"Begin!"

Hana's shout echoed across the battlefield, and the crowd of trainers we'd gathered cheered.

Yuji and I yelled our orders at the same time, but I beat him by a hair.

"Wisp, disappear!"

"Aerial Ace!"

My eyes widened in shock as Yuji called out his Pokemon's attack. I knew he was going to be packing some surprises, but I thought I'd emptied his toolbox by putting a ghost up against his fighter.

Achilles' wings glowed with brilliant white light, and suddenly he was just across the battlefield, bearing down on Wisp.

Wisp vanished in a 'wisp' of smoke, disappearing right before he made it there. Aerial Ace always hit, but you couldn't hit what you couldn't see.

The Aerial Ace slashed through where she'd been, sending a gale of wind forward and buffeting the crowd.

The Heracross stopped on a dime, turning with his heel dug into the ground. He searched around, looking for where Wisp could have gone.

"Growl!" I called.

All across the battlefield, echoing as though it was playing from some omnipotent presence, a low rumbling growl sounded. Trainers all around us shifted uncomfortably, and even I felt goosebumps form across the back of my neck. Achilles shifted nervously, the instinctive reaction to a Growl. The technique forced enemy Pokemons' fighting drive and attack power to lessen the more they heard it.

"Achilles, find her!" Yuji called, knowing he needed to end this before Achilles had his attack reduced by too much. "Bug Buzz!"

The Heracross opened the back of his blue shell, letting his transparent beetle wings unfurl. They began to vibrate, faster and faster, a sonic droning noise flooding off of them.

I winced as the noise hit me. Between that and the Growl, the noise was deafening.

I suddenly thought of the emergency worker's words.

Honestly, you should probably avoid everything over eighty decibels for the next week or so, they'd said.

Welp.

"Wisp!" I tried to yell over the noise.

Yuji still couldn't see her, but I saw my ghost struggling. She was lodged in Achilles' shadow, directly behind him in his blind spot. The sonic noise was impacting her, and I could see her writhing in pain.

She couldn't hear me.

With no direction and only pain, Wisp tumbled out of Achilles' shadow. She went flying, carried by the ultrasonic waves.

I bit my lip as she stabilized, tiny bruises appearing on her ghostly skin.

I hadn't actually seen her get hit by anything before.

"Vanish again!" I yelled. "Then put him under!"

She heard me this time, unfortunately, so did Yuji.

"Achilles! Don't let her get close!"

Wisp extended her shadow forward, trying to interlock it with Achilles', but the Heracross lept away, ending his Bug Buzz. She couldn't keep up with his speed, so instead of trying to do my first order, she went for my second.

"Dreavus!" She cried. Her eyes went bright pink, becoming lulling and comforting.

Yuji cursed when he saw the Hypnosis. Wisp didn't need to be close to Achilles to put him to sleep.

Achilles had other plans, though. The bug took a full-force hit from the Hypnosis, and his eyelids started to dip, but he shook his head, pressing forward. I wasn't going to get him that easily.

"Aerial Ace!" Yuji ordered.

Achilles once again activated the white glowing of his wings. Because Wisp was still mid-Hypnosis, she didn't have time to disappear.

Slam!

Achilles zoomed across the field, smashing his wing to Wisp, she went tumbling again but kept hovering.

She wasn't done yet.

"He's close, Shadow Sneak!"

Wisp heard me this time. She took advantage of Achilles' close combat style and wrapped her shadow around his own. She vanished.

Unlike last time when we were trying to be sneaky, Wisp made full use of her Shadow Sneak, reappearing directly behind Achilles and striking him with ghost type energy.

The beetle tried to roll with the blow, but faltered as he couldn't shrug off the damage with his thick shell. Ghost moves attacked the mind and the spirit, not the body.

"Good girl! Now hit him again, Hypnosis!"

"Achilles, Bug Buzz!"

Achilles flared his wings again, trying to shut his eyes as Wisp maneuvered around him, crawling through the shadows of his armor to climb on him. The ultrasonic waves started again, forcing me to clutch my hands over my ears from the volume.

Wisp found her way in front of Achilles' face, widening her eyes as they took on the pink glow again. The beetle tried to resist, but his wings slowed. The volume of his Bug Buzz lowered.

Ka-link!

The ground vibrated as the Heracross' armor impacted the ground.

He was asleep.

