Chapter Twenty Five - Tensions

The next morning, Alexa was packing her Safari Ball backpack in her hotel bedroom, with Ryder and Jollie watching her with curiosity and intrigue, watching as she held her backpack upside down, pouring the bag's entire contents onto the bed; her six Poké Ball Capsules, three Seal pouches, several medicinal spray bottles and lukewarm bottles of water poured onto the bed. Alexa then raided the nearby belt bag and took out her koban wallet, tossing it straight into the backpack. Ryder picked up one of the clear blue capsules and examined it curiously.

"I forgot you had these."

"It's amazing what you find, isn't it?" Alexa laughed. She tossed one of the Seal pouches to her Lucario. "Here, why not decorate it?"

"What do they do?"

"You've seen what the Seals do; you saw my demo with Shandra's Poké Ball, remember?" Ryder smiled.

"Oh, yeah. Hey, Jollie should have one, too!"

"Bun! Bun!"

"Go for it," Alexa smiled as she handed another capsule and pouch to the excited Buneary. "I need to use the Seals for the other four capsules, so don't go overboard; three or four Seals is enough per capsule."

"Got it," Ryder nodded as he opened his pouch and poured all of the Seals inside onto the bed in front of him. The Seals came in different shapes and colours, including yellow lightning bolts, blue bubbles, orange fire, white confetti and purple petals. Jollie immediately claimed two of the pink heart seals and stuck them to her Poké Ball Capsule. Ryder stared at the remaining Seals, spoilt for choice, until he watched Alexa as she looked closely at the medical sprays sprawled on the bed. "Hey, Alex...?"

"Hm?"

"You don't mind if I call you Alexa from time to time, do you?" Alexa looked at Ryder in bewilderment.

"Why are you asking me? Of course I don't mind; it's my name!"

"I know, but...I've called you Alexa a couple of times when you got concussed; it hadn't dawned on me until recently."

"Ryder, it's not a big deal to me anymore; you just call me whatever you feel most comfortable with," Alexa said kindly as she placed all of the spray bottles inside her backpack. "Keenan started the whole 'Alex' thing anyway; he couldn't get the hang of saying my name when he was younger."

"Like Peggy?"

"Yeah, it's weird; Peggy got the hang of the Lexa part, but Keenan could only manage Alex," Alexa chuckled. "But I'm not too concerned about who calls me what anymore, so you do what you like."

"Thanks." Ryder picked up the red confetti seal and placed it onto his Poké Ball Capsule. "You looking forward to this meeting of yours?"

"I am, actually. It feels strange; I'm a little giddy about it."

"Hopefully, I'll find out why."

"So you're talking to Naomi now?" Hayden asked happily, holding his Xtransceiver in front of him; he was in the main lounge of the hotel room, talking with a cheerful Harvey and a deceptively happy Hailey.

"I don't understand what's gotten into her, but, honestly, I'm as giddy as a schoolboy right now," Harvey beamed. "When she said we should talk, I didn't think she meant socialising all over again."

"Huh; that's what Alexa and Keith are doing right now," Hayden said observantly. "But good for you!"

"At least your spouse is talking to you," Hailey said begrudgingly. Her brothers noticed her resentment.

"What's the matter with you all of a sudden?" Harvey asked in astonishment as Alexa and Ryder entered the room with Jollie sitting on Alexa's shoulder.

"Is it Adelina?" Hayden enquired.

"She's involved, yeah; she had the audacity to snog my husband!" Alexa was completely disturbed, but her Pokémon were confused; they didn't know a snog was another word for 'kiss'. Hayden and Harvey were horrified.

"In front of you?" Harvey asked.

"No, I caught them at it," Hailey replied, starting to sound distressed. Hayden finally noticed Alexa's presence and looked at her worriedly.

"You should go now," he said quietly. Alexa nodded as she led Ryder out of the hotel room. Harvey and Hailey were confused. "Sorry; that was Alexa."

"Still trying to keep her out of this Adelina crisis?" Harvey wondered.

"Yep."

