CHAPTER THIRTEEN: ABNORMAL

‒‒‒‒‒

A member of the onlooking crowd watched the petrifying scene unfold silently. He leaned forward in interest when the Blizzard attack hit the Trainers and held his breath. Seconds akin to hours passed, and the two teenagers emerged.

The cameras zoomed in: both parties had collapsed.

"The battle is over," Bailey informed, her nervous voice falling on deaf ears as the audience yelled in alarm. "Dewey Evans and Tony Chavez are disqualified for harming other Trainers. An update on Alice and Ken Bristow will be broadcasted later."

The public's cries only heightened in volume and intensity. Except for him, of course. He exited the chaotic stands and fished his phone from his pocket once alone in a dimly lit hallway. His empty bag dug into his side.

"Hello," he greeted once the recipient of his call picked up. "I did as I was told, and I believe I discovered the Listener..."

* * *

When enclosed in a cloak of ice, one would think it'd feel cold. Freezing. Numbing. Wintry.

But why did Ken burn as if he were on fire?

Instead of having snow enwrap him in an icy hug, flames burst from his chest and rushed through every fiber of his being. He whimpered in pain as heat seemingly blistered his skin and ate away at him from the inside out.

A lifetime passed until the burning sensation died off, residing in the area below his clavicles. Shaky breath in, shaky breath out. He swore he heard sizzling in his ears. Shaky breath in, shaky breath out. The sizzling ceased.

Summoning all his strength, Ken finally opened his eyes. Indigo hues stared up at a tiled ceiling. Sweat trickled down his forehead. His brows furrowed as the scents of plastic and sanitizers met his nose instead of smoke and blood. He quickly scanned the room and found nothing more than dull gray furniture, an old TV set, and medical equipment.

Ken's inner critique of the place discontinued as another heat wave washed over him. A sharp cry escaped his lips and tears pricked the corners of his eyes. He hissed through clenched teeth and clutched his hand to his chest. His fingers came in contact with the amulet and, to his shock, the gemstone was emanating heat.

Stop! he internally yelled.

The fire retreated from his body and crept into the ornament instantaneously. Ken breathed in relief. He didn't think it would work. Calming his breathing, he picked up the turquoise-colored jewel and his jaw dropped. The center was glowing gold.

The door swung open, and a woman dressed in dusty blue scrubs walked in. He quickly shoved the amulet under his shirt and sat up.

The nurse greeted, "Glad to see you're awake."

"What happened?" Ken demanded.

"A miracle happened," she replied. Her nametag read 'Leila'. "You took a Blizzard attack from a Mamoswine then came out without any major injuries." She paused. "Before we move on, you need to tell me how you're feeling right now."

Ken's patience was tested as he obliged to Nurse Leila's check-up routine. She moved too slowly for his liking. He drummed his fingers alongside the hospital bed and bounced his leg the entire time.

After a long pause of looking between Ken and her clipboard, Leila announced, "And we're finished. That wasn't so bad, right? Go ahead and ask your questions."

"What happened?" Ken repeated. "The last thing I can recall is the Blizzard attack approaching me."

"The Mamoswine's Blizzard missed Manectric and hit you and Alice. The snow cleared and y'all were unconscious, so you came to the hospital. We ran some tests and saw no broken bones, no internal bleeding, nada. You've been sleeping for the past few hours," Leila explained.

"How is Alice?"

"Alice has a few scrapes and first-degree frostbite." She waved her hand. "It's nothing to worry about. She'll recover in no time."

His stomach lurched upon hearing the injuries. "Where is she?"

"Across the hallway. You can visit her after Dr. Rice checks in with you. I'll get him now."

Ken watched the door close behind Leila and pursed his lips — he didn't want to wait. He glared at the floor, resembling a child put in time-out.

This is ridiculous. I can wait twenty minutes to see Alice, he told himself.

A thud interrupted him. Ken's eyes widened. Alice shuffled into the room donning bandages on her arms and around her head. A single band-aid lied on her cheek.

"I heard you woke up," she said. She scanned him head to toe and tilted her head to the side. "You look better than I do."

The amulet felt awfully heavy resting against his skin. "I wasn't affected as much."

"Looks like I took most of the hit," she guessed. "You didn't miss much. I woke up a couple hours ago—it's like seven right now, we were knocked out around three—and the doctors asked me a million questions. Irene showed me the replay of the battle, and apparently, we won by default."

The word left a bitter taste in her mouth. A victory earned by Trainers' faults rather than Pokémon's abilities in a battle was nothing to be proud of.

She went on, "They found out that sunglasses kid was using illegal steroids on his Mamoswine. The drug messed up its nervous system or something so its attacks were stronger and more uncontrollable." Alice huffed. "Because of him, they had to run tests on Infernape."

Ken couldn't help but eye the band-aid on her cheek as she talked. He bet he could've prevented it with the amulet somehow. If only he had a written manual. The only information he had to go off of was his mom's stories.

Alice trailed off when she realized how intently Ken was staring her. An embarrassed blush crept up her cheeks, and she cleared her throat. "Um, Ken, you're kind of staring... at my face."

"Are you in pain?" he asked bluntly, finally looking away from the band-aid.

"Not really, the doctors gave me lots of stuff," she said, inspecting her own bandages. "I only have the stuff around my head because there's a small cut. You know, I kind of look Dwayne with these."

"Who's Dwayne?"

"He's the lead of a cool drama about underground fight clubs. He wraps his arms up like this."

Ken's lips twitched up. "You're quite calm despite this whole ordeal."

Alice let out a soft hum and shrugged. "I don't think the whole 'I almost died' thing has sunken in yet. I'll be freaking out later, probably. Meowstic will help me."

