Counterbalanced – Chapter 24

It took a while for Alex to calm down.

He had been running at first.

But after his lungs had started protesting, he reluctantly resorted to just keeping a steady walking pace.
He had paid little attention to where his feet led him, until he discovered himself standing on Castelia City's wharf.
Coming to a halt, he looked out over the Cruise Dock pier, while slowly breathing in through his nose, trying to catch his breath.

He had just wanted to get away from things, but now that he was standing here all by himself, he wasn't feeling any better.
Ada's predictions went through his head again and again, and made him feel like his past was sneaking up on him, waiting for the right moment to pounce.
He suddenly felt uneasy, standing there in plain sight.

He turned around, and started to make his way back into the city, cursing at himself for being so on edge.

But his swear words turned into a scream as a strong hand grabbed his upper arm, and pulled him aside, into another alley.
In a reflex, Alex swung his free arm around, and was rewarded by a cracking noise as his fist met his attacker's nose.
The hand around his arm released him immediately, accompanied by a cry of pain. Alex backed away.

As he recognised the young man in front of him, his feeling of shock was replaced by offense.

"…Who do you think you are, grabbing me like that?!"

Dark brown curls were hanging down the sides of Quinn's face as the young man looked up, still covering his nose with his hand.
Blood dripped from between his fingers.
His voice sounded muffled.

"You little-…! You broke my nose!"

"That's what you get for pulling someone into a dark alley!"

Quinn's fingers carefully examined the bridge of his nose, flinching as it hurt.

"Aah… I just wanted to ask you where you're hiding Yena."

Alex folded his arms, the sarcasm in his voice perfectly clear.

"Oh, alright then. I scare the hell out of people too, if I want them to tell me things."

But he quickly backed away as Quinn took three wild steps forward.

"Tell me where she is already! What did you do to her?"

Alex held up his hands.

"I didn't do anything to her! What do yo-…"

His words came to an abrupt end as a thought crossed his mind, and a grin spread across his face.
Quinn's usually handsome face was now looking quite ugly, as it was covered in blood, and grimaced in pain, anger and confusion.

"What's so funny?"

Alex leaned slightly forward, studying Quinn.

"You will be meeting him, hmm…?
She never specified who I'd be meeting… You could be him!"

Alex laughed out loud, purely out of relief.

"I may be alright after all…"

"What are you talking about?!"

Alex shook his head.

"Nevermind. Quinn, I never thought I'd say this, but you made me feel a lot better."

"I don't understa-…"

"Of course you don't. But… I'm leaving now."

He gestured at Quinn's face as he turned around.

"You should probably put some ice on that…"

"Wait…!"

He could heard Quinn's enraged voice calling after him as he ran away.
But Alex knew Castelia City by heart, and disappeared into its maze of alleys within seconds.

...

Alex grinned as he placed his hand on his Pokémon's nose, encouraging him to stand still.

"I'm sorry for demoting you to a petting zoo Pokémon, Tauros.
I promise I didn't have much of a choice."

Tauros was standing in the middle of the unit's living room, looking very much out of place.
But Tommy and Cassandra were delighted, stroking his soft manes and feeling the structure of his hooves.
Lily was also admiring Alex' newest Pokémon, and even dared to feel the sharp tip of its horns.

Yena had nestled on the couch near the window, with Sandshrew curled up and asleep on her lap.
She was watching the scene with a surprised smile.
Alex had been in an excellent mood when he returned to the small appartment, even managing to make a good first impression on the young boy and girl, who he had never met, and were new to his unit.

Tauros snorted, causing the children to laugh and jump back.

Lily had told Yena that they assumed Tommy and Cassandra to be twins.
Not much was known about them, except that they ran away from a regular orphanage after hearing they were going to be split up, and going to live with different families.
Now a part of the Gray Guardians, their names had been changed, but they were able to stay together.

Tommy was a bit shorter than Cassandra. His hair, the same color as Yena's, was spiky.
Cassandra's locks were more red than blond, and pulled up into a high, bouncy ponytail.
Their blue eyes and close bond were the only indication of them being siblings.

Yena's attention shifted to the quiet girl sitting on the other end of the sofa.
Morgan was older than Tommy and Cassandra, but younger than Lily.

Her dark brown curls stood up at the ends, and her hair had to be pulled down by two yellow hairpins on both sides of her head.
Lily had informed Yena that Morgan was able to speak, but hardly ever did so.
The girl had politely shaken Yena's hand upon arrival, but had kept her distance since then, minding her own business.

"Wouldn't you like to pet Tauros as well, Morgan?"

Yena gave her an encouraging smile.

Morgan glanced at the large, brown Pokémon in the middle of the room, then shook her head.

"You don't want to? That's okay."

Yena was about to tell Morgan comforting stories about Tauros to make him seem less intimidating, but something Alex said to Lily made her look up.

"You brought Yena here, right?"

Lily's hair fell over her shoulder as she turned her head to him.

"Uh-huh."

"And you two get along?"

"Sure!"

Alex pointed to where Yena was sitting.

"Then give it back."

Lily pouted.

"…You're no fun at all, Alex."

He insisted.

"There'll be no stealing from Yena."

"I was just going to see how long it took her to notice it was missing…!"

Yena's mouth fell open as Lily carefully manoeuvred around Tauros, and gave back her beloved red Pokédex.

"It's a pretty neat thing."

"That's mine…! How did you…?"

Lily grinned.

"You think I ended up with the Gray Guardians because of my excellent behavior?"

She struck a dramatic pose.

"I'm the best pickpocket you'll ever meet.
I took that little machine from your backpack five minutes after I met you."