"You should probably make sure Adelina doesn't stick her tongue down Keith's throat," Hailey said hatefully as she paced around her kitchen table. Annabelle roosted in one corner of the kitchen with a sleeping Piper on her back, watching her grouchy Trainer with extreme concern, although watching Hailey's pacing started to make the Altaria feel dizzy.

"If she does, she has serious issues."

"This is serious, Harvey," Hayden said firmly. "We have to try and make sure Adelina doesn't make things worse."

"Things can't GET any worse!" Hailey screamed furiously. "Colin and I haven't spoken since yesterday afternoon and...and Peggy hasn't even made eye contact with us since!"

"I'm not surprised; she's probably still shaken up from your argument with Colin."

"It was more than an argument, Harvey, it was verbicuffs!"

"That's not even a word."

"Harvey, enough with the jokes!" Hayden said sternly. "Hailey, you have to realise that it's not Colin's fault that-"

"Well, he didn't exactly fight back very well when she smothered him with her lipstick," Hailey said nastily.

"Maybe he just froze; maybe he didn't know how to react to it," Hayden presumed.

"He should've pushed her off of him and slapped the bitch!" Hailey exclaimed rudely.

"Calm down, Hailey, you're too worked up over this-"

"Of course I'm worked up! How would you feel if your supposed best friend stuck his tongue down Lily's throat?!" Hayden was incredibly offended by Hailey's hypothetical; he really wanted to argue back, but resisted the temptation.

"That's not going to help anything," Harvey said carefully. "Why don't you take some time to-"

"Oh, forget the both of you!" Hailey cried as she cut off communication with her brothers. She sat down and sighed shakily, burying her face in the palm of her hand. It wasn't until she heard the front door opening that Hailey lifted her head, but soon lowered it again as Colin walked into the kitchen with a grocery bag in each hand. Accompanying him was a Krookodile with three Pachirisu-like spikes at the end of his tail, who sat next to the worried Altaria as Colin pulled out a bottle of Lime Cola from one of the bags and placed it in front of his wife.

"Here." Hailey looked at the bottled drink in front of her before looking up at Colin; she was both confused and cautious.

"What's this for?"

"Drinking, what else?" Colin asked jokingly. "Look, I saw it and thought of you."

"You sure you're not trying to bribe forgiveness from me?" Hailey asked rudely. Colin sighed as he dumped the two grocery bags on the kitchen table.

"Here I thought I was being nice; I didn't expect to be grilled for bringing my wife her favourite drink," he complained as he stormed out of the kitchen. The Krookodile watched Colin with disappointment.

"What was that all about?" Naomi asked worriedly. She and Harvey seemed to be in her office at the Driftveil Star Hotel. Jason, Laddy and Vergil were nearby, eating their Pokémon food from the same ceramic food bowls and enjoying a conversation of their own; Vergil was heavily bandaged, with some of the bandages being over his left eye, but Jason and Laddy were physically unharmed. Harvey sighed.

"You heard her; Adelina sunk her claws into Colin."

"So I heard, but...is Hailey really the jealous type?"

"I wouldn't call it jealousy; she's angry because she doesn't think Colin objected to Adelina's advance."

"I see...is Adelina normally like that?"

"Hell if I know," Harvey shrugged. "But, from what I've seen, she certainly seems to be the flirty type. I'm partly speaking from personal experience here; not only has she invaded Hayden's personal bubble, but mine as well."

"Yikes..."

"I was more confused about it than anything, but poor Hayden looked more clueless than a Psyduck," Harvey chuckled. "Lily wasn't too happy about it, though."

"That doesn't surprise me; I wouldn't be happy about it either."

"Who would be happy to see another woman advancing on their lovers?"

"Fair point," Naomi nodded. "But why would Adelina do these things?"

"That," Harvey began. "Is what I want to know, too." Jason, Vergil and Laddy were just happy to see their Trainers having a civil conversation, all questionable subject matters aside.

