Chapter Twenty Seven – Suspicions
Lily sighed quietly as she hastily strode towards Keenan's table in the Castelia Library; she hadn't seemed to notice that Keenan wasn't studying – either that or she didn't seem to mind or care that he wasn't.
"Sorry about the interruption, sweetie," she apologised quietly. "That was your Father." Keenan looked up from the newspaper photograph he and Iara were staring at and faced her in confusion.
"Did something happen?"
"The twins have...they've had some bully troubles at the academy again," Lily said sincerely.
"You mean they haven't nipped it in the bud yet?" Keenan asked with distaste.
"The bigger problem is...they've been sent home, Peggy included."
"Why?" Keenan asked suspiciously.
"I don't know the full details; I just know that it has something to do with-"
"No, I mean, why was Peggy sent home as well?" Keenan asked clearly.
"Like I was saying, I just know that it has something to do with Daniel being suspended for the day," Lily concluded. Keenan was surprised; Daniel was usually mild-mannered or, at the very least, unwilling to let his feelings cloud his judgement – whatever brought on this suspension must have been enough to make Daniel act out of character.
"Are they okay?"
"I don't know," Lily answered truthfully. "As soon as the call came through, Hailey and Colin made a bee line for Striaton Academy faster than your Father could bat an eyelid. I can't say we wouldn't have done the same if you or your sister were in Daniel's predicament, but..."
"This will only add to Hailey's anxiety." Lily nodded in agreement.
"I was planning to visit Hailey after we're done here; would you like to join me?" Keenan chuckled a little.
"I don't think Daniel would appreciate my company, but I can see how the girls are doing at least." Lily nodded.
"By the way, where did you get that newspaper?"
"Oh, uh, I had Iara sneak it out of the hotel this morning; I noticed the Contest was the main headline again."
"They really couldn't find anything new to report on?" Lily asked in wonderment as she returned to her seat next to Keenan. "What's really bothering you about it?"
"I keep suspecting foul play, but look at this," Keenan said as he pointed to a particular part of the photograph Iara had directed his attention to previously. Lily looked at where Keenan was pointing to and, after carefully examining it, was left highly flummoxed.
Keith waited outside the ladies' changing rooms inside a department store clothing shop with a couple of carrier bags sitting on the floor next to him. His attire had changed completely; he was now wearing a thin grey long-sleeved shirt underneath a navy blue short-sleeved, T-shirt, grey jeans and black shoes with his dog tags hanging over his shirts for all to see. He waited patiently, trying to ignore the idiotic gossiping from other customers, most of the gossipers being elderly ladies talking about the Nimbasa Contest "scandal", until he heard Alexa exiting the changing booth she previously locked herself in; when she emerged, she showed off her new costume choice of a brown crop top underneath a loose-fitting neon green T-shirt with blue denim shorts and black zipped knee-high boots. Keith smiled as Alexa gave him a twirl to show off her clothes even more.
"So, what do you think?"
"Looks nice," Keith said simply. "But..."
"But..?" Alexa was further perplexed when Keith managed to sneak into the changing room without any members of staff seeing him.
"I think it can be improved," he elaborated. Alexa examined her garments; ignoring the store price labels on the clothing, there was nothing wrong with the condition of any of the items.
"How so?"
"Well...personally, I think you look better with very few clothes on," Keith smirked. "Or, maybe...none at all?" Alexa blushed intensely as she looked away from him.
"Urgh, Keith!" Keith laughed at her reaction. "That is not...just...why?!"
"You can tell I'm pulling your leg, can't you?"
"Yes, but that's not the point!" Keith laughed slightly harder as he saw Alexa's attempts to get his tongue in cheek remark out of her head. "J-Just...geez!" Keith managed to calm himself down a little bit, but he still had to keep himself from laughing; he truly hadn't expected her reaction to be an entertaining one.
"But, seriously, though, maybe the grey one would look better?" Alexa sighed to herself as she gave Keith a kind smile.
"Thanks for the more helpful suggestion," she said with slight cheek. "I'll go and try that," she said as she made her way back into the booth. Keith hastily shifted the carrier bags into the changing room threshold before he quickly caught up to Alexa before she closed the booth door behind her, much to her alarm.
"Maybe I should help you," he said suavely.
"Wha—Keith!" Alexa felt Keith's hand around her waist as he closed and locked the booth door behind them both.
