Counterbalanced – Chapter 22

The nearby campfire was keeping her comfortably warm.
The soft breathing of Scout, sleeping next to her, was calming.
She knew she should be asleep, but she wasn't.

Yena opened her eyes as she heard Alex, on the other side of Scout, sigh and sit up.
Seemed like she wasn't the only one still awake.

Just as she rolled over to look at him, Yena could see Alex get to his feet, silently and carefully placing his feet as he walked away from them.
He disappeared out of sight within seconds, as the only source of light was the small fire.

Yena waited for him to come back, staring up at the sky, hoping the dark clouds would part for a moment, and show her the stars.
But minutes went by, and neither Alex, nor the stars appeared.

Yena sat up, staring through the trees and listening intently.

Nothing.

She looked down at Scout, who had curled up around her yellow bag.
Chase was also sleeping nearby, on his back.
Yena could easily imagine him waking up, and getting right to his feet at the first sign of danger.
But now, the red-haired man was sound asleep.

Yena sat there for another five minutes, before she finally got up and made her way through the trees.

...

If he hadn't said anything, she would've walked right past him.

"Here, Yena."

His voice sounded a bit different.

Alex was sitting down, his back against one of the trees, his shoulders pulled up, just staring into the darkness.
He moved aside as Yena quietly joined him.

After a moment, Yena broke the silence.

"…So you couldn't sleep either, huh?"

"No…"

He breathed in deep, but did so quite shakily.
Yena waited.

Alex pulled up his legs, then put his arms around them.
He was looking away from her as he whispered:

"I'm so nervous, Yena…"

Yena had been thinking about the next couple of days as well, but by the look of things,
didn't feel anywhere near as tense as Alex.

"…About going to Castelia City?"

He nodded, and his voice got a little steadier as he talked:

"I didn't expect us both to get our badges on the first try…
We're leaving sooner than I thought…
On the one side… I really want to show you the place.
This might sound strange, but the city's like an amazing, massive forest.
Places to climb on, little alleys to explore… But on the other side…"

He hesitated.

"…There's that message Chase passed on to me, from Ada."

"About something important that's about to happen?"

He looked at her for a moment, and even in the dark, Yena was sure she saw fear flash across his face.

"…What are you afraid of, Alex?"

She had to wait for the answer to her question for a while.
But when Alex spoke up, the sound of panic in his voice confirmed her earlier observation.

His words came out in an incoherent fashion.
Yena suddenly felt like he was talking to himself, more than to her, as if he was continuing his own inner conversation, from before Yena had shown up.

"The only important thing I can think of… I don't know how, I haven't told…
If someone found out… But how can they…
They've always thought so anyway, made the same mistake…"

He got to his feet fast, turning to Yena, his eyes wide.

"I'm caught, Yena…"

"…Caught?"

"In a web of lies. One I built around myself... It's so complicated, sometimes…
But it's the only thing keeping me up…"

He shook his head.

"What if Ada meant… I can't just return to my old self, I just can't. I don't want to…"

Yena got up as well, trying to calm her friend down.
He didn't seem to really realise she was there anymore, until she grabbed both of his arms.

She looked into his dark eyes as she stated:

"Maybe you should wait panicking until you actually talk to Ada herself?
But if it bothers you so much, then you can tell me, Alex.
Really, I won't run away after hearing it, and if you don't want me to, I won't tell anyone else.
You'll see that the truth it's not so bad, once you share it with someone."

He seriously considered her for a moment, then pulled himself from her grip, backing away.

"I can't… I don't want to pull you into this mess, Yena."

Before she could stop him, he turned around and hurried back to the camp.

...

Alex avoided to even look at her all through breakfast, taking on time-consuming tasks, such as cleaning up the ashes from their campfire, and refilling all water bottles from a nearby stream. When they eventually left, Alex stayed close to Chase, quietly walking alongside the older man.

Yena was left with Scout, and listened half-heartedly to the girl's enthusiastic chatter about her best friends from the Gray Guardians in Castelia City, while keeping an eye on Chase and Alex in front of them at the same time.

