Chapter 9:

  Ashlyn woke up slowly, really not liking that fact that she had even woken up at all. What was even the point? After yesterday?

  After Kiran and her had gotten back from the cave, she’d gone straight back to her room at the Pokemon Center and cried herself to sleep. She had had things to do yesterday, like feeding her Pokemon, training with them, getting a small workout in, but she just...couldn’t bring herself to care. It wasn’t even that late when she got back, but she slept for so long anyway.

  She just lay there for a while, she wasn’t sure for how long. Her bed sheets had tissues scattered everywhere that she had used to blow her nose and wipe her tears, and the sheets were still wet with her tears. Eventually, the morning sun started making it clear that it hated her by glaring into her room and forcing her to squint to try to shut her out.

  ‘Hari, yama. Hari!’

  ‘Wile…’

  Ashlyn turned around and flicked her eyes to her side after hearing her Pokemon. Sumo at least sounded like he was trying to soothe someone, but they weren’t next to her bed…?

  Oh. Oh, that’s right.

  She didn’t think her heart could hurt even more, but that’s just what it did when she looked over at Mo, Tino’s Jangmo-o. The poor guy was awake, but his eyes looked dead, while Sumo and Chomps were trying to nudge him to eat a bowl of food. The part-fairy-type hadn’t even liked Mo in the slightest before yesterday, just because of the whole dragon-fairy feud those types always had going on, which made it even more clear just how bad Mo was getting. Even in her current state, Ashlyn remembered that Mo hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday.

  Well, Ashlyn couldn’t blame him. She hadn’t eaten either, and she wasn’t the one who had lost her beloved Trainer. But Mo starving to death would somehow be even worse than Tino… Latias, it hurt too much to even think about it.

  She sniffed, and finally sat up. Her Pokemon didn’t miss that, and they were both rushed over to her, overjoyed there was at least some progress happening, even Chomps.

  Ashlyn couldn’t help but give a small smile as she reached down to rub Chomps’ head a bit. ‘So, I gotta look like I’m slowly dying for you to care about me, huh?’ she jokingly asked the Mawile. She looked a bit embarrassed at that, so Ashlyn chuckled a bit. ‘Relax, that was a joke.’

  She took the bowl of food, which was just some leftovers from the Center cafeteria, and walked over to the other bed where Mo was lying.

  Ashlyn crouched down to meet the small dragon at eye-level. ‘Hey, buddy,’ she said softly.

  Mo made a weak whine. Ashlyn kept up her smile, but she was now really worried about the poor thing, if he sounded that weak.

  ‘Mo, you have to eat. H- we don’t want anything bad to happen to you,’ she pleaded. He didn’t start eating yet, but he did move his head to look at the bowl.

  That was close. Ashlyn didn’t want to risk upsetting him with mention of Tino right now.

  ‘C’mon, buddy,’ she continued. ‘You wanna grow up big and strong, right? And join the League?’ Ashlyn hoped he couldn’t have forgotten about something they’d all been training towards for years at this point.

  Mo blinked a few times, and a little life seemed to come back into them. Then he slowly got up, and Ashlyn put the bowl in front of him. He then, ever so slowly, started munching on the food.

  Ashlyn, Sumo, and Chomps, let out a sigh of relief, and Ashlyn got up, and reached down to rub the cute dragon behind the ears.

  She inhaled just then, and finally noticed that the room smelled like complete ass. ‘Oh Latias,’ she complained, turning to Sumo and Chomps. ‘That smell is coming from me, isn’t it?’

  Both Pokemon nodded immediately, while scrunching their noses. ‘Well damn, don’t try to hold back, now,’ she said, with a small laugh. ‘I’ll go take a shower then.’

  When the water started cascading down her body, she felt better. Not by that much, obviously, but it helped clear her head a bit. She’d brought up joining the League to Mo, and saying that had helped remind Ashlyn of her own goals. Especially now that Tino had… died, she had to fulfill their dreams. For both of them.

  She placed a hand against the wall of the shower and sighed, and more tears somehow dripped out of her eyes and melded with the rushing water. It was good that Ashlyn still had her goals, but she was too depressed to feel fired up about that right now. Well, at least she wouldn’t be upset about waking up from now on.

  Probably. Maybe.

  She got dressed after she got out of the shower and dried up, but not into anything like usual. No leggings with some sort of slightly cropped top and sports bra, which was pretty much her default clothing so she could work out whenever. She didn’t feel like doing much at all today, so she wore a really loose black T-shirt she had, and baggy sweatpants.

