Chapter Text
Melinda looked just like she had in Dewford—the same smart tracksuit and ponytail, the same air of superiority, the same Sharpedo grin. Hayley had once again gotten out of the habit of checking Trainer's Eyes. She hadn't known Melinda was here. And now, the sight of her launched Hayley back four months in three seconds, with every single cringe-inducing moment Melinda had witnessed playing in her mind on fast-forward. Hayley being quiet and cowed as Melinda berated Caleb in Dewford; Barrett ignoring her orders and flailing against her Bagon in Rustboro's underground mall; the two of them losing over and over again in the Rustboro arena as Melinda had watched; that first humiliating fight against Howie's Aron that everyone in her class had seen… For a moment, Hayley was once again the person she'd been on graduation day, anxious and floundering and out of her depth. And Melinda, sensing her weakness like it was blood in the water, pounced.
"The courts are a little advanced for you, don't you think? Given how much you've struggled at the arenas. I don't know if anyone told you, but the courts are a lot harder. I hope you're just here to watch."
"I…" Was she going to have to battle in front of Melinda? Lose in front of Melinda for the hundredth time? She swallowed and licked her lips, and Melinda's smirk widened.
"Oof. Well, I guess that's brave of you, in a way. Throwing yourself out there to get beaten into the ground—I could never do that."
Why did Melinda make her feel this way? Hayley had faced off against a countless number of strong trainers by now, and lost to many of them, and learned to walk away with her head held high. With three badges under her belt, she'd stopped feeling like a failure every time she mistimed an attack or fumbled a command, because everyone screwed up sometimes. Her opponents had learned that by now too, even the strong ones, and—trash talk excepted—it had been a long time since anyone had outright mocked her on the field. And yet, despite all that, it took just one sideways look from Melinda to make her feel like she was turning inside out.
No. She wouldn't let her keep doing this. Melinda was no better than anyone else, and even if she was, she—she didn't have the right. Hayley dug her nails into her palms, and she took a deep, steadying breath. "I'm here to battle, Melinda. And I don't care what you think."
"Whatever," Melinda said, smoothly switching gears. "You can do whatever you want, Hayley. I was just giving you a friendly warning—"
"I don't run away from battles," Hayley interrupted her. "Not like you."
"…Excuse me?"
"Back in Rustboro. Barrett versus Taro. You ran away before it was done." Hayley's heart was hammering, but she forced the words out anyway. It was worth it. Melinda faltered, just for a split second, before covering it with a laugh.
"Okay, no, the cops broke up that fight. And I don't know if you noticed, but I was playing with you the whole time. You never had a chance."
"I could have won." If the circumstances had just been a little different. If Barrett had been willing to listen. Well, he listened to her now. Mustering all her nerve, Hayley lifted her head, stared Melinda down and said, "I want a rematch. And this time, we won't stop halfway through."
Another disbelieving laugh, and then Melinda said, "Hayley, I don't know if you know, but I have four badges. I'm close to getting my fifth. It wouldn't be fair." Her tone was all at once amused, condescending, and sympathetic, like she was placating an unruly toddler. Hayley bristled against it.
"I still want to fight."
"You'll lose."
"I don't care. Battle me, or I'll tell everyone you turned me down because you were afraid."
"No one would believe you." She was right, and they both knew it—and yet, the conversation wasn't over. Melinda held Hayley's gaze, examining her like a scientist studying a sample under a microscope. After a moment, she said, "You'll only embarrass yourself, you know."
"Probably less than you think."
For another moment, they stared each other down, and Hayley held fast. In the end, it was Melinda who broke eye contact first, shaking her head with a sigh. Then, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her dex. "Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you. Cancel whatever kiddie match you have pending, and let's link up."
So. Hayley had come to the Battle Court prepared to lose. And when she fought Melinda, she was probably going to lose.
But wouldn't it be something if she won?
It was possible, or so insisted the resiliently stubborn part of her brain. She didn't know Melinda's current team, and with their battle only being a few minutes away and Melinda breathing down her neck, she didn't have the opportunity to call up a battle video for research. But since the last time they'd seen each other, Barrett had evolved. If Melinda wasn't keeping track of Hayley, and didn't know that… And if her Riolu and Bagon hadn't evolved… And if she didn't take Hayley seriously and didn't pull out all the stops to win… If Hayley could take her by surprise…
It was possible, wasn't it? Anything was possible. And so, Hayley was going to fight like she stood a chance of winning.
