Epilogue
– One foot in front of the other –
Everything after the battle went by in a blur. The others were a flurry of activity, rounding up Gustavus and all of his Team Hydra grunts, calling in medics and police, making sure everything was dealt with. Injured and exhausted as he was, Kieran was content to just let himself get swept up in everyone else’s arrangements. He trusted his friends to handle things, taking comfort in the knowledge that the worst of it was over. Ogerpon was safe, and so was he.
He found himself brought to a hospital in a nearby Unovan city. Carmine insisted on coming with him, staying at his bedside as much as she was allowed to, which was fine by him. She kept him company with her usual chatter, relaying periodic updates from the others’ texts about how things were going.
The Blueberry Elite Four were helping get everything sorted out with Unova’s law enforcement, thanks in part to some of them being related to Gym Leaders. Juliana, meanwhile, was staying at the Pokémon Center to be there for Ogerpon. The rest of their Pokémon had been fine with just a regular heal, but after that awful mind-control forcing Ogerpon to overexert herself so badly, she needed much more intensive care than a simple healing machine could provide. Juliana reassured them that apparently her condition was ‘serious, but stable’.
Kieran tried to push down the pang of worry he couldn’t help but feel. He knew Ogerpon would pull through. She was strong.
Thankfully, all of his own injuries were relatively minor. There were just… a lot of them. He needed rest, but there was no reason he couldn’t do that in more familiar surroundings. After that first day in hospital, Kieran was allowed back to Blueberry Academy, on the condition that he stayed in his dorm room and avoided going to classes or training for a week.
At first, he worried it’d be a lot like his break in Kitakami, with nothing to stop him from dwelling on everything that had happened. But it turned out not to be nearly as bad, because he had friends to keep him company.
Crispin spent a lot of time hanging out with Kieran in his room, rewatching episodes of their favourite show together, chatting as if everything was completely normal. He even made a concerted effort to actually take notes for the classes Kieran was missing, which Lacey then helped Kieran decipher and learn the material from.
The tutoring sessions with Lacey were another refreshing piece of normality in amongst everything. Kieran didn’t even mind that he wasn’t really getting out of having to do schoolwork – it was good to have something to take his mind off things. Writing with his left hand was a little frustrating, but he managed. And he didn’t have to worry about missing the battling classes, since he was already way ahead in those.
As for Drayton… well, Drayton had finally stopped calling him ‘ex-Champ’, at least. Kieran took this as a chance to try and probe further about smoothing things over between them, but Drayton just acted oblivious to the idea that there’d ever been any tension at all, leaving Kieran still unsure where he stood. Even so, hearing the older trainer use his actual name now felt like some kind of progress. And Drayton
had put a genuine effort into mounting the rescue mission, according to Carmine of all people, which had to mean something. Probably.
Carmine visited him a lot, of course, often with Amarys there as well. On one such visit, Amarys insisted on giving him the last of the syrupy apples that Carmine had brought for her from Kitakami. Kieran savoured the taste of it when he had the chance. It reminded him of home, and happy days.
Each time night fell, though, things grew harder. Lying in bed trying to sleep, without friends visiting or activities to keep him busy, Kieran found his mind beset by thoughts of what had happened after all.
Even then, he wasn’t alone. He had his Pokémon. This was another thing that was different from his break in Kitakami back then: his Pokémon seemed to
get it more. Last time, even aside from all of the painful apologies, Kieran had struggled to articulate what the problem had even
been in such a way that his Pokémon could grasp. But this time… well, he still had difficulty getting words around things, for a rather different reason, but by the sounds of it, Dragonite had filled the others in on what she knew.
In the end, he supposed that ‘he was kidnapped; he was hurt; he’s safe now’ was all they really needed to understand. In a way, that was all
Kieran could manage to wrap his head around for now, too. Despite his injuries being physical proof, now that he was back in familiar surroundings, it all felt so distant and unreal. There was a part of him that could barely believe something that overwhelmingly awful had really happened to him.
But it had. And he’d made it through, and he was still here.