I almost called the battle there, but I saw Yuji murmuring under his breath, willing Achilles to get up. He hadn't given up on his Pokemon.

Yuji was right.

The battle wasn't over yet.

I thrust my hand forward. "End this! Hex!"

Wisp began to glow with purple energy and it fell off of her like waves of smoke. It whirled and twisted along the ground as it found Achilles. He began to writhe in pain, even while he was asleep.

Hex was a ghost type move that inflicted massive damage upon incapacitated Pokemon. Like those that were asleep, for example.

Yuji slammed his foot into the ground. "Achilles! You've trained harder than this, get up!"

Hearing his trainer's orders, something in the realm of sleep let go of Achilles. The beetle's eyes fluttered open.

Oh, shit.

"Hit him again!"

Wisp redoubled her purple smoke, forcing out another Hex. Achilles still clenched in pain, but he rolled with the attack, forcing himself to stand. The beetle planted both of his clawed feet into the ground, and his body began to swell and grow. His muscles flexed with humungous power, boosted by his Swarm ability. Now that Achilles was close to fainting, his bug type moves would be ridiculously empowered.

I had a sudden flashback to a Raticate the previous day.

That's not going to happen again.

"Wisp, get out of there! Fly up!" I commanded my Pokemon to leave Bug Buzz range. If I was right, Yuji only had two moves that actually worked against Wisp.

We were going to force him to use one of them.

As if on cue, Yuji yelled. "Follow her! Aerial Ace!"

Achilles slammed both of his feet into the ground and squatted, jumping with more power than he had any right to. His wings caught the wind with a flash of white light and he followed Wisp into the air.

I grinned.

Yuji fucked up. We still have our trump card.

Wisp only needed to take one more hit, and we'd guaranteed it wouldn't be powered up by Swarm.

The Aerial Ace connected and I winced at the impact. Wisp began to wobble in her hovering. She was on her last legs.

"It's time! Throw him to the ground, Confusion!" I yelled.

Yuji cursed. He hadn't known that we had a psychic type move in our arsenal, and there was nothing he could do about it now.

Wisp released an aura of blue light that coated her and Achilles. The Heracross writhed in pain as it was struck by a super-effective move. Even his wings stopped flapping. He was only supported by Wisp's psychic power.

Not for long.

My Pokemon grabbed Achilles with her power, swinging him around her like a shotput thrower, and slammed him back down into the ground.

Crash!

A brown cloud of dust covered the field.

I was reminded of my battle with Giovanni, waiting for the smoke to clear only to see that I had lost.

The entire crowd went silent.

The wind shifted and the dust settled.

Achilles was sitting in a crater from the fall, unconscious.

The crowd erupted into cheers. Amy and Daisy yelled my name, cheering for me. Hana stepped up to the sidelines again.

"Trainer Yuji's Pokemon is unable to battle!" She yelled. "The winner is Derek Tracy!"

Yuji returned Achilles to his ball. He looked down at it and softly smiled. "You had a fair showing today, my friend."

I stepped onto the field, doing my best to keep my legs steady.

I won.

My victory the other day felt nothing like this. The crowd cheering, the dust in the air, the feeling of exhilarating exhaustion pumping through my body, all of it felt so good.

I could live for this feeling.

Wisp floated down to me, wobbling the whole way. I let her rest in my arms. "You did a great job, girl," I smiled at her. "Let's get you checked up, and then you can finish your dessert."

"Drea drea," she said, exhausted. I returned her.

I walked up to Yuji, and he met me halfway onto the field. We shook hands.

"That was an awesome battle, man!" I grinned at him.

"I agree, my friend," Yuji gave me a challenging smile. "You have won against me twice now in a row. There will not be a third."

I laughed. "You're so on!"

Hana, Amy, and Daisy ran up to us. The crowd around us was still talking about the match, and I could see a few people snapping photos. Hana and Amy both first when to Yuji, congratulating him on a good match. It made sense, given that they'd been watching him train longer. Daisy walked up to me.

She was grinning, her summer green eyes alight with excitement and her hair flowing in the wind. In the setting sun, Daisy was up there with Miltoic in terms of beauty.

She slipped her hand into mine. "You did amazing," she said. "It's been a long time since I've seen a rookie battle that I was that invested in."

I couldn't stop smiling. "Just you wait, I'll be at your level before you can say 'Rattata'."