In what felt like the blink of an eye, Hayley was taking her place at the red corner of the leftmost battlefield. They were going to do a three-on-three with one switch, and she was determined to find a way to make that format work in her favor. As the screens lit up with a side-by-side shot of their faces and stats, she kept her eyes down and her ears shut, blocking out the awkwardness of being on camera and the scattered comments and jeers from the crowd. She had to keep her head in the game. The signal came for them to release their Pokéballs, and Hayley, as usual, sent out Ceres first. And Melinda send out… a Charmeleon.
Hayley's heart leapt. She had the type advantage. She could do this. As an automated voice on the speakers counted down, she squeezed her hands into fists, then relaxed them.
"Three! Two! One! Begin!"
"Dragon rage!"
"Disable!"
From what Hayley had seen in Rustboro, Melinda was aggressive. She shot out of the gate with guns blazing, ready to steamroll her opponent. Hayley had gambled that this match would be no different, and she'd been right. Half-right. She'd anticipated a fire move that would let them open into their anti-Barrett strategy.
The Charmeleon opened its mouth and screamed out a violent torrent of ultramarine flames. They washed over Ceres, enveloping her completely, and then, abruptly, they stopped. The Charmeleon snarled in rage as it was reduced to spitting out smoke and air, and Hayley risked a glance at Melinda, but had to snap her eyes back to the field as the Charmeleon raced towards Ceres with claws outstretched.
"Water arc!"
"Cut her up, Sai."
The Charmeleon was fast, but Ceres was getting faster. She whipped her head to fire off a perfect arc of water that crashed right across the Charmeleon's stomach. The jubilation Hayley felt at the point-blank hit morphed into dread when she realized that the Charmeleon hadn't even tried to dodge, and that it had barely flinched at the impact. It lunged behind Ceres, into her blind spot, and raked her across the back with gleaming metallic claws. Two sets of red lines blossomed across Ceres' pink skin and began dribbling blood onto the ground.
"Water wave!"
They had to slow the Charmeleon down. But the moment Ceres opened her mouth, Melinda called "Back!" and her Charmeleon vaulted safely out of yawning distance. Hayley's eyes widened. Had—had Melinda watched her gym battles? As Ceres obliviously yawned and Hayley grasped for another strategy, Melinda ordered a work up. The Charmeleon's shoulders rolled and its pupils dilated, releasing stimulant hormones that rushed through its muscles and brain. There was no time to think.
"Psi-slam!" Another gamble. Hayley knew that Ceres couldn't use a psychic attack while maintaining a disable, but she was betting Melinda didn't know that. And by the time the Charmeleon realized it was free, it would be too late.
"Flamethrower!"
"Keep its mouth shut!"
More flames, bright yellow and orange this time, billowed across the arena and over Ceres, but the moment they hit, the Charmeleon jerked awkwardly and twisted to the ground. Its snout snapped closed, cutting off the flames and revealing Ceres swaying in place with her eyes glowing. "Great job, Ceres! Water gun, as hard as you can!"
"Get up! Flare blitz!"
At this distance, Ceres' water gun wasn't at its strongest, but it was still enough to make the Charmeleon roar in pain and anger as it splattered across its scales. It twitched and struggled against Ceres' confusion to no avail, and for a moment, Hayley's hope returned. Then its tail flared into an inferno that covered its whole body, evaporating the water gun like a garden hose against a wildfire. And, in a move that Hayley knew well from Barrett's flame wheel, the fire crashed against the ground, giving the Charmeleon just enough momentum to wrench itself free.
"Protect!"
The Charmeleon rocketed forward as Ceres' confusion disappeared, and she barely got her shield up in time. Flickering yellow flames crashed against shimmering green light, surging higher and hotter with each passing second until Hayley was sweating even on the other side of the barrier. Still, Ceres held firm, for three seconds, five seconds, eight—
And then there was a sound like shattering glass, and the flames converged. From under their roar, Hayley heard Ceres cry out. Hayley shot a hand into the air.
"I'm withdrawing Ceres from the fight!" A buzzer sounded to acknowledge her yield, and Melinda called her Charmeleon off. Hayley recalled Ceres the moment the flames died down, heart hammering at the glimpse she caught of her blistered skin. Despite everything, seeing Ceres injured like that still hurt.