Keith sat patiently at one of the coffee shop's numerous outdoor tables on Route 4. Robbie, Reese and Ava sat on the ground nearby as they, too, waited for the person Keith was intending to meet. Keith looked around and recalled the first time he sat at the table of the coffee shop he was in front of; it was where he questioned his ability of taking care of a Pokémon hatched from an egg and whether or not he was legally allowed to do so in light of not possessing an official Trainer Card. He smiled at Ava, Reese and Robbie; Reese was playing peekaboo with the little Pichu, which additionally amused the Sawsbuck she was sitting in front of. Keith's mind cleared as he watched the little game.

"Keith!"

All attention was drawn to Alexa as she and Ryder ran towards them, Alexa smiling and waving as she approached. Keith stood up and met Alexa with a friendly hug, which Alexa was more than happy to return. Jollie hopped off of Alexa's shoulder and straight into the arms of her surrogate big brother.

"Hey, you made it!"

"Am I too late?" Alexa asked as she looked at the Xtransceiver on her wrist. "No, I'm on time. How long have you been here for anyway?"

"Well, Robbie got us here quickly, so...I'd say no more than half an hour, give or take?" Keith finally noticed Ryder's presence; the Lucario looked up at him curiously. "Hi, Ryder."

"Hi." Jollie spotted Ava and waved happily at her. Ava nervously returned the gesture.

"Ryder, why don't you and Jollie sit with the Pokémon?" Alexa proposed, breaking the tension between him and Keith.

"Okay, but I'm still keeping an eye on you," Ryder said as he walked over to Robbie and Reese. He sat down next to them and placed Jollie on his lap. Keith and Alexa sat opposite one another at the table.

"I'm sorry about Ryder; he's mostly trying to make sure I don't get hurt again, but he's also curious about how we've been communicating lately."

"I don't blame him for it, though; like I said, I was an asshole."

"Let's not dwell on that now," Alexa said kindly. "We're not here for that."

"Ah, that reminds me," Keith smiled as he picked up a white plastic bag from the floor and placed it on the table, pushing it towards Alexa. "Here, I got this for you." Alexa smiled at Keith.

"Keith, honestly, you don't need to give me anything," she said modestly.

"If you don't want to consider it repayment for your favours, at least consider it a gift," Keith said persuasively. "Just...at least look at it?" Alexa looked at the bag in wonderment; her curiosity was starting to get the better of her. To Keith's delight, she at the very least took the bag in her hands and pulled it carefully towards her. She noticed the bag's content was heavier than she expected it to be and pulled out the item inside it; unwrapping the protective layer of paper revealed the Floette figurine Keith had purchased from the Nacrene City Museum. Seeing the beautifully sculpted and carefully painted figure in her hands left Alexa at a complete loss for words; she admired the care and dedication that went into every detail of the Floette and her pointy flower. Alexa was left speechless, both at how beautiful the figurine was and at the thought that went into the gesture; she knew that Keith bought a figuring of that particular Pokémon because she showed a particular adoration for Floette's pre-evolved form, Flabébé.

"Keith, it's...it's beautiful!"

"Yeah, I remembered that you have a thing for History, so I went to the museum in Nacrene to get you something relating to that," Keith smiled. "When I saw that, though...well, you know." Alexa stared joyously at the Floette figure in her hands.

"This Floette is part of one of the Kalos legends." Keith became curious; he was under the impression that it was just a normal Floette.

"Oh?"

"They say that this Floette died in a war that broke out in Kalos," Alexa explained. "But the human who befriended her built a machine that resurrected her at the cost of so many other Pokémon lives; upon discovering this, Floette left him, unable to cope with the guilt behind the cost of her resurrection." Keith was impressed by Alexa's knowledge and smiled. "Kalos Historians have unanimously given this particular Floette the nickname of 'Eternal Flower Floette' because not only was she granted eternal life following her resurrection, but presumably because the machine used to bring her back to life very much resembled the flower she holds."

"I swear, you're so well-versed it's almost frightening," Keith laughed. Alexa finally looked up at Keith, having stared adoringly at her gift during her tale.