Daisy shook her head. "You'll be better than me. I just know it."

The thought gave me pause. That really was the goal, wasn't it?

I nodded at her, squeezing her hand.

To be the very best.

I wouldn't settle for anything less.

----------------------------------------

We all stayed up late that night.

Between the excitement of the battle and the novelty of Daisy joining us, we decided to go out for some fun and some drinks. While we all fell within the legal ability to drink, we tried not to go too crazy, though we weren't always the most successful at that. We had fun sitting back and telling jokes, enjoying the music and each other's company. Eventually, it came time for Daisy to leave us and head back to her hotel room. Even though I was sad, I think Hana was actually the most disappointed to see her go.

It wasn't long after that we returned to the Pokemon Center. I picked up Wisp and Artis from the nurse's station, and we stumbled into the elevator and each into our individual beds. Sleep came to all of us quickly.

Unsurprisingly, it was in the morning that we regretted our decisions. No one, not even Yuji, wanted to get up when an alarm started to play in our room. It was seven in the morning, and at least one of us needed to head to the Pewter Gym to sign up for our gym challenges.

"Guys," I groaned at the repetitive beeping. "Can somebody please take care of that?"

"Ugh," Hana mumbled. "Somebody needs to leave for the gym."

"I vote Yuji," I said without missing a beat. "He's normally up at this time anyway."

"I- huk, I disagree," he hiccuped. "As the person who has the honor of first challenge- huk, I think Derek should go."

"I don't care!" Amy whined. "Somebody go."

Hana threw her trainer card at me. "Two to one. Derek, you're outvoted. Go."

I whimpered as I opened my eyes. The light stung.

"E tu, Hana? How long until I get to play the 'I lived through a Rocket attack' card?"

"You only get one of those, my friend," Yuji sounded green. "Use it well."

I debated it. I honestly, truly, did.

I groaned, leaning over and turning off the alarm on Hana's Pokegear.

"Fine! But I'm not getting anybody else breakfast."

Amy made a gagging noise. "I don't think I could eat."

I got dressed in a comfortable outfit, shoved on a pair of sunglasses, and collected everyone's trainer cards.

I turned on the light switch as I stepped out the door, and inside I heard a collective groan.

I smiled before wincing at my headache.

Maybe Wisp was rubbing off on me more than I thought.

----------------------------------------

I made it to the Pewter Gym fifteen minutes before it was supposed to open and there was already a line out of the front door of the building. It took over an hour for me to get up to the front of the line and get us signed up.

The process literally took five minutes. I handed our trainer cards to the attendant, they swiped them, and then I selected from the time slots available. We were signed up for back-to-back challenges against gym trainers in six days, and if we succeeded in those we'd be up against Brock the day after that.

As I went to leave though, the attendant stopped me. "Mr. Tracy?" They said. "You actually have a notice on your account."

"Uh- is it something bad...?"

The attendant gave a corporate laugh. "No, I apologize. We are just supposed to inform you that Leader Brock would like to speak to you if you are willing to arrive early on the day of your match."

I raised an eyebrow. Brock wanted to talk to me?

"Sure? I mean, yeah, I guess that works. What time should I be here?"

"Given that you're scheduled for our opening challenge at nine in the morning, you should already be arriving at eight forty-five. Fifteen minutes before that should suffice."

"And this is on the day of the gym trainer challenge, or...?"

"No, this would be on the day of your battle with the leader himself," the attendant smiled. "He is very confident that you will pass your gym trainer battle."

"Okay, yeah. I'll be there."

I left the front desk and headed outside. I winced as the sun streamed in, even with my thick sunglasses.

We really did have too much fun last night, I thought.

I looked around. Besides the still growing line out of the front of the gym, the area was quiet and peaceful. The only other group of people was a small crowd of trainers surrounding a reporter who was interviewing someone.

I was hungry, but I decided to sate my curiosity and swing by the crowd.

The interviewee was a rookie, based on their age and the Pokeballs on their waist. They were a masc person with a thin jaw and curly blonde hair, and they were athletic but wiry. I snorted when I saw their outfit.

Aviators and a button-up shirt that was way too open?

At nine in the morning?

Oh yeah, this person is a douchebag.

I frowned when I noticed who was interviewing them.

"-So, Mick, you're up for a second-badge challenge just one month into the season," Lisa Lapelle from Celadon Daily asked. "If you win, you'll be the fifth rookie this season to earn your second badge. What kind of pressure does that bring to a new trainer?"