"Red corner has forfeited their first Pokémon! Red corner, release your next Pokémon!"
Sen didn't stand a chance against this Charmeleon—not when he still struggled to hold his own against Barrett. Hayley's only option was to fight fire with fire. Barrett appeared on the field with a snarl that was cut short when he saw who they were facing. He stared down Melinda, and an odd clicking that Hayley had never heard from him before came from somewhere deep in his throat. He remembered Melinda and her Bagon. He remembered losing.
The signal came to start the round, and Melinda wasted no time. "Rocks!"
"F-punch!" The Charmeleon roared, and jagged foot-tall spires of stone erupted forth in a shockwave, but Barrett disappeared into mist before they reached him and flew forward across the field. He reemerged in front of the Charmeleon and drove a gloom-shrouded fist straight into its gut, just as Hayley had been hoping he would. The Charmander and Magmar lines had similar body plans and shared a lot of the same strengths and weaknesses, and one of those weaknesses was a weak, unarmored stomach. Smoke and flames would be no good in this fight, and smog would just get burned away, but Barrett was a brawler at heart. By taking this fight up close, they could win.
"Claws!" Once again, the Charmeleon's talons flashed silver. Just as it brought them down, Barrett pivoted, catching the attack on his hard-plated back and slamming his tail into the same place his punch had landed. The Charmeleon roared and staggered back, and Barrett capitalized by bashing his skull into its sternum.
What followed was a melee free-for-all where both Melinda and Hayley struggled to slip in commands. Barrett's form was better, and detect and feint attack gave him an edge, but the Charmeleon fought more savagely than any trained Pokémon Hayley had ever seen and simply refused to go down. They locked claws, bashed their heads together, and drove one another to the ground over and over, the flames on their bodies climbing ever higher even as Hayley shouted for Barrett to watch his fuel. He didn't care about pacing himself. He simply wanted to win.
The fight finally ended when the Charmeleon, snarling in rage, lunged forward with its razor-sharp teeth aimed at Barrett's neck. Hayley's mind flashed white with panic, but Barrett only saw opportunity. He planted his feet and raised his arms to deliver a cross chop—
—only for his opponent to disappear into red light in front of him. Melinda had used her switch. Hayley took a deep breath and tried to control the heartbeat hammering away against her ribs. That had to have been for show, she told herself. Melinda was trying to intimidate them. She wouldn't let it work.
"Blue corner has used their switch! Blue corner, send out your next Pokémon!"
The next Pokémon that appeared was… a Riolu. Ryu hadn't evolved. They had a chance—
Wait. Why would Melinda put Ryu against Barrett? That was as bad a matchup as Sen versus her Charmeleon. Was she showing off, or was this a trap?
The buzzer sounded. "Aura sphere," Melinda ordered.
"Fire spin!" Breathing heavily, Barrett sent a torrent of flames towards Ryu, who leapt easily out of the way. A blue spark of aura flared to life between his paws, and the trainer's calculus continued to race in Hayley's mind. Melinda wouldn't send out a Pokémon just to let them lose; this was either a mind game or strategy. But if it was a strategy, what was it?
Once again, flames crashed against the ground as Ryu jumped clear. The aura sphere he was holding suddenly doubled, tripled, quadrupled in size, shining bright blue and rushing with the sound of a swollen river crashing against its banks. Then, as Barrett sent another spiral of fire towards Ryu, Ryu sent the orb exploding back. It tore through the flames like they were nothing and ripped up a trail of dust as it skimmed the arena floor, and Barrett had to cut off his attack and throw himself to the side to avoid being caught in its path.
So Ryu had a ranged attack and was too fast to hit with fire spin. They could go for melee again, but Ryu was a fighting-type, Barrett was already getting worn out, and—Barrett was her best counter to Taro. That was the answer—Melinda was wearing down Hayley's ace so that her own could clinch a clean and risk-free victory. Decision made, Hayley snatched Barrett's ball from her belt and recalled him just as another aura sphere flew in his direction. He'd be annoyed at the switch, but all would be forgiven if it led to him facing down and beating his old rival.
"Red corner has used their switch! Red corner, send out your next Pokémon!"
