Chapter 15: Counterbalanced - An Unovan Tale

Counterbalanced - Chapter 15

Are my eyes open?
It's so dark.
…
Where am I?
Am I dreaming?
…
The sharp smell of smoke.
It's so dark.
…
…
Wait.
…
…
There's light coming from under the door.
…
…
…
The door opens…
…
…
…
The door opens…
…
…
…

---

Yena was closely watching Munna, hovering over Alex.
Her companion was mumbling in his sleep, moving restlessly and his eyebrows were pulled into a troubled frown.
Munna gradually started to glow red.
Some of the transparent light reached down to Alex, forming a link between him and Yena's Pokémon.

For a moment, nothing happened at all.
But after a minute or so, the effects of Munna's actions became apparent.
Alex sighed in his sleep, and rolled to his back.
Slowly, his face went smooth again, the frown disappearing as he continued to sleep in a more peaceful way.

Yena smiled at Munna when her Pokémon stopped glowing, and returned to her side.

"Well done, Munna…" She whispered as she patted the Pokémon's head.

---

…
…
…
The smell of grass.
…
...
Climbing trees.
…
…
Tracking wild Pokémon.
…
…
Running through the forest at full speed.
…
…
Breathtaking views from the highest treetops…
…
…
…

---

Feeling overjoyed and completely relaxed, Alex opened his eyes, slowly blinking at the early sunlight. A delicious smell woke him up even further. As he sat up, he was greeted by Yena, baking small pancakes on her portable stove.

"Good morning!"

Her cheerful smile confused him, and made him cautious.

"Good morning…"

Yena pointed at the small stack of pancakes she had placed on a plate for him.

"Are you hungry? I really felt like eating pancakes this morning."

Alex took the plate, but continued studying Yena's face.
She soon noticed his glances, and her face turned red.
The color of her cheeks failing her again, she giggled nervously as she rubbed her face.

"Okay, okay. Maybe I have something to tell you, Alex. A confession, more or less."

She flipped the pancake in the pan.

"I hope you'll forgive me, but you would never have approved of it if I had asked you…"

Alex, now completely alert, urged her on.

"Yes…?"

Yena breathed in deep.

"I let Munna eat your nightmare."

Alex put down his plate.

"You did… what? Yena… You promised…"

"I promised I wouldn't let Munna project your dreams again, and she didn't. Alex, please listen."
She pleaded as he got to his feet.

"I wanted you to sleep well, it must be awful to have nightmares all the time…! I asked Munna if your nightmare would be replaced by better dreams if she removed it… and it worked, Alex!"

Alex, who had taken a couple of steps back, hesitated.
Encouraged by this, Yena continued.

"Right, Alex? Did you not have good dreams? I really meant no harm, I promise…"

Alex sighed, and he sat back down.
He coughed once, slowed down as always by his dry throat and hoarse voice.

"I haven't felt so well-rested in a long time, and… I know you wanted to help…"
His dark eyes looked back at Yena's face.
"But I don't like anyone messing with my head without me knowing."

Yena nodded with great determination.

"I understand. But Munna was happy to do it... I think she wanted to help, too.
You can ask her to get rid of your nightmares more often, if you feel like it."

"Hmm. Maybe she could try not staring at me as much, if she wants to help."

He got out two Pokéballs from his bag, tossing them on the grass.
As soon as Zigzagoon appeared, he climbed on Alex lap, then proceeded to obsessively stare at the stack of pancakes in front of him, clearly hinting at what he'd like to have for breakfast. Tauros mooed softly, nudging Alex' shoulder with his nose to greet him, and wandered off to graze.

Alex ignored Zigzagoon's attempts at nibbling from the pancakes, and turned his Pokémon around to inspect its tail. The hair that was scorched off during the fight against Pansear was starting to grow back nicely. Happy with how his Pokémon was healing, he grabbed the first pancake from the plate, quickly ripping it to bits and throwing all pieces on the grass behind them, Zigzagoon flying after them with great enthusiasm.