"Well, Lisa," Mick answered, taking their aviators off and giving a smile directly into the camera. I groaned at their perfect white teeth. "I actually don't feel any pressure at all. I feel like I've already proved myself to be a man of means and ability, and I don't think Brock's second-badge team will pose any kind of threat to me."

I frowned, feeling just a little sick listening to him talk. It wasn't that the guy was traditionally unattractive, but he radiated 'asshole-energy'. The sheer skeeziness coming off of him was palpable. Every word he spoke was like he was trying to seduce the camera, and even Lisa looked a little grossed out.

"And how does it feel that two of your traveling companions, Portia Cervelo and Daniel Sukizo, are the third and fourth rookies to receive their second badge?" Lisa smirked as she asked that one.

I smirked as I saw Mick clench his cheek ever so slightly.

That must be a sore spot, I thought. And, I think I remember somebody named 'Portia'...

I snapped my fingers. The challenge yesterday! I saw her battling on TV, she's the one with the Chikorita. He must belong to that group of trainers that's got everybody riled up.

Mick flashed his teeth again, ignoring the pointed nature of the question. "It's great. Porty and Dan are strong trainers and we drew lots for who would go first. After I go, we only have two more companions who need to take a crack at their second badge. Speaking of that," he turned his attention back to the camera. "If your viewers want to keep up with some of the top rookies in Kanto right now, you can follow my socials on Pokegram, @MickToTheStars!"

Lisa rolled her eyes and I couldn't help but agree.

"While we're on the subject of your second badge," she pulled the attention of the camera back to her. "what makes you so confident that you'll be able to succeed against Brock? Plenty of rookies this season have been struggling against him at the first badge level, and you'll be only the fifth person to face this team."

"Well, it's easy, Lisa," Mick put both his hands on his hips. "I'm a shoo-in for one of the top rookies this year. I deserve this win, so I'll-"

I snorted a little louder than I wanted to. I snapped my hand to my face, but it was too late.

Mick, Lisa, and most of the crowd turned to me.

"I'm sorry," Mick said through clenched teeth. "Do you have a problem, guy?"

My eyes flicked over to Lisa, but she didn't do anything the turn the interview back to Mick. Instead, she turned the camera person to face me, giving me an intense look. She almost definitely recognized me from the other night in front of the museum.

"Uh," I stumbled. I took a deep breath, collected my thoughts and pulled off my sunglasses. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt the interview. I just-"

"No, please, go on," Lisa encourage with a smirk. "Our audience would love to have the opinion of another trainer here on the ground. How do you feel about Mick's chances?"

Mick glared at me. I shrugged.

Might as well speak my mind.

"Well, I can't speak to his actual skill, 'cause the first time I heard about him was when I walked up to this interview," a couple of people in the crowd did a quick inhale, as if I'd just insulted the guy to his face. I shook my head. "Not as like an insult to you, I'm sure you're alright as a trainer, I just don't keep up with social media."

People continued to whisper to each other as I talked, and I winced when I heard some of the things being said. Lisa was grinning, extremely excited at the drama.

I didn't look at Mick, but I could hear his foot tapping angrily on the ground.

"I just mean, to say you deserve a win, that's kinda nonsense, right? Like, I'm not crazy," I turned to the crowd and some of them started to nod along. "I just think it's a little entitled to announce on... TV?"

Lisa shrugged as I looked to her. "Multimedia news," she murmured.

"Yeah, whatever that is. Anyway, to announce to everybody that you deserve a win because you're better than people? That's not champion behavior. I was always taught that victories are earned, not given. So with that logic, how could anybody deserve a win?"

Lisa nodded and the camera person turned back to her. "Wise words coming from the local trainers here at Pewter Gym. How do you respond to that question, Mick?"

In the space between Lisa finishing her sentence and the camera swinging back to look at him, Mick almost completely masked his rage. His face was still a deeper red than it had been before I interrupted, but he plastered back on his overly white smile.

"I guess I could see the wisdom in that," he said directly into the camera. "At the end of the day, though, I am going to win. You should honestly check back in later today, as my battle will not only be streamed on the official Pewter Gym channel, but I'll be posting an alternate angle on my own channel with full commentary."

