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The atmosphere in Calcenon was awkward, to say the least. He was surrounded by people who knew of his previous betrayal, and some of them had every reason in the world to still despise him and want him gone.
Namely, his ex-friend whose sensei he got murdered because of his cowardice, and his ex-boyfriend who was there to witness it.
He’d managed to earn Shelly’s forgiveness by some miracle, but he hadn’t seen Cain or Victoria since the incident atop Pyrous Mountain and he was woefully underprepared for the inevitable confrontation. Victoria’s yells stung, the pain clear as day in her face, and the guilt crushed him as he reconciled with the fact that he ripped her life away from her. Her aspirations fell to the wayside because he waited too long to grow a spine. It ached. He tried to stay away from her after revealing to her that Kiki’s Medicham and the Camerupt attached to the PULSE machine were both alive and healthy. Partially out of respect, mostly out of shame. She seemed happy to let him do so.
Someone else seemed far less inclined, however.
Cain waltzed up to the corner Cal had tucked himself away in. “Hey.”
Cal kept his eyes trained to the ground. “Hi.”
“I see you dyed your hair back. Looks as cute as I thought it would.” It wasn’t the lighthearted, jovial teasing tone he was used to from Cain. He was quiet, like the words were read from a script with no heart.
“I thought it was… the right thing to do. To be myself. Not just in response to my brother.”
Cain hummed in acknowledgement. “Right. A wise little bug told me you turned to the good guys now?”
“Yeah. I never really cared about Team Meteor, though, I just–”
“You cared enough to stand down at Apophyll though, huh?”
Cal pressed his lips into a thin line. Victoria’s anger, he expected. He was prepared to handle that. The resigned disappointment from Cain? It cut deeper than he thought. “I’m sorry. I know there is no way to remedy that mistake, I can only hope to do my best for the future.”
Cain sighed. He leaned back against the building and tossed his hair from his face. “Why’d you do it?”
“It was stupid, I was so caught up in trying to be better than Blake–”
Cain shook his head. “No, not why you joined Team Meteor. I sorta got that already. But why’d you lie to me for so long? You fought so hard to make me stay… just for that? Was I just some way to get information for them from the outside?”
“No! No, Cain, it was never like that. I truly, really loved you. I still do. Please don’t for a second think otherwise.” His heart hammered in his chest. He didn’t think he deserved to still be in love with Cain after everything, but there was no use in denying that he was.
“You know what’s crazy? I do too. It makes me a little mad, honestly. That after everything you did, I couldn’t bring myself to stop loving you.”
Cal couldn’t shake the guilt. He let it wash over him, felt it in full. “I would understand if you did.”
Cain narrowed his eyes at him. “I wished I could. Or maybe I wish I never loved you to begin with. I dunno. It would be easier if I could hate you.”
Cal looked out to the city, an ache in between his ribs. “I’m sorry. I know I can’t make it right, but I want to try. I want to help everyone however I can.”
Cain shrugged. “Well, it’s not me you really have to contend with. You should try to make things right for Victoria. Whatever we had can be handled later.” He absently chewed at his nails. All traces of black polish were nearly gone.
He noticed that Cain’s fingers were pink, chapped, likely from the cold. He wanted to hold them to offer the warmth he always had no shortage of, but he knew he’d long since lost that right. “I will. Thank you, Cain.” He pressed his hands to his pockets. They were broken up. Whatever feelings they still had for each other didn’t change that.
Cain cleared his throat, shifting his weight on his feet like he did before he was about to bolt. “Yeah. Well, I gotta go, now. I promised Shelly I’d go with her to look for the twins.”
“Good luck, and both of you be careful.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll look out for her.” Cal wanted to clarify that he meant for both of them to be careful, but Cain was already turning on his heel with his eyes set on the Route 4 gate. “See ya later.”
“Yeah. See you.”
Cal perked up at the sudden commotion of people returning to Calcenon through the Route 4 gate. He scanned the crowd for Cain and Shelly, only managing to see the latter. She looked dazed and nearly tripped over her feet rushing over to Cal.
“Shelly, you’re back!” He pulled her into a quick hug. “Are you okay, what happened?” He looked over her head, scanning, searching, desperately seeking the sight of another figure. Nothing. He looked back to Shelly, an unpleasant feeling beginning to stir in his stomach. “Where’s Cain?”
