Chapter Fifty Five – Hurricane Adelina pt VI

Alexa stood over a wash basin in the Pokémon Centre's ladies' lavatories as she caught some of the ice cold water pouring from the faucet in her cupped palms and splashed it over her face. The faucet turned off by itself as Alexa began to breathe deeply and look at her reflection in the mirror directly in front of her; she sighed despondently as she saw the look of fatigue that was already pointed out to her. She stared at herself in the mirror as she reflected on the torment she was lucky to have escaped from as bits and pieces of the ordeal played in her mind; she remembered seeing her brother in the grasp of Adelina's Jellicent, her Buneary resorting to knocking out her own teammate, Keith attempting to persuade his Pichu to continue battling despite her inexperience...Adelina's Pokémon attempting to attack her before her father's Farfetch'd saved her from the onslaught her Pokémon couldn't halt. She would have punched the mirror in frustration if another girl hadn't entered the lavatories with her Feraligatr. Alexa casually splashed her face once more, taking care not to knock her unequipped Gracidea flower hairclip into the basin, as the girl walked over to the basin right next to her and began to tighten one of the two pigtails on the side of her head. As the girl turned to commune with her Feraligatr, Alexa couldn't help but notice a third ponytail at the back of her head and raised an eyebrow; her hair's quirkier than Aunt Hailey's, Alexa thought to herself. Regardless, as the girl took the Feraligatr's glasses and cleaned them with the bottom of her red parka, Alexa chose to walk away from her basin and carry on with her own business. The Feraligatr saw Alexa leaving and drew the forgotten hairclip to her Trainer's attention; the chestnut-haired girl quickly took the accessory and hurried out of the lavatories in pursuit of Alexa.

Leaving the ladies' toilets, the girl looked around for Alexa, only to find her leaning against the wall next to the gents'; she stared at her feet as she appeared to be waiting for something – or someone.

"Excuse me?"

"Hm?" Alexa looked over at the girl standing in front of her with an awkward smile on her face.

"Is this yours?" she asked as she held the Gracidea hairclip in front of Alexa. Alexa groaned quietly as she accepted her clip from the kind girl, giving her a nervous smile.

"Yes, it is; thank you," she said graciously as she returned the clip to its original position on the right hand side of her head. "The last thing I want to do is lose this..." The Feraligatr left the ladies' toilets and caught up with her Trainer.

"Well, I'm glad you got it back," the girl said cheerfully.

"Thank you for returning it to me."

"You're welcome," the girl said courteously as she began to walk down the corridor with her Feraligatr following closely. Alexa lightly touched her clip and smiled warmly until the door to the gents' opened as an equally fatigued Keenan slowly made his way out into the hallway; he didn't seem to notice Alexa's presence until she spoke up.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Startled, Keenan spun around and looked up at his sister; his alarm quickly faded as his guilt took over.

"Hi, Alex..." Alexa's concern grew when he kept his gaze away from her.

"Come on, we need to talk about this..." Keenan just silently followed Alexa as she led him away from the corridor.

Alexa and Keenan passed the reception desk, passing the same girl and Feraligatr Alexa had encountered in the ladies' lavatories, as they walked over to the barren waiting area of the Pokémon Centre's main lobby; none of the numerous seats in the area were occupied and the area as a whole appeared untouched as the supply of magazines were still neatly piled on the table in the corner of the room. Alexa and Keenan sat on the plush faux leather sofa in the corner, near the table of magazines, as they began to talk.

"Talk to me."

"It's just..." Keenan kept his eyes away from Alexa and focused on his lap, as if in shame. "I-I feel like everything's all my fault..."

"No, it isn't," Alexa said gently, despite her own worries starting to get the better of her. "At the very least, I don't see it that way."

"A-And then there's...there's...!" Keenan clenched his jeans as he choked back a sob. Alexa watched him fighting against his tears with grave concern, knowing full well what exactly was upsetting him.

"Did she hurt you?" she asked carefully. Keenan rolled up his sleeve, taking care to prevent it from being damaged by his broken Xtransceiver, and looked at his arm; both he and Alexa saw a faint pink mark that nearly resembled a Jellicent's tentacle. Seeing the mark left Alexa both infuriated that he ended up getting hurt after all, but relieved to know the extent of his injury wasn't as bad as it could have been. "Is it tender?"

"N-Not really, I-I can handle it," Keenan said shakily as he pulled his sleeve down. "But...I-I feel so bad...!"