So Hayley sent out Sen. And what happened next, she could never have predicted. The second he materialized, he locked eyes with Ryu and stiffened. Ryu likewise straightened his stance as if trying to stand taller, and a smirk uncannily like Melinda's spread across his muzzle. And an azure aura, the same one Hayley had been trying to coax back since Oldale, burst around Sen's body in full force.
"Sen?" Hayley asked, concern breaking her out of her battle headspace for just a moment. "What—"
The buzzer sounded and cut her off, and Sen didn't wait for a command. Neither did Ryu. They raced at each other, bounding across the field in long strides, Ryu building and firing off another roaring aura sphere as Sen loosed his hidden power. The attacks collided in midair, Ryu's easily smashing apart Sen's, but now Sen was drawing back his arm for a force palm.
"Kaze!"
"Detect!" Caught off-guard by Sen's behavior and unsure what kaze meant, Hayley went with her gut. It paid off. Ryu sliced both paws diagonally in front of him, and the air rippled and bulged and spiraled towards Sen like a whirling blade. Detect got Sen clear and put him safely on Ryu's side, but before he could strike, Ryu blinked away with his own feint and landed his own force palm on Sen's back. Sen grimaced, twisted, and lashed out with confusion, pushing the Riolu away but not knocking him off his feet.
"Hidden power!" Now that they were closer and Ryu was off-balance, they'd have a better chance to hit. Sen's aura flared back to life and he launched three flaming orbs at Ryu. Ryu slashed his paws down again, and two smaller vacuum waves burst two of the orbs into nothing, but Sen veered the third and final orb out of the way and crashed it into Ryu from the side. It was a direct hit, but Ryu barely grunted, and they had no time to follow up as Melinda called for a bullet punch. Ryu's fists shone, and in the blink of an eye he was on Sen again, punching him over and over faster than Hayley could track. Sen blocked the first few, but was quickly overwhelmed and had to detect back to escape the hail of blows landing on his ribs, stomach and chest. Ryu lunged forward to follow him—
"Grab him!" Hayley shouted. Immediately Ryu tried to pivot around Sen, but he was too close, and Sen's eyes were gleaming with foresight. Sen cut off Ryu's feint, seized him by the arm, and used his own momentum to drive him to the ground. But the instant before they landed, Ryu's body shone with his own bright blue aura, and when they hit the clay, it exploded outward like a grenade. Counter. The two Pokémon went flying apart from one another, bouncing and rolling along the arena floor. Sen recovered and staggered to his feet, but Ryu was just a bit faster, and by the time Sen was able to stand straight, he was staring down the barrel of an aura sphere that was bigger than the both of them put together and shining like the sun.
"Detect!" Hayley yelled again. Ryu unleashed his attack, and Sen vanished, but Hayley had the sinking suspicion that there was no distance he could travel in time that would get him clear. Sure enough, the roaring, tight-packed force detonated with a shockwave that caught Sen several feet away, sending him sprawling across the ground again. Defiant, blazing with deep blue light, Sen tried to push himself up once more—but again, Ryu was faster, and closed the distance to deliver a final force palm. A flash and a piercing crack echoed though the air, and Sen fell still at last.
"Red corner's Pokémon is unable to battle! Red corner, send out your last Pokémon!"
Dammit. Hayley's hopes of winning this grew slimmer by the second, but she'd gotten her team into this; she owed it to them to keep trying for victory. Clenching her jaw, she sent out Barrett one more time. He looked at the Riolu still on the field, snorted in disdain and annoyance, then turned back to her for an explanation.
"You're the last one standing, Barrett," Hayley said. "You've got to beat Ryu and Taro and that Charmeleon. Think you can do it?"
The buzzer sounded, and Barrett's flames flared bright, his unshakeable arrogance pushing away his irritation. From the other side of the field, Melinda shouted, "Rock slide!"
"Back!" If Melinda was trying to bait Hayley into using the same strategy she had against her Charmeleon, Hayley wasn't going to fall for it. Barrett detected and ghosted back as row after row of spikes—smaller than the Charmeleon's, but tighter-packed—splintered out of the ground. The moment he was clear, Hayley followed up: "Smog! As much as you can!"
"Aura sphere!"