"Thank you so much for your time, Mick," Lisa made it very clear that his interview was ending. I froze as she turned back to me. "And quickly, Mr. Mystery Trainer, what was your name for our viewers back at home?"

Mick stared daggers at me, but I did my best to ignore him. He probably thought that I'd interrupt to take over his moment in front of the camera. Honestly, I was feeling more and more like watching his interview had been a mistake.

When the hell did this become about me?

"Uh, I'm Derek Tracy," I said. "I don't really have any socials, but I'll be challenging Brock in a week."

"Derek Tracy..." Lisa trailed on her sentence purposefully.

I tensed, knowing she was about to say something that was going to upset me. Her smile was too self-satisfied not to.

"Ah, yes! You're the same Derek Tracy that was spotted leaving the Pewter Museum after the incident a few days ago!" I mentally face-palmed. She'd definitely recognized me when I walked up. "And you happened to be leaving with none other than Kanto's own Daisy Oak! Would you want to share any comments about that?"

I sighed. Daisy had gotten me out of this once by taking all the heat off of me when the reporters were around. I couldn't rely on her now, though, and I'd have to learn how to talk to the media eventually if I wanted to be a career trainer. The best I could do was learn from Daisy's example.

"If you'll remember, we had said that we wouldn't answer any questions having to do with an ongoing League investigation-"

"Actually, Derek," Lisa interrupted me, giving me a wide smirk. "One of our reporters got in touch with the Ace Trainers responsible for the investigation, and they've cleared up that bit of confusion. You're absolutely allowed to share your own personal experiences of the event."

On the legends, I silently swore.

"Well, be that as it may, I still think I'll be avoiding any questions regarding Team Rocket and the museum," I said firmly.

Lisa didn't miss a beat. "Then we'll move on. As I said earlier, you were there with famed Grand Festival winner Daisy Oak. Did you want to say anything about that?"

She gave me a reporter's grin, raising one eyebrow and implying a whole lot. People in the crowd murmured more, though they were saying things that made my ears red just thinking about it.

"No comment."

Lisa frowned a stage frown. She knew I wasn't going to talk about Daisy. She just used it as a primer for her next question, because I'd be the difficult one if I gave no comment to three questions in a row.

"You have to give me something! How about this, there's a video going around on Pokegram from a battle last night where one of the two rookies used a ghost type Pokemon. Can you confirm that you were that trainer?"

My eyes almost popped out of my skull. I'd seen people taking videos during the battle, but I'd had no idea it had been shared or was in any way popular. I winced as soon as Lisa saw my expression because she knew she'd been right.

Well, it's not the worst thing to talk about. I just wish I could've given Wisp a bigger debut.

I sighed, nodding. "Yeah, she's mine."

"I thought she might be!" Lisa said triumphantly. "And I don't believe you've landed a successful badge challenge yet, so that makes you the only zero-badge trainer in the last two seasons to have a ghost on their roster!"

If the crowd was murmuring before, they were fully talking now. People were pulling out their phones, and I could hear multiple instances of my battle against Yuji playing. My cheeks heated up at the attention.

"Yeah, I guess that's right?" I rubbed the back of my neck.

"I'm sure these trainers and our viewers at home would love to hear more about her!" Lisa raised her microphone to the crowd and they gave her a decent cheer. "What sponsor did you receive your Misdreavus from?"

I mumbled my answer at first, so Lisa had to ask me to repeat myself.

"I, uh, didn't get Wisp from a sponsor. I found her in the Viridian Forest."

There was a collective exclamation from the crowd, including from Lisa herself. Apparently, I'd also caught her off guard with that.

"So you're saying you went out of your way to catch a ghost, even with the guidelines from the Rangers warning off four-badge and below trainers?" Lisa sounded like she was describing something scandalous.

I shook my head, I wanted this point to be clear. "I didn't seek her out. My group and I went through some extenuating circumstances and Wisp ended up in my care."

Lisa actually looked impressed. "Well then, you're obviously an accomplished trainer for taming a rare Pokemon so quickly, especially a type with so many negative connotations attached to it. I'm sure plenty of people will be looking forward to your upcoming gym challenge!"

I didn't know what to say to that, so I just nodded.

Ugh, I need to get better at this part of the gig.

Lisa apparently thought so too. She turned directly to the camera, giving the controller the sign to pull to a tighter shot of her.

