Chapter Fifty Six – Hurricane Adelina pt VII
The coffee shop barista thanked Alexa and Keenan for their custom courteously as the pair left the counter; Alexa held a handled cardboard coffee carrier that held two identical takeaway coffee cups of cocoa, while Keenan held the other coffee carrier in one hand and a cardboard cake carrier in the other. The siblings made their way out of the busy coffee shop, which had the custom of visitors, members of staff on breaks and even patients, with their purchases in hand.
"You sure you don't want me to carry something?" Alexa wondered as she looked at the two items in Keenan's hands.
"No, thanks, I'm okay," Keenan said kindly. "Besides, I've got the stuff for Troy and Xavier, remember?"
"I know, but I can at least lighten the load." Keenan simply shrugged.
"They're not that heavy." Once he and Alexa made a turn down one of the Pokémon Centre's quieter corridors, Keenan looked up at his sister curiously. "Hey, Alex?"
"Hm?"
"Keith told me you looked after him the night Mum and Dad met Roberta." Alexa felt warm and fuzzy as she was immediately reminded of the night in question; she remembered coddling Keith like a mother Kangaskhan, but what made her blush a little was the kiss that somehow happened afterwards – Keith was so gentle that recalling his touch made her heart melt. Keenan smiled when he saw how blissful she looked. "Would you agree with him?"
"I'd...meet him half way," Alexa began, rubbing the back of her neck. "I looked after him when he got upset, he kind of looked after me by treating me to breakfast and dropping me off outside Castelite."
"Does that mean the two of you are okay now?" Keenan asked. "I mean...the two of you were really happy yesterday it was almost impossible to remember that you had such a huge fight before we came to Unova in the first place." At the opposite end of the hallway, a raspberry-eyed girl with long dark chocolate hair wearing a lighter chocolate brown jumpsuit that almost resembled a swimsuit, long black gloves and boots with several pieces of gold bangles on her arms and over her knees turned the corner and proceeded to walk down the corridor with a disgruntled Gliscor with larger wings than normal riding on her back, looking around him cautiously as his Trainer walked along.
"I-I guess...?" Alexa said with slight uncertainty. "...I-I guess we are...I just need to talk to him about it..." Keenan frowned a little.
"As well as making him feel better about Robbie?"
"Yeah, I'm...I'll need quite a bit of time with him," Alexa nodded as she glanced down at the two cups of cocoa in her carrier. "I wonder if these will even last that long..."
"Maybe you should've bought large ones," Keenan suggested nervously.
"Nah, they'd probably get cold before-"
"HSSSSS!" The Gliscor hissed at Keenan and Alexa as his Trainer began to walk passed them; the sudden hiss alarmed both the siblings and the Gliscor's Trainer.
"Sorry, sorry!" the girl apologised quickly.
"Sorry!" Alexa chuckled nervously as the girl went on her way, quietly scolding 'Jericho' for hissing at 'random people'. Alexa and Keenan watched the Gliscor briefly glaring at the pair before returning to his unnecessary sentry duties. "At least he means well..."
"A-Anyway," Keenan began nervously as he and Alexa resumed their walk down the hallway. "You and Keith did work well together earlier."
"You think so?" Alexa asked as she faced Keenan in bafflement. "I kind of thought it was a bit of a disaster."
"Yeah; the way you took advantage of Ava's ability was pretty cool! Then there was when he was being protective over you...seriously, how can you say the two of you have problems anymore?" Alexa looked away from Keenan as she slightly blushed.
"I-I never said that..."
As they walked down another hallway, Alexa and Keenan saw Keith sitting by himself on one of the benches scattered across the corridor, elbows on his knees and forehead resting in his palms. Alexa and Keenan looked at one another worriedly before they nodded at one another; Keenan silently made his way down a different corridor while Alexa carefully walked over to Keith. She stood next to him nervously for a few seconds before she finally spoke up.
"Keith?" Keith turned his head and looked up at her; he dropped his arms and sat up properly before looking up at her directly – Alexa saw how torn he appeared to be and felt even more anxious for him.