"Keep up smog and detect on my mark!" By the time she'd finished giving the command, Barrett was already enveloped in a thick cloud of sulfurous smoke, and Ryu's aura sphere was shining above his head. It grew to the size of the one that had taken out Sen, but something about it looked unstable, the energies inside straining to burst free—Ryu must have been tiring out. Good. As Barrett's corner of the field disappeared further into a haze, Ryu unleashed his attack, and Hayley clenched her fists and waited for the perfect moment. "Now!"
Just like Sen, Barrett couldn't dodge completely. But compared to Sen, he was massive, and getting clipped by the explosion only made him stagger and grunt. What did go flying was the smog. The cloud Barrett had created smashed apart, thin tendrils of smoke spiraling across the battlefield until they halted at the transparent walls of the barrier.
It was the same strategy she'd wanted to use against Melinda in Rustboro. Now, she finally had the chance to see if it would work.
"More smog! Get closer!"
"Rocks!" Another cone of stalagmites erupted into place, but Barrett narrowly avoided them by hurtling to the side. He breathed out another long cloud of smog, and this time it rolled straight over Ryu. A split-second later, Ryu blurred out of the thicker cloud and reappeared on Barrett's flank, but the short, sharp cough he made upon landing told Hayley the dodge had come too late. Barrett's smog supply wasn't inexhaustible, though, and a raspy wheeze told Hayley he'd reached his limit for now.
"Melee! Keep him in the cloud!"
"Shut your eyes and control your breathing." Melinda's command came almost like a rebuke, and Ryu quickly obeyed it. His eyes closed against the smog, and pale blue aura began to radiate from his body. Barrett swept his tail towards him, and Hayley called for him to stop, expecting another counter—instead, Ryu gracefully leapt up and over Barrett's tail, slamming his paw forward for a force palm. Snarling at the unexpected hit, Barrett flared his flames. The effect was diminished, since he was still catching his breath, but it would hopefully have singed Ryu before he could draw back. Hayley couldn't tell for sure whether it had. With the smog, aura and flames now obscuring the edges of both Pokémon, fine details were getting hard to make out.
"Stay on defense!" If she couldn't tell when a counter was coming, then their safest bet was to wait this out. Even with controlled breathing, the smog had to bring him down eventually. Every hit that Barrett couldn't dodge would be another burn on Ryu. Hayley expected Melinda to eventually order a retreat, and had the command for Barrett to pursue locked and loaded, but no such order came. In fact, Melinda didn't issue any further orders to Ryu at all, except one: "Fight through the pain."
Barrett versus Ryu wasn't a clash between two titans as Barrett and the Charmeleon had been, or the dance-like spar between the diminutive Ryu and Sen. Instead, it was a match of speed versus mass. Within the haze of smog, the small and agile light that was Ryu spun and wove around the guard of the tall and lumbering light that was Barrett. Orange and blue flashes sparked through the air, and the only way Hayley could tell a block from a hit was when Barrett growled or snorted in pain. The lights flared brighter and brighter even as both Pokémon grew slower and clumsier, Barrett's fire regaining its strength while his muscles grew exhausted, Ryu's aura swelling to offset the coughing and hacking that started to come with each slow breath. If this went on much longer, both of them would burn themselves out, and Melinda would win. Hayley had to break the stalemate. And the opportunity came when Ryu, out of complacency or desperation, leapt at Barrett from the front.
"Flamethrower!" In an instant, fire spilled from Barrett's snout and engulfed Ryu completely. Ryu cried out and fell to the ground, where Barrett followed him with another three-second volley. When the flames cleared, Ryu was on his hands and knees, aura guttering like a candle. Several seconds passed, and he tried to get up, only to fall to his knees again. Hayley glanced at Melinda to see if she'd recall him, but she was standing perfectly still with her arms crossed, expression unreadable through the smoke. They had to finish this, then.
"Cross chop." The command was less than enthusiastic; there was no glory in attacking an opponent who'd obviously already lost. Still, it was more dignified for everyone involved than waiting for Ryu to lose consciousness on his own. Barrett's arms came down, just like Ryu's palm had come down on Sen, and Ryu was finally knocked out of the fight.
"Blue corner's Pokémon is unable to battle! Blue corner, send out your next Pokémon!"
