“Alright, thank you, Mick Starsky, for joining us on Celedon Daily’s Trainer Spotlight!” A voice came through Mick’s headphones, and he made sure to turn down his volume so it wouldn't be picked up on his mic. He wanted crystal-clear audio for this interview since he wouldn’t be seen on the audio-only podcast.
“Thank you for having me, Lisa. It’s an honor to be here.” Mick didn’t let his enunciation or energy fluctuate at all during his opening line. This was where he introduced himself to the audience, and he’d spent too long rehearsing it in the mirror to mess it up.
“It’s great to have you,” Lisa said quickly, though he knew that she had reached out to at least two trainers before reaching out to him. They were both in his group, after all. “Now, if members of our audience aren’t aware, Mick is currently ranked fifth overall in the rookie standings for this season, having three total badges. Let’s get straight into it, Mick, with such a series of victories under your belt, I have to ask, are you currently working with any major brands to announce a sponsorship anytime soon?”
Mick cringed immediately. Lisa hadn’t even gotten through introducing him without jumping into a sensitive subject. He’d come to expect this from the internet’s most antagonistic interviewer, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.
“Not any that I can talk about,” Mick said smoothly. “If I go public with any of my offers, I’d love to talk about it on your show first, though.”
While that was technically true, it also implied a lot more than reality. Mick had received no sponsorship offers yet, even as the fifth-ranked rookie of the season. If he had, he would’ve taken it by now, as Lisa probably suspected.
“That is a shame, especially for such a well-known rookie. You’ve seen quite a bit of news over the last few months, yes?”
Mick rolled his eyes. Lisa had been almost two-thirds of his publicity. He was one of the few trainers desperate enough to talk to her, and she was one of the only media outlets offering to talk to him.
“Only for my badges so far,” Mick said, attempting to sound humble. “I’d love to spend some time doing a local tournament or something similar, but I’m on the road too often right now.”
“I’m not sure if that’s true,” Lisa was hiding a smile in her voice. “You went viral after our first interview for an interaction you had with fellow rookie Derek Tracy, is that correct?”
Mick’s facial muscles went tight as he forced himself to keep smiling. He only paused for a moment to carefully choose his response. “I would say that ‘viral’ is a big word, but yes, there was a bit of conversation about that, wasn’t there?”
“I would think that ‘viral’ is quite appropriate, given that you and Mr. Tracy garnered a combined eight-hundred-thousand views across your videos regarding each other, though fans of the show will note that most of those views did belong to your content.”
It was a classic back-handed compliment. By pointing that out, Lisa had made sure to mention that Mick had focused a lot of his content around Tracy, even if he had gotten a lot of views off of it.
Mick regretted almost all of that content now. It had felt right, at the time, to be that reactionary. The guy had walked up and started heckling during his interview. He’d talked down Mick, called him entitled, and then stolen his interview to talk about his new ghost type. That had been Mick’s first chance to show himself off to the world, to potentially draw in a sponsor, and Tracy had tanked it. Of course he was angry about it.
The problem with getting angry and chasing the drama, though, was that the drama decided when it was done with you, not the other way around. Mick couldn’t post any of his battle guides or training updates anymore without getting asked when he would finally get around to challenging Tracy. It didn’t seem to matter to anyone that, as far as Mick was aware, they were on different sides of the region.
He was just tired of it now. Derek Tracy had shown up out of nowhere one day, and Mick was hoping he would disappear the same way.
“There was definitely some content made,” Mick admitted, “but I would think most of that is water under the bridge, