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Chapter 28
"I thought about what you said."
Those were the first words that Bianca heard as she blearily opened her eyes, and tried to get an idea of just where she was.
Janine's clan compound, in the infirmary. Sick.
She was feeling that second part quite a bit more today.
The previous day, she'd thought the doctor was being ridiculous confining her to bed when she'd been awake for barely two or three hours, and yet, as she awoke then, her throat was scratchy, her body ached, and her head hurt.
It sucked, basically.
"Huh?" She looked up at Janine – the figure who'd entered into the room and had pulled up a plastic chair to sit beside her bed.
"I thought about what you said to me. About what I wanted, and about whether or not I was willing to sacrifice what my family wished for me in exchange for that." Janine answered her, and Bianca nodded, her mind still catching up. "And I still don't really know, even if I think I'm getting closer."
"Well… that's…"
"Complicated?"
"Sorry, I'm kind of out of it." She admitted, running a hand down her face in an effort to wake herself up. "Uhm… I don't think I'm going to be doing much today."
"The doctor implied that I'd be in quite some trouble if I attempted to make you do anything more than talk," Janine smiled. "And even then, she wasn't too keen on that, either."
Bianca chuckled. "Well, glad to know she's got my back, I suppose?"
They talked at length about nothing in particular, the morning quickly giving way to the afternoon. To her credit, Janine let her get some rest around then after they'd both eaten, and then, when Bianca awoke a few hours later, she was back again, present within the infirmary.
Except she wasn't there to see Bianca.
"Father," Janine spoke from a room adjacent to her own, in a way more reminiscent of how one might speak to a superior at work than how one might react to their own family. "I'm glad to see you awake and alert."
"Thank you, daughter." Koga's voice sounded… scratchy. Not necessarily weak, although she knew the man was sick, so in a way he sounded quite healthy.
"You look troubled." Koga's voice came through loud and clear from just off to Bianca's left, which had a hallway that led, presumably, into a more personal section reserved for Koga. "Is something the matter?"
"It's nothing of import, father."
"So, you say, and yet we cannot always help the things that concern us. Tell me what it is."
Bianca listened to Janine hesitate.
"I am not certain this is something you should need to bother yourself with, father."
A lie, in Bianca's eyes.
"You are my daughter, after all. Anything that bothers you is something I want to bother myself with."
Janine sighed, then, her father's pushing enough to get her to relent.
"It's…" a pause. "I have been thinking, lately, about the offers from the Johto Pokémon League."
"The ones which you've been putting off, correct?"
"Indeed."
"They've had someone else filling in for the time being, but they likely do need a new permanent member, and soon."
"I know that." Janine took a breath. "I do not believe I wish for that person to be me."
It was an admission that Bianca hadn't been expecting, although perhaps she should have been. Even if Janine wasn't quite ready to admit she wanted something different than what her family had set out before her, she'd shown no inclination towards wanting to join Johto's Pokémon League at all.
Perhaps this was just the first step, then, in a wider, slower confession.
"I see. Then why did you not simply tell them so?"
"Well, I…" Janine, again, paused. "I did not want to disappoint them, or you, with my answer."
"A quick negative is often better than a long, drawn out positive, my daughter. I personally would rather you take my position, simply because I know that you are someone whom the Johto League would be able to rely upon. But if you did not wish for the position, all you had to do was say so. They would not have pressured you further."
It felt a rather amicable compromise, in Bianca's eyes. Honestly, despite Janine's words, Koga seemed… rather amicable in general.
Then again, it was also very possible that Koga had simply already come to the conclusion that Janine would not be going to the Johto League, and so took the news well. If confronted with something else…
He might not have been quite so kind.
That was all conjecture, though. For the time being, he seemed a fine father.
"I'll… leave you for now, father."
"Mm. I wish you well, daughter of mine. Look after the clan in my absence."
"I… I will."
Bianca desperately tried to pretend like she hadn't been eavesdropping on every single word the two had shared as Janine exited out into Bianca's portion of the infirmary. It didn't work, evidently, because Janine looked down at her, saw the guilty expression on her face, and sighed.
"We'll talk later."
Bianca nodded, and Janine left.
/
It took her two days to recover after that. Two days during which very little, if anything, occurred.
It had been four since Cynthia left, which meant that she might arrive back at any time – or at the very least return her calls. Bianca was looking forward to having someone she could confide in present and beside her.
She liked Janine, but their friendship wasn't quite at that same level. Not yet.
Still, when the doctor admitted she was healthy enough to leave the infirmary, she ended up heading up to Janine's room more out of lack of anything else to do than a particular reason.
"Ah." Janine nodded towards her. "Feeling better?"
"Mm. Mostly. Still a bit of a cough, but other than that, yes."
"Good."
There was a brief silence.
"So… did you want to talk about how you were feeling?" She asked Janine, who opened her mouth, and then shut it soon after.
"Can I be honest with you?"
"Hm?" Bianca was mildly confused. "You… haven't been so far?"