"Great job, Barrett," Hayley said, then took a deep breath. That fight had lasted way longer than she'd wanted it to, and there was no way Barrett would have the energy to take on two more Pokémon. But she had to try. She had to…
Melinda sent out her last Pokémon, and the last embers of Hayley's optimism were snuffed out. What materialized on the field was a Shelgon, standing as tall as Barrett's chest and wrapped in layer after layer of thick, impenetrable scales. Taro had evolved. They were going to lose.
Of course, she couldn't tell that to Barrett. As he met the eyes of the rival who had humiliated him in Rustboro, he growled, and his flames climbed ever higher. He wasn't going to leave the field until either he or Taro was unconscious, and it was Hayley's job to give him the best chance he could get.
The buzzer sounded, and she thrust her head back into the game. "Ring of fire! He can't dodge!"
"Protect." Okay, well, he could do that. As Barrett's flames converged into a circle under Taro's feet, Taro put up a barrier. It wasn't as solid as Ceres', Hayley noted—she had mastered weaving the light into a thin, hard-packed shell, but Taro's protect was thick and formless and visibly wobbled as it pushed against the fire. "Dragon pulse. Take your time."
"Switch to flamethrower!" They had to break through that protect. It couldn't be that hard to do; as Barrett rushed up and began breathing a long, hot stream of fire, it immediately began to flicker. Another two seconds, and it collapsed completely, sending Barrett's orange-yellow flames washing over Taro's shell. "Keep going!" Dragon scales resisted fire, and Shelgon were notoriously invulnerable, so Barrett could burn to his heart's content without risking an excessive-force violation. If he could keep it up just a little longer…
"Go."
Barrett's flame and Ryu's aura had left spots dancing in her eyes, but what came from Taro was positively blinding. An amethyst beacon exploded out of the flames, no thicker than Hayley's arm but wreathed in enough force that Barrett's fire and even the lingering smog were both blasted to nothing. It struck Barrett in the chest and drove him back, then doubled in width and knocked him back again. Hayley yelled for him to detect, but one more pulse pushed Barrett off his feet and sent him flying across the arena, past the field boundary line, and into the barrier waiting beyond. The buzzer sounded one final time, and Hayley's shoulders slumped.
"Red corner is out of bounds! Red corner has no Pokémon remaining; victory goes to the blue corner!"
Out-of-bounds. What a stupid way to lose. Not that it would have mattered, she realized a moment later; as Barrett twitched and tried to struggle back up, he fell back on his stomach, and his flames petered out. Hayley bit her lip and recalled him. He was going to be pissed when she let him out again, for sure. In fact, Hayley was pissed. It took her by surprise that anger was the emotion welling inside her, not resignation or guilt or shame, but—it wasn't right. She trained all day, every day, and she had a team that was strong and capable and worked as hard as they could to grow. How, after all that, wasn't she at least keeping pace with Melinda? How was she falling even further behind? What could she possibly be doing wrong?
There was only one way to find out. As she left the trainer box and walked to the sidelines, once again blocking out cheers and jeers, she knew what she had to do. And she hated it. But if this was what it would take to get better, then she had to suck up her tattered pride and do it.
Melinda met her at the halfway point, self-satisfaction radiating off her in waves. "Sorry about Sai," she said, in a tone of voice that sounded more like bragging than apologizing. At Hayley's blank stare, she elaborated. "My Charmeleon—she's still a little wild and doesn't really get what a 'friendly' fight is. So she can get a little too aggressive. We're working on it."
Wait, then that lunge at Barrett's throat hadn't been a feint? Before Hayley could respond, Melinda kept going, voice still unbearably smug. "I guess you didn't do that badly. You at least took out Ryu, and that's better than I thought—"
"I want to train with you." Hayley blurted the words out before she could convince herself not to. Melinda actually stopped talking and raised her eyebrows, so Hayley pushed on: "You're a better trainer than me, right? I want to know why. If there's really something you have that I don't, then I want to know what it is. So show me."
"What, really?" When Hayley didn't back down, Melinda snorted. "Yeah, I'm flattered, but I'm busy preparing for Jin. Unless you can somehow make it worth my time, which I doubt, I'm going to have to say no."
For a moment, Hayley's insecurity made itself known again, because what could she possibly have to offer to someone like Melinda? But when she forced that insecurity away, she remembered. "Taro's protect."
"What about it?"
"It's not very good. Ceres can help him work on it."