"Hey, Alexa..."
"I-I, uh..." Alexa took one of the coffee cups from the carrier and offered it to Keith. "I got this for you; I thought you might need it. It-it's just a cocoa, nothing fancy..." Keith quietly accepted the beverage and held it in both hands, resting it on his lap. He nudged his head towards the empty spot on the bench next to him, giving Alexa silent clearance to sit next to him; she took the other cup out of the carrier as she complied with his signal and sat next to him. He sighed as he looked away from Alexa just as she looked at him with concern.
"...Robbie, he's... ...he's been taken to surgery." Alexa pitied him even more.
"Keith-"
"I gotta be honest, I'm...I'm scared." Alexa gently rested her hand comfortingly on his shoulder. Keith suddenly, yet softly, used one hand to hold onto hers; Alexa waited for a few seconds, but his hand held onto hers instead of pushing it off of his shoulder, like she partly expected it to.
"I...I can't apologise enough..." Keith sighed silently. "I-I know how you feel...and...if-if there's anything I can do for you, j-just tell me." Keith nodded understandingly.
"...thanks." Keith removed his hand from Alexa's as she removed hers from his shoulder. The pair sat on the bench in awkward silence, occasionally sipping from their coffee cups. After a few moments, the pair faced one another.
"I just wanted to-" Keith and Alexa halted mid-sentence as they realised they began to talk at the exact same time. They looked away from each other, feeling awkward all over again, for a few moments before they dared to face each other again.
"Thank you," Alexa said quietly before Keith could say anything. "...for...for everything you've done today..."
"I didn't do that much..."
"Your help meant a lot to me..."
"You were doing most of the battling..." Keith looked down at the cup of cocoa on his lap. "You had more Pokémon that could battle..."
"That doesn't mean Ava's contribution was meaningless...I wouldn't have worked around her ability if I thought that was the case..." Keith looked over at her again, still looking as despondent as before. "Her attacks got stronger as the battle progressed because of the advantages I took; she probably contributed more than you realise..." Keith sighed pessimistically, worrying Alexa further; she looked away from him, but shifted her eyes to look at him as she took another sip of her drink. She began to consider the possibility that she was making Keith feel worse, which made her feel very ashamed of herself.
Carter roared violently as he slammed his glowing tentacle down on Vergil's tail, glimmering in a grass green glow, as the Serperior swung it across him to block the Night Slash attack. With Carter distracted, Josh leapt over Vergil and slapped his frozen fist across the Malamar's cheek, knocking him away from the Regal Pokémon. As he struggled back onto his feet, Carter looked around at his fallen teammates as, one by one, Adelina begrudgingly recalled them back into their Poké Balls, despite her carrying a psychotic smile.
"Keep going, Carter; you're the strongest Pokémon on the team – you simply CAN'T lose!" Adelina instructed arrogantly. Carter glanced back at Josh and Vergil, who were decent enough to actually wait for him to regain his footing and a command from their Trainers before attacking him. Heavily fatigued and battered, Carter reluctantly faced his two opponents savagely. "That's the way, baby! You're not tired at all!"
"Mrr," Carter huffed nastily under his breath. Vergil and Josh exchanged looks of bewilderment.
"Now, use Flamethrower!"
"Mala-MAAAAAAAAR!" Carter inhaled as deeply as he could and exhaled a tremendously large breath of red hot flames.
"Joshie, Mirror Coat!"
"Swah!" Josh jumped in between Vergil and the Flamethrower attack as his body became completely coated in a reflective silver mirror-like shield.
"Vergil, Coil for a bit!" Harvey called. "Josh's got you covered!"
"Ser!" Vergil nodded as he curled up tightly behind the mirrored Swampert and relaxed. Carter's Flamethrower, meanwhile, struck Josh's entire being, but it bounced away from the Mud Fish Pokémon and was reflected back to the Pokémon that conjured it in the first place; seeing this bounce-back caused Adelina to grit her teeth in frustration.
"How dare you...!"
"Oh, like you didn't see THAT one coming!" Hailey complained. "You KNOW Joshie knows Mirror Coat, why are you acting like you never knew that?!"