"It's not that, it's more… it's complicated. A weird thing to say, after everything I've already said."
"Okay… well… Sure, I guess."
Janine nodded.
"It's just… I've always looked up to my father."
It felt like an obvious thing, and it was, in some ways. But with everything that she and Janine had been saying back and forth towards one another, perhaps it was also something that needed to be said.
"When I was a child, he was my hero. Even now, thirty-something years later, he still is." Janine said, and she was smiling. "It's hard to remember that sometimes, when things are at their hardest, when I'm jaded, and cynical, and he's confined to a hospital bed. But that respect and admiration I have for him hasn't gone away, not even now. Not even at his weakest."
Bianca had no doubt. "I'm… sensing a 'but'?"
"But," Janine smiled weakly, "Despite all of what I've just said… I also don't want to become him."
It was odd, how, in that moment, a lot of the odd feelings that had been hanging at the back of Bianca's mind suddenly shifted into place, like scattered puzzle pieces. It… added up. Both Janine's feelings…
And her own.
"Despite the fact that my father is my hero, the only time I really wanted to follow in his footsteps was when I was a little girl." Janine admitted, rocking back in forth in place subtly, probably without even realizing she was doing so. "I went off and became a Pokémon trainer when I was just ten years old, like many other people in Kanto. I trained, I journeyed, and I gathered eight gym badges. I took a shot at the champion, and I… well, I lost."
Despite the words, Janine was smiling.
"But that… it wasn't what I had my eye on. Not then. I wanted to take over the gym, just like my father and the rest of my clan had always wanted me to. And so, I traveled back to Fuchsia. I sat, and I waited. Waited for my father to relinquish his seat. I waited for a year, and then a second. And then around that time, I grew… impatient."
Bianca found herself snickering, and though Janine shot her a flat glare, she was smiling, too.
"Yes, sue me, I was a teenager. I had very little self-control. So, one day, I just… picked up and left. I went off in search of something to do with my time, thinking then that I would only do as such until my father relinquished the gym to me. I scoured Johto, lounged in Hoenn, summitted Sinnoh, battled across Unova and Kalos… and in the end, I found myself… different. Five years passed while I was away. I'd matured into an adult. I'd still kept in contact with everyone, but… when the call came that my father was finally giving up Fuchsia gym to me, just as I was about to journey off towards Alola… I realized that I had a decision to make."
"I could follow in my father's footsteps, as I'd once believed was the only option for me, or… I could find out what else laid out there, in the wide blue yonder."
Janine looked up at her, and her expression was somewhat amused.
"Of course, you know which of those choices I made that day."
"You went back."
"I did." Janine nodded. "And you know what? I don't regret it. Despite what I'm saying now, I learned a lot of important lessons running the gym here. I made a lot of great friends, and experienced a lot of opportunities that a regular traveler never would've been able to. Hell, I was invited to more than a few tournaments in Alola, Galar, and Paldea, so I ended up getting to go on those journeys after all."
Bianca nodded her head. She… she understood.
It wasn't the life she'd wished for herself, perhaps, but the life she'd lived, in and of itself…
"And yes, sure," Janine shrugged. "There's a part of me that wonders what my life might've been like had I taken the leap that day. Had I said no, gotten on that ship to Alola, and made even more irreplaceable memories. But the way my life altered because of the decision I made that day… it isn't something I regret."
Janine seemed somewhat nervous as she rubbed at the back of her neck, and asked Bianca, "Does that make sense?"
And…
"It does." Bianca spoke, and her words were true. "I… Yes, those words make quite a bit of sense."
"What's up?"
"Huh?"
"You've just got a wistful tone is all." Janine said as she leaned back on her bed, and balanced herself on her arms. "Thinking about something?"
"It's just…" Bianca looked down at her Rotom phone, and idly, she thumbed through towards her contact's page.
The list wasn't large, no. It wasn't as full as she was sure Cynthia's was, and it wasn't as broad as many others.
Mostly, it was just the names and faces of her fellows, from back working under Professor Juniper.
She'd entered into her position thinking she needed to do it. The same as Janine. She'd been told by so many that she hadn't been cut out for the life she'd wanted to live, and so had willingly allowed herself to be thrust into another.
But because of that… she'd met so many wonderful people. She'd gotten to know Professor Juniper beyond her scant few encounters with her in her childhood. The Professor had gone on to become a mentor, a friend, and something somehow more, something she couldn't quite put a finger on even now.
She'd made friends with the other researchers, studied Pokémon of various types, traits, and attributes. She'd had long nights, and quick days. Hard knocks, difficult Pokémon, and everything in between.
And yet…
It was an experience that she'd grown from. It was something that had helped her to become who she was today. And even though she'd left, and was glad that she'd done so…
That didn't mean it had been a waste.
Even more, she thought of something else. Yet another way the two of them connected.
Where Janine had looked up to her father, Koga, Bianca had looked up to Hilda.
And just as the both of them still held those same feelings, even now…
Bianca didn't want to become quite as Hilda had been. She admired her, thought there were few people who'd ever been, or would be, better than her.