Here, in the night-time dimness of his dorm room, he was surrounded by the Pokémon who’d been his only friends for so many years – Applin, Sentret, Yanma, the Poliwag siblings, all grown-up and evolved now. They didn’t judge, or pity, or ask difficult questions like a human might. They were just…
there, knowing he’d been through hell and caring so much.
Here, in their company, Kieran found himself overcome with indescribable emotion, and it burst out of him in floods of tears.
He found himself clinging to Furret, burying his face in the Pokémon’s soft fur as he sobbed his heart out. Furret didn’t mind, pressing into him, wrapping his long body around Kieran in his best approximation of a hug. All the while, Yanmega, Poliwrath, Politoed and Hydrapple stayed close, not alarmed by his outburst, just making quiet noises of sympathy.
It was as if Kieran’s Pokémon knew that he needed this, and… maybe he did. The ordeal was long over; he was completely safe here, and yet the shudders and sobs wracking his body felt just like they had when Carmine had first arrived to rescue him. Letting all of the pain out, now that he finally could.
Dragonite was there too, separate from the rest of his Pokémon. She was too big to fit into the bedroom area of his dorm room, at least without risk of her huge tail knocking everything off his desk, so instead, she sat quietly in the hallway section, watching the door. Guarding it. Kieran knew – and Dragonite must have known, too – that the chances of anyone coming after him again were basically zero… but all the same, it was a great reassurance to have her there.
He appreciated her devotion more than he could express, but it still mystified him – why she’d gone so far to save him, when he wasn’t even her original trainer. When he’d never done anything more than train her for battling.
In the end, Kieran wound up voicing this confusion to Carmine, during one of the mornings she was there keeping him company.
“Huh? Of course that makes sense!” she responded, beaming back at his look of bewilderment. Then her expression shifted into concern. “See, when you said you wanted to trade for Dratini, you were… well, you know… all obsessed with training and getting stronger. I could barely even talk to you back then. So I told Dratini about how different you were acting, and how worried I was, and I just… asked her to look out for you, y’know? ‘Cause I couldn’t. Seems like she really took that to heart, huh?”
That was all there was to it. Because Carmine had asked her to. Because his sister cared about him, so did Dragonite. Maybe there didn’t need to be any greater reason than that.
The daytime hours continued to pass with plenty to keep him occupied. There were regular check-ins with the school nurse, as well as visits from members of the Unova police to reassure him Team Hydra were being taken care of, and to discuss his options going forward. Carmine relayed updates from Juliana, too: Ogerpon was doing well, recovering slowly but surely.
After a few days, Kieran received letters from their friends in Paldea, who must have heard about everything that had happened from Juliana.
Arven shared his sympathies for what sounded like a rough time, and relief that Kieran was doing okay. His letter also included some recipes for meals that might help injuries heal, which Crispin helped Kieran cook in his kitchenette. He didn’t know whether or not they did anything for his health, but they sure tasted good.
Nemona seemed disgruntled that she hadn’t been part of their battle against Ogerpon, and wished in particular that she could have seen how awesome Kieran was back there. She promised to battle him even more than normal next time she visited, to make up for it. Kieran imagined that was her way of trying to cheer him up. It
would be fun to take her on again, no stakes, just battling for its own sake.
And Penny’s, written in a near-indecipherable scrawl, contained awkward but sincere well-wishes, followed by a tirade about how annoying and inconvenient it was to send letters in this day and age, and how on earth did he survive without a phone. She had a point there, Kieran supposed. Now that he actually had friends to keep in touch with, he really ought to finally get himself a phone one of these days. Just… maybe one without a Rotom in it. For now, at least.
His Elite Four friends continued to visit, but the more they did, the more Kieran became uncomfortable about the state his dorm room was in. Even though none of them made any comment on it, it still bothered him. He’d always meant to tidy things up ever since he got back from Kitakami, but if he was honest, he’d been avoiding the task until now by hardly ever spending time in here. Now that he was stuck here for a week, though, it was a lot harder to ignore.
Eventually, he mustered up the courage to ask his friends if they’d maybe be willing to help him with the tidying – and to his surprise, they were happy to do so. Well, except for Drayton, who suddenly remembered something vague yet very urgent he needed to do elsewhere and made himself scarce. Crispin looked alarmed when the idea was first suggested but then threw himself with gusto into cleaning up the kitchenette, while Lacey and Amarys, along with Carmine, helped Kieran find ways to slowly organise the mess in the main bedroom area.
As the task progressed, throwing out piles of empty vitamin bottles and sorting through stacks and stacks of scrawled strategy notes, Kieran began to understand why he’d really been putting this off. Not because the tidying itself was especially daunting, but because it meant facing up to the person he’d been back when the room had become this way.
The memories were still there, clear as day. How much he’d bullied himself relentlessly, demanding he stay awake for yet another hour, making yet another page of notes that he could barely focus on through his exhaustion-fogged brain. Sometimes he’d even fallen asleep at his desk, only to wake up way too early from his alarm and drag himself down to the Terarium to begin the day’s training. He couldn’t afford rest, he’d thought, couldn’t afford to let up for even a single moment, or else…
…Or else what? His memories didn’t have a proper answer to that. With his friends here alongside him, helping him out simply because he’d asked them to, he knew more than ever that there never
had been a good answer, no matter how convinced he’d been that he had no choice but to do this to himself.
Perhaps he just hadn’t quite had it in him to confront all of that, until now. That he’d caused so much suffering for himself, and so many others, for no good reason.
But Kieran knew now that he wasn’t that person any more. And he’d make sure he never would be again.
In a way, it felt satisfying to finally pack up that chapter of his life in a neat, organised way, and put it behind him. He kept most of the strategy notes – he might want to use them later, whenever he got back into battling competitively, after all.
Meanwhile, Kieran’s night-times slipped into what was almost a routine. He’d crawl into bed, cuddle with Furret, and wait for the tears to start flowing. Sooner or later, the darkness and the quiet would always dredge up different memories from his ordeal, bringing the flood of painful emotions along with them.
The lightning, the fragmented flashes of agony that he’d been forced to – no, that he’d
chosen to endure, for Ogerpon. Perhaps worst of all, his sheer helplessness to escape the pit of suffering that had felt like it would go on forever. Somehow, it had never even crossed his mind that of course his sister and his friends would be looking for him. He really had been utterly, dreadfully convinced that it would never, ever end.
Yet here he was, safe in his dorm room with his Pokémon. Poliwrath and Politoed sat on the floor nearby, while Yanmega perched on the end of his bed. They surrounded him with a gentle, steady chorus of croaking and chittering sounds, blocking out the echo of the Rotom’s horrid staticky hum completely. Through his sobs, Kieran focused on their voices, slowing his shuddering breaths to match their rhythm.
Sometimes instead it was the water pressing in on him, flooding him, his aching, leaden limbs flailing desperately to no avail. The terror of feeling so completely small and powerless in the grip of such an overwhelming force of nature, convinced that he was going to drown, all because he was—
But Hydrapple laid his head on Kieran’s pillow, filling the air with his sweet, syrupy scent that was nothing like the acrid taste of seawater in his mouth. He breathed it in steadily between sniffles. It was a nostalgic smell, almost like the syrupy apples from the festivals in Kitakami, but with a hint of something different and new.
And once or twice, he’d be gripped by that crushing sense of failure from lying there on the floor, battered and useless, unable to stop Ogerpon being captured and controlled no matter how hard he’d tried.
Then Kieran opened his eyes, and Dragonite was there in the dim light of his room, steadfastly watching the door as always, his silent guardian. His friends and his Pokémon had dropped everything to come and save him from that nightmare, just like he’d given it his all to save Ogerpon from hers. Despite everything they’d both suffered, they were going to be okay.
So many things to shed tears over. Yet he was pretty sure that these sobbing sessions towards the end of the week had become at least a little less intense than they had been near the beginning. It was almost strange how comforting the crying could be, just holding onto Furret, running his hands through his Pokémon’s soft fur and letting everything out.
