Chapter Nine – Solace & Seals

The sun was gleaming by the time Alexa and her family set foot onto the incredible marvel that was the Marvellous Bridge. A small, yet cooling breeze blew across the entire area, providing adequate relief from the sun's heat. Ryder set Jollie down as the pair ran merrily ahead of the family, who, apart from Daniel, were all engaged in their own separate conversations as they walked. Rhonda looked up at Daniel worriedly from time to time as she walked alongside the contemplating boy.

"Alexa, I need to ask you something," Hailey said rather quickly as she smiled towards her niece. Alexa looked up from her Xtransceiver and turned towards Hailey with a gentle smile.

"What's that?" she asked curiously.

"The thing is," Hailey started, as her smile grew more cheeky. "I have an appointment at the day before the Contest. Since your mother's coming with me, I was wondering if you'd like to come as well." Alexa's smile faded as she raised an eyebrow.

"To the spa?" she asked quizzically.

"Couldn't you have waited until later, Hailey?" Hayden asked in a small sigh.

"I know, I know, but I kinda need to know sooner rather than later; I have to give the spa at least twenty four hours notice for appointment changes," Hailey explained somewhat shyly, smiling sheepishly. "And, after tomorrow, I won't be able to change the appointment."

"What would I gain from a spa treatment?" Alexa asked in bewilderment. "It's not like I can get rid of my throbbing headache with one."

"Oh, do you need something for that?" Hayden asked rather worriedly.

"Not at the moment, Dad, thanks," Alexa smiled kindly. "But you know what I mean."

"I just thought that, maybe, it'd help you relax a little more," Hailey elaborated. "Spas are relaxing as well as give you a nice complexion."

"I wouldn't know, I've only ever been in a hot spring," Alexa muttered quietly.

"Told you so," Hayden remarked towards Hailey.

"It's entirely up to you, sweetie-pie, I won't force you either way," Hailey said considerately. Alexa took a few moments to contemplate her decision. It was true Alexa hadn't received a proper spa treatment before, so she was curious about what it would feel like to have such treatment, but, at the same time, she still questioned whether or not she needed it. Considering her current problems, she came to a decision quicker than she had expected.

"I'd love to," Alexa smiled. Hailey beamed with delight, whilst Hayden looked on with mild shock about his daughter's reply.

"Really? Great! I'll let the spa know sometime after lunch." Hailey grinned and very quietly squealed with excitement. "It'll be so great!"

"Honestly, Hailey, you're like a little kid in a sweet shop," Hayden chuckled.

"Just because I have a sweet tooth, Hayden, it doesn't mean you can pull that analogy out of your hat," Hailey pouted playfully. Alexa found herself smiling a little more; she thought that maybe she was beginning to feel better after making her decision, especially now that she had a new experience to look forward to.

"So, an aura-using Riolu, huh? That's quite a special Pokémon you have there!" Troy complimented. "It certainly took Adelina by surprise!" he laughed. Keenan remained silent, thinking to himself.

"Keenan? Are you feeling all right, honey?" Lily asked apprehensively. Keenan looked up at his mother as Iara climbed up onto his shoulders from his arms.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Keenan replied. "I was just thinking."

"About what, Little Man?" Troy asked curiously.

"Adelina," Keenan replied as he looked away from Lily.

"Hm?" Troy was even more curious.

"What about her?" Lily asked with interest. Keenan was mildly hesitant in his answer.

"She just... I don't know, something about her doesn't feel right..."

"What makes you say that, kiddo?" Troy was quite perplexed. "Is she an imposter, do you think?"

"I don't think that," Keenan replied, trying not to snigger. "But... I just don't think she's as nice as she likes to make people think she is."

"She seemed very nice to me," Lily said in bafflement. "Why do think she's being insincere about it?"

"It's just a feeling I have," Keenan replied waveringly. "I...I don't know how to explain it properly." Keenan knew precisely why he felt suspicious, but chose to hide his true reason, just to be safe and to avoid a heated debate. Troy and Lily faced one another with mutual and momentary bemusement before looking at Keenan again.

