Chapter 3: Counterbalanced - An Unovan Tale

Counterbalanced - Chapter 3

Alex woke up from his restless slumbers by Yena's mother knocking on the door.
Disoriented, he looked around, immediately missing Zigzagoon's comforting presence.
Then the whole situation came back to him, and with that his bad mood returned as well.

He sighed, and then realised Yena's mother was talking to him from the other side of the door.

"…and Yena has started packing all her things, she would like some advice on the supplies you two should bring." She paused. "Alex? Are you awake?"

He scraped his throat, that felt dry. "Yes, I'll be out in a minute."

"Okay, dear. I have some breakfast downstairs, if you're hungry."

Alex scrambled around to find the sneakers he had wildly kicked out the day before.
While putting them on, his thoughts wandered off to his Zigzagoon.
His Pokémon had done it, had successfully found him a Pokédex!

Alex smiled at the thought, a rare expression for him nowadays.
A Pokédex would mean his long-awaited fresh start.

---

Yena looked up to him as Alex appeared in the doorway to her room.
She was sitting on the floor, completely surrounded by potions, both human and Pokémon snacks, dried berries, ropes, and heaps of clothing. She beckoned him closer, looking slightly desperate.

"Alex, come here and help me sort this out, please. All these things will never fit in my backpack."

Refusing to come much closer, Alex sat down on the floor near the door, leaning against the wall.
He sighed. Seemed like he had to start playing the role of experienced guide already.
He loosely pointed at the pile of clothes.

"Choose two outfits, leave the rest." His gaze went over the rest of the supplies.
"Don't bring too much Pokémon snacks or berries, we don't need them."
He shrugged. "Is that good enough as advice, your majesty?
I'd rather go and get some breakfast now."

Yena grinned. "Yes, thank you, my loyal servant. I'll just finish packing this.
I'll be downstairs in a minute."

Alex rolled with his eyes.

"Let's not joke around too much. People might start to think we get along."

"Oh goodness, no. We wouldn't want that."

---

"Yena, this is our last meal together before you leave. Your mother and I thought this would be an excellent moment to give you this, as a present."

As Yena's father handed his delighted daughter the large package, beautifully decorated with yellow and red ribbons, Alex shifted on his chair uncomfortably. He felt out of place among this balanced and happy family. He focused on the scrambled eggs on his plate instead.

Yena exulted as the present turned out to be a brand-new portable stove, a little pan included.

"Oh, this is great! I thought I'd have to cook above a campfire, but this is even better!"
She reached over the table, pulling her parents into a hug with both arms.

"Thanks, mom and dad. And don't worry about me. Oshawott and Alex will watch over me.
Plus, I'll definitely stay in touch, I'll call you from every Pokécenter I visit."

Alex was staring at his now empty plate intently as Yena's mother called his name.
When he looked up, she spoke:
"Alex, thanks again for looking after Yena. To show our appreciation, we want you to have these."

Speechless, he looked inside the small gift bag she gave him.
There were five Pokéballs on the bottom.
He looked up at the people around him, not knowing what to say.

Yena's mother gave him a gentle smile.

"I'm sure you'll be able to catch some Pokémon with those, Alex."

Alex coughed, moved by the unexpected gift.

"Ehm… Wow. That's really good."

Yena kicked him under the table. "Say 'thank you' already, Alex!"

After throwing a furious glance at Yena, his leg throbbing painfully, he nodded at her parents.

"…Thanks."

"Oh, you're welcome, honey. I know Yena can be a handful sometimes, but she's a reliable person as well. You can trust her." She went through Yena's blond hair with her hand.
"You guys should look after eachother."

Yena gave her mother a shaky smile, both quite emotional.

"Mom, we can't burst into tears now, imagine how silly we'd look."

Yena's mother wiped her eyes with her sleeve, and sniffed once.

"You're right, dear. You two should leave soon, before I change my mind and keep you here."

---

"You know those stylish white pants will not be stylish and white for long, right?"