"Sorry; I just...well, blame my Grandpa for that," she laughed. "Thank you so much, I love it."

"Ha, clearly!" Alexa sat the figurine next to her, taking care to place it out of the way of her elbow.

"So...what do you want to talk about?" she asked.

"Well, there's actually something I want to ask you about."

"Hm?"

"Why did you become a Pokémon Trainer in the first place?" Keith asked curiously. Alexa's smile died ever so slightly as she became serious with him, which concerned him a little.

"Because I was homeschooled, I never had any friends of my own," she answered truthfully. "Granted, I DID – and still do – have my family and my parents' Pokémon, but I wanted friends of my own. When my Grandpa told me about Pokémon Trainers and how they travel to different places for different reasons, I thought I could meet new people and Pokémon if I travelled myself, so that's exactly what I did the day after my tenth birthday."

"Why the day after?"

"Mum and Dad gave me a surprise party after a shopping spree in Goldenrod Department Store and a couple of hours at the Nimbasa Amusement Park, which delayed my travel plans by a day."

"Ah. By the way, how come your starter's from a different region to your own?"

"Because my parents and Grandpa have all of Johto's starter Pokémon between them; I didn't want to copy them. Not that it's any real excuse, but..." Keith felt anxious.

"I-I wasn't criticising you, it was just an observation." Alexa nodded.

"Yeah, I know."

"But I take it you made friends?"

"Most of them are my entire Pokémon clan, yes," Alexa chuckled. "I have made other friendships with Pokémon Trainers, but I ended up losing contact with them."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay," Alexa smiled as she snuck a peek at Ryder and Jollie; they were happily engaged in a light-hearted conversation with Robbie, Reese and even Ava. "Now I have more friends than I ever thought I was going to have...even if most of them are Pokémon."

"Nothing wrong with that, is there?"

"Well, I'm bilingual, so...no, not at all." Keith laughed.

"I almost forgot you were bilingual! So...that means you can understand Pokémon then? I mean...what is it you hear when, say, a pair of Pidgey are singing in the trees?"

"Most of the time, they're not singing at all; they're talking. Though the conversations vary from pair to pair..." Keith was left astounded, but was relieved when a barista approached the table to take an order.

Harvey and Naomi walked down one of Castelie's many corridors until they stopped to knock at one of the hotel doors. They waited patiently until Hayden answered the door; their presence surprised him, but it was a pleasant surprise that put a smile on his face.

"Harvey! Naomi! What're you doing here?"

"We wanted to see you," Harvey replied. "And surprise you to boot."

"You certainly did that," Hayden laughed as he allowed Harvey and Naomi inside the room. "But I take it you want to talk about Hailey?"

"Yeah, we do," Harvey sighed as he and Naomi sat down on the sofa. "It's not like her to react so viciously."

"And I'm worried about the other woman involved in all of this," Naomi added timidly; after almost a decade of shying away from contact with Harvey's family, being in the presence of his younger brother left her feeling awkward and even out of place. Hayden nodded.

"We all are; we don't know what she's doing or why she's doing it – all we know is that she holds Hailey accountable for the Nimbasa Contest's cancellation."

"Oh, dear..."

"Worse still, it's been destroying Hailey's confidence ever since," Harvey continued. "And just when she's got the fire back in her belly, all of this happens."

"Oh, poor Hailey...!"

"Yes, well, we're going to do whatever we can to help her out," Hayden said eagerly. "The last thing I want is for Hailey's relationship with Colin to end so nastily over nothing."

"I say we go down there right now and set things right," Harvey proposed.

"I don't know, Harvey...what if we make things even worse?" Naomi asked worriedly. Lily and Keenan walked out of one of the hotel bedrooms and were mildly alarmed to see Naomi, and sitting next to Harvey, no less.

"Naomi!" Naomi looked towards Lily and Keenan; she was surprised, yet happy, to see them.

"Lily, Keenan, hello!" Keenan was absolutely confused; he didn't recognise the black-haired lady next to his uncle.

"What's all of this about?" Lily asked Hayden.