It reminded Kieran of a time when he’d been so much younger. Overwhelmed by everything that’d made him feel small and weak, there’d been many nights when he would hug Sentret hard and weep into his fur, promising that one day they’d become strong together.
It’d been a much more rocky, regret-filled road than he’d ever imagined back then, but… here they were, all the same.
By the end of the week, Kieran’s injuries were doing a lot better. His bruises had mostly faded, and he could flex the fingers on his right hand without them hurting too much. After all that time in his room, he was eager to stretch his legs and see somewhere else for a change.
On the morning he was finally allowed to do so, just as he was thinking about where he might head first, he received a knock on the door. Expecting it to be his sister or maybe one of the Elite Four, he opened it, only to find…
“Huh? Juliana?”
“Hi, Kieran!” she said, beaming. She paused there in the doorway, almost awkward, until suddenly she stepped forward and hugged him.
Kieran froze, taken aback, but then he leaned gratefully into his friend’s arms.
After a moment, Juliana pulled away, still smiling. “I heard you got off bed rest today!” she said. “And guess what?”
Before Kieran could respond, she opened a Poké Ball in a flash of light, and Ogerpon was standing there in his dorm room hallway, peering up at him. “Popon!”
“Ogerpon…?” Kieran breathed, his heart filling with relief to see her looking healthy again. “Does that mean… you’re all better now?”
“Poni pon! Ponyo!” she responded with a little bounce in her step.
“Yup!” Juliana confirmed. “She got out of the Pokémon Center last night! Though she’s still got to avoid any serious battling for another week or so.”
“Hehe… Same here,” Kieran said to Ogerpon, grinning. “But I sure am glad to see you’re okay!”
“Poni! Pon…” Ogerpon glanced away shyly, hesitating – then she ran forward and wrapped her stubby arms around Kieran’s waist in a hug.
“H-Huh…?!”
Wowzers… Kieran looked down at her, dumbfounded, hardly able to believe this was happening. Was she… thanking him…?
“Um… Y-You’re very welcome…” he managed to say, hugging her back gently. “I just… just really wanted to do my best for you, y’know?”
Ogerpon stepped away and beamed up at him. “Pon!”
From there, the three of them decided to head down to the Terarium together. Ogerpon ran in happy circles around them as they made their way through the school building to the elevator, only stopping to hide behind her trainer when other people walked past. Kieran chatted away to Juliana, filling her in on the things he’d been doing with his sister and the Elite Four for the past week, and the letters from their friends in Paldea.
There was just something about Juliana that made her easier for Kieran to talk to than anybody else he knew. She wasn’t that talkative herself, but not in a timid way – in a way that felt like she was interested and happy to listen, without judging or talking over him or putting him down. It was that same quality that had given Kieran the courage to share with her how he’d felt about the ogre, way back during the school trip when they’d only just met.
That felt like such a long time ago now.
By the time they made it out into the Terarium, Kieran’s legs were beginning to ache just a little, a sign that he still wasn’t quite done recovering. He didn’t feel up to a big trek through any difficult terrain, so they settled for setting up a picnic nearby in the Savanna Biome. Simply being out in the open air again was enough for now.
Besides, it was already a handful just keeping an eye on their two teams of Pokémon to make sure none of them got into trouble. Kieran had picked a spot next to a waterhole for the sake of his Water-types; Poliwrath promptly set to chasing off some local wild Sobble and a Doduo that had stopped for a drink, so that she and her brother had a nice damp spot to wallow in. Yanmega buzzed excitedly around the trainers’ heads, forgetting as she often did since her evolution that she was now six feet long. Ogerpon was playing a game of trying to hit Meowscarada’s levitating flower with her cudgel, while Miraidon sat down very close to Juliana, peering at her expectantly.
That meant sandwiches, of course, and Kieran ended up helping Juliana to make Ogerpon’s favourite kind, as a treat to celebrate her recovery. There was relatively little squabbling between Hydrapple’s heads over who got to eat his portion, now that Kieran had taken to cutting it into five smaller pieces. Then once everyone was done eating, he treated Furret to a nice bath – it seemed only right after all the tears that had been staining his fur lately.
As Furret basked in the warm air to dry out, Kieran sat down to relax with his back against Dragonite, who’d dozed off sitting up. Juliana sat nearby, and Terapagos, remarkably unassuming in his base form for such an incredible Pokémon, toddled over to receive some chin scratches from her.
Watching the little tortoise, Kieran found his mind wandering. There was that familiar pang of guilt for what he’d done to the legendary Pokémon, even though he’d apologised and Terapagos didn’t seem mad at him any more. That thought spurred the memory of a different Master Ball sailing through the air, the biggest gut-punch in a long line of all those uncomfortable familiarities about Gustavus.
…Or rather, Gus.
That was another thing. It turned out the man’s real name was actually just Gus; the longer name was nothing but a self-styled moniker. It shouldn’t have made a difference, really, but something about that simple fact put things into perspective. Despite his attempts to play himself up as intimidating and all-powerful,
Gus was nothing but an ordinary person with a twisted view of strength.
In a lot of ways, it helped Kieran to be able to think of his tormentor that way. But at the same time, it was unnerving to realise that any regular person could end up like him. All they had to do was think of strength in the wrong way and made a series of bad choices…
It had been on his mind a lot, since what had happened. The day he’d tidied up his dorm room, he’d found himself wanting to voice these thoughts to someone – perhaps his sister, who’d come to hang out with him for the evening. She’d been there for most of it, after all.
But as soon as Kieran mentioned that he wanted to talk about Gus, Carmine grimaced and looked away. “You mean… the bit where I had Mightyena attack him?”
He hadn’t meant that at all, but now that she’d brought it up, he couldn’t help but think back to that awful moment. To see his sister be capable of something so cruel…
“It… You really scared me,” he muttered, hiding his gaze behind his lock of hair.
“I know,” she said, sighing. “I’m so sorry, Kiki. I never wanted to do that to you.”
They sat there on his bed in silence for a moment, as Kieran tried to figure out how to come out with what he’d actually wanted to say.
In the end, Carmine broke the silence first. “You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about that thing you said to Ogerpon,” she mused. “How she went too far ‘cause someone she loved had been hurt. I guess… I’ve gotta learn from her mistake, right? I don’t want people thinking I’m a monster like they did for poor Ogerpon. ‘Specially not you.”
“Yeah…” Kieran murmured. It lifted his spirits a little to think that what he’d said to Ogerpon had helped his sister, too.
“Still…” Carmine went on. Her gaze darkened, not meeting his eye. “I get that it was bad, and I’m not gonna do it again, but… part of me doesn’t regret it, y’know? That lowlife scumbag… knowing what he did to you, I just…” She screwed up her face, her fists clenching tight against the bedsheets.
“It’s okay, Sis,” Kieran said. He put a hand on her arm and tried to give a reassuring smile. “I’m gonna be okay.”
Even so, her reaction had very much made him drop what he’d been planning to voice to her. It didn’t exactly seem like she’d be receptive to Kieran’s worries that he was
similar to the man.
But Juliana was different. “There’s, um… something I wanted to talk to you about,” he said to her, tearing his gaze away from Terapagos. “About…” He swallowed. “About… Gus.”
She merely nodded and watched him expectantly. Not putting words in his mouth – just waiting for him to find them for himself.
“He… I mean, I…” Man, this was hard to admit out loud, even to her. “I…” He screwed his eyes shut and tried not to think about it, to just blurt the words out all at once. “I felt like I might be the same as him…!”
As he opened his eyes with a wince, he found Juliana looking at him in surprise. “Huh? What are you talking about?! You’re nothing like him!”
“I… I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Kieran peered at her nervously through his lock of hair. “Throwin’ a Master Ball from behind, at a legendary Pokémon…?”
Juliana glanced at Terapagos, eyes widening in recognition. She fell quiet, concerned, giving Kieran room to speak.