But she was Bianca. She was herself.
She wanted to live her own life.
Just like Janine.
Bianca nodded her head slowly, the emotions welling up within her. It was… odd. She didn't quite want to cry, but it seemed as if the feeling within her was just as strong as one that might summon tears.
"Janine?"
"Hm?" Her friend tilted her head to one side. "What's up?"
"I think…" Bianca took a breath, a deep, full breath. "I think you need to tell all of that to your dad."
Janine's eyes widened, even as, maybe two seconds later, they gradually began to relax, as did her entire posture.
"…Yeah." She said with a quiet chuckle beneath her breath.
"I guess I do, huh?"
/
"Janine's Toxicroak is unable to battle! Bianca is the victor!"
Bianca let out a breath of relief as Gallade turned back towards her, and shot her a beaming smile. She gave one back, even as the immediate adrenaline of the victory began to fade away.
She'd won again.
That made two gym badges in a row without a hiccup. Her last loss had been to Norman. But both Blue and Janine had been smooth sailing in the end.
It felt good. It really did.
"Well done, Bianca." Janine told her as she recalled her Toxicroak, and made her way over to the opposite side of the arena, where Bianca still stood. "Congratulations on your victory."
"Thank you." Bianca bowed. "And thank you for allowing me to challenge you, even when you had so many other things going on."
"Ah, well…" Janine laughed. "It was the least I could do after you helped me as much as you did. After all, my father, my clan, all of them coming to accept my decision… that couldn't have happened at all if you hadn't helped me to realize just how badly I wanted to pursue it."
Bianca felt good about that. Honestly, she really did. It had only been around half a day since their discussion that morning, but since then…
Well, things pretty much hadn't stopped moving.
Janine had talked with her father, then been dragged into an hour-long meeting with her clan elders. She'd left furious, come back once she'd calmed down, and then proceeded to have yet another two- or so-hour long meeting with those same elders.
By the end of it, Janine had apparently gotten through to them. Bianca wouldn't know how, given she hadn't been invited, but she was happy for her friend nonetheless.
It was funny. They weren't quite as close as Bianca was with the Professor or Cynthia, but she really had become quite friendly with Janine over the course of the few short days they'd spent with one another. She wouldn't have minded spending more time with her, only…
"This was my last battle as gym leader of Fuchsia city." Janine said someone wistfully, before shrugging her shoulders. "Or, well… at least for a while. For now, I'm off to go explore the world a little more. Find myself." She turned back towards Bianca, and lightly nudged her with her elbow. "Just like someone else I know."
Bianca laughed.
"Good luck, Janine."
"You as well, Bianca. Tell Cynthia I said hello, and tell Blue thank you for being a worrywart. For once, it seems to have paid off."
"I will."
She left the gym feeling… oddly refreshed. Revitalized. That was probably because she'd spent the entire day busy, thinking about other things, and not having enough time to consider any of the larger things hanging over her head. That strange mineral, and its connections to Hilda, Cynthia's worries regarding it, and her overall status.
As much as Cynthia had been quite clear her journey could take longer than four or five days, Bianca had really hoped to hear from her by then.
And of course, just as she thought that, her phone rang.
She practically lunged at her own pocket, before realizing how dumb that must've looked to anyone watching her, chuckled somewhat awkwardly at an older man raising an eyebrow at her as he walked past her on the road, and then checked the caller ID.
Her face lit up.
She answered in that next second.
"Cynthia!" She almost shouted, realizing she should probably control her voice a bit more. "I-I have so much to tell you; Hilda, she–"
"It was there, too."
"Huh?"
"That same mineral." Cynthia sounded genuinely shaken, her voice reverberating through the line.
"It was on Seafoam, too."
Her eyes widened. That… as much as it concerned Bianca, it also didn't surprise her. Somehow, a decade and some change ago, Hilda had managed to get her hands on the stuff. It would've had to be rather widespread for that to be possible.
So, no. Bianca wasn't surprised.
Even if her blood was running cold.
"I…" She swallowed. "How soon are you going to be back?"
"Tomorrow morning." Cynthia stated, and Bianca was surprised it was so soon. "We left Seafoam a day ago, but it took until now to actually get in range to call you."
"Then… I know I should probably wait for you to get back to tell you, but… I can't help but want to talk to you, now that I can hear your voice again."
Cynthia paused for a second or so after that, although Bianca didn't know why.
"Alright. What is it you want to tell me?"
She took a breath, felt her hands shake, and then spoke.
"Hilda. When she disappeared – or just before it – …She found that same mineral."
Cynthia was quiet a long while after that. The only thing coming through Bianca's phone was static.
"Cynthia?"
"I'm here, just…" Another pause. "That, it's… It's strange, but I have a theory. I think I have some idea of where we might want to go looking to learn more about that mineral. First step, though… we have someone to go see."
"Hm?"
"Don't you remember?" Cynthia asked her.
"Mars had something to show us."
End Chapter 28
Alright, end of Janine's arc. Now, onto the big one!
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