They had finally left Nuvema Town, after a long series of tears, hugs and kisses between Yena and her parents. Now, with her hometown no longer in sight, Yena's mood had been extremely excitable. After his comment on her pants, she studied them, and shrugged.

"Why not? Look." she gestured at the perfectly straight road ahead.
"No obstacles in sight. How could they get dirty?"

Alex' sarcastic grin was his reply.

"Oh, I see. You thought travelling with me was going to be easy. I have some bad news for you, then. You must understand that my belongings are still out there." He pointed east through the dense trees. "I also plan on going to Accumula Town by travelling off-road. And I don't know about you, but I don't feel like being stopped to be questioned by police investigating the disappearance of a Pokédex. Your clothes will be green, muddy and torn like mine in no time at all."

Her hesitation didn't last too long. Her blue eyes peered through the trees.

"I made the choice to travel with you, Alex. Let's go, lead me to your camp."

Alex snorted at the word 'camp'. "You think too highly of me, Yena."
Yet he stepped off the road, carefully finding his way through the tightly packed trees.

Yena could hear his raw voice as she followed him:
"Watch out for the wild Pokémon, they're quite vicious here."
She giggled nervously, not sure if he was joking or not, and made sure she had Oshawott's Pokéball within her reach. Soon, she found out that keeping an eye on Alex and placing her feet right was a difficult task. And after a while, Alex had moved away from her quite a bit.

"Alex, could you slow down a li-…"

She was interrupted by a series of three short, sharp whistles.
As Yena's eyes focused on Alex, she saw he was the source of the sound.
Standing still, he brought two fingers to his mouth again, inhaled sharply and produced another series of loud whistles. He lowered his arm, looking around through the trees, as if he was waiting for something.

Yena approached him, also looking around, but not knowing what to look for.
"What are you looki-… Ah!"
Gasping as she was interrupted yet again, Yena nearly tripped when a Pokémon jumped by with big leaps. The Pokémon barked enthusiastically, rubbing his head against Alex' legs before sitting down in front of its owner, looking up to him with a grin.

A true transformation had taken place on Alex' face.
Had his face been cold at first, sarcastic at best, it now smiled down on his trusted friend.
The lines near his eyebrows that appeared when he frowned had disappeared, making his face look softer. He crouched down, tickling the brown and white coat, causing the Pokémon to wiggle and shake with breathless laughter.

Yena looked at the two with a smile, and hardly dared to breath, afraid to disturb the happy reuniting between trainer and Pokémon. Unfortunately, Alex seemed to suddenly remember her.

As he looked up to her, Yena slowly approached him, also crouching down to admire his Pokémon. She smiled gently.

"I didn't know you had a Zigzagoon, Alex. He's really cute."

She held out her hand to Zigzagoon, giving him the opportunity to get used to her scent.

Curiously, Zigzagoon sniffed her hand, then looked back at Alex.
His owner sighed for a moment.

"Be nice, Zigzagoon. We can't travel fast if Yena gets her hand chewed off.
She'd probably cry the whole way to Accumula Town, and attract a lot of attention."

Yena chuckled as Zigzagoon blinked his eyes, turned his head back at Yena's hand, giving it a small lick instead. He then proceeded to sniff her whole arm, quickly ending up investigating her backpack.

"Oh, now you've done it. You went against my advice and brought Pokémon treats, didn't you?"

Alex straightened his knees and back, looking amused as Zigzagoon tried to open the zipper on Yena's backpack with its teeth.

"You might as well give some to him now, or he'll be travelling on your back ruining your sparkly new bag with his teeth, I can guarantee you that."

Yena laughed. "Alright, alright. Let go off my bag, Zigzagoon, and I'll get you some treats."

As she fed Zigzagoon one treat at a time, she managed to scratch him behind it's spiky ears, drawing him closer until she could pet his whole back.

"Does Zigzagoon play well with other Pokémon?" She asked Alex, who was following her interacting with his Pokémon with suspicious eyes. He shrugged.

"How would I know? I don't have any other Pokémon.
…You're going to show off that Oshawott again, aren't you?"