"Keenan-"

"Robbie's got a broken leg and it's all my fault...!" Keenan said remorsefully as he began to cry. Alexa pulled him into a comforting cuddle and held onto him dotingly; Keenan clung to the front of her neon green T-shirt as he wept.

"I know exactly what you're going through..." Keenan sniffed as he looked up at Alexa curiously. "Ryder went through a lot just to get to me on Mt Coronet...and Keith got hurt for my sake once...then there's Xavier..." Keenan felt Alexa's grip on him loosening slightly. "But...none of them regret it...and I'm sure Robbie doesn't regret trying to help you either."

"Y-You think so...?"

"I got badly hurt trying to save Keith once; I was reckless in my approach and I ended up failing the attempt...if Robbie's attempt to save you was as reckless as my attempt to save Keith, then he's going to regret his failure above the fact that he tried."

"...n-nobody told Robbie to attack...Iara and Ava didn't want him to either..." Alexa huffed a silent sigh.

"My point is...there's no point in blaming yourself for what happened to you." Keenan somehow felt worse and hid his face in his sister's chest as he began to sob again.

"B-But I...h-how can I not...?! It-it's because of me Mum and Dad are battling A-Adelina right now...!" Alexa tightened her grip on Keenan again as she looked down at him sympathetically.

"They have their own reasons for fighting her...but you're not why they're at war."

"It-it feels like it," Keenan wept. Alexa watched him empathetically.

"I know...I felt like I was the reason our family was falling apart because of my row with Dad... But you and I...we were just victims of circumstance..."

"W-What does that mean...?"

"It means the situations we were in were a result of something that was out of our control," Alexa explained as she began to stroke the back of Keenan's head in hopes of settling his anxiety and despair. "Nobody was to know that Adelina would assault you like she had until it was too late to prevent it from happening, much like how I had no inkling that she'd confront me on Route 7... Do you understand?"

"Y-Yeah," Keenan sniffled.

"It's not your fault," Alexa said gently with a caring smile on her face. "Whether it's the day Xavier got hurt or anything that's just taken place in Entree Forest, none of it is your fault; Xavier doesn't think so, I definitely don't think so and I'm certain our parents, aunts and uncles are of the same opinion." Keenan looked up at Alexa in wonderment before he frowned, concerning her.

"Even so...I should have listened to you about not showing you that photo..." Though she retained her smile, Alexa shook her head slowly.

"What's done is done; the best thing we can do is let it go and move on – like Dad said to me this morning, it'll only eat away at you if you keep dwelling on it," Alexa said wisely. "I think it's best if we listen to him, don't you?" Keenan smiled timidly at her.

"Y-Yeah..."

"Besides...I already said you and I are cool when it comes to that stupid newspaper clipping," Alexa winked. "Nothing else about it needs to be said." Keenan's smile grew brighter.

"Thanks, Alex...!" Alexa smiled kindly as she lightly touched foreheads with Keenan.

"You're my brother...and I've loved you since the day you were born; that's never going to change..."

"I love you, too... I'm...I'm sorry for sounding so gloomy..." Alexa faced Keenan directly, still holding her loving smile.

"After what you've just escaped from, nobody can blame you for being so rattled."

"But...thanks for making me feel better," Keenan said happily.

"Absolutely," Alexa said cheerfully before pecking a soft kiss on her brother's forehead. "Troy's been worried about you since the start of the whole thing, though."

"Think I should talk to him?"

"In a bit; wanna come with me to the coffee shop first? I still need to talk to Keith and maybe getting some cocoa for him and I will help the both of us; maybe Troy could do with one as well and you can choose what you want for yourself." Keenan smiled gratefully at Alexa's generosity.

"Maybe we can get a Poké Puff platter for Xavier and his parents as well?"

"Only if the coffee shop actually sells such a thing; it's a small establishment in comparison to Castelite's, being a Pokémon Centre coffee shop and all," Alexa chuckled as she and Keenan stood up from the sofa. "But that's still a great idea; it'll make Xavier feel better at least."

"What about the other Pokémon?" Keenan wondered as he followed Alexa across the lobby.

"Let them get treated first, silly! But...if their treatment gets finished before I get to you, would you mind holding onto them with Troy?"

"Not at all!" Keenan said joyfully.

"Thanks, bro," Alexa said appreciatively as she gently ran her hand down the back of Keenan's head.

