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Description
WARNING - From now on, if you haven't read the rest of the chapters yet,
I suggest reading those first. There are important events coming up in the story,
and reading those before the rest of the story just isn't as much fun as the other way around.

Counterbalanced - Chapter 26

"I can't believe you let him send you away so easily!"

Lily stomped the ground as she followed Yena through an alley.

"You two travelled together, right? And he's not the boss of you…
…But you just leave, whenever he tells you to?"

Yena shrugged, looking left and right as she reached a new street.
Lily pointed left.

"That way, if you want to go back to the wharf."

The white-haired girl paused for a moment.

"Are you really going back home, Yena…?"

Yena threw her a determined glance.

"Of course not. I'm going to get to the bottom of this.
Something's going on in Castelia City, and I want to know more."

A grin appeared on Lily's face.

"Ah, I'm so glad to hear that…!"

She hooked her arm into Yena's again.

"And I can help you! I'm good at sneaking around, finding out about things, doing all kinds of detective things..."

But Yena shook her off.

"That's very nice of you, Lily… I don't mean to be rude, but I just need you to go back and watch Alex for me.
You know, to make sure he's okay. If he asks, just tell him you led me back to the Skyarrow Bridge."

---

The cold autumn wind was blowing hair in her face as she stood on Castelia City's wharf.
Yena shivered. Standing still in these conditions was cooling her down fast.
She pulled her jacket closer around her body, and looked around.

She may have fooled Lily into believing she knew exactly what she was doing, but now that she was standing here all by herself... Trying to hold on to her determined feeling from before, she turned around to the Pokémon Center. First things first. She had no idea what was going to happen next, and her Pokémon could use some energy.

---

You will embrace or push away.

You will embrace or push away.

You will embrace or push away.

You will…

With a growl, Alex grabbed the nearest cushion from the couch, and furiously hurled it across the room. It almost knocked the old toaster from the counter in the kitchen, and landed on the floor a second later.

Alex whirled around, cursing as he paced the room.

You will embrace or push away.
You will embrace or push away.
You will embrace or push away…

Those words had been going around and around in his head from the moment Yena had left.
Without realising, he had probably acted out another part of the predictions.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't run away from them.
Feeling cornered, he clenched his fists, wishing he had never heard Ada's words.

He turned around again, looking out of the window as he passed it.
Another swear word left his mouth.
…What was he hoping to see? Yena?
Like she'd come back. He wouldn't, if he'd been sent away like that.
But the fact that he was peering outside time and again, told him the bond between him and Yena had grown stronger than he had realised. He made himself look away from the window. Maybe this was a good thing. The events in Central Plaza had scared him, and he'd taken a rash decision by sending Yena away. But what would've happened if he'd let her stay…?
Lies. Secrets.
She'd have found out about them eventually, and would've resented him for it. He was sure of it.
He should be glad she was gone. She was getting too close.

But sending Yena away had only fulfilled part of the prophecy.
What was next? Without really wanting to, he repeated all of Ada's words in his mind.

'You will be meeting him.

You will embrace or push away.

You will face truth and lies.

And in the end, you'll have no choice but to trust.'

If his clash with Quinn earlier was the first line, and sending away Yena was the second one…

'You will face truth and lies…

And in the end, you'll have no choice but to trust.'

Both of these things scared him.

A sound at the door pulled him out of his nightmare-ish thoughts, that went round and round like a carousel.
His head turned as Lily entered the room, studying him as she closed the door behind her.
After a moment of silence, Alex ran out of patience.

"…What?"

Lily shifted uncomfortably.

"Nothing, really."

Alex went back to pacing back and forth through the living room.

"So what happened?"

Lily's reply was monotone.

"I led Yena to the Skyarrow Bridge."

"Hmm."

After a short hesitation, Lily asked:

"Are you alright? Is there anything I can do…?"

He turned around to face her.
This definitely wasn't Lily talking.
Lily would be wise enough to leave him be, until his bad mood was over.
In the time they'd lived in the same appartment, they'd always minded their own business.

"You could pick up Morgan, Tommy and Cassandra from their class."

She nodded obediently, and turned around to open the door again.
But before she could, he added:

"Oh, just one more thing, Lily…"

She turned her head slightly, listening.

"…Yena didn't really leave, did she?"

---

Yena tried to blend in with the people around her as much as possible.
She slightly tilted her head, and spotted one of the men she'd been following at the end of the street, turning right.

She'd been waiting for her Pokémon to get back to full health at the Pokémon Center, when she saw them through the window. There was a group of five men outside, looking around on the wharf. She recognised three of them as the men that had chased her earlier.