Shelly shook her head. Her mouth was parted, forming the shapes of words she couldn’t yet vocalize. Cal had to strain to listen to her when she finally managed to make a sound. “I- I don’t know.”
Cal’s heart plummeted to his stomach. “What do you mean?” He felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. “Talk me through it the best you can, Shelly, please.”
“I don’t know what h-happened. We were- we were looking for Anna and Noel and we– there was this building a-and then I felt really s-sleepy… I woke up and we were in this- this weird room surrounded by- by Team Meteor. They had a PULSE, and Cain immediately started f-fighting back.” Her lip was trembling. Tears welled in her panicked, lilac eyes. “I was so scared, but he told me to stay b-behind him and- and that he would protect me. A-and then- then they turned the PULSE on and- oh, god, Cal!”
She fell forward against him, her face pressed against his shoulder as the tears started to spill. Cal held her close, rubbing her back as she trembled. He was shaking, too, he realized. His own eyes started to prickle with moisture and he refused to cry in front of her. Not when she needed him.
“It’s okay. It’s okay, Shelly. It’ll- it’ll be okay.” He thought he might’ve been trying to convince himself more than her.
Shelly muffled a sob with her hand. “H-he was gone when I woke up, Cal. He was gone, and there- there was this huge black hole in the room. Our friend came out, b-but- but Cain didn’t! He was- he was still– he’s still in there!”
Cal let her cry. He hugged her tight and rested his chin on top of her head as he tried to process everything he just learned. Cain was gone. He was pulled into a black hole, likely generated by Radomus’s Gardevoir if the solemn look on the man’s face when he entered Calcenon was any indicator. The other trainer they’d befriended was pulled in, too, according to Shelly, and managed to get out. Why wasn’t Cain able to get out? The two of them were friends, why did they get to come back but he didn’t? It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that everyone was moving on like nothing happened while Shelly fell apart in his arms and his entire world was flipped upside down.
They needed to prepare to reclaim Agate. He needed to fix his mistakes. Him and Cain weren’t even together anymore. He’d worked so hard to better himself so that he could make things right, and all he wanted to do was lie here and scream for the world to bring him back.
Cal’s thoughts raced and tripped over themselves as he tried to make sense of it all. Was Cain even alive? There had to have been a reason he couldn’t be recovered from the black hole. What if he was lost? Was he scared? Was he cold? Was he alone? He couldn’t bear it.
He needed to stay calm. Panic would only lead to him losing control over himself. His tears left little damp spots in Shelly’s hair as her sobs settled to sniffles. “We’ll get him back. I don’t care how long it takes, or whatever we have to do to do it, we will get him back. I promise.”
“I wish I c-could’ve done more. That I– that I could’ve done something to save him. Maybe, maybe if he wasn’t trying so hard to- to protect me they wouldn’t have tr-tried to keep him down as much. It’s all my–”
“No, no it’s not. It’s not your fault, Shelly. None of this was your fault. Cain fought back because he wanted to keep you safe, because he cares about you.”
“Cal, it was m-my idea to go look for Anna and Noel!”
“And he went with you because he- because he loves you. He wanted to look out for you. He knew there was a chance one or both of you might not make it back, but he wanted to make sure you did.” He swallowed hard. This wasn’t fair. He shouldn’t be talking about Cain like he was dead.
He might as well be, though, and that made it hurt ten times more.
Cal pulled back and wiped tears from Shelly’s face. “I know- I know it hurts. But you know Cain would be happy knowing he got you and the twins back safe. Even if he isn’t here to tell you that. You know that, right?”
Shelly nodded, her cheeks red and splotchy. “I- I know. I just miss him so much. He hasn’t– he hasn’t even been gone for that long, but he’s not h-here, and I–” she hiccuped, “I just want him to come back.”
“I know. I do, too. And he will, I promise. No matter what, I promise we’ll get him back.” Cal choked out. He should’ve gone with them. Cain might not have been happy about it, but maybe they would’ve stood more of a chance.
If they didn’t, though, then Shelly might have lost them both.
The city stayed in motion around them. Everyone was talking about their plans for Agate, and Cal counted his breaths to keep himself in check. It was like nobody else even noticed that he was gone. He thought about Aya, and how she wouldn’t even have the luxury of knowing that her little brother was gone. What would they tell her when they managed to rescue her from Team Meteor? Who would be the one to do it?
Shelly coughed and sniffled and Cal refocused his attention on her. “Don’t lose hope, Shelly. We’ll find a way to get him back. Let’s go try to help some of the Agate City citizens, okay? I’m sure it might be a little chaotic down there right now, and they could probably use some extra hands.”