Francesca screamed in overwhelming agony as the reluctant Gallade sliced a blade of deep magenta energy protruding from his elbow across the Gothitelle's body; Steven winced as Francesca's blood splashed onto his face and torso as the attack knocked her backwards. Francesca lay unconscious on the grass, her blood starting to pool around her. Adelina snarled viciously as she begrudgingly recalled her Gothitelle to her Poké Ball.

"I'll deal with you later, princess," she said snidely as she placed the Poké Ball in her purse.

"Oh, that poor Gothitelle," Naomi said sympathetically.

"Gah-lade," Steven nodded as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's Adelina's own fault," Hailey said nastily as she watched Chelsea using her vines to block Silvia's Aerial Ace attack; surprisingly, Silvia couldn't break through the vines. "She should have known better than to force a Pokémon to fight when they have a broken arm."

"Clear case of Pokémon cruelty right there," Harvey added in agreement.

"B-But...look at her," Naomi said worriedly as she observed Adelina's demeanour; she appeared to be on the verge of losing what little patience she had left – her left eye twitched from time to time, unnerving Naomi. "She doesn't look so good..."

"She's self-absorbed, Naomi, not insane," Hailey said meanly as she looked at her old friend. However, the more she looked at Adelina, the sadder Hailey became. "...she's definitely not the Adelina I remember anymore..."

"ROH!" Edward toppled in place as Huey fled from the Samurott's seamitar to attack the remorseful Gallade with a blinding fury of bites, slashes and slaps. A near-demonic smirk reached Adelina's lips as Steven fell to the ground in defeat.

"See!? SEE!? My Pokémon still have mountains of energy left!" she cackled boastfully. However, she was oblivious to her Delcatty's heavy panting; Huey watched as Steven was returned to his Poké Ball.

"Sorry, Harvey..."

"Don't be; you tried your best," Harvey said gently as he gave her a kind smile. Naomi returned his smile, but it was short-lived as she watched Harvey observing Huey's sluggish sprint towards Edward. "But it doesn't look like Huey's mountain of energy's all that tall..."

"You don't say?" Hayden said sarcastically as he saw Tidus leaping into a ball and rolling away from Hyacinth's sludge ball barrage; the Typhlosion crashed into the befuddled Vileplume.

"No, I mean...that Play Rough wasn't as strong as it could be," Harvey said observantly. "That's either down to Huey's exhaustion or his ability being Normalize...or both."

"My Delcatty is NOT exhausted and he does NOT have that AWFUL ability!" Huey's ears drooped shamefully. "ALL OF YOU, keep going...!"

"Maaaaar...!" Carter seemed to complain about his order, but complied nonetheless as he tried to slash his purple-glowing tentacle across Josh's chest; the Swampert slapped the tentacle away with a fist encased in ice. "Mrrrrrr...!"

"Oh, for crying out loud...!" Hailey complained.

"Hang in there, Edward!" Colin yelled encouragingly. Edward nodded at his Trainer as he prepared to face his Delcatty opponent.

"REAAAAAAOW!" Huey leapt at Edward with both sets of claws ready to attack.

"SAMUROTT!" Edward lunged at Huey with his seamitar glimmering in a sapphire blue energy. In the exact same second, Huey slashed his claws across Edward's body and Edward swung his seamitar across Huey's as the two Pokémon passed one another. However, the two Pokémon fell to the ground, defeated by each other.

"URGH! Huey, baby!" Adelina screamed in horror. Colin sighed submissively as he returned his defeated Samurott to his Poké Ball. Adelina reluctantly followed suit as she recalled Huey back to his own Poké Ball.

"Dammit all, we're having a tough time against exhausted Pokémon," Harvey complained in anger. "Christ...guess Chick had a tougher time..."

"Yeah..." Hailey watched the remaining Pokémon as Vergil evaded Dolores's spray of blue flames and slashed his tail, enveloped in a vivid green glow, across her face. "Xavier's lucky to be alive..." Suddenly, Adelina began to chuckle, which quickly escalated to roaring laughter that attracted everyone's attention; the battle seemed to pause in light of Adelina's laughing.

"Xavier? That slut's Zoroark?! Is he really alive?!" Hayden felt incredibly offended at the label Adelina used for Alexa.

"Y-Yes, he is," Lily confirmed.

"No thanks to you!" Hailey added spitefully. Seeing Hayden trying to contain his anger gave Adelina an idea; she seemed to calm down a little, but still bore her demonic smirk.

"Do you want to know why I chose to confront Alexa to begin with?" Hailey raised an eyebrow.

"Y-"
"No. No, we don't," Lily said suddenly as she saw the look of explosive anger in her husband's eyes.