"Are you absolutely sure that your suspicions aren't just your imagination?" Lily asked carefully.

"I'm sure," Keenan said confidently. "Alex feels the same way." Lily's eyes widened slightly.

"Oh?"

"It's why we were delayed at the Contest Hall; we were discussing how and what we felt about Adelina."

"Harvey? You feeling all right?" Colin asked tensely. Harvey looked towards his brother-in-law in confusion.

"Hm? Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"I just couldn't help notice you looked a little distracted just now," Colin replied. Daphne walked behind her father, laughing delightfully as she gave her little sister a piggyback ride. Piper flew around the two sister, cooing joyfully. "It probably isn't even any of my business, but-"

"No, it's fine," Harvey smiled weakly. "There aren't any secrets in this family. Then again, this little distraction of mine isn't exactly secret anyway."

"It's Naomi, isn't it?" Colin asked with dread. Harvey nodded.

"I briefly said that she called earlier today, right?"

"Yeah, you said it was why you were delayed," Colin nodded. "What did she want? Is there a problem with the alimony, is there?"

"None whatsoever. Actually...sort of," Harvey sighed. "She wants me to stop the payments."

"Stop the payments?" Colin asked in utter disbelief. "What for?!"

"Hell if I know," Harvey sighed, running his hand through his hair. Laddy moved to Harvey's right shoulder to avoid getting hit by his arm. "I told her to call back later, so I didn't give her a chance to give me the full details, but I guess this means I'll be in court."

"Again? Honestly, as if her throwing the divorce onto you wasn't bad enough," Colin said grumpily. Harvey looked hurt.

"Hm."

"You still love her, don't you?" Colin asked dubiously.

"Even if I did, Naomi certainly made her position very clear; she wanted the divorce more than anything."

"Harvey, did you even speak to her before this morning?" Colin questioned.

"Honestly? I haven't even seen her since she moved out," Harvey said truthfully. "Sure, I paid the alimony when it was due, but...she and I hadn't spoken between the time she moved out and this morning. Truth be told, I'm a little shaken up."

"You hid it from the rest of us really well, though," Colin smiled nicely. "In any case, I'm sure Naomi has a good reason for wanting you to stop the alimony payments."

"She'd better; I don't think the justice system would accept 'I already feel bad about divorcing my husband' as a valid reason," Harvey said unenthusiastically.

"Don't be so hard on yourself; nobody blames you for the divorce," Colin said reassuringly.

"I know. Thanks."

Phoenix flew high up in the air above the bridge. He smiled down as he saw the many interactions among the family members and Ryder continuing to play with Jollie. He flew down on occasion, flying underneath the bridge for the trill of soaring back into the sky.

Daphne looked behind her and suddenly noticed Daniel trailing behind the rest of the family, eyes fixated towards the ground. She stopped to let Peggy off of her back.

"Stay with Dad, okay?" she said quickly as she ran back towards her brother. Peggy and Piper were confused, but they did as they were told and ran over to Colin, who looked down at Peggy and happily ruffled her hair a little.

"Umbreon..?"

"Daniel!" Daphne called. Daniel stopped and looked ahead as his twin sister approached him. "Hey, Slowpoke, what's keeping you?"

"I'd rather not disclose that information," Daniel said under his breath.

"Aw, come on, you're not usually this slow and distracted," Daphne said, beginning to worry. "Something's bothering you and I want in on it." Daniel sighed.

"If you must know, Ryder spoke to me," he said begrudgingly. "He thinks I'm stoic. I was just thinking about whether or not it's true." Daphne folded her arms.

"It's not that you're stoic, Daniel; it's just that you've been having a hard time showing your feelings for four years now," Daphne said gently. Daniel clenched his fist, his knuckle cracking very quietly. "Sorry...I-I didn't mean-"

"I don't blame you. How could I? You weren't involved in any way," Daniel said angrily.

"But...even so, I didn't mean to reference it," Daphne said apologetically.

