Counterbalanced – Chapter 18

Yena stretched out on the grass, Oshawott immediately following her example with an almost comical precision.
Munna was nearby as well, floating closer to the ground than usual.

Yena sighed as she stretched out her limbs, convinced she had never felt this exhausted.
She reached out to Oshawott, scratching his belly for a moment.

"Are you okay, Oshawott? Do you feel any stronger yet?"

She giggled as the Pokémon exhaled dramatically, then yawned.

"Isn't it odd…? We feel so tired now, but I think we'll turn out to be a better team in the end."

She pushed herself up on her elbows, observing Alex and Chase, who were still training.

Chase had immediately taken charge of their training schedule, determining what points both young trainers should work on.
Because Yena had only just started out, she had been given a series of exercises to do with both Oshawott and Munna, designed on building and tightening their bonds. Among other things, like practising battles and improving attacks, she had been playing hide-and-seek with Scout until she managed to elude the little girl for more than fifteen minutes. She still couldn't quite see the point, but she was happy to play the game with the overjoyed five-year old, and fascinated by the girl's tracking skills.

Movement on the field attracted her attention.

At first glance, it seemed like Alex was attacking Chase, grabbing the man's shirt near his throat, and pulling him closer, as if to intimidate him.
Ignoring how her exhausted muscles protested, Yena sat up, but after a moment, she noticed how Alex was calmly talking to Chase, as if he was giving him instructions.

Chase nodded once, looking very serious.
Careful not to hit Alex too hard, he kicked against the youth's leg, then made a a punching movement towards Alex' stomach. Alex let go of him, and Chase backed off.

Yena couldn't quite hear what Alex was saying, but with a shock, she realised they were acting out the fight between Alex and Quinn in Striaton City's gym, and Alex was currently playing Quinn's role, to show Chase how things happened. Her hunch was confirmed when Alex stormed forward, tackling Chase, so that they both fell on the ground. Alex remained in his position for a moment, leaning over Chase, finishing the scene with the dramatic movement of hitting Chase in the stomach.

Because Yena had only heard the noises of the fight in Striaton City, she was shocked to see what actually happened.
His brute strength had given Quinn quite an advantage, and Yena could tell just how lucky Alex had been, for not seriously getting hurt.

"Muuuu…"

Munna was staring at Alex intently, and Oshawott seemed captivated by what was happening as well.

Both Alex and Chase had gotten back to their feet, and now it was Chase's turn to instruct.
Using his arms and legs to express what he meant, he seemed to give Alex some advise on what to do, should something like this happen again.

Moving somewhat slower than the original attack had been, Chase pushed Alex over with his shoulder.
Alex replied by carefully placing his foot in Chase's stomach, giving in to the motion and pulling the red-haired man onwards into a somersault as he rolled.
Yena watched on as they practised, also observing the other self-defense tricks that followed, and silently hoped Alex and Quinn would never have to face eachother again.

...

"The Gray Guardians… They're not like a… regular orphanage, are they?"

Alex put his hands in his pockets, and looked at Scout, who was running from one treasure to another, happily chatting away, without noticing they weren't really listening. It had been a good idea to take the little girl to the Nacrene Museum - she was showing nothing but excitement when studying the countless meteorites, fossils and skeletons.

Chase had declined their invitation to join them, refusing to show his face in public so much.
It had reminded Yena of Alex, when they had just started to travel together.

A sarcastic grin had appeared on Alex' face.

"What gave it away? The fact that they allowed me to go and steal a Pokédex?
Or maybe the idea of them supporting my efforts to create a new identity altogether?"

Yena frowned at his bitter tone of voice for a moment.

"Both things are… unusual.
How did you end up joining them?"

Alex pulled his shoulders up, shrugging. He leaned forward, pretending to examine a meteorite.
Yena waited patiently for his reply, smiling and waving at Scout on the other side of the museum as the girl looked around at them.

After a moment, Alex' sighed.

"I suppose… It doesn't hurt to tell you."

He paused.

"The Gray Guardians are like… an underground organisation.
Everyone there has been in some kind of trouble… their situations are so that they will not get help from the government.
Maybe they were kicked out other orphanages for being troublemakers, ran away from home, or… the police is after them.
The only things the Gray Guardians ask of a person joining them are honesty and dedication.
You'll have to tell your full story to Ada, the Gray Guardians' leader. She'll know if it's the complete truth or not."

Yena nodded slowly, even though he was looking away from her.

"That's… close to what I figured. But that doesn't really answer my question.
If both of your parents died in a fire…"

She hesitated.

"…What trouble did you get into?"

She followed him as he stepped to the next vitrine, displaying an oddly shaped fossil.
The card in front of the fossil could probably tell them more about it, but they weren't looking at it.

After a moment of staring blankly at the object, Alex seemed to come to some kind of decision.
He turned around to Yena.

"You already know I ran away from the hospital in Castelia City. It was after they told me…"

He hesitated again.

"…Well, I have an older brother. He's… much older than me.
When I'd say that we don't see eye to eye… that'd be the understatement of the century.
We're nothing alike. In the hospital… they told me he'd be given custody of me."

Alex looked away again.

"So I decided to run for it.
I tried to make my way through the desert on Route 4, but failed miserably, since I wasn't back to full health yet.
Chase found me there, told me about the Gray Guardians… and that's the story."

From the corner of his eyes, he glanced at Yena.
She nodded at him, reassuringly.