The two had set quite a steady pace, which Scout could hardly keep up with.

As a result, the distance between them had soon grown to an extent that she couldn't hear what they were talking about anymore.
But there was definitely some conversation between them going on.
Yena could see the argument happening as she observed them:

The first thirty minutes of their journey out of Nacrene City had been quiet, but as they reached Pinwheel Forest, Yena could see Chase turning his head to Alex, asking or telling him something. Alex responded immediately, talking loudly, as Yena could hear his angry tone of voice from where she was walking.

It went on for a while – but Yena could finally observe Chase in his makeshift father-role:
Chase's strict and composed way of talking eventually calmed down Alex.

Pinwheel Forest stretched out as far as she could look, and she would've loved to venture out on the various little paths leading away from the main road, breathing in the fresh air as she went. She suspected Alex of feeling the same way, as she could see him peering through the trees longingly.

But Chase, showing the way, never led them from the asphalted road, that went straight through the center of Pinwheel Forest.
As the end of the forest came into view, Yena had only seen glimpses of the area's Pokémon, thanks to Scout's sharp eyes, who pointed them out to her.

Yena had just crouched down to Scout's level, as the girl had spotted a couple of white, puffy Pokémon floating through the trees together.
She jumped as Alex suddenly appeared by her side, his voice sounding quite flat.

"It's a group of Cottonee."

Chase was still standing where Alex had left him, and Yena felt like the man had won the argument, sending Alex over to her.
The messy-haired youth looked at Scout.

"Chase asks if you want to join him."

Scout nodded, and ran over to Chase, immediately pointing out the Cottonee to him.
Yena waited until the little girl was out of earshot.

"Are you okay?"

He shrugged, pulling up his shoulders.

"Yeah. Sure. Whatever."

Yena glanced at him as they walked down the last part of the road.
His whole body language had changed since the last time they talked – his eyes stared into the distance, and his expression was completely neutral, almost indifferent. As he caught her looking at him, he nodded at where they were heading.

"Skyarrow Bridge."

...

No matter how worried she felt about Alex, Skyarro wBridge took Yena's breath away.

The upper half of the SkyarrowBridge was meant for pedastrians, the lower half was reserved for vehicle traffic.
The inspiration for its elegant name was easily found – two supportive spans reached up high into the sky.
The constant rumbling of the cars and trucks travelling down the bridge could occassionally be heard over the rustling trees of Pinwheel Forest. And in the far distance, on the other side of the water, she could see Castelia City's skyscrapers.

"Wow! I can't believe how beautiful it is…!
Imagine designing and building a bridge like that!"

Alex, standing at her side, simply shrugged.
But when Chase gave him an displeased glance, he reluctantly added:

"If you're impressed by that, you'll be blown away by Castelia City."

...

It took them quite a while to cross Skyarrow Bridge.

As they got closer to Castelia City, the number of posters, or any other form of advertisement, increased dramatically - the most popular dance clubs, a new brand of cigarettes, written challenges from the Battle Company and announcements of some concerts on Central Plaza.

Most of these colorful posters were not noticed by Yena.

Her attention was caught up in Alex' behavior, and she felt like she was watching a movie rewind – the closer they got to the city, the more he changed back into the restless, skittish young man she had met in Nuvema Town. He got so stressed out at one point, that Chase had to grab his arm, hold him still and talk to him for a good five minutes before they were able to go on.
But even after he had calmed down a little, he kept frowning, sometimes standing still to stare at one of the posters.

But whenever Yena tried to discover what particular advertisement bothered him so much, he cursed at no one in particular, and insisted on moving on.

All these things made that, when they finally passed through the western gate of the Skyarrow Bridge, Yena did not only have tired legs and feet, but was also affected by Alex' nerves. Her throat seemed to tighten as Chase pointed north through the incredible amount of buildings, and stated:

"Before anything else, we'll introduce you to Ada, Yena."