Hayden, Harvey and Naomi finally arrived at the city from the Skyarrow Bridge; the city was as lively as one would expect a city to be, with floods of people and vehicles passing through with little to no regard for anyone other than themselves, which, more often than not, created brief conflicts between drivers and pedestrians.
"Hayden, Naomi and I are gonna head back to Driftveil," Harvey announced suddenly as the group passed one of the city's Pokémon Centres. Hayden smiled at his elder brother.
"Sure, you go ahead; I'm just going to catch up with Lily anyway."
"You sure you don't mind?" Naomi inquired.
"Hey, if my bro says it's okay, then it's okay," Harvey said cheerfully. "We'll talk later, okay?"
"No doubt," Hayden nodded. "See you later," he added as he walked down the road closest to the Pokémon Centre. Harvey and Naomi nodded at one another as she released her Gallade from his Poké Ball, which quickly resulted in all three of them disappearing in a brief flash of white light.
Hayden surveyed his surroundings as he walked down the road, additionally taking care to avoid the more careless of pedestrians passing him with no thought for anyone around them; seeing all of those tall buildings made for a refreshing change of scenery for him. As he approached the library, he spotted Lily, Keenan and Iara exiting the building and ran towards them.
"Finished already?" Lily and Keenan smiled at Hayden as he approached.
"Hi, honey! What's going on?"
"Since Hailey and Colin are having to deal with the twins for the time being, Harv and I decided to leave them to their own devices for now," Hayden replied, losing his smile. "I swear, things are starting to get out of hand," he said, scratching the back of his head. "And with my meeting tomorrow-"
"Things will be fine, honey," Lily smiled reassuringly. "I'll be on hand if Hailey needs anything. Oh, but...Keenan and I were going down to visit them in a little while...now I'm wondering if we'd be intruding..."
"I don't see the harm in a more friendly conversation; Hailey could use one of those. I'd just...stay away from the touchy subject matters." Lily nodded understandingly.
"Hey, Dad?"
"Hm?" Hayden looked down at Keenan. "What's up, kiddo?" Keenan held up the newspaper under his arm and showed Hayden the photograph on the front page; Hayden was confused.
"Does this look strange to you?" Keenan asked, pointing to a particular section of the photograph. Hayden took a closer look at what his son was pointing at and studied it carefully; he eventually noticed that something about it was, in fact, strange. He gently took the newspaper from Keenan's hands for a more thorough examination.
"What do you think, Hayden?"
"You've seen this?" Hayden asked. Lily nodded.
"Yes; Keenan showed me in the library."
"What do you think it is?" Keenan asked.
"In my opinion? It looks like some kind of light...other than that, I haven't the foggiest..."
Peggy watched anxiously as Daphne sat on her bed with Daniel as she checked his injuries; most of them were mere bruises, but the bruise around his left eye was by far the worst of his wounds. Daphne took out an unopened cola can from her nearby shoulder bag and gave it to Daniel to hold over his eye; Daniel winced as the cold aluminium can made contact with his tender bruise. The atmosphere around Peggy and the twins was incredibly tense; Daphne was stil shaken up about Daniel's beating and Daniel himself seemed to be more annoyed with it than anything else. Peggy, on the other hand, was not only even more stirred up about the beating than Daphne, but she was still stressed about the disturbing words she heard from Adelina and still had no idea what to do with this unwanted knowledge, implying it to be true, at least.
"...Daniel...please, say something," Daphne said quietly.
"What's to say? It seems the bullseye over our heads is still as prominent as ever," Daniel said grumpily.
"Bullseye?" Peggy was confused.
"Daniel-"
"I just mean Daphne and I are used to being bullied, that's all," Daniel explained to Peggy. Peggy felt even worse.
"But...that's..."
"Peggy, don't worry; it's got nothing to do with you," Daniel said reassuringly.
"But...if I hadn't-"
"Pegs, it's not your fault," Daphne said comfortingly, giving her little sister a nervous smile. "Rumours spread like the common cold on a sugar high in school, and they become more distorted the more they're spread. Really, it's nothing you said; honest!" Peggy looked away from her twin siblings.
"Peggy?" Rather than answering Daniel directly, Peggy stood up from his bed.
"Excuse me," she said politely as she hastily left the bedroom. Daphne and Daniel faced one another with perplexity.
