had been frustrated that they weren't going to spend the night training, Mark had convinced them to go visit Lily. They were all friends and he said it was important to stay friends, no matter what happened during their match. So, he wanted to visit Lily. They would let her know that they were looking to a fun, fair match between friends. Whoever won or lost, there would be no hard feelings.

The shouting grew louder as they walked down the hall.

Maple still could not make out any of the words they were saying, but she could tell it was from Lily's room. Mark and Cherry could hear them too. They each exchanged worried glances. This could be very bad.

"I am NOT being selfish!" Maple could hear Silver screaming on the other side of the door, "We're not Pokémon anymore! We can live our own lives and make our own decisions!"

"Silver! Sit down and stop shouting!" that was probably Aroma. Maple wasn't sure because she couldn't remember exactly what Aroma sounded like.

Maple, Mark and Cherry were all standing outside of Lily's room. Maple was certain the others could hear the shouting from this close. No one moved.

"And why are you playing along with this, huh?!" more of Silver's voice, "We don't need to apologize or make up for anything! Why do we have to be the ones to make excuses! We're in love, dammit!"

"If you're so innocent, then why do you sneak out every morning?!" Lily's voice joined the shouting.

"So we don't have to deal with you clinging to us every second!" Silver returned, "We need time to be alone and not drag you with us! We had to do it in the woods, thanks to you!"

"EWWW! I did NOT want to hear that!" Lily screeched.

"SILVER!" Aroma gasped. She said something else to Lily that Maple couldn't quite make out, since she wasn't yelling.

"Oh, sure!" Silver went on, "Take her side! Blame this whole thing on me!"

"There are no sides, Silver!" Aroma shot back.

"Uhh…" Mark fidgeted, "we should probably go…"

"Why?" Maple asked. She wanted him to knock on the door.

"Because it's none of our business," Mark shrugged, "we shouldn't get involved."

"But they're our friends, right?" Maple asked, "That means we should help."

"Well, yeah…" Mark hesitated, wondering how he could explain this, "but…this doesn't concern us. There's probably nothing we can do."

"But what if there is?" Maple asked. She raised her hand to knock on the door.

"Maple, don't!" Mark put his hand up.

"What?" Maple blinked at him, "we came to wish each other luck tomorrow…right?"

"Right…"

"Then that's all we're saying," Maple explained, "and then we're leaving. Right?"

Mark blinked back and thought. "You just want to stop the fight?"
"Uh-huh," Maple nodded.

"Okay…" Mark agreed, "Let's hope it works."

Maple knocked.

The shouting ended.

There was a lot of shuffling around and harsh mumbling that Maple couldn't make out. Aroma answered the door.

"Hello!" Maple beamed, "your name's Aroma, right?"

"Uh, yes…" the Meganium-woman nodded, "uh…you're…Maple?"

"Yep!" she chirped, "it's nice to see you again!"

"Did we come at a bad time?" Mark asked. His instincts screamed at him to leave and to not get involved any further.

Cherry stayed silent. She had no idea what was happening and part of her didn't want to know.

"Uh, n-no," Aroma shook her head, "c-come in." Aroma stepped aside to let the three enter. Maple led with Mark behind her. Cherry stayed close behind him, just barely resisting the urge to hug his leg.

Nothing was broken and no one seemed to be injured. Mark let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in.

"Hello, Lily!" Maple greeted. She trotted over and sat down beside her, on the bed.

"Uh, hi," Lily nodded.

"How are you?" Maple asked cheerfully.

"Umm…okay…I guess…"

The tension in the air was stifling.

"So…" Mark searched for words, "tomorrow's…our big match."

"Oh, yeah," Lily nodded, though she said it as if she had forgotten what a Pokémon battle was.

"Are you guys all ready?" he asked, looking around the room.

Silver was slouching against the wall. He wore the sourest expression Mark had ever seen a person make. Shinobi crouched on the bed nearest the door, vigilant over them all. Aroma was still back at the door, as if afraid to re-enter the room.

"We'll be there," Silver grumbled.

"It will be an honor," Shinobi added.

"Uh, yeah," Lily nodded, "yeah, we'll be ready."

Maple watched Silver. Every move, every glance, every twitch, she noted. Whatever was wrong, she was convinced that Silver was the source of it. What would she need to do to set things right? How badly would she need to beat him in the morning?

He never noticed. He was too busy trying not to make eye contact with anyone in the room.

"So…uhh...good luck, I guess," Mark was all too eager to leave, "I…hope we can have a nice, fun match…and that we're still friends when it's all over."

"Uh-huh," Lily agreed, "sure."

"Okay," Mark nodded.

"Okay," Lily nodded back.

"Then…I guess we'll get going," he turned to leave, "c'mon Maple."

"'kay," Maple hopped up off of the bed. When she reached the doorway, she called back into the room, "It was good seeing all of you!" A murmur of agreement followed before Aroma gave one last polite smile and closed the door behind them.

"Okay," Mark shook his head and took a deep breath, "let's get going. We all need to get some rest."

"In a minute…" Maple said. She waited at the door a bit longer. Her ears perked high up.

"Maple…" Mark urged, "Come on…"

Maple waited a full minute. There was no shouting. At first, there was no noise at all. Then, gradually, she could hear the soft murmur of normal conversation.

"Okay," she nodded, "I'm ready."

She joined Mark and Cherry as they all left for the elevator. She still listened as they walked down the hall, wary for the sounds of a fresh argument starting.

Now that the sun was down, she was starting to feel tired. But now she also felt energized. Her heart was racing from the excitement of what she just did.

Mark had warned her not to, but she did it anyway. And it was a good thing she had. What would have happened if she hadn't knocked on that door? Would somebody have been hurt? She had no way to know for sure, but she felt as if she had done something important.

And she knew it wasn't over, as well. The arguments could start up again at any time and her friend's life would be all the more miserable because of it. She had to do something. She had to stop it.

It would be several more hours before Maple was tired enough to fall asleep. She was too excited and eager to sleep. In the morning, she would help Lily undo all of the cruel things Silver had done to her.

AN: awkward…

Remember kids: domestic disputes are no laughing matter. That being said: I had much more fun writing that "family counseling" part of this chapter than I expected.

But now it's time to get down to business. I spent a lot of time on the morning, and most all of the minor characters are where I want them to be, so, time to end the seventh day and get on to Mark vs. Lily!

See you Thursday!

Thanks for reading!

Additional Note: I would have had this posted yesterday, except that my internet didn't feel like working last night. It's still going in and out, so, I'll have to look into that.