“I-It’s not just that,” he went on. “There was a lotta stuff he said to me. He was obsessed with Ogerpon too, ‘cause of how str— how powerful she was. An’ he kept talkin’ like, because he was stronger than everyone else, he could just do what he wanted. Like that gave him the right to just own her, and
use her, and…”
Kieran broke off, his voice tight with guilt and shame. Could Juliana really not tell how much it sounded like he was talking about himself? He took a moment to breathe, blinking away some of the tears that were pricking at his eyes.
“I-I mean… wasn’t I a bit like that, too, when things were bad?” he asked, not quite able to look at his friend. “I keep thinkin’… if it’d gone differently, if I’d made more bad choices… I coulda turned out like him. It’s… well, it’s a scary thought,” he finished awkwardly.
He wasn’t sure how he expected Juliana to respond. She took a moment to do so, peering at him thoughtfully like she was trying to understand.
“But you didn’t turn out like him,” she said at last, matter-of-fact. “You… you made better choices, in the end. Right? So you’re better than him.”
Kieran let out a breath. “…Yeah, you’re right.” he agreed. “I guess… I knew that already. But it feels good to hear you say it too.” He managed a smile, and Juliana beamed back at him.
Kieran
hadn’t ended up as bad as Gus had, had he? And he was determined never to do so. That was what mattered.
He supposed this was another part of that ‘real strength’, the kind he’d only begun to understand as he was calling out to Ogerpon during the battle. With everyone treating her like a monster already, it would have been so easy for Ogerpon to have let herself actually become one. But she’d stayed true to herself, despite the pain it brought. And so had Kieran, in the end.
Even when it had been so hard, and everything hurt, and a desperate part of him felt like he had no choice but to keep going down that path as a way to escape it all… on some level, Kieran had always known what he was doing was wrong. At the time, it had felt impossible to break free, and yet somehow, he’d found the courage to do so. That made all the difference.
He sighed and leaned back against Dragonite, brushing those thoughts aside. The Terarium really was a beautiful place, and in his best friend’s company, just here to have fun and relax, the air in here felt a lot lighter than it had in a while. Terapagos lay down and curled up against Juliana’s side, beginning to doze off. Meowscarada was also taking a nap in the warm pseudo-sunlight, so now Ogerpon was engaged in some light sparring with Ceruledge, cudgel against swords. And it looked like Politoed had made peace with the Sobble, since one of them was now perched atop his head.
With a twitch of his ears, Furret scampered up to snuggle into Kieran’s lap – or try to, at least, though only about half of him fitted there. Kieran smiled and ran a hand through his Pokémon’s fur. It had only just dried, so it was wonderfully fluffy right now.
Having Furret there, that familiar comforting presence, gave Kieran a spark of courage. There was another thing on his mind, something he’d made a silent resolution about during all that time hugging Furret in bed.
“Actually, um… There’s somethin’ else I wanted to tell you!” He hadn’t voiced it aloud yet – but if he did, it’d help make sure he wouldn’t run away from his decision.
Juliana looked at him, inquisitive.
“See, I made up my mind,” Kieran said, taking a deep breath. “I-I’m gonna testify to the Unova police, about Gus.” His hand tightened on Furret, who nuzzled him reassuringly. “About what he did to me. How he t… tortured me.” The word came out with a wince, and a pang somewhere within him, but nothing more.
“Huh?” Juliana responded, and for a moment he was afraid that she hadn’t
known – but no, it looked like Carmine must have told her. There was no shock there in her expression, only sympathy and concern. “Are you sure? You don’t have to—”
“I know,” he said, cutting her off. “The police lady said so too, that it was up to me.” And though a part of him had wanted to take that easy way out, to never have to talk or think about it ever again… he knew now that wouldn’t solve anything. “But… I wanna do it. I know it’s gonna be real scary, talkin’ about it… but I think I can manage it.”
It really was going to be hard, putting that awful experience into words. But in some ways, it didn’t feel any scarier than the thought of apologising to everyone in the League Club had, and he’d managed that, hadn’t he?
Furret peered up at him and gave an encouraging squeak.
With a small smile, Kieran scratched behind Furret’s ears, feeling a little bolder. “I wanna do whatever I can to make sure he can’t ever hurt anyone else like he hurt me an’ Ogerpon. That’s why I’m doin’ it.”