"This is ridiculous!" Peggy suddenly heard her mother's frustration as she was about to enter her bedroom; curious as to what her mother was complaining about, she approached the top of the stairs and stood there, listening in on Hailey's conversation with Colin in secrecy.
"The twins have been bullied since they STARTED attending the academy and they STILL haven't done anything about it!" Hailey vented in frustration. She and Colin stood in the kitchen, each with a hot mug of tea nearby, as they conversed.
"Even so, it doesn't change the fact that Daniel got into a fight and was suspended for it," Colin argued reasonably. "Arceus only knows why the academy sent the girls home as well, but-"
"That's not the point!" Hailey snapped.
"I was about to say that," Colin sighed as he took a sip from his mug.
"I just can't believe the academy isn't doing anything about it – still!"
"Hailey, there are only so many times you can badger the principal to pull his head out of the sand; each attempt will fall on deaf ears anyway."
"So, what do you propose we do, Colin?!" Hailey asked violently. "Buy coloured contacts for the twins so they can be FORCED to fit in?!"
"We'll deal with what we need to deal with and leave the bullying matter to the academy's administration," Colin said calmly.
"The administration?! I'd rather leave the housekeeping to a Garbodor; I can't trust them anymore!" Hailey fumed.
"We don't even know what the problem is! Why don't you take half an hour to yourself before we talk to the twins about it?" Colin proposed. "Or I could talk to Daniel on my own? You have enough on your plate as it is with Adelina." Hailey glared sinisterly at her husband.
"I would think that my babies take priority over THAT succubus!" she said spitefully.
"Must you call her that?" Colin sighed. "Look, all I'm saying is that you can leave the twins' bullying problems to me while you deal with the Adelina issue; it's a division of responsibility, nothing more."
"I appreciate what you're trying to do, but-"
"Do you? Because it seems to me like you're trying to shut me down at every turn!" Now Colin was the one starting to become infuriated, but with his wife's refusal to listen to reason.
Peggy moved away from the staircase and quietly made her way inside her pink bedroom; she was far too intimidated to speak to her parents. She closed the door behind her and hyperventilated as she tried to calm herself down.
"I am NOT trying to shut you down at every turn!" Hailey argued.
"I beg to differ; you want to deal with the twins while juggling Adelina's questionable behaviour towards you!" Colin shouted. "I'm trying to ease your burden, not steal it away from you!"
"I don't need you fighting my battles for me!"
"I'm NOT! That's why I said I'D handle the twins!"
Peggy shivered as she heard her parents arguing violently for the second or third time in the same week.
"Your Dad really knows how to set up a department store," Keith complimented as he left the department store with Alexa by his side; Robbie soon followed with Reese, Ava and Jollie on his back and Ryder walking next to him. Between them, Keith and Alexa carried numerous shopping bags, two of which actually contain the clothes they wore before entering the store; Alexa's new clothes consisted of a green loose-fitting T-shirt over a grey crop top, blue denim shorts and her zipped knee-high boots.
"Why do you think they're all highly successful?" Alexa laughed.
"It's just inspiring to see, that's all; I find it hard to believe this one used to be an office building," Keith smiled as he looked up at the whole building again.
"So did the Lilycove Department Store."
"Really?" Keith looked back at Alexa as she nodded.
"I think the Goldenrod store used to be something as well..."
"A stock broker's office," Hayden answered. To Keith and Alexa's surprise, Hayden was approaching them with Lily, Keenan and Iara, but the duo was still happy to see them, and Hayden was happy to see them smiling. "Looking good there, Lexie."
"Thanks; Keith helped out." Keith laughed nervously.
"Yeah, well...I thought grey looked better with the green than brown..."
"Agreed," Hayden grinned. Keith suddenly felt slightly awkward; last time he was around him, Hayden wasn't exactly on good terms with him, having crashed into Alexa and hospitalised her without meaning to. Seeing Hayden smiling at him made him uneasy, but felt even more tense when Hayden actually faced him directly. "Before I forget, mind if we have a quick talk?" Keith gulped.
"Um, okay...?" Alexa was puzzled; she hadn't seen Keith so jumpy in...well, ever.
"He's not going to bite your head off, Keith, it's okay," she said calmly. Keith took a deep breath and nodded.
"Yeah, okay." Hayden was also puzzled, but led Lily and Keith to a quieter part of the street, where their conversation began in privacy. Alexa watched the chat from afar as Keenan approached her.