  Ashlyn turned to her Pokemon and Mo, who was munching slowly on a second bowl that Chomps had brought to him.

  ‘You guys need any food?’ she asked. Chomps and Sumo nodded their heads. ‘Fine, I’ll just grab something for all three of us.’ She then opened the door and started walking through the hallway toward the cafeteria.

  When she was walking through the Center cafeteria, she couldn’t help but notice people were whispering to themselves.

  ‘There’s that girl who rushed in yesterday…’

  ‘Her eyes are red…’

  ‘She looks scary…’

  She turned her head and glared at all of them, and they all suddenly looked really interested in their food. Idiots, she thought, stomping toward the food with her hands shoved in her pockets. They didn’t have a clue what she was going through, so she wasn’t interested in their shitty thoughts.

  One thing she was looking forward to on this trip was the food. Dewford was home, but it was poor, and their food couldn’t compare to what they had in the big cities. Today they were serving what she remembered was called ropa vieja: shredded beef in some sort of tomato-based sauce, with tomatoes and peppers. There were also sides of rice and fried plantains available. She managed to get enough portions for herself and her Pokemon.

  She sat down at a table in the cafeteria to finish her food first, before she went back. But, after shoveled a few spoonfuls of beef and rice into her mouth… haaah.

  She felt nothing.

  ‘Ugh.’ Ashlyn put her spoon down and buried her face in her arms, which were folded on the table. She was rushing to distract herself from her misery, but clearly that didn’t work.

  Fine, she thought, let’s scroll through the forums and see what’s going on. She got out her flip-phone, and started looking at OceanForums. Yeah, obviously no news about her, whatever, a Dewford resident was never gonna generate that much buzz anyway… there was some buzz about Route 121 opening up to some Gym Trainers as well, not just those who had gotten three badges before. She knew that, that’s also why she had been excited to come here to start her journey; to throw herself into a challenge.

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  There was another thread about some girl named Nysa. Apparently she had caused a stir by knocking some rich kids around in battle? Well, she seemed pretty cool then. But as Ashlyn looked at a picture of her, she couldn’t help but notice that she looked… familiar? Sun-kissed dark skin, dark-brown eyes, blue-streaked hair, a bigger nose than she’d seen on most girls, scars running the length of both her arms, and, from what she could see from her battling, a habit of running her hands through her hair when battles got tough?

  Oh, wait. She looked like the younger, girl version of Kiran.

  Kiran. She didn’t care if it was irrational or no, but she couldn’t help but frown in anger, thinking about him again. His Pokemon were so strong, stronger than most of the people she had met in her life, but he couldn’t save Tino? Maybe that was irrational, but she didn’t care. It felt good to resort to her default, to be angry at something, someone... anyone.

  ‘Ash!’

  Her head snapped up. She knew that voice.

  ‘Over here!’ the familiar voice called. Brawly was standing just inside the doorway that separated the Center lobby and cafeteria. He was now jogging over to her. Ashlyn found that she couldn’t really care less about any of the renewed whispers from the probably-Trainers around her, probably wondering how in the world she knew a Gym Leader.

  The spiky-haired man was now standing over her, and he was missing his usual laid-back expression. As he stood over Ashlyn, his eyes were wide, and he was frowning. He had bags under his eyes that were way larger than normal.

  ‘B-brawly, I, uh,’ she stammered. ‘Look, there’s no excuse for it. Yesterday, Tino, he-’

  She didn’t get to finish that sentence, because he abruptly grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. ‘Just let it out,’ he said, his grip on her tightening. ‘If you want to, that is.’

  She was upset, but she was starting to get better, so why-

  Why?

  Her lips started trembling. Her parents were dead, her home was destroyed, and now her best friend was dead.

  As soon as she thought that, the sobbing started. The tears and snot came, even after already crying so much, right there in the middle of the cafeteria. Only one thought was going through her head.

  ‘Why am I still here?’

  ---------

  ‘So, do you know why this is still happening?’ Ashlyn said, facing Brawly with her arms crossed.

  They were back in her Center room. Mo, thank Latias, was sleeping soundly on the bed, having eaten the ropa vieja that Ashlyn had brought back with her, while Sumo and Chomps were right behind her. Sumo was staring intensely at Brawly along with Ashlyn, while Chomps looked kind of bored, and was looking to the side. Well, she hadn’t known Tino, so whatever.

  It was true, Brawly was like a second father to her at this point. He had given Ashlyn a lot. But now that she’d gotten a lot of crying out of the way, there was a lot more room for anger. She’d be even more pissed off at Brawly, regardless of all he had given her, if she didn’t at least get some answers right now.