"It doesn't matter; it's irrelevant to what's on my mind. Maybe. Anyway, Ryder doesn't think emotions get in the way of anything; do you think that's true?"

"I think emotions are a wonderful thing to have," Daphne answered quickly. "Sure, there are emotions that I could do without, but we can at least try to keep them under control."

"It's just...I've wondered if Pokémon Trainers are better off without worrying about their feelings," Daniel said quietly.

"I wouldn't word it quite like that, though; a Trainer should keep their feelings under wraps to the best of their abilities during battle in order to maintain their concentration and focus. A Pokémon Trainer without emotions is almost like peanut butter without the peanuts; it's just butter, which is really boring! I don't get why they have peanut allergy notices on peanut butter anyway, it's like saying milk contains milk; we already know it's in there, it's in the freaking name..!"

"So somebody like Grandpa Ian then...?" Daniel asked, ignoring Daphne's little digression.

"Iron grip, dude; Grandpa Ian's grip on his emotions is freaking iron," Daphne winked. "He's actually a very caring guy!"

"Huh."

"Look, don't let what happened four years ago stop you from giving emotions another chance," Daphne said seriously, planting a comforting hand on her brother's shoulder. "I'm not expecting you to revert to who you used to be overnight, but at least try to prove Ryder wrong; you're not stoic, Daniel." Daniel smiled as he rested his hand on top of Daphne's.

"I'll consider it, but Alexa and Keenan are still far too emotional for my tastes."

"I know; even before 'it' happened, getting 'too' emotional was never your thing," Daphne smiled kindly.

"Thanks, Daph; I appreciate it," Daniel said gratefully. Rhonda smiled happily as she saw Daniel cheering up. She rubbed her head against his leg affectionately, causing Daniel to look down at her. She soon looked up at him with a sunny grin.

"Umbreon!" Daniel smiled at her.

"Hey!" Daniel and Daphne looked ahead of them and spotted Colin running over to them. Daphne almost laughed when Colin almost tripped over his own feet before finally approaching them. "What're you two dawdling around for? The others are almost off of the bridge!"

"Let's go, Daniel!" Daphne said keenly. Daniel nodded and followed his sister and father as they ran along the bridge towards the rest of the family, Rhonda chasing after them merrily.

Colin and the twins eventually caught up with the rest of the family, who had stopped near the other end of the bridge to let Alexa fiddle with her Xtransceiver. Troy was also playing about with his Xtransceiver by the time Colin and the twins finally returned to the group. Hailey smiled at Daniel.

"What kept you?"

"Sorry, I had something on my mind," Daniel apologised. "It's okay now, I'm not worried about it anymore."

"That's good to hear, baby," Hailey smiled lovingly. To Colin's confusion, Daniel walked over to Alexa.

"Alexa?"

"Hm?" Alexa looked towards him. "What's up?"

"I'm sorry I was rude to you," Daniel said sincerely. The sudden apology left everyone, including Rhonda, bewildered.

"Okay...?" Alexa seemed to be pretty confused herself.

"I know you have your own issues to deal with, and my rudeness probably hasn't helped anything, and I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Alexa smiled. "I'd be sour about me too if I were in your shoes." Daniel laughed a little.

"I don't think I'd put it like that."

"Yeah, well, I did, so there," Alexa said teasingly. "Oh, hey! Seeing as I've added more numbers to my Xtransceiver, I was wondering if you'd like us to register one another as well."

"Is that why everybody stopped?" Daniel asked.

"Not originally, but I made it the new excuse," Alexa replied rather sheepishly. "I needed more numbers anyway, Daphne's can't be the only one I have forever." Daniel was rather surprised to hear Alexa wanting to register his Xtransceiver contact number in her Xtransceiver, but he eventually gave his blonde cousin a tiny smile.

"All right," he agreed. Colin crouched to Daphne's level.

"Okay, where's the real Daniel and what did you do with him?" he asked jokingly. Daphne was far from amused.

"Dad, be serious; you know where the real Daniel is," she whispered with frustration.

"But what did you say to him?" Colin asked seriously.