It dawned on Yena that there had to be a special story behind every child she had seen in CasteliaCity so far, and the thought dazzled her.
She'd probably never get to hear all of them.

Lily pulled a couple of silly faces, making the blond girl laugh.

"Stop that! Now I can't get mad at you for taking it.
Making things disappear like that… You should be a magician!"

Lily turned around, and picked up Cassandra, who wanted to pet Tauros on the head.

"And conjure a flock of Pidove out of a high hat? Maybe I will, someday."

...

Yena was woken up by Tommy and Cassandra, yelling as they played games, and chased eachother around the living room.
Lily, who had slept on the top of their bunk bed, mumbled into her pillow:

"They keep doing that. Every. Single. Morning."

But she seemed to pull herself together, because seconds later, her legs appeared over the edge of the bed, dangling there for a moment before she jumped down.
She called out to the bunk bed near the window, where Morgan and Alex were sleeping.

"Rise and shine, my pretties!
I heard the little ones get up half an hour ago, so they'll be bugging us for breakfast soon."

Morgan rubbed her face as she sat up, smiled and waved at Yena as she saw the blond girl observing her, and made her way to the bathroom.

But Alex, in the top bed, wasn't so fast.
He groaned, and pulled the cover over his head.

"…Count me out for today."

Lily placed her hands on her hips.

"…What happened to your good mood? I'd insist you get out of bed, but you're the boss…
I'm going to make breakfast now."

The white-haired girl went into the living room, and Yena heard her talking to the twins, explaining how loud games were better suited for another time of day.

'My Xatu over there signalled that Alex will be feeling unwell for five days, starting tomorrow.'

Yena sat up in her bed, as Ada's words suddenly came back to her.

"…Are you okay, Alex? Can I get you anything?"

He slowly moved around, and one of his eyes peered at her from under the bedding.

"…What did Ada tell you...?"

Yena got up, careful not to bump her head.

"She just mentioned you were going to feel unwell for a couple of days.
So, what's wrong? How can I help?"

Alex mumbled something before actually speaking up.

"Don't look into it so much. I'll be fine."

...

The following days, Yena really started settling into the Gray Guardians.
She was meeting new people at an incredible fast rate, and discovered there were more adults in the Gray Guardians than just Chase and Ada – the teachers.

Morning classes were carefully planned, in a way that every child was educated with others of approximately their own age, mostly learning about subjects like they'd have on any school, like history and geography. But not all classes were regular subjects. Yena had taken part in one sentry-training class, but wasn't quite comfortable with the heights, so she visited Chase's famous hide-and-seek training the following time, and actually found it quite pleasant to see a familiar face again.

Afternoon classes had more diverse activities in store, and were optional.
It was often a case of older kids working together with the teachers to organize dance, craft or singing classes.
She was invited to join any class she liked, but couldn't quite decide, so she just went with Lily, and had a lot of fun assisting in a dance class for six-year olds.

Talking to people from other units, she learned a little bit more about Alex.

He had arrived two years ago, but immediately started fighting with the boys from the unit he was placed in, taunting their leader again and again.
Chase had placed him in another unit – same result.
That's why it had surprised everyone that Chase eventually started to train him to lead his own unit, a mixed one, even.
But the results had been good.
The students then shrugged, as that was all they knew about Alex, and Yena changed the subject.

Teachers couldn't tell her much more than she already knew.

Alex was stubborn, and didn't respond well to authority, but had made progress since he was leading his own unit.
He was intelligent and daring, sometimes scaring even the sentry-training teacher with rash actions.
He was doing really well in Pokémon-related subjects, and in any training that required agility or stealth.
When Yena talked to the teacher at the dance class, the woman admitted that she always wished that someday, against all odds, Alex would join her.

"Have you seen him move in Chase's classes? That boy has a natural grace.
If only his attitude was a little better…"

As the week progressed, Alex got out of bed more often, but stayed at home most of the time.
He pretended to feel better, but Yena could see how he pressed his hand on his stomach when he thought no one was watching, so she decided to cook the unit meals that were easy to digest, like soup. Lily seemed to be relieved that Yena had taken over the cooking, stating that she was the worst student in the cooking-class.

...

Whether it was because of the good food or something else, Alex got better after five days.

Yena could tell Lily was slightly disappointed.
The girl had gotten used to her leader-role, and saw some of the routines she built up changed again by Alex as he took back over.
But Lily wasn't one to dwell on something for long, and soon used her free time to show Yena around Castelia City.

It was nine days after their first arrival in Castelia City.
Alex got back from a class, just as Yena and Lily were putting on their coats to go out.
Like the units, the different classes were scattered across the neighbourhood.

Energetic as usual, Lily was quick to ask:

"There are some cool things happening at the Central Plaza…!
Would you like to go with us, Alex?"

The Central Plaza was a massive park, in the middle of Castelia City.
People living in the city usually went there to get some sun, and relatively fresh air.

"…That really depends on what you think is cool."

Lily glanced at the clock on the wall.

"There will be some bands playing in less than an hour, and some of them are said to have quite spectacular performances!"

Alex looked slightly taken aback.

"Some bands…
I don't think… I shouldn't…
Aren't we supposed to pick up Tommy and Cassandra from their classes…?
You two go to the concerts, and I'll…"

Lily interrupted him.

"Morgan is taking Tommy and Cassandra to drawing class, so we won't be needed for at least two hours.
You could use some time in the sun…"

Her fingers tried to poke his pale face, and she laughed as he slapped her hand away.

"Oh, come on, Alex. We'll stay on the very edge of the park. I just want to hear the music."

Yena added:

"I've never been to a concert before.
It would be nice to go there with the three of us."

Alex rolled his eyes.

"Fine."