"We're thinking of going to see Hailey – and maybe Colin, if he's there – to see if we can help them through their issues," Hayden replied.

"Is that really the best idea right now?" Lily wondered. "I mean, when Keith and Alexa had their arguments a few months ago, we took a step back and they managed to work things out for themselves."

"Maybe so, but the cause of their arguments didn't intend to do so," Hayden counter-argued. "I don't know if Adelina did what she did deliberately or what, but I don't want her to ruin Hailey's family as well as her self-esteem!"

"I still don't know..."

"Lily, it's going to be okay; Naomi will make sure we don't say something stupid," Harvey winked as he placed his arm around his ex-wife's shoulders. Lily was amazed to see the friendly interaction between the two of them, but Keenan was still flummoxed.

"I just hope Hailey will be all right... Anyway, we're off; we're going to Castelia Library for today's study session," Lily smiled.

"Take care of yourselves," Hayden cautioned. "Watch out for Adelina; if you see her-"

"Just ignore her; we know, Hayden," Lily smiled sweetly, planting a kiss on her husband's cheek as she and Keenan passed him as they left the hotel room.

"Was Keenan all right? He looked completely confused," Naomi said shyly.

"He doesn't remember you, that's all," Hayden said reassuringly. "If you intend to stick around, that'll change, no doubt."

"Anyway, shall we get to Hailey's before she and Colin end up at each other's jugulars?" Harvey asked eagerly.

"Yep," Hayden nodded. "The sooner we get there, the better."

"Steven knows Teleport; I think he can get us there," Naomi suggested quietly. Harvey smiled at her.

"Make it so."

The Striaton Academy playing field was bustling with activity; it was recess, and the many school children were each engaged in numerous playful activities, some of which included skipping with skipping ropes, playing soccer and even playing on handheld video game consoles, which was what one group in particular was taking part in. Peggy wandered around the playing fields, still deeply concerned and shaken up about what she heard from Adelina when she came home to arguing parents. She purposely ignored her usual group of friends as she began to ponder the words from Adelina's mouth and, more importantly, what to do with what she knew. She approached the only tree in the playing field, where her twin siblings sat like they usually did; Daphne was engaged in some mathematics homework she was set earlier in the day, but Daniel was vigorously searching through his carbon grey gadget for something. Noticing how intensely focused Daniel looked, Peggy approached her siblings with caution, but it was Daphne who noticed her sister first.

"Hey, Pegs," she greeted happily. Daniel glanced up from his device and at his sister.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"Well...I'm...I'm worried about Mummy and Daddy..."

"We both are, Pegs," Daphne said sadly.

"The only reason there's tension between them was down to a third party intervention," Daniel said meanly as he looked down at his device again; the gadget showcased a list of Psychic type Pokémon, displayed in numerical order, that Daniel was looking through one Pokémon at the time. He scrolled down from Drowzee to its evolved form, Hypno and proceeded to read the information displayed about the Hypnosis Pokémon. "I'm just annoyed that they can't see that they're destroying each other over nothing." Daniel's presumption only served to make Peggy feel more anxious.

"I know that, but don't worry Peggy any more than she already is," Daphne said quietly.

"Um...about that..." The twins looked up at their baby sister in confusion.

"What's the matter?" Daniel wondered.

"I...did it again."

"Did what?" Daphne asked worriedly.

"Heard something I shouldn't have," Peggy said reluctantly. "From Adelina."

"I thought she was long gone?" Daniel assumed. "What did she say? Can you remember?"

"...I-I don't..." Peggy felt even more tense than before she even spoke to her siblings.

"It's okay, sweetie, nobody's going to be angry with you," Daphne said comfortingly, setting her homework aside to sit Peggy on her lap. "But what you heard might give us a clue about what's going on with Mum and Dad; if you can tell us, we might be able to do something about them." Comforted by Daphne's kind words, Peggy took a deep breath.

"I-I heard her saying...she hopes to break the whole family..." Daniel and Daphne stared at each other with wide eyes; their troubles seemed to have just taken a turn for the worst.

To be continued...