She imagined herself squeezing the life out of the Psychic-type while ranting. Poor Meowstic.

"Wanna sign my fake cast?"

"What fake cast?"

Alice chuckled and held up her left arm. Upon closer inspection, he could make out scribbles on the gauze. It either said 'Irene' or was a poorly drawn picture of a Sudowoodo. He took a pen from the desk and held her arm still as he carefully printed his name.

"Ooh, nice."

"All I did was write my name."

Oddly enough, the simple exchange sent them into hysterics. Alice was the one who started with her bubbly laughter, and Ken joined in seconds after. It was contagious. The pent-up nerves the two had suppressed were released in long-drawn guffaws and silly giggles.

It was warm. Not a dry, stifling warmth one felt under pressure, but rather a welcoming, merry warmth that inspirited those who needed it most.

Their giggles died down and the two shared an amused look, both their gazes' twinkling with mirth. Ken realized how close his face was to hers and jerked back, startling her. She opened her mouth to ask what was wrong only to get cut off.

"Laughter's the best medicine."

The two snapped their heads up to see a graying man with a half-smile standing in the threshold.

"My name's Dr. Rice," he introduced, "I'm sorry to intrude, but I must examine Ken."

"Sorry," Alice apologized. "Uh, see you later, Ken."

The brunette gave Doctor Rice one more apology then scurried out, leaving Ken to prepare himself for another long round of probing.

* * *

The hospital let Alice and Ken return home with Joe that night.

Joe had drawn them into a bone-crushing hug upon leaving the hospital, earning a multitude of pained groans and gasps for breath. On the car ride home, he retold the battle, the havoc that occurred afterward, and how Mother almost climbed over the fence into the battlefield herself to save them. It took both grandparents and Irene to lug her back home.

It didn't surprise Alice that her family swarmed her and Ken when they pulled up the driveway. Even Meowstic greeted her at the threshold, tugging on her pants and mewing as if she were saying she was glad that Alice was okay. It seemed like the worst was behind them.

One dinner and shower later, Alice plopped onto her mattress by Meowstic. She picked up her tablet to relax and watch a drama, but she froze when she heard her phone chiming nonstop. Her device's home screen was jam-packed with notifications, each message quickly disappearing as new ones took their place.

"How long has this been going on?" she asked Meowstic.

Meowstic gave her the ever-so-helpful reply, "Meow."

"It wasn't this bad yesterday," Alice muttered, unlocking her screen and accessing her social media accounts. "I mean I got more followers, but this is — oh Arceus."

Alice's follower count had gone from 400 followers to over 150 thousand in a span of twelve hours. She clicked on her most recent photo (it featured a cute Vulpix she cared for at the Daycare's nursery), and her eyes bulged. Thousands of comments littered the picture, all asking questions about what occurred earlier that day. The tag "#KalosKOs" plagued the majority of them.

"This is crazy," she mumbled.

She rose to her feet and walked across the hallway to Ken's room then rapped her knuckles against the door. The lock clicked and the blond let her in.

"Have you seen the Internet?" she questioned, sitting down.

"No," he said, settling beside her. "I've been busy talking to Miss Carolina."

"It turns out getting attacked on TV makes you famous. There's hundreds of articles about us." Alice handed her phone to Ken. "People are blasting Lumiose City for its lack of safety."

He frowned as he scrolled through the tag, saying, "The press is making it worse than it is."

"I wonder how long it'll take until we're memes."

Ken failed to reflect her interest. She scooted closer to him so they were shoulder-to-shoulder and peeked at the feature he was reading. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye without her noticing and his ears turned pink.

The phone vibrated, signaling a call. Alice nodded, and Ken pressed the answer button then set it on speaker.

A familiar voice shrilled, "Ali, are you okay? I saw what happened on TV and, like, I almost started crying!"

"Yeah, we're fine, Rosie," Alice reassured, giving Ken a warning look as he scowled. "It's just a few scratches and bruises, really."

"I'm so glad!" Rosie beamed. Her previous anxiousness was nowhere to be found. "By the way, congrats on your win. I'm jealous that you get to go on the Kalos Hotspot Tour. I heard from Marissa that it's the best vacation plan ever."

I completely forgot about that, Alice thought with a sheepish chuckle. "Oh, cool."

Rosie continued, "You got the flyer from the meeting, right?" Ken confirmed Alice's doubt with a head shake. "You have to take photos of the Parfum Palace for me! Remember how we couldn't go last time because of that dumb old man with the cane?"

The brunette shrugged when Ken raised his brows. "Yeah, I hope he isn't there this time."

"Call me if he is. I'll battle him so you don't have to kick his butt again."

'What?' Ken mouthed.

"We had hundreds of problems with old men, didn't we?" Rosie giggled. "There's the Parfum Palace guy, that police officer dude in Sinnoh, the fisherman on—"

This sounds so bad out of context! Alice wailed.

"Sorry, Rosie, but I gotta go," she interrupted. "I have to do the dishes."

"Okay~ Let's talk soon! Bye!"

"Bye." Alice hung up and buried her face in her hands. "I swear it's not as weird as it sounds."

"Your reaction's betraying your words," he pointed out.

She watched him type something into her phone's browser and pull up a page. 'Kalos Hotspot Tour' was written in all caps, and highly saturated colors decorated the site. It hurt her eyes.

Alice let out a soft hum. "That's what we won, huh? Looks interesting..."

‒‒‒‒‒

Author's Note

And the first arc is completed! One down, two more to go. Soon the final third character will make his appearance ;)

Question of the Chapter: What's your favorite destination in Kalos?