"That must've been difficult, Alex."

"Hmm."

"But that's not the full story, is it?"

Alex turned his head, his dark eyes studying her.
He said nothing, but Yena could tell she'd been right.

"You don't have to tell me now. I'm glad you decided to share part of it with me."

Alex slowly exhaled through his nose, thinking the situation over.

"You're scary sometimes, Yena. I honestly thought I was a decent liar."

She smiled.

"You are, but… I've been travelling with you for a while… I can tell when you're being honest."

"I see… well…"

He had now turned around to her fully, and a determined expression had taken place on his face.

"You're right. I haven't told you everything.
And I think I'm… ready to tell you more."

Yena nodded, encouraging him to go on, and her heart fluttered.
She tried to hide the excitement she felt, that was usually part of hearing a secret.

Alex glanced around the museum for a moment, looking quite nervous.

"You see… What I've been meaning to tell y-…"

But her heart sank again, as he was cut off by a loud crash at the back of the museum, followed by the sound of Scout crying.
Alex immediately turned around, hurrying past the displays, Yena following right after him.

They found Scout near the back of the museum, where a large Pokémon skeleton had been standing, until the little girl had decided to climb it, using the ribs as a ladder. The skeleton had collapsed, and the bones had scattered across the floor. Scout was sitting among them, crying with a deafening intensity.

She clinged to Alex the moment he reached her.
He used the sleeve of his sweater to wipe away most of her tears, telling her to stop crying while he quickly checked her for any injuries.
The little girl buried her face into his shoulder, still sobbing, but slowly calming down.

Alex exchanged glances with Yena, after he looked at the mess around them.
Yena picked up one of the bones.

"Maybe we should…"

She nearly dropped it as a Pokémon appeared by her side, angrily barking at the situation.
The Herdier was quickly followed by its owner - a tall woman with wild, teal curls, making her bushy hair stand up as a whole.
The woman took a moment to study the scene, then folded her arms. She turned her head, and called out to someone at the entrance:

"It's okay, Hawes! Another kid climbed the Dragonite skeleton.
I told you we should put a fence around it.
Why don't you gather some men to assemble it again?"

A male voice replied to her that he would make such arrangements, and the woman turned back at them.

"You guys look like Deerling caught in the headlights of a car.
Don't worry, my husband is really good at putting together skeletons like this, he's had some practise in the past."

She leaned forward, studying Scout, who was still sniffing.

"Are you okay, dear?"

Scout looked up from Alex' shoulder, rubbing her eyes.
Her voice sounded thin as she stammered:

"I was going to… wave at Alex and Yena… from the top."

She sniffed, but before she could start crying again, Alex asked:

"Are you the director of the museum?"

Taken aback by Alex lack of tact, Yena quickly added:

"And we're sorry for the mess we've made, of course.
We should've kept a closer eye on her."

The woman laughed, amused by Yena's obvious attempts at salvaging the situation.

"You're a bunch of troublemakers, aren't you? Yes, I'm the director of the museum.
My name is Lenora, and I'm also this city's gym leader. Are you guys here to challenge me?"

Alex put Scout back to the ground, but held her hand to keep her from wandering off again.

"Yes."

Yena hesitated.

"Really, Alex…? I don't think I'm ready yet…
We were really just visiting the museum."

The woman nodded.

"Well, of course you're both welcome to challenge me at any time.
But to reach me, you'll have to solve the riddles in the library over there."

Lenora gestured at a door at the back at the museum.
Then she added, with a wink:

"But I do hope you guys are better at battling than you are at visiting a museum…"

Scout pulled Alex arm, pouting.

"Can we go back now?"

Yena apologised to an amused Lenora again, before following Alex and Scout to the exit.

As she caught up with Alex outside, he let go of Scout's hand, and she immediately ran for the trees of Route 3, where their camp was located, and where Chase would be waiting. Yena looked at the running girl, who sometimes stopped to put the yellow bag right, whenever it threatened to fall off her shoulder.

"Scout seems to be really comfortable around you, Alex."

His eyes were also following Scout.

"Scout likes just about anything and anyone."

But Yena wasn't giving up so easily.

"Still… You're looking out for her. It's nice that you two get along so well."

He glanced at her for a moment.

"Of course I'm looking out for her.
You should know that being mean to Scout guarantees a one-way ticket out of the Gray Guardians."

"Wow. That's harsh."

"…Not really."

He leaned in a bit closer to Yena.

"…Not if you know that she's Ada's only grandchild, her one remaining relative.
And seeing as Ada is the leader of the Gray Guardians…
Well, she has a lot of power over everyone."

...

They found Chase on the edge of the open field, making a fire.
Yena could sense Alex' dismay about it, but he said nothing, knowing better than to protest against Chase's decisions.

Chase gestured at Yena to come closer.
When she walked around the campfire, he pointed at the glass egg case standing nearby.

He had agreed on keeping it safe in the time that the three of them visited Nacrene City's museum.

"I think I heard some sounds coming from your egg."

When he saw the delighted expression on Yena's face, he added:

"I don't know a lot about eggs, so it may not mean anything."

But Yena had already removed the top off the glass case, accompanied by Scout, and both girls leaned in close to listen.

They gasped and giggled nervously as soft squealing could be heard coming from inside the yellow and white egg.
Alex had come closer as well, smiling at the girls' enthusiasm. Yena looked up to him.

"I think it'll be hatching soon…!"