Ignoring his words, Yena showed Zigzagoon Oshawott's Pokéball.

"Do you want to meet a new friend, Zigzagoon?" She asked him, while offering another treat.

Eyeing the Pokéball for a second, Zigzagoon nodded, before carefully taking the treat from between her fingers. He stepped back for a moment as Oshawott appeared next to him in a flash of red light. The water-Pokémon immediately waved at Zigzagoon.

"Osha! Oshawott!" Zigzagoon tilted his head, then replied with a series of short barks.

The two Pokémon seemed to get along, so Yena stood up, watching them with Alex.

"So are we getting close to your camp, Alex? I don't see a tent here anywhere."

As Zigzagoon jumped around playfully near their feet, chased by Oshawott, Alex smirked.

"Oh, very close. In fact, you're standing in the camp right now. My bag is up there." He pointed above his head, where Yena could see a ragged black bag hanging from a branch, out of any wild Pokémon's reach. "And a tent, you say? Wow, that would be an incredible luxury, now wouldn't it?"

Yena blinked with her eyes. "But where have you slept all this time?"

"Grass and moss can be quite comfortable. I stay at Pokécenters sometimes, as well, if Nurse Joy will let me. That will all be easier, now that I have my own Pokédex. That reminds me. Zigzagoon!"

The Pokémon's response was instant, immediately sitting down at Alex' feet and looking up to him.

"Did you get the Pokédex?" Zigzagoon nodded happily.
"Well done. You hid it somewhere, didn't you? Go get it!"

Zigzagoon jumped away lightly, zigzagging around the trees on his path.

Yena carefully sat down on the roots of a big tree, Oshawott on her lap.

"You stole a Pokédex just so you could stay in Pokécenters?
You could've just applied for one at the lab."

Alex cast her a furious look. "Not an option. I needed this Pokédex to make my new identity official."

"…Your new identity?"

"Well, yes. You thought I lived like this because I like it? You must be even dumber than I thought. My parents didn't give me this name when I was born, either."

"Ah. So what's your real name?"

"Like I'm going to tell you. A Pokédex is a valid way to identify yourself, and that's what I need. I'll be able to enter contests, challenge gym leaders, but also normal things such as getting a job or buying a house when I have enough money are now in my line of possibilities. Finally."

The sound of paws on the ground announced Zigzagoon's arrival.
The raccoon-like Pokémon sat back down at Alex' feet, dropping the Pokédex on the ground, offering it to his owner.

"Zigzagoon…" Alex picked the machine up. "You brought me a… yellow Pokédex…?"
He studied the canary yellow thing, turning it around again and again.
"That's… really inconvenient, Zigzagoon. No one has a yellow Pokédex. What if the police announces that a yellow one got stolen? I'll stand out like a Wailord on dry land."

Zigzagoon seemed to shrink, pressing itself on the ground to show Alex how much he was sorry for its mistake.

"Yena, what color is your Pokédex? You said Professor Juniper had already given you one."

Yena had quietly observed him. "It's red."

"Trade with me."

She shrugged. "I can't."
She got out her Pokédex from her bag, clicked it open, and pressed one of the buttons.

The metallic voice that came from it, stated:

"This Pokédex is programmed by Professor Juniper for Pokémon Trainer Yena Zenouveau. The function of this Pokédex is to provide Yena with information and advice regarding Pokémon and their training."

Alex clicked his yellow Pokédex open, copying Yena's movements.

"What does that mean…? How can I get it to say my name?" He pressed the same button as Yena had done, which resulted in nothing but silence.
Shaking it wildly, Alex looked ready to throw the thing away. "Nothing's happening!"

"Calm down, Alex. Let me take a look at that." Yena held out her hand, just in time to catch the Pokédex thrown her way. "I might be able to figure it out, I'm quite good with computers as well."

Alex sank down against one of the tree trunks.
He stared at her, and promised, very seriously:

"If you can fix it, I'll take you as far as Castelia City, instead of Striaton City."

"It might take me some time."

"Oh, I have plenty of that."