  Brawly was sitting down in a chair a few feet away from her, thinking. Probably about what he was going to say. Maybe what he was allowed to say?

  Finally, he sighed. ‘Alright, I’ll talk. One problem is that, to be blunt, the situation with the gangs just isn’t considered an emergency by the League.’

  Chomps rumbled angrily behind Ashlyn, and the girl had to agree. ‘What?’ she hissed. ‘Tino wasn’t an emergency? I know I didn’t hear you say that.’

  Brawly glared at Ashlyn, which took her by surprise momentarily. In her experience, he had never done that. ‘Unless it’s something much closer to the scale of what happened ten years ago, when you consider that League forces are needed for other things, like working with Rangers to keep certain areas safe for people, being active or reserve troops for Ransei-’

  Ashlyn had to wrinkle her nose at that one. Apparently the fighting in Ransei was just a continuation of the Great War seventy years ago, which all kids in Hoenn were drilled to hate from a young age, so of course she wasn’t gonna like hearing about Hoenn participating in it.

  ‘-or being ready to defend Hoenn from any threats, and more, you can’t just take League forces away from their posts unless something really bad is happening,’ Brawly finished.

  ‘Threats?’ Ashlyn said with a raised eyebrow.

  ‘There’s been some… economic switch-ups in recent years, especially with Sinnoh and Kanto-Johto getting closer last year. You watch the news at all?’

  ‘Barely ever. Never seemed to help, anyway.’

  ‘Well, to be honest, I get that. The point is, that movement from those two regions, pissed off Unova, Kalos, and especially Galar. Even if we aren’t involved, there is the Great War as proof that these kinds of tensions can fester into… worse,’ Brawly said, looking at the wall to his left and tapping his foot a bit anxiously.

  Ashlyn frowned and gripped her elbows with a tension, feeling an annoyance that she couldn’t make go away. She couldn’t admit that her friend wasn’t an emergency. She wouldn’t. So, she would glare at Brawly for the foreseeable future. Hard.

  Brawly frowned when he looked at Ashlyn again, seeing her glare. ‘The other thing is to do with perceived government overreach.’

  ‘Stopping crime is overreach?’ Ashlyn scoffed.

  ‘Yeah, to be fair, I think that one’s fucking stupid as well,’ he swore. That was another first, at least for Ashlyn. ‘But because enough people and politicians get angry whenever anyone tells them what to do, Wallace feels like he has to hold back.’

  ‘Hari! Yama!’ yelled Sumo from behind Ashlyn, while glaring at Brawly, then stomped on the floor. Not too hard, he knew better than to break a Pokemon Center, but it was loud enough to send vibrations through the floor that they all felt. Chomps hissed at him in response.

  ‘Don’t even think about it, you two,’ she warned. Sumo quieted down quickly. Or at least, stopped stomping. But Ashlyn knew Chomps well enough at this point to agree with what he was trying to say, at least.

  ‘Like Sumo said, I can’t be okay with that,’ said Ashlyn. ‘Do you expect me to be?’

  Brawly opened his mouth to answer immediately, then closed it again. ‘I was gonna say yes, but… just don’t do anything rash, alright?’ he finally answered. ‘On top of what I just explained to you, we still don’t know that much about these people.’

  Ashlyn bit her lip, hard. ‘Fine,’ she spat out. She didn’t really have any intention of listening to that, if she could get away with it. All she could think about was cutting down whoever she needed to in order to join the League so that she could push whoever she needed to make the sort of progress she wanted happen.

  And, who knows, maybe she’d do some vigilante work along the way.

  But, not right now. Ashlyn let a bit of tension out of her body and uncrossed her arms, and hunched over a bit. Then she slumped in the other chair in the room, next to Brawly. ‘So, are you staying in Lilycove for a bit to keep an eye on me? Cause, I’ll be fine, probably…’ she trailed off.

  ‘That didn’t sound convincing,’ Brawly snorted. Ashlyn felt like throwing a pillow at him. ‘I could do that if you want, but otherwise, I’m here for the Lilycove Elite Tournament.’

  ‘Who’re you facing?’

  ‘Roxanne, first round. Might end up facing Juan in the second round if we both win. Sucks, cause that means we’ll definitely have two Hoenn leaders out within the first two rounds, but it is what it is,’ Brawly shrugged.

  ‘You better not lose to the Rock-type Gym Leader, at least. You’ll make us look bad,’ Ashlyn reminded him.