Melinda gave a short, disbelieving laugh. "Your Slowpoke?"
"Yes, my Slowpoke! She's already helped Mir—some other Pokémon learn how to pull it off." If Hayley's tone was a little sharp, it was because she was tired of everyone underestimating Ceres just for how she looked. She was strong, and even if she wasn't quick, she wasn't dumb. "You saw her, she held off Sai longer than Taro held off Barrett. That means she's better at it, unless you want to tell me that Sai is weaker than Barrett."
Melinda was still chuckling to herself, but now she looked at Hayley a little more closely. "You're really going to try and teach me something."
"No, Ceres is going to teach you something. And in exchange, you're going to tell me what I'm doing wrong."
There was another long moment where Melinda looked Hayley up and down. Finally, she shrugged. "Fine. I guess I can spare a few hours for this. Meet me at seven AM tomorrow at the Power House gym on Parkside. If you end up wasting my time, you'll regret it."
"It won't be a waste. I'll see you tomorrow." She held out her hand and, to her surprise, Melinda actually shook it.
Hayley had planned on having more battles that day, but a near-shutout loss to a trainer a full badge level above her own had forced her to alter her plan a bit. Instead, she took a bus to the edge of town and found a quiet section of beach where she could talk to her team in private. First, she released Yarrow, who shook himself like a wet Lillipup and looked up at her with a chirp.
"Hey. I need you to be moral support, okay?" When that was met with a blank stare, she elaborated, "We lost a battle, and everyone's going to be sad. Try and make them happy again, especially Ceres." Still looking slightly confused, Yarrow nevertheless nodded, spinning around on one foot and giving another chirp.
Next came Ceres, who was conscious but dazed. Her skin was marred with shallow burns and deep oozing cuts, which Hayley immediately set about treating with her dwindling canisters of burn heal and potion. "You did a really good job, Ceres," she said, as Yarrow hopped in front of her face and poked her with his leaves. "That Charmeleon was strong, and I'm proud of you. Are you hurt too badly? I'll bring you to the Center in a bit, but I wanted to talk to everyone first." She hadn't seen anyone take any life-threatening blows, so she'd figured it was better to do this than to dump them all on a nurse without explanation. Thankfully, Ceres gave a placid rumble, letting Hayley know she was good to tough things out for a while longer. Hayley finished treating her wounds and rubbed her head. "Thanks. Barrett and Sen are going to be mad about losing, so hopefully we can calm them down a bit."
Sure enough, both Pokémon in question, despite immediately falling to their knees upon release, were tense and wild-eyed and ready to fight. Hayley held up her hands to calm them down. "We lost. It's okay. I'm sorry for putting you in a fight like that without letting you know first; it all happened kind of fast—Barrett, cut your flames. You're going to burn Sen." She'd released them several feet away from her, but apparently not far enough apart, because the ripples of heat from Barrett's reigniting flames were encroaching on Sen's personal space. Sen, for his part, didn't move away, but simply shifted to a sitting position and crossed his arms and legs.
"Melinda's got a month of training on us. That's part of why she's so strong. And I wasn't sure Taro had evolved, so that caught me by surprise, especially that dragon pulse." Barrett grumbled, and Sen sulked at hearing part of the battle he hadn't even been present for. "I shouldn't have started a battle we couldn't win, but I just—I wanted to see where we stood. And obviously we still have a long way to go."
Barrett was lashing his tail against the sand and glowering at her, while Sen sat still and stared over the ocean. Ceres shuffled up and nudged Sen with a gentle headbutt, and he recoiled and shoved her away by the shoulders. "Hey! That's not okay." Hayley raced over and wrapped a protective arm over Ceres, holding her close as she gave a dejected groan. "She was just trying to be nice, Sen." Hayley had all but told her to be nice. Dammit. "You need to apologize."
Sen glared at them both, shoulders arched and fists curled like he'd been bitten. Hayley glared right back. Eventually, when he realized she wasn't going to back down, he glanced away and tapped a halfhearted fist against his chest. "Thank you. And like I said, I'm sorry too."
Barrett had been closely watching the exchange, but when it was clear another fight wasn't going to break out, he lost interest and went back to whipping his tail back and forth. Yarrow crept up to him to play whatever he understood to be his part, and Hayley held her breath with her hand over his ball.