Juliana was still staring at him, but her concern had given way to something else. “Sounds like you’re determined!” she said. After a pause, she added, “…You’re really something, Kieran.”
Kieran’s eyes widened, his mouth hanging open, just at hearing that from Juliana of all people. And somehow, she wasn’t even the only person he looked up to who’d said that to him recently – so had his sister, that evening they’d talked about what she’d done to Gus.
“Y’know, Kiki, you’re really something.” Carmine took hold of the hand he’d laid on her arm, gripping it tight. “I mean, you’re the one all that awful stuff actually happened to, and yet look at you! You’re really showing your big sis up here.”
Kieran frowned. “What do ya mean?”
“C’mon, don’t make me come out and say it!” She gritted her teeth in frustration and glanced away, her voice lowering to a mumble. “That you’re… you’re better at this than me.”
“Huh? Better at what?”
“I dunno,
this.” Carmine gestured vaguely at the two of them, then dropped her arm back onto the bed, as if in defeat. “Dealin’ with tough stuff. You tell me.”
Squeezing his sister’s hand back, Kieran almost wanted to protest that he wasn’t good at it at all. She hadn’t seen all those nights he’d spent sobbing into Furret’s fur, she didn’t know the half of it— but something stopped him. It was hard, dealing with it all, of course it was, but now that she mentioned it, well… he
was managing, despite that. After all, being kidnapped, being
tortured – he’d have expected something like that to turn him into a total wreck. And yet, under the circumstances, wasn’t he actually handling it all… surprisingly well…?
“I mean it,” Juliana said, and Kieran was pulled back into the present, realising that he’d been doing nothing but stare dumbly at her since she’d complimented him. “I’m…” – she paused, as if she was struggling to find words – “…really, really proud of you.”
Kieran let out a brief laugh of surprise. A funny, tingly feeling spread through him, the same as he’d felt the first time Juliana had called him a friend. “F-For real?”
It was a reflexive question, but now that he looked, he could already see it was true. That expression on her face, one he almost hadn’t recognised because he never dreamed he’d see it – that was admiration. From
her, towards
him.
“Of course!” Juliana insisted. She paused again, glancing away, like she was feeling awkward, embarrassed, even though that didn’t make any sense for her. “I mean… remember when we first met?” she said, haltingly. “You were so shy… You’ve… you’ve been through so much, and… well, I just think it’s really cool,” she concluded. “How far you’ve come.”
She gave a smile, one that really was kind of awkward. “Sorry, I’m… not good with words sometimes,” she confessed. “But I mean it.”
“Wowzers…” Kieran breathed. He chuckled nervously, one hand going to fiddle with his lock of hair, hiding his flustered gaze. “Th-That sure means a whole lot, comin’ from you…”
He was spared from any more compliments he didn’t know how to process as Ogerpon strolled towards them, still with a bounce in her step. She must have been so glad to be out of the Pokémon Center and able to run around again after all that time forced to rest. Kieran knew how that felt.
“Hey, Ogerpon, guess what?” Juliana said. “Kieran’s gonna help make sure that bad guy won’t hurt anyone else again!”
“Pon? Ponyo!” Ogerpon turned to him with a fierce look of determination, like she was cheering him on for an upcoming battle.
Kieran managed a shy smile. It wouldn’t exactly be anything like a battle, but… “I’m… I’m gonna do my best…!”
With a squeak and a perk of his ears, Furret unspooled out of Kieran’s lap to scamper towards the ogre. Ogerpon’s face lit up, and she dashed away together with him. Ceruledge seemed to have had enough of sparring, but now Ogerpon had Furret as a playmate, the two of them chasing each other back and forth in what looked a bit like a game of tag.
Kieran beamed as he watched them, relieved beyond words to see Ogerpon so lively and energetic. After everything she’d been through, she’d bounced back remarkably well. That really was the kind of strength he’d always admired in her the most, even if he hadn’t quite realised it for all that time.
And, as incredible as it seemed to think it… that same kind of strength was something Kieran could admire in himself, too.
~~~