"Thank you for joining us today on Celadon Daily! This has been Lisa Lapelle, we'll see you tomorrow!"

Lisa released a breath, going lax now that the camera was off. She turned to me and Mick, who I still hadn't looked at. "Thanks for the interview, boys. I wish you the best with your gym challenges!" She flicked her purple hair, turning to the camera person. "Come on, Gian. We should get back to Celadon."

Without another word to either of us, Lisa and her camera person walked off. With them gone, most of the crowd started to scatter too.

I held my breath, glancing to the side to see if Mick was still there.

The other trainer still had a fake smile on his face, but he was fuming. I could see a vein pulsing in his forehead.

"Look, I'm sorry if-" I started.

"Look, pal," Mick turned to me, pointing at me and shoving his finger into my chest. "I don't know what your problem is, but walking up and stealing the spotlight is a dick move!"

My expression tightened. I was trying to be polite earlier, and I didn't want someone to think the wrong thing, but if this guy wanted to be an asshole I wasn't going to hold back.

"I wasn't here to steal anything," I said angrily. "I was just correcting your bad take. It's not my fault you have as much charisma as a skeezy stepdad and the mindset of an entitled asshole."

"My bad take?" Mick scoffed, ignoring my actual insults. "I'm better than them, and better than you. Just because you caught some ghost, you're still a nothing, zero-badge piece of-"

"I'm sorry," said a deep but vaguely familiar voice. "I'm trying to livestream over here, could you keep the cursing down, brothers?"

I turned and exhaled as I saw who it was. Terry Parkers, the guy Amy and I had run into in the Pokemon Center, was standing behind me. His unreasonable height had him standing more than a head taller than both me and Mick. Today he'd swept back his green hair and was wearing bright colors to contrast his dark skin. In one hand he had a Pokegear with an external microphone attached, and in the other, he held a small streaming camera attached to an extendable grip.

Mick paused, looking at Terry's camera like it was radioactive. His face went sheet white.

I smirked as I put it together. During his entire interview, he'd been obsessed with getting people to follow his socials. If Terry had any amount of an audience, getting caught arguing with another trainer, especially when I was in the right, would be social suicide.

Mick withdrew his finger, stepping back and clearing his throat. "Yeah, that's fine. We were just having a bit of a heated discussion. I actually have a battle to get to, so I'll be seeing you."

Mick turned and walked away, heading back toward the gym. He didn't even look in my direction the entire time.

Terry sighed. "Man, that guy is a dickhead."

I snorted. "Weren't you trying to keep the cursing to a minimum?"

Terry sniggered, tilting the phone screen to me. It wasn't live, it wasn't even on.

"I just had the equipment in my bag, brother," he chuckled as he explained. "I caught the end of that interview, and I figured you could use a bail-out."

I grinned, holding up my hand for a fist bump. "Thanks, man. You did me a real favor."

His chuckle evolved to full belly laughing, and he returned my fist bump. "As long as you promise to do the same, I'll consider us even."

"Anytime," I glanced around at the growing activity of trainers in front of the gym, people showing up to watch some of the better matches of the day. "You here for a challenge?"

"Nah, brother. I'm just signing my group up for our challenges."

My expression brightened in surprise. "No way! Me too. What a coincidence!"

Terry shook his head. "I don't believe in coincidences. If it's turnin' out that way, that's how it's meant to be."

I nodded, put at ease by his serene expression.

"You headed back to the Pokemon Center?" I asked him.

To my regret, he shook his head. "I am actually planning on getting some streaming done before heading back. Swipetide and I are going to show off some of our progress!"

"I wish you the best with that! Maybe one of these days I'll sign up for one of those apps."

Terry raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. "Brother, you're trying to be a trainer and you're not marketing yourself? These days you've got to be gathering a following to get some sponsors."

"Yeah," I shrugged. "It's just not my thing. I guess I should give it a try, I just don't want to come across as an attention hog like that guy."

"Well," Terry shrugged, "It seems to work out for him."

I raised an eyebrow. "Hmm?"

When he saw my confused expression, Terry burst into laughter again.

"Oh, do you not know how many followers he has, brother?"

----------------------------------------

"What did you do?" Hana seethed, looking down at her Pokegear.

I winced, standing in the doorway of our room holding a set of coffees and pastries for everyone else.

"So I may have gotten into a slight disagreement with-"

"With a guy who has two hundred thousand Pokegram followers!" Hana sat down on her bed, burying her head in her hands.