'Follow your instincts, dear.'

Ada's words came back to her as she stared at the group.
She felt nervous and excited at the same time. This had to be her one chance to find out more.

Luck had been on her side, because Nurse Joy called her over a moment later, announcing her Pokémon were all good to go again. Thanking the friendly woman, she took back her three Pokéballs and hurried outside, just in time to see the men disappear into Castelia Street.

---

People jumped aside as he ran by, intimidated by his expression and loud curses.

It hadn't taken him a long time to get the truth out of Lily.
His suggestion to have Ada test her words for truth had been enough.
Yena was investigating things, and he had quite a clear idea where he'd find her.

He took a sharp turn into another alley. This was the shortest route back to Central Plaza.

---

Yena took a deep breath as she approached the stage.
The Hounds of Doom had given its spectacular performing here, but now the stage was empty.
At the other end of the park, the Tynamo Temptations were doing something with light effects, but she paid no attention to it. This part of the park was now more quiet, as most of the fans had moved to the other stage.

Yena had seen the group of men disappear behind this particular stage.
She breathed in through her nose again, pulling herself together.
With one hand on Oshawott's Pokéball, she peered around the corner of the stage.
There was a large black tent, clearly set up for the artists to take a break in.
Two muscular men were in front of the tent, like bodyguards.
As Yena squinted her eyes, she recognised one of them.

Her heart was beating in her throat. Gathering all the courage she had, she called out to him from where she was standing, keeping a relatively safe distance.

"Hey…!"

The two men looked at her immediately, and she pointed at the one she remembered.

"You…! You chased me earlier. Why were you after me?"

The man slowly turned his head towards the tent, keeping an eye on her, as if she was a rare Pokémon, that could run away at any moment. He called out to someone in the tent.

"Boss…? You may want to come over here…"

The tall man that appeared from the tent was in this thirties.
Brown hair, really dark eyes.

She took one step back as she realised who she was dealing with.

This had to be Alex' brother.

She was sure of it, even though this man was considerably taller and more muscular than Alex.
His brown hair was combed back, and he was well-dressed.
His eyes observed her just as much as she was studying him.
A grin appeared on his face, and it made her skin crawl. She'd sensed a good personality in Alex when she'd met him, a need to form a friendship, despite his objections. But she felt quite the opposite in his brother.

He spoke up.

"The blond girl I heard about. And I can see it. You know who I am."

Another step back.

"I know nothing about you."

Her mind raced, trying to remember the snippets of information Alex had decided to share with her.
They didn't get along. Completely different people…

"Aren't you a friend…?"

She was thinking so hard, that she almost missed his question.

"I'm friends with a lot of people."

Her memory brought her back another important bit of information.
Alex had told her this in the Nacrene Museum.
Two years ago, he had heard his brother would be given custody over him.
He tried to run away from Castelia City's hospital shortly after that.

"What's your name?"

His voice was a lot smoother than Alex'.

Don't tell him. Don't tell him. Don't tell him.
She pressed her lips together, determined to keep as much information to herself as possible.

Alex' brother stepped a bit closer.

"Maybe I should tell you mine first…?"

He bowed shortly.

"My name is Nicholas Kauri. I'm the producer of the Hounds of Doom."

Behind him, the magnificent shiny Houndoom from the show appeared from the tent.
She stared at Yena intently, and growled as she took her place next to Nicholas.
He placed his hand on the Pokémon's head.

"This is my Houndoom. She won't hurt you, but she has a tendency to chase people if they suddenly run away."

The threat was clear. Yena felt blood rush to her face.

Nicholas got to the point.

"You must know who I'm after by now, if you know who I am."

Trying to avoid making any sudden movements, Yena stepped back in slow-motion.
Houndoom's growl got a little louder.

"He doesn't know I'm here, so he won't come looking for me."

Nicholas laughed quite loudly, causing the men around them to laugh along.
Even Houndoom produced a mean grin.

"Ha! I don't think you two know eachother as well as you'd think."

He looked around the park.

"This place is too crowded. We will take our business elsewhere."

He widened his eyes, and pointed at something behind Yena.

"What's that…?"

In a reflex, Yena turned her head.
The moment she realised nothing was there, Nicholas had gotten out a Pokéball.
The Pokémon he summoned appeared right in front of her.

She gave one scream as she turned her head, and stumbled back.
She was staring right into the Pokémon's eyes.
The yellow Pokémon had a large nose, a white ruff around its neck, and was holding something…

Within seconds, her eyes were drawn to the back-and-forth movement of the pendulum.

The last thing she heard was Nicholas, saying:

"We should leave a note in the tent."