"Who'd have thought Keith was a nervous wreck?" Ryder chuckled.
"I think there's an underlying reason for that...I just can't put my finger on it..."
"Oh, apart from the obvious 'he broke your heart' thing?" Ryder asked sarcastically.
"Besides that," Alexa said plainly. Ryder blinked in bewilderment; he was being sarcastic! Alexa smiled at Keenan, but the smile died in a heartbeat when she noticed a look of concern in his eyes, and it wasn't even about her 'problems' with Keith! "What's up?"
"Have you seen this?" Keenan asked as he handed the newspaper to Alexa. Merely reading the title of the main news item on the paper was enough for her to lightly shove the paper back in Keenan's directon.
"Keenan, I'm trying not to get involved in that."
"I know, but I need your opinion on something, seeing as you have a keener eye for detail than I do."
"Hm?"
"This," Keenan folded the newspaper so that it only showed the photograph he seemed to be fixated on and pointed to the same area he was fascinated with. Alexa crouched as she looked at the problematic area in question and examined it closely; she could see the issue instantly. "Dad thinks it's a light of some kind; what do you think it is?"
"I think the same," Alexa answered as she looked at the rest of the photograph; the photo itself showed the precise moment when Eric's Petal Dance/Hidden Power combo backfired. Alexa's eyes widened in shock as she discovered something else wrong with the photo.
"What is it?" Keenan asked.
"Look at this; around Eric's leaves," Alexa said simply. Keenan moved next to her and looked around at Eric's circle of artificially burning leaves. He soon realised what Alexa was talking about.
"It's that light again!" Alexa stood up and looked far from impressed.
"Suddenly intensified, my coccyx; this reeks of sabotage," she said nastily. Keenan nodded in complete agreement.
"I'm going to share this with Peggy and the twins; Mum and I were going to go down to visit them in light of—uh..."
"Of what?" Alexa asked.
"Um...they had an issue at the academy and they've been sent home..."
"Bully problems?"
"Yeah." Alexa sighed.
"I think you should tell them anyway," she said affirmatively. Keenan nodded in agreement as Hayden, Lily and Keith rejoined him and Alexa.
"Ready to go, Keenan?" Keenan smiled at his mother.
"Yep!" With the confirming nod, Lily released Cheryl from her Poké Ball; Lily quickly bid Hayden, Keith and Alexa adieu before she, Keenan and Iara disappeared in a quick flash. Alexa looked up at her father in puzzlement when she felt his hand on her shoulder.
"Can we talk?"
"Of course," Alexa smiled as she followed Hayden to a different part of the street, not too far from Keith or the Pokémon, who were all watching in confusion. "What's up?"
"Are you okay?" Hayden asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine...I'm...I'm starting to enjoy myself with him." Hayden smiled.
"Good. I just wanted you to know that I have a meeting tomorrow, but I WILL be on hand if you need me for anything. Okay?" Alexa chuckled as she smiled; she found Hayden's mixed up priorities – family above business – to be both amusing and endearing.
"Okay. Thanks, Dad." Hayden cuddled Alexa and pecked a quick kiss on her cheek, which was swiftly returned by Alexa as the embrace released itself.
"Of course. With any luck, my department stores will be selling Xtransceivers," Hayden winked. "I'm going back to the hotel room to make my preparations; I'll see you there, Alexa."
"Bye, Dad," Alexa said happily as Hayden began making his way back to Castelite. Keith approached her in confusion.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah; he was just telling me about a business meeting tomorrow, that's all. It's about the prospect of opening XCommunications branches in his department stores." Keith smirked.
"Like he needs to improve them? His empire's already as powerful as it can get!"
"To tell you the truth, one of the businesses he has in his stores is closing down soon, so Dad's looking to find a suitable replacement beforehand."
"Huh. So...what's on the agenda for the rest of the day?" Alexa smiled at Keith.
"We can visit Castelia Park." Ryder spotted a Beautifly flying away from the rooftop of the city's gym in front of him; he recognised it as the same Beautifly he spotted over Route 4! He began to carry his suspicions.
Troy was in the field of his Daycare Centre, carrying a large and fairly deep basket of different coloured Poffins that he was distributing between the plentiful Pokémon scattered around the field. Brent and Lukie helped Troy with his task of feeding the Daycare Pokémon; Brent handed the food to the Pokémon in the nearby trees and shrubbery while Lukie's goofy grin allowed him to feed the infant Pokémon with ease. Michael walked over to Troy and smiled up at him; the Breeder spotted his Ninetails companion and chuckled.