  Brawly leaned back in his chair, and smiled lazily. ‘C’mon, it’s just an exhibition tournament, nothing more! We’ll be fine, whatever happens,’ he said, waving a hand in front of his face in a loose manner. Yep, that was the usual Brawly, already back.

  Ashlyn couldn’t think about ‘for fun’ battles right now, so she just huffed and turned to the side. About half an hour later, Brawly left to go back to his hotel room that he was sharing with some other Leaders, including Roxanne, for some reason – Legendaries, he was way too relaxed about this tournament – and she just sat there for a while, not really feeling in the mood to do anything, while Chomps and Sumo finally chowed down on the food she’d brought back.

  The bad thoughts were already coming back, now that she wasn’t occupied with anything.

  ‘Why didn’t you grab him and pull him back?’

  ‘Why didn’t Kiran have a barrier around all of us to begin with?’

  ‘Why him, and not you?’

  Should she just learn to accept these kind of thoughts from now on? It was getting old, and it had been one day.

  She tried to think about what Brawly told her to distract herself, and that just made her mad again. If their system was so slow and useless for really important matters like these, why did she have to put up with it? How could anyone just wait in a situation like this? At the very least, how many politicians would even lose their voters if they took a strong stance on basic security, just because idiots were making noise?

  Just as Ashlyn put her head in her hands and groaned, Mo started to wake up. She instantly became more alert and rushed over to him. For Mo, at least, she needed to be strong. Or at least, look strong.

  ‘Hey, buddy,’ Ashlyn cooed. The little dragon blinked sleepily, looked around like he was confused. Then, after a few seconds, reality must’ve kicked in, because his eyes widened a fraction, then his eyes drooped, probably in sadness.

  ‘We’ll just rest for as long as you need, alright?’ Ashlyn said. Chomps grunted behind her, probably in displeasure. The Mawile had agreed to come with Ashlyn because Ashlyn promised she would show the Pokemon a path to greater strength after all, not this. But that promise could wait.

  ‘Do… do you want to lie on my lap?’ Was that the right thing to ask? She’d lost people before, but she’d never comforted someone else who had. To her relief, Mo nodded slowly. Ashlyn climbed on the bed and sat against the backboard, and she lifted the little guy onto her lap.

  ‘Jannng,’ whined Mo. A bit stronger of a whine than what he was giving her earlier, but still pretty weak.

  Ashlyn sighed and rubbed his head. ‘I’m so sorry, little guy. I didn’t know that wall would explode like that,’ she said, her lips starting to tremble again. Mo’s eyes widened a bit, and he licked Ashlyn’s hand a few times.

  Ashlyn gave a sad laugh at that. ‘Thank you, buddy,’ she whispered.

  But as happy as Ashlyn was at this small progress, what was next? Was Mo technically a wild Pokemon, now? She had never bothered to learn the rules surrounding this, since she’d only started thinking about catching Pokemon for her personal team other than Sumo about two months ago. And if he wasn’t wild, who would he go to… oh.

  Could… could she bring Mo on to her team? That really did seem like the only option. Tino had been an orphan, just like Ashlyn, so there really would be no other option for a Trainer swap. There was the idea of leaving Kekoa at the Gym, but that might mean a really strict schedule of Gym training all the time. Mo might not be ready to go back to that, not yet at least.

  Ashlyn looked down at the dragon. ‘Hey Mo, I know this might be really soon, but what do you want to do now?’ she asked gently. He looked up from licking her knuckles, and shrugged.

  Well, obviously. Who could think to make plans right after their partner died?

  ‘Well, I had an idea,’ Ashlyn started. ‘You wouldn’t have to battle if you didn’t want to, but… what do you think on journeying with us?’ She held her breath while waiting for an answer.

  Mo glanced at Chomps and Sumo, who were having an argument, like usual. Then, after almost a minute, he looked up at Ashlyn, and gave her a small nod.

  ‘Really? That quickly?’ Ashlyn gasped. ‘I thought that would take longer.’

  ‘Mo, mo, Jang,’ Mo said, snuggling further against Ashlyn, and gesturing vaguely at Chomps and Sumo.

  ‘Are you saying… we’re still a part of your family, even if Tino is gone?’ Ashlyn guessed. Mo nodded. Wow, that one actually made a few tears roll down Ashlyn’s face.

  They had lost one member, but Ashlyn’s family was still going to stick together. Plus, she couldn’t deny the benefits of having a dragon on her team.

  Maybe things would be fine.