Continuing the conversation while starting on his own breakfast, he told Yena:

"I still need to think to whole thing over. I'm still not sure if I should be grateful for the good night's sleep, or angry about you experimenting on me… But I guess the pancakes tip the balance to the good side."

Yena grinned, happy about the situation not getting out of hand.
The rest of breakfast was quite pleasant, as they were entertained by Tauros, eating some of Zigzagoon's pancake, much to the smaller Pokémon's horror. Zigzagoon's appalled barks had absolutely no effect on the bull, who continued grazing after losing interest.

---

"That's really like you, Yena. I should've known you were Pokémon Breeder-material.
And that's not just a regular Pokémon egg, either."

Yena grinned at the videophone, which was currently displaying a cheerful Professor Juniper.
She was holding the cylindrical, glass egg case that contained her newly-obtained egg in front of the camera, for the professor to see. The egg case had an orange top and bottom, and the egg was comfortably placed on a blue, pillow-like blanket. In the handle, there was an empty Pokéball, to be used when the mysterious Pokémon hatched from its egg.

"Sssh, professor! The kind of Pokémon is supposed to be a surprise. Alex knows, but he's keeping it a secret."

Professor Juniper moved her head from left to right, as if she'd be able to look behind Yena's back.

"So Alex is still with you? Where is he?"

Yena vaguely gestured at the back of the Pokémon Center.

"He's with Nurse Joy for his check-up.
Striaton City's nurse made him promise to come here as soon as we arrived in Nacrene City."

Professor Juniper leaned closer to the screen.

"What have you guys been up to? Did he get hurt?"

"Eh... He's fine now, but he got poisoned, right before we got to Striaton City."

Even more suspicious now, the woman stared into the camera, and Yena felt as if the professor was standing right in front of her, questioning her like she had done in Accumula Town.

"Poisoned…? By what Pokémon? I can't remember seeing a Poison-type Pokémon on Route 2, ever!"

Yena's face turned red.

"…It was a Cacnea."

"What? When did you see one of those?"

Yena giggled nervously.

"Ehm… Right before Alex caught his Tauros…"

"Tauros?"

Professor Juniper leaned back, and folded her arms.

"This is a really strange story… And Tauros are usually difficult to train..."

Glad about the opportunity to give the conversation a push in the good direction, Yena told her:

"But Alex has been great with Tauros, really. And he's not the only one that's caught a new Pokémon…"

While Yena summoned Munna from her Pokéball, and chattered away about both her and Alex' gym battles, her travel companion appeared next to her, decisively pushing Munna out of his face.

"Hello, professor."

There was a moment of silence, in which Professor Juniper stared at her screen.

"…Is that Alex?"

As Alex rolled his eyes at her question, the professor on the other side of the line laughed.

"It really is you! Wow, you look great! That's a good new outfit, too! And you're not as skinny as you were before!"

Yena could feel how Alex edged away from the videophone, not really appreciating the abundant response from Professor Juniper. She touched his arm for a moment, drawing his attention.

"What did the nurse say, Alex?"

Looking back and forth between her and the professor, he replied:

"The nurse was happy to see that I gained some weight, but she did say I should continue to do so. My shoulde-…"

He abruptly stopped talking, but Professor Juniper urged him on.

"Yena already told me about you getting into trouble with a Cacnea, Alex. You might as well tell me how you're healing up."

Alex hesitated, but then continued.

"It's almost completely healed. She said that if I'm lucky, it won't even turn into a scar."

"That's good news, Alex."

Professor Juniper looked at something to her side.

"Ah! Yena, your parents have just arrived. Would you like to talk to them?"

"Of course!"

Alex looked at the Pokémon Center's door, a hint that was immediately picked up by Yena.

"Why don't you wait outside, Alex? Maybe explore the city? I'll find you when I finish my phonecall, okay?"

Alex nodded, glad to be excused.

As he opened the door and stepped outside, he could hear Yena happily greeting her parents.
In a sudden urge, he grabbed Tauros' Pokéball, and threw it out on the street.
As his Pokémon appeared, he said:

"Let's go for a ride, Tauros. I really need the fresh air right now."