"Aww, but it's such an enlightening story!" Adelina said tauntingly. "...well...it was for HER, at least..."

"What IS it with you and Alexa anyway?" Colin asked with a raised eyebrow.

"And why did you attack Keenan today?" Naomi wondered with concern.

"Because...they've been onto me from the very beginning..." Adelina said with a psychotic smile.

"Onto you?" Harvey questioned.

"Oh, right, I forgot; I haven't confirmed their suspicion yet," Adelina said to herself, suddenly putting on a brief look of innocence. "Guess I'd better clear that up then; the boy showed a photograph in the newspaper to his sister, who proceeded to remark that it 'reeks of sabotage', to use her exact terms..."

"But how did you-"

"Silvia's been keeping an eye on my competition lately," Adelina explained further. "Although...that was AFTER the Contest...that I accidentally cancelled." Hailey's eyes widened in horror as she looked at Adelina with a disgust that was mutually shared by her brothers.

"Y-You...?! But why...?!"

"Like I said, Hailey, I had no intention on cancelling the Contest," Adelina said quickly. "Regardless, Alexa called sabotage on the whole thing, so, naturally, I had to make sure she was silenced, lest she spoil my fun..." Watching Adelina saying such sinister words with a prideful smirk on her face disgusted her entire audience. "At first, I tried to buy it from her; I was going to divulge her little kidnapping secret to the lot of you if she didn't keep her nose clean..."

"So you didn't make that up?" Hailey asked worriedly.

"No, I didn't, darling; it came straight from the Ponyta's mouth – or, in her case, the Lucario's mind!" Adelina cackled; she seemed to get some sort of sick pleasure from her exposition. Hayden glared savagely at her, a look that was starting to be shared with his Typhlosion. "However, that didn't exactly work like I had expected it to," Adelina sighed. "So...I engaged her in a battle I had no intention of letting her escape from," she continued, her smirk becoming devilish once more. "And I mean that literally."

"What are you talking about?!" Harvey asked demandingly.

"I don't know what injuries that Zoroark of hers ended up with after Carter attacked him with Superpower...but..." Adelina's glare matched her grin, which intimidated everyone except Hayden and Tidus, who fought against her look with a vicious look of their own. "Let's just say...they weren't meant for HIM..."

Nothing else needed to be said; everyone understood the horrific implications behind Adelina's cryptic response. In their heads, they suddenly began to picture a malicious Malamar attacking Alexa with the deadly Superpower attack, Alexa crashing into whatever it was that caused Xavier's haematoma in the first place...and Alexa lying limp on the ground afterwards. The imagery alone was enough to make the adults sick to their stomachs, but it was what followed that almost made Naomi physically sick as she held one hand over her stomach and the other over her mouth; they all realised...there would have been absolutely no plausible way that Alexa would have survived such a brutal onslaught, especially from such a rigorously trained Pokémon. The thought of Alexa's would-have-been demise, however, left Hayden with a look of tormenting trauma as tears flowed freely from his eyes. He began to picture Alexa in his mind, though not as the deceased corpse Adelina wanted her to be...but as a much younger and innocent little girl. The imagery swiftly covered various aspects of Alexa's growth in fleeting flashes; Hayden managed to remember his beloved daughter as the four-year-old girl adoring her Shinx onesie, the six-year-old helping her one-year-old brother to walk to his father, the eleven-year-old who triumphantly returned from her first Pokémon League and the seventeen-year-old who reconciled with him and called him Daddy for the first time in under ten years all in less than five seconds. The final image in Hayden's head was of Alexa smiling at him serenely...with what almost looked like a ghostly image of her older self over her, giving him the exact same smile.

"...you..." Hayden clenched both of his fists so hard he felt his blunt fingernails digging into his palm. He began to shiver from containing far more emotions than he could handle all at once as he fought his failing battle to attain control over his feelings. "...y-you..."

"H-Hayden...?" Lily worriedly walked closer to him, only for Harvey to gently draw her away from Hayden as, as if on cue, he finally glared at the woman relishing his volatile state, tears streaming down his face, his eyes piercing into what little soul Adelina had and roaring in a loud erupting voice that was a perfect mixture of savage anger and agonising devastation.

"YOU TRIED TO KILL MY DAUGHTER?!" Suddenly, the flames at the back of Tidus's neck erupted in a tremendous burst of bright blue flames, startling the Pokémon around him, even Adelina's. "YOU TRIED TO KILL HER TWICE NOW?!"