"Mih!" Yarrow tapped Barrett's leg with one glossy leaf, quickly withdrawing before it could be singed. Barrett grunted and looked down, and Yarrow hopped back and bounced on the balls of his feet. Then he raced around behind Barrett, jumping over his tail and prodding him in the back twice more.
"Yarrow, maybe you shouldn't—"
"Mih! Mih! Mih!" Another three taps on Barrett's arm, and Barrett surged up from the sand. Hayley blanched, but Yarrow had already danced back and was waving his leaves in a clear gesture of "chase me." And Barrett was lumbering forward to oblige.
Okay, a game of tag with Barrett as pursuer was a little more dangerous than what Hayley had been picturing, but if it distracted Barrett from his loss, she was willing to see how it shook out. "No fire!" she shouted warily as Barrett lunged forth, and Barrett snorted, but snapped his beak shut over the flames that had been gathering there all the same. Hayley kept her eye on them a while longer before she was comfortable letting go of Yarrow's ball, but it turned out the chase wasn't as lopsided as she'd feared. Or, it was, but the balance was skewed in Yarrow's favor. Barrett had improved a lot at moving his larger body, but still hadn't had the chance to practice on sand, and he was still bruised and worn from his triple header against Melinda. Yarrow, meanwhile, was full of energy and light on his feet, and the afternoon sunlight put a spring in his step. It soon became clear that there was no way Barrett was going to catch Yarrow unless Yarrow stopped moving completely—which he did, several times, letting Barrett get within a claw's breadth of his leaves before shouting and taking off again. When she was satisfied Yarrow wasn't in danger of being burned to a crisp, Hayley turned her attention back to Sen.
"Sen. Melinda's Riolu—you've met him before, right? On Dewford?" The answer had eluded Hayley during the fight, but when she'd thought about it afterwards, it was painfully obvious. Sen had lived around Granite Cave, and Melinda had probably caught Ryu around Granite Cave, and if she had, then it wasn't a stretch to think the two of them had history. Sen didn't answer at first, so Hayley pushed further. "I saw how angry you got when you saw him. And when you battled, it looked like the two of you already knew each other's moves. This wasn't the first time you fought him, was it?"
Grudgingly, Sen nodded. Hayley was gratified to be right, but… this kind of put a wrench in things. "Did you fight a lot? Were the two of you enemies?"
Sen hesitated, and Hayley felt him picking through her mind for specific words. A moment later, he sharply signed, "Train-fight. Not friends."
It was the most words she'd seen him string together since being trapped in the cave with Amaya.
"Rivals. You're rivals." Sen gave another curt nod, and Hayley ran a hand through her hair. "That's… kind of funny. Because I know you haven't met her before, but I guess you could say that Melinda's my rival. Though I don't think she sees me the same way. She's just so strong, and I…"
Under Hayley's arm, Ceres rumbled again, and Hayley gave her a quick and gentle squeeze before letting go. She ambled back up to Sen, and this time, Sen didn't push her away. He didn't really acknowledge her, either, but Ceres didn't seem bothered by that. She flopped down on the sand and wedged herself up against his side. Hayley looked over to Yarrow and Barrett and saw that Barrett was now panting and fuming on the sand while Yarrow twirled a safe distance away.
"I'll tell those two in a bit, but I wanted to let you know that I'm going to see Melinda again tomorrow. The fact that she's still so much stronger than me is just… It shouldn't be possible, when we're all working so hard. There's got to be something I'm missing, and I have to find out what it is. Ceres, I'm going to need your help; she wants you to help her Shelgon with his protect." It was a slightly stretched version of the truth, but Ceres deserved to feel important. It worked, and Ceres gave a long, pleased bellow. "But Sen, you don't have to come if you don't want to. If you don't want to see Ryu—her Riolu. It's up to you."
Sen's face hardened, and he signed only one word. "Train."
"Are you sure? It's okay if you're not." Sen shook his head and signed train again. Of course he did. Hayley wasn't the only one who was desperate to grow stronger. She wasn't the only one who felt like there was something missing. "All right. But if Ryu's… I don't know, being a jerk, or something like that, and you change your mind, just let me know, and we can leave. I'll have your back. Remember that."
They had to stick up for each other. It was the only way to move forward in a world that was still stronger than they were.