"Hey, Mike."
"Nine. Ninetails?"
"Things aren't going so good," Troy sighed as he crouched down to feed the two Skiddo lying near the pond. "Aunt Hailey's got more problems on her plate with the twins having been sent home for some reason..."
"Nine?"
"All I know is Daniel got beaten to a pulp and his sisters are shaken up by it. That's probably why they were sent home, too." Troy cheered up when he saw the Skiddo eating his Poffins. "As for why Daniel got beat up...Hell if I know," Troy sighed as he stood up. "The girls looked shaken up when I saw them, so it was probably something other than the whole 'eye' issue the twins have been bullied with since day one."
"Ninetails."
"I dunno; they have other problems plaguing the household, and her name's-"
"LIII!" All of a sudden, a large pink Jellicent leapt from the pond, startling the Skiddo twins and the other Pokémon resting nearby, and landed in front of Troy. Troy yelped and staggered back as he began to panic; Troy's cry caught Brent and Lukie's attention, but Perri also rushed to Troy's aid, assisting Michael and Brent in fighting off the outsider Pokémon.
"JELIIII!" The Jellicent suddenly spat out a pillar of torrential water from her mouth and aimed it at the numerous Daycare Pokémon around her. However, each and every targeted Pokémon avoided the onslaught in an instant. Troy stared fearfully at the Jellicent, but panicked even more when she met his gaze with her own.
"...n-no...stay away...! ...stay away...!"
"LIII!"
"ZOOOR!"
"LIII!" Jellicent cried out in anguish as Perri darted towards her and slashed her with her blood red claws oozing in a bright violet glow. As Jellicent recovered from the attack, Perri stood in front of Troy protectively as Michael and Brent both absorbed sunlight through their tails.
"SIIIIIIII!"
"NIIIIIIINE!"
Both Michael and Brent fired a beam of concentrated solar energy from their gaping mouths, both of which struck the oncoming Jellicent as she tried to attack Perri with her tentacles held out on either side of her.
"Simisage!" Brent yelled to the panicky Troy. Troy looked up at the one-armed Simisage in terror. "Si, Simi!" With the encouraging tugs from Lukie, Troy scrambled onto his feet and moved away from the battle, as Brent had instructed. With the hyperventilating Troy at a safe distance, Perri moved in for one last Night Slash attack, her claws regaining their violet glow.
"Jelli!" Jellicent screamed as she leapt away from Perri's attack, hopped over the fence and dove straight into the lake at the bottom of the hill Troy's Daycare Centre was built on. The other Daycare Pokémon nervously emerged from their hiding places and timidly tried to resume their interrupted activities. Michael, Perri and Brent ran towards the frightened Troy and tensely watched as he tried to recover from his overwhelming shock.
"Zor? Zorroark, zorror?"
"...I-I..."
"Nine, Ninetails."
"Simi," Brent nodded as he began to escort Troy inside the cottage, Lukie, Perri and Michael following him out of concern.
Jellicent returned to the surface and floated in the calm body of water until Adelina approached her; she smiled as Adelina crouched to her level.
"Jelli!"
"Did you hear anything, Dolores, sweetie?"
"Jell!" Dolores nodded. "Jellicent, Jell, Jell, Jell-li-cent!"
"Ooooh! I can really work with that!" Adelina said with a hint of seduction in her voice. "But, oh...you did hold yourself back like I asked you to, didn't you?"
"Jell," Dolores nodded courteously.
"Very good; I don't want to spoil the fun."
"BEAUUUU!"
"Hm?" Adelina and Dolores watched as Beautifly flew towards them in a huge panic.
"Beautifly, Beau-Beau-Beautifly!" Adelina was both horrified and enraged.
"What!? Urgh, that little...!" Beautifly flew down and roosted on top of Dolores' head, but the Jellicent didn't seem to mind the butterfly resting on her crown.
"Jell?" The two Pokémon grew confused when they saw a devilish smirk reaching Adelina's lips.
"She's almost figured us out, my babies..." Adelina looked at her Pokémon; the glint of complete hatred in her eyes combined with the demonic smile intimidated Beautifly, but Dolores developed the same look. "I think it's time we pay her a visit."
To be continued...