"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEERGH!" Tidus roared in the exact same anger that caused Hayden's blood to boil violently. Chelsea and Vergil hastily backed away from the enraged Flame Pokémon while Josh stepped in front of them defensively.

"Oh; you heard that."

"My daughter has done NOTHING to you and you tried to TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME?!"

"Hayden, stop!" Lily cried, but her plea failed to reach him.

"Because of YOU, Alexa and I-...L-Lexie..." Hayden closed his eyes tightly, causing his dormant tears to fall from his eyes as he withheld his sobs; in doing so, however, he allowed his rage to dominate him as he glared at Adelina with his anger burning in his sapphire eyes. "YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO HER!"

"RYYYYYYYYYHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERGH!" Tidus roared with the same explosive fury as his flames intensified to the point where they almost engulfed him entirely and slammed both of his clenched paws on the grass beneath him. Even Adelina was in a mild panic as an explosion of molten hot blue flames was expelled from the enraged Typhlosion, hitting every Pokémon within its attacking range and burned away the grass in its wake. Hyacinth was immediately overwhelmed and defeated by the scorching hot fire, but she wasn't the only Pokémon to suffer Tidus's wrath; the force of the explosion knocked Silvia backwards, though she was fortuitous enough to avoid the fire itself, while Carter and Dolores suffered mild burns from the attack. Vergil and Chelsea hurriedly scurried away from the flames, but they ended up being protected by Josh, who was only slightly burned as the devastating explosion faded away by the time the embers reached the bulky Swampert; the flames that actually made contact with him were so few and far between that Josh hardly felt a thing from the burns he was left with. Tidus panted heavily as he collapsed onto his knees, completely exhausted from expelling so much energy in one uncontrolled burst of fury. Hayden, too, seemed to suffer from the same fatigue as he breathed deeply to recover from his own outburst. Lily was deeply concerned for Hayden, but all attention was drawn to Adelina as, after getting over her panic, began to laugh.

"I intend to make no such payment, darling. Dolores?"

"LIII!" With every ounce of strength she could muster, Dolores fired a torrential burst of water from her mouth, which struck the tired Typhlosion with its full force; unable to retaliate in any way, Tidus was overwhelmed by the full force of the Hydro Pump attack and was defeated instantaneously. Hayden watched Tidus landing on his back as remorse took hold over him.

"Ganium!" Angered, Chelsea began to absorb sunlight particles into the petals around her neck and eyed the arrogant Jellicent vengefully.

"Hayden?" Lily carefully approached Hayden with Harvey and Hailey as Tidus was returned to his Poké Ball. Nobody bothered to watch Chelsea firing her Solarbeam at Dolores, finally defeating the pink jellyfish Pokémon. "Honey...?"

"I...I-I just...saw red...!" Hayden said tearfully. "T-The thought of... ...I-I can't lose her, too...! ...not Lexie...!"

"Oh, please," Adelina said insensitively as she rolled her eyes in disgust. "You're just as pathetic as HER..." Through his tears, Hayden glared viciously at Adelina. "At least you're not begging me to let you go like she did...Silvia, get rid of that Meganium. Or the Serperior; whichever you get to first, I don't care."

"BEAUTIFLYYYYYY!" Silvia darted towards Chelsea with streaks of light engulfing her. Chelsea, however, formed a ball of pale brown energy in her gaping mouth and fired it at the oncoming Beautifly. To her horror, Silvia barely evaded the attack and struck the Meganium squarely on her forehead; Silvia flew away from the Herb Pokémon groggily as Chelsea toppled onto the burnt dirt beneath her, where she lay unconscious.

"Oh, dear..." Lily returned Chelsea to her Poké Ball without a second thought. After returning the Poké Ball to her pack, she redirected her focus to Hayden. "Hayden-"

"I'm sorry," Hayden sighed as his demeanour softened slightly. "I'm...I'm just...I'm angry and...and distraught...I-I don't know how much more of this I can take!" he said woefully. Harvey kept a worried eye on his younger brother, while Hailey grinned hopefully as she watched Vergil burning in a dark brown aura and boulders made from the same light collided with the Butterfly Pokémon, knocking her out of the air and crashing into the ground in defeat.

"It's okay, Hayden, it'll be over soon," she said gently. Adelina huffed; her Malamar was now the only Pokémon left to face two more...but she grinned sinisterly when she noticed that one of the enemy Pokémon was Hailey's.

To be continued...