“O-okay. Yeah, you’re right. Let’s go– let’s go try to help.”
He brushed some of her hair out of her face, and tried to put a brave expression on his. If he wanted to make things right, he had to put his best foot forward. The memory of Cain saying he’d see him later played on repeat in his mind, and he only hoped that later would come one day.
They were trapped. The raid on Labradorra took them into the stadium and the door disappeared behind them. Victoria was on the verge of panic, saying something about how this had happened before and she refused to let it happen again. She had managed to trust him enough to accept his help in the fight, but he didn’t think she would want his comfort right now. Especially not when he didn’t understand what she went through at Devonyx. There were what looked like electrical burns snaking up her neck, still in the process of healing.
He approached Shelly, who looked determined despite the slight tremor to her shoulders. “Are you doing alright?”
She nodded. “I have to. Even though I’m still a little scared, I have to try!”
“That’s good to hear. And you’re partnered with Victoria, so there’s no doubt in my mind that the two of you can get through it.” Cal didn’t want to think about the fact that they were going up against Saphira Belrose of all people. He didn’t want to doubt them.
“Um, are you– are you scared at all, Cal?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m a little scared. I want us to get out of here. We don’t know what’ll happen if we lose, and I think that’s what scares me. But I’m going to do my best, too, okay? So don’t worry.” He placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a smile he hoped was comforting.
He had to move forward. He and Shelly needed to get out so they could find a way to get Cain back to them. Team Meteor needed to be taken down. There was too much at stake. He’d meant it when he said the clock was ticking, though, and the door that led intended for him and his battle partner had materialized and opened out of nowhere.
Cal gave Shelly another tight hug, then stood and straightened his shoulders. The only way forward was through. “Be safe, Shell Bell. I’ll see you on the other side.”
“Mhm, let’s do our best!” Shelly smiled at him with a sharp nod.
Cal tried not to look back when he stepped into the next room. He walked with his friend, a trainer that let nothing stand in their way, down the long, narrow platform. One of the girls they were battling specialized in ice-types, and Cal tried not to get in his head about it.
When their field was announced, he knew he failed in that attempt. The inverse field. A field that turned his type advantage into a weakness. He shook his head. He needed to focus. He was familiar with being at a disadvantage, what mattered was staying calm and using his momentum to emerge with the victory.
Having a partner to balance out his weaknesses made the battle easier to manage, and Cal sagged with relief when the last of Eve and Lumi’s Pokemon had fainted.
Then Eve and Lumi disappeared.
Cal scrubbed at his eyes, wondering if he was just losing it, or if it was a weird trick of the stadium. It wasn’t. They couldn’t speak, move, or breathe. He looked over to his friend, worry etched onto his face and in his bones. “I need to find Shelly.”
They nodded, following behind him as they moved into the next room.
“Shelly? Shelly!” Cal called out to her before they even crossed the threshold.
Charlotte and Saphira were standing in front of the new screen. Saphira’s jaw was set in determination, and Charlotte looked bored. He knew what that meant. Shelly was gone. Victoria, too.
Cal focused on his breathing. If he didn’t, he was sure he’d hyperventilate. He told Shelly he’d see her after the battle, but what was he thinking, really? Two Belrose sisters, one with a type advantage? He didn’t want to think about it, but the reality was staring him in the face.
He pressed himself to a wall for support, fighting the urge to curl in on himself and wheeze pathetically. He needed to stay calm. Panic would lead to him losing himself.
Shelly looked so brave before entering the arena. How did she feel when she lost? Was she scared? Did she even know what was happening? Did she take it on the chin, knowing she did all she could?
Cal’s hands were trembling.
What were those states of existence that the losers were in? What could Terra possibly mean by their “character files” being gone? Were they dead? He didn’t understand it. He didn’t understand anything. He didn’t understand anything but the fact that his loved ones disappeared from his life in the blink of an eye, and he was powerless to stop it. In a way, this was why he was striving to do better. To carry his mistakes like a cross, allow their lessons to give him the strength to not be weak anymore. It was beginning to get too heavy.
He did all that he could, but this was the reality. Cain was gone, his life uncertain in a black hole. Shelly didn’t emerge from the arena, her body reduced to an afterimage. And Cal was about to battle his friend who never knew defeat.
He felt his fire extinguish.