Description
WARNING - From now on, if you haven't read the rest of the chapters yet,
I suggest reading those first. There are important events coming up in the story,
and reading those before the rest of the story just isn't as much fun as the other way around.

Counterbalanced - Chapter 26

"I can't believe you let him send you away so easily!"

Lily stomped the ground as she followed Yena through an alley.

"You two travelled together, right? And he's not the boss of you…
…But you just leave, whenever he tells you to?"

Yena shrugged, looking left and right as she reached a new street.
Lily pointed left.

"That way, if you want to go back to the wharf."

The white-haired girl paused for a moment.

"Are you really going back home, Yena…?"

Yena threw her a determined glance.

"Of course not. I'm going to get to the bottom of this.
Something's going on in Castelia City, and I want to know more."

A grin appeared on Lily's face.

"Ah, I'm so glad to hear that…!"

She hooked her arm into Yena's again.

"And I can help you! I'm good at sneaking around, finding out about things, doing all kinds of detective things..."

But Yena shook her off.

"That's very nice of you, Lily… I don't mean to be rude, but I just need you to go back and watch Alex for me.
You know, to make sure he's okay. If he asks, just tell him you led me back to the Skyarrow Bridge."

---

The cold autumn wind was blowing hair in her face as she stood on Castelia City's wharf.
Yena shivered. Standing still in these conditions was cooling her down fast.
She pulled her jacket closer around her body, and looked around.

She may have fooled Lily into believing she knew exactly what she was doing, but now that she was standing here all by herself... Trying to hold on to her determined feeling from before, she turned around to the Pokémon Center. First things first. She had no idea what was going to happen next, and her Pokémon could use some energy.

---

You will embrace or push away.

You will embrace or push away.

You will embrace or push away.

You will…

With a growl, Alex grabbed the nearest cushion from the couch, and furiously hurled it across the room. It almost knocked the old toaster from the counter in the kitchen, and landed on the floor a second later.

Alex whirled around, cursing as he paced the room.

You will embrace or push away.
You will embrace or push away.
You will embrace or push away…

Those words had been going around and around in his head from the moment Yena had left.
Without realising, he had probably acted out another part of the predictions.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't run away from them.
Feeling cornered, he clenched his fists, wishing he had never heard Ada's words.

He turned around again, looking out of the window as he passed it.
Another swear word left his mouth.
…What was he hoping to see? Yena?
Like she'd come back. He wouldn't, if he'd been sent away like that.
But the fact that he was peering outside time and again, told him the bond between him and Yena had grown stronger than he had realised. He made himself look away from the window. Maybe this was a good thing. The events in Central Plaza had scared him, and he'd taken a rash decision by sending Yena away. But what would've happened if he'd let her stay…?
Lies. Secrets.
She'd have found out about them eventually, and would've resented him for it. He was sure of it.
He should be glad she was gone. She was getting too close.

But sending Yena away had only fulfilled part of the prophecy.
What was next? Without really wanting to, he repeated all of Ada's words in his mind.

'You will be meeting him.

You will embrace or push away.

You will face truth and lies.

And in the end, you'll have no choice but to trust.'

If his clash with Quinn earlier was the first line, and sending away Yena was the second one…

'You will face truth and lies…

And in the end, you'll have no choice but to trust.'

Both of these things scared him.

A sound at the door pulled him out of his nightmare-ish thoughts, that went round and round like a carousel.
His head turned as Lily entered the room, studying him as she closed the door behind her.
After a moment of silence, Alex ran out of patience.

"…What?"

Lily shifted uncomfortably.

"Nothing, really."

Alex went back to pacing back and forth through the living room.

"So what happened?"

Lily's reply was monotone.

"I led Yena to the Skyarrow Bridge."

"Hmm."

After a short hesitation, Lily asked:

"Are you alright? Is there anything I can do…?"

He turned around to face her.
This definitely wasn't Lily talking.
Lily would be wise enough to leave him be, until his bad mood was over.
In the time they'd lived in the same appartment, they'd always minded their own business.

"You could pick up Morgan, Tommy and Cassandra from their class."

She nodded obediently, and turned around to open the door again.
But before she could, he added:

"Oh, just one more thing, Lily…"

She turned her head slightly, listening.

"…Yena didn't really leave, did she?"

---

Yena tried to blend in with the people around her as much as possible.
She slightly tilted her head, and spotted one of the men she'd been following at the end of the street, turning right.

She'd been waiting for her Pokémon to get back to full health at the Pokémon Center, when she saw them through the window. There was a group of five men outside, looking around on the wharf. She recognised three of them as the men that had chased her earlier.