"I mean, how dare you attack MY darling Carter like that?! What, with your...not losing to me!" After recovering from being struck by his own attack, Carter rolled his eyes. "You're supposed to lose to me, Hailey, not the other way around again!"
"Will you just tell us why you're so obsessed with defeating me, Adelina?! I mean, what is your problem?!" Hailey exclaimed.
"YOU!" Adelina screamed angrily. "YOU are my problem! Carter, honey, Superpower RIGHT NOW!"
"Mar," Carter sighed as his body burned in a deadly blue aura. He remained silent as he darted towards Josh.
"NOW, Vergil!"
"SER!" Vergil suddenly sprung up from his coil and wrapped his snake-like body all around Carter's body, resulting in the Malamar falling face first into the singed ground.
"OH, COME ON!" Adelina complained pompously. "Carter, don't just lie there, you piece of shit! DO SOMETHING!"
"Ma-la-mar," Carter grumbled, baffling Vergil and Josh even further. Josh scratched the back of his head in confusion as he looked back at Hailey.
"Swam-pert?"
"I dunno, Joshie...just...I dunno, standby for a spell?" Hailey shrugged. Though still puzzled, Josh complied with Hailey's questionable request and waited, watching Carter not even attempting to struggle out of Vergil's grip; the equally confused Serperior didn't even bother to tighten his grip on Carter either.
"CARTER! Do as I say or you'll be punished just like the others will be!" Adelina screeched nastily. "Get back up and spit a Flamethrower in that Serperior's ugly mug!"
"Mrrrrrr... Malamar..." Vergil was puzzled, but Carter suddenly looked up at the Serperior and, as per Adelina's uppity command, literally spat out a quick burst of fire from his beak squarely on Vergil's face. Josh began to panic.
"Josh, use Ice Punch again!"
"I DON'T THINK SO! Carter, DO IT!"
"Mrr," Carter sighed as his eyes flashed silver for a blinking moment. A recovering Vergil soon perked up and relaxed as his normally vivid orange eyes became lifeless and soulless. Just as Josh began to execute his Ice Punch attack, Vergil darted towards Josh, a sphere of bright green energy starting to form in his gaping mouth.
"JOSH, STOP!" Hailey cried. Josh literally halted in place; he stood perfectly still, icy fist held above his head, staring in terror at the possessed Serperior.
"Oh, for goodness' sake," Harvey grumbled as he quickly took Vergil's Poké Ball and recalled the Serperior before his Energy Ball was fully charged up. "That was cheap, Adelina; have Josh attack Vergil or Vergil attack Josh..."
"Nice save, Harvey," Colin praised.
"Oh, my gosh, this is getting too much," Naomi exasperated.
"Oh, don't worry your pretty little head; now it's down to me and Hailey...exactly what I was wanting..."
"You do realise you could have saved a lot of time, energy and grief by just asking Hailey for a battle directly, don't you?" Lily asked sternly. "Why waste time in doing any of the other things you did when you could have just gotten straight to the point ages ago?"
"Because I want to make sure nobody ruined my fun."
"How is attacking my daughter's Swablu making sure nobody ruined your fun?!" Hailey snapped.
"It wasn't; that was just part of the fun," Adelina said heartlessly. "Though, I have to admit, watching Alexa and Daniel squirm was fun, too... And the look on Troy's face when his Daycare Centre had a Jellicent visit? I wish I could've seen that..." Between the three siblings, Harvey was the only one who managed to maintain his calm exterior; Hayden was close to exploding again while Hailey looked ready to claw Adelina's face off.
"But why even bother with all of that? Sure, the kids had discussions about you, but they weren't going to step on your toes or anything; it was all talk," Harvey argued reasonably.
"Yeah, and Alexa had her own problems to deal with," Colin added. "Why would she consider wasting her time on you?"
"Yet she smelled sabotage from the newspaper photo..."
"If she did, it would have just been her speculation until you came out and admitted it yourself not too long ago," Lily said wisely. "There was absolutely no need for you to try and kill her over it – twice, might I add!?" Adelina ignored Lily and smirked at Harvey.