"Yeah, his name is Mick. He's an asshole."

Yuji winced as Hana fell backward onto her bed. He grabbed a scone from my hands and retreated to his bunk.

"Derek," he said, "I know that you typically recuse yourself from online spaces, but you have made a grave tactical error. By angering this person while not having an online presence of your own, you have allowed him to craft the narrative around your interaction."

Amy hiccuped, still feeling sick from last night. They held up their Pokegear. "Yeah, this dude is flaming you online. He keeps posting that you barged into his pregame interview and made it about yourself." They laid back on their bed. "Oh look, he started a hashtag. It's pretty creative, #TrashTracey."

I groaned. "That's not even what happened! That stupid Lisa Lapelle from Celadon Daily recognized me from the museum incident and basically pulled me into it. I bet she even did it just to stir up drama."

"I worked so hard to make you look good for your battles," Hana whined. "And then you flushed your reputation away like a rotten berry. You'll never get sponsors now."

Yuji sighed, nodding his head. "And without sponsors, it will be unlikely that you'll be able to afford the high expenses of a fully trained team."

I handed the others their breakfasts, contemplating the problem. I hadn't told them yet about Oak's sponsorship offer, so I always had that to fall back on, but I really didn't want to. It would be better to find a way to solve this now.

I looked down at my Pokenav+ as it buzzed. I had a text from Daisy.

[[10:15, Daisy]] Hey, you did an interview this morning? I'm getting sent clips.

[[10:15, Daisy]] No problem if you did, just checking in.

I felt my face heat up with embarrassment as I remembered that Lisa Lapelle had basically outed Daisy and I for going on a date. Even if we hadn't decided to label anything yet, this was going to impact her.

I texted her a brief summary of what happened, flushing when I described how Lisa had called us out.

"Ugh..." I sunk down on my bed, leaving all four of us staring at the ceiling as we thought about my situation.

"Derek?" Yuji called.

"Hmm?"

"I believe you have a decision to make. If you do not act soon, you should refrain from entering the social space anytime in the future. It may be hard to gain traction if this falsity continues to multiply. Online spaces are echo chambers, so if they are left on their own with only one perspective, they'll be resistant to change later.

"I guess I can figure this out after the Pewter challenge..."

"That would be waiting too long," Yuji disagreed. "If you wanted to enter the space, it would be as soon as possible"

"He's right, Derek," Hana mumbled.

"Fine, what should I do if I wanted to act soon?"

Hana groaned. "We have to make you an entire online presence, all at once and quickly. We introduce you to people on social media as you, and not what Mick Starsky is portraying you as. Trust me, if I get you in front of a camera, you'll get followers in no time."

I frowned. I didn't want to parade around in front of a camera. The crowd was great when it came to battling, but I really didn't want to be putting my whole life online.

"Aren't there, like, different kinds of social media presences? Maybe I just pick one and stick to that. Then I don't have to put everything online, but I can still respond to crap like this."

"You could be a vlogger?" Amy suggested. "Like, you could carry a camera whenever we go on the routes or get to a new city and upload those. It'll give people a good idea of who you are."

I grunted. "That sounds like a lot of hours being uploaded. I don't know if I want strangers to be that involved with my life."

Hana stretched in her bed, yawning. "IRL streamers are basically the same thing, but they do it live, so that's probably out."

"There's always being an aesthetic trainer?" Yuji said. "They mostly post outfits and scenery that are themed toward their Pokemon."

"But that wouldn't really help people get a handle on who Derek is," Hana replied. "He needs to talk. As much as I hate to admit it, that's where he excels."

"Awww."

"I'm going to take it back," she threatened.

Amy sat up in their bed. "We're stupid."

"What?" The rest of us replied.

"Why don't we just have Derek do what Mick does? Doesn't he just record his battle footage and then do an analysis on them?"

"That would keep adversaries and strangers out of his personal life," Yuji conceded. "Though, only as much as you can while having a social media presence."

"And it would let Derek talk directly to an audience, which will let them see he's not what Mick is telling them he is," Hana finished. "Amy, you might be right."

I nodded, responding when I realized that nobody was looking at me. "That sounds great guys. There's just one problem."

All three of my friends sat up, looking over at me.

"I have no idea how any of that works."

They groaned as one, laying back in their beds.