'Follow your instincts, dear.'

Ada's words came back to her as she stared at the group.
She felt nervous and excited at the same time. This had to be her one chance to find out more.

Luck had been on her side, because Nurse Joy called her over a moment later, announcing her Pokémon were all good to go again. Thanking the friendly woman, she took back her three Pokéballs and hurried outside, just in time to see the men disappear into Castelia Street.

---

People jumped aside as he ran by, intimidated by his expression and loud curses.

It hadn't taken him a long time to get the truth out of Lily.
His suggestion to have Ada test her words for truth had been enough.
Yena was investigating things, and he had quite a clear idea where he'd find her.

He took a sharp turn into another alley. This was the shortest route back to Central Plaza.

---

Yena took a deep breath as she approached the stage.
The Hounds of Doom had given its spectacular performing here, but now the stage was empty.
At the other end of the park, the Tynamo Temptations were doing something with light effects, but she paid no attention to it. This part of the park was now more quiet, as most of the fans had moved to the other stage.

Yena had seen the group of men disappear behind this particular stage.
She breathed in through her nose again, pulling herself together.
With one hand on Oshawott's Pokéball, she peered around the corner of the stage.
There was a large black tent, clearly set up for the artists to take a break in.
Two muscular men were in front of the tent, like bodyguards.
As Yena squinted her eyes, she recognised one of them.

Her heart was beating in her throat. Gathering all the courage she had, she called out to him from where she was standing, keeping a relatively safe distance.

"Hey…!"

The two men looked at her immediately, and she pointed at the one she remembered.

"You…! You chased me earlier. Why were you after me?"

The man slowly turned his head towards the tent, keeping an eye on her, as if she was a rare Pokémon, that could run away at any moment. He called out to someone in the tent.

"Boss…? You may want to come over here…"

The tall man that appeared from the tent was in this thirties.
Brown hair, really dark eyes.

She took one step back as she realised who she was dealing with.

This had to be Alex' brother.

She was sure of it, even though this man was considerably taller and more muscular than Alex.
His brown hair was combed back, and he was well-dressed.
His eyes observed her just as much as she was studying him.
A grin appeared on his face, and it made her skin crawl. She'd sensed a good personality in Alex when she'd met him, a need to form a friendship, despite his objections. But she felt quite the opposite in his brother.

He spoke up.

"The blond girl I heard about. And I can see it. You know who I am."

Another step back.

"I know nothing about you."

Her mind raced, trying to remember the snippets of information Alex had decided to share with her.
They didn't get along. Completely different people…

"Aren't you a friend…?"

She was thinking so hard, that she almost missed his question.

"I'm friends with a lot of people."

Her memory brought her back another important bit of information.
Alex had told her this in the Nacrene Museum.
Two years ago, he had heard his brother would be given custody over him.
He tried to run away from Castelia City's hospital shortly after that.

"What's your name?"

His voice was a lot smoother than Alex'.

Don't tell him. Don't tell him. Don't tell him.
She pressed her lips together, determined to keep as much information to herself as possible.

Alex' brother stepped a bit closer.

"Maybe I should tell you mine first…?"

He bowed shortly.

"My name is Nicholas Kauri. I'm the producer of the Hounds of Doom."

Behind him, the magnificent shiny Houndoom from the show appeared from the tent.
She stared at Yena intently, and growled as she took her place next to Nicholas.
He placed his hand on the Pokémon's head.

"This is my Houndoom. She won't hurt you, but she has a tendency to chase people if they suddenly run away."

The threat was clear. Yena felt blood rush to her face.

Nicholas got to the point.

"You must know who I'm after by now, if you know who I am."

Trying to avoid making any sudden movements, Yena stepped back in slow-motion.
Houndoom's growl got a little louder.

"He doesn't know I'm here, so he won't come looking for me."

Nicholas laughed quite loudly, causing the men around them to laugh along.
Even Houndoom produced a mean grin.

"Ha! I don't think you two know eachother as well as you'd think."

He looked around the park.

"This place is too crowded. We will take our business elsewhere."

He widened his eyes, and pointed at something behind Yena.

"What's that…?"

In a reflex, Yena turned her head.
The moment she realised nothing was there, Nicholas had gotten out a Pokéball.
The Pokémon he summoned appeared right in front of her.

She gave one scream as she turned her head, and stumbled back.
She was staring right into the Pokémon's eyes.
The yellow Pokémon had a large nose, a white ruff around its neck, and was holding something…

Within seconds, her eyes were drawn to the back-and-forth movement of the pendulum.

The last thing she heard was Nicholas, saying:

"We should leave a note in the tent."