"Y'know, recalling your Serperior during Carter's control was very smart of you," she said with deceptive sweetness as Josh actually helped Carter onto his feet; the Swampert held out his arm to the Malamar, who gripped it with a tentacle to pull himself onto his feet – Naomi and Lily smiled at the sportsmanship they'd just witnessed. "Too bad Alexa wasn't that smart."
"Pardon?" Lily asked, smile fading from her face.
"Oh, I tried to use some of her Pokémon against her – including her Lucario during our first encounter – but she never once thought to just put them back into their Poké Balls," Adelina explained, looking at her perfect manicure; her nails were painted in a deep scarlet red. "Maybe that Zoroark of hers wouldn't have gotten so badly hurt if she was a little smarter. ...or...A LOT smarter."
"Will you just SHUT UP ABOUT HURTING MY—D'AAGH!" Hayden suddenly yelped in agony as Harvey slapped his hand across Hayden's back. Lily and Naomi were alarmed, but Lily was additionally concerned for Hayden as he tried to endure his pain. Adelina blinked in confusion.
"Hayden, are you all right?!" Lily asked. Instead of answering her, Hayden glared violently at his older brother.
"What was THAT for?!"
"I redirected your anger," Harvey said simply.
"What's wrong with a slap on the head?!" Hayden asked interrogatively.
"Your head isn't tender, Mr Hero," Harvey answered wittily. Hayden sighed as he looked away from Harvey. He suddenly felt himself mellowing out as his pain faded; he sighed again as he looked up at Harvey with a more relaxed look in his eyes.
"Thanks." Harvey happily nodded at his little brother.
"Okay...that was...odd..." Adelina cleared her throat. "Anyway...Carter against Josh, myself against Hailey...I could not have asked for a better outcome than this!" she said with pleasure as a look of sinister joy began to form on her face. "Now I'll prove that I am the better Trainer once and for all!"
"I'm pretty sure better Trainers don't try to kill their rival's sibling's offspring," Harvey said as he rolled his eyes. "Twice."
"Or attack their rival's older sibling's son's Daycare Centre," Hayden added, his own wit steadily returning to him; he even had a tiny smirk on his face.
"Or their youngest daughter's non-battling Pokémon just to get a reaction," Hailey concluded, though she sounded more mean-spirited in comparison to her brothers.
"Be that as it may...only one Pokémon can remain standing and be the victor in a Pokémon battle; I'll prove that Carter will BE that Pokémon and there is NOTHING you can do about it, Hailey! And, once I'm done with that, the kids are next!" Hayden would have violently exploded again, but he neither had the urge nor the energy; he merely snarled brutally at her. Harvey, however, observed the many injuries on the Malamar's body; he smirked at Adelina after noting that some of the wounds were older than others.
"If he can last that long," he said tauntingly.
"Oh, he will," Adelina said, her eye beginning to twitch rapidly again. "And I will see to it that he is the last thing Alexa sees as she takes her dying breath...!"
"That's not going to happen," Harvey smirked. "The Pokémon you saw us using against you aren't the only ones we have."
"Apart from me; you've seen all of mine," Naomi said shyly.
"That'll change eventually, angel," Harvey said with a wink at his ex-wife. "But we still have Pokémon who could EASILY band together and take Carter down with Josh at the drop of a hat!"
"Then why AREN'T YOU DOING THAT?!" Adelina yelled viciously.
"You wanted a one-on-one with Hailey, right? We're letting you have that. That and it's called fairness, which is a completely foreign concept to you, clearly," Harvey said mockingly.
"Fine...I'll have my one-on-one with Hailey...but I'm going to win it!" Adelina declared selfishly. "I won't lose again!" Concerned, Hailey looked over at her Swampert.
"Josh? Are you okay with this?" The green-eyed Swampert looked back at Hailey with a sweet smile on his face.
"Swampert!" he winked. With the vote of confidence from Josh, Hailey nodded and looked at Adelina with her own confidence.
"Let's finish this..."
To be continued...