"He was concerned about whether or not he's emotionally deprived, and I told him the truth," Daphne explained in a low murmur. "I was just trying to help."

"Seems to be working, though," Colin smiled. "Good going, angel." Daphne smiled as Colin stood up properly, by which time Alexa and Daniel had successfully registered each other on their Xtransceivers.

"That's that then," Daniel commented. "All that's left is for Peggy to get a Xtransceiver so you can register her as well."

"That depends," Alexa smiled as she lowered her arm.

"On..?"

"If she wants one or not," Alexa winked.

"Anyway, since we're all together, shall we continue onwards?" Colin suggested, looking at his yellow and slate grey Xtransceiver. "It's almost lunchtime."

"Won't be long now," Harvey smiled. "Anybody starving to death?" he asked jokingly.

"Not really," Daniel said seriously. "But if we stay here any longer, I might get seasick."

"Good point," Harvey nodded as he and the rest of the family proceeded towards the bridge's exit. Ryder and Jollie finally stopped playing around and joined the family, while Phoenix flew onto the bridge and walked close to Alexa, who was happy to see all three of her Pokémon looking bright and cheerful. Ryder looked at Daniel spontaneously, noticed the boy's very subtle attitude change and smiled to himself.

The road just before Nimbasa City was wide, but short. The Lostlorn Forest was on the family's right hand side, as many large and sturdy trees grew inside the fenced off area. Despite the fence, and the forest's reputation, there was a large wooden gate built into the fence. There was nobody else on the road, which made the final stretch towards Nimbasa City a very peaceful one. Jollie yawned rather loudly, which caught Alexa's attention very quickly.

"Aww, is somebody sleepy?" she asked playfully. "I think you two played for too long, Ryder."

"Heh, yeah," Ryder laughed. "And she battled today as well, so us playing on top of that was too much for her."

"Neary...!" Jollie yawned again.

"I think you've had enough excitement for one day, Jollie," Alexa said as she held out the black, red and yellow Poké Ball. "Back you go." Jollie was then quickly absorbed into the Poké Ball through the emitted string of red energy.

"DRRGH!"

"Isn't that Rena?" Lily asked as she and the rest of the family looked up into the sky. Harvey smiled as the small silhouette grew in size as it approached them.

"And she's not empty handed either," he smiled as a smiling Dragonite flew towards her trainer, carrying a large bag around her shoulder. "It arrived then?"

"Drrgh!" Rena nodded as she pulled out a large cardboard box from inside the bag. She placed it on the ground and used one claw to break the brown parcel tape as Harvey knelt in front of it, smiling as he opened the box.

"You beauty! Thanks for picking it up, Rena," he said gratefully.

"Drrgh~!" Rena smiled satisfyingly. Hayden and Hailey looked inside Harvey's parcel; there were various blue pouches that were tied up tightly with red string and many Poké Balls that looked darker and slightly bluer than they normally were.

"How many Ball Capsules?" Hailey laughed. Rena reclaimed the box and held it in her arms as Harvey stood up properly, holding one of the strange-looking Poké Balls in his hand.

"They're not all for me, Hailey, I bought them for everyone," he explained.

"Honestly?" Hayden asked. "You didn't need to do that."

"No, I didn't; I felt like it," Harvey smiled. He expanded the Poké Ball in his hand and carefully opened the Ball Capsule, taking the Poké Ball out of it. "Don't worry about the Poké Balls; they're empty, you can do whatever you like with them."

"How many are in there, Uncle Harvey?" Daphne asked as she examined what looked like countless Poké Balls and pouches.

"There are more Seal Pouches than there are Ball Capsules, but I bought enough for everybody," Harvey explained. "Not sure how many spares there'll be."

"Maybe give the spares to Dad?" Hailey suggested.

"Dad already has a batch; he just never uses them," Harvey laughed. He looked towards Peggy and held out the translucent blue capsule to her. "Here, this one's for you. For Piper's Poké Ball." Peggy looked up at her mother in confusion.

"It's okay, Peggy, you can have it," Hailey smiled kindly. Peggy gently took the capsule from her uncle's hand.

"Thank you, Uncle Harvey," she said politely. Piper stared at the weird blue object from Peggy's shoulder.

"You're welcome," Harvey smiled.

"How many did you buy anyway, Dad?" Troy asked curiously.

"The idea was that the rest of us have six capsules and three pouches between us," Harvey said as he began to take his share of the merchandise from the parcel. "Don't worry about the pouches too much, they each contain ten seals. If you end up getting seals you don't like, you can trade."

"Back up a minute...what do they even do?" Ryder asked in complete confusion.

"They basically affect how you appear out of your Poké Ball," Alexa explained as she began to take her half dozen capsules. Ryder took one of the pouches from the box and looked inside it; his eyes and paw shone cyan as he levitated a few of the seals out of the pouch; one looked like a yellow lightning bolt, the second looked like a large pink petal and the last one looked like a trio of blue bubbles.

"I don't get it," he said simply as he placed the seals back into the pouch just in time for Alexa to claim it as her third pouch.

"I'll demonstrate it to you with Shandra's Poké Ball later on, okay?"

"Okay," Ryder nodded. "But what are they for anyway?"

"It's common for Pokémon Coordinators to use them to get extra points in Contests," Hailey replied, claiming her share of the merchandise. "And it does work with the right seals. I already have some Ball Capsules, but I definitely need some new seals at any rate; I keep losing them."

"Of course, you don't have to use the Ball Capsules for Pokémon Contests," Colin continued as he claimed his share. "You can use them whenever and wherever you want. But you'll need to remove them before transferring a Pokémon somewhere or trading them."

"Sounds interesting. Kinda looking forward to the demonstration now, Alex," Ryder smiled. Alexa placed her newly claimed seals and Ball Capsules – with the six free Poké Balls – in her backpack.

"I'm looking forward to trying them out, actually; I've never tried them out before," she said rather excitedly.

"Didn't you talk to the guy selling seals in Sunyshore Market?" Troy asked as he quickly picked out his six Ball Capsules.

"I didn't have any Ball Capsules at the time," Alexa replied. "That and I didn't know what they even were; I thought they were stickers, which I knew I didn't need."

"Stickers don't last for long anyway," Hayden agreed as he walked away from the box with his six Ball Capsules and three seal pouches.

Soon, everybody, except Peggy, had six Ball Capsules and three seal pouches. Lily, however, was about to walk away with three seal pouches and five Ball Capsules when Harvey gently stopped her.

"Hold on, why did you only take five capsules?" he asked in puzzlement.

"Because I only have five Pokémon," Lily replied honestly.

"Still?"

"What's wrong with having only five Pokémon?" Lily asked defensively.

"Nothing," Harvey shrugged. "But I think it's high time to consider Pokémon number six, so go ahead and take another capsule."

"I don't need six Pokémon," Lily argued.

"When was the last time you caught a Pokémon?" Harvey questioned.

"Five years ago; I caught Rick in National Park," Lily replied.

"Yeah, the five years thing kind of speaks for itself," Harvey smirked.

"I'm fine with five Pokémon, Harvey," Lily sighed.

"If you say so. But take one more capsule; if only for the heck of it," Harvey insisted nicely. Lily appeared hesitant, but, out of kindness, took the last remaining Ball Capsule from the cardboard box. "Oh, hey, it's empty! It's all yours, Rena."

"Drrgh!" Rena dropped the box onto the ground and suddenly jumped on top of it, flattening it instantly. She picked up the flattened cardboard box and disposed of it in the nearby waste bin.

"I thought she was going to destroy it," Ryder said randomly.

"In a way, she kind of did," Alexa chuckled. Rena walked back over to Harvey, smiling contently.

"Thanks, girl." Harvey took out a Poké Ball from his pocket. "Get some rest, you've earned it."

"Drrgh," Rena grinned as the Poké Ball's red beam absorbed her and pulled her into it. Harvey returned the Poké Ball into his pocket and looked towards Nimbasa City.

"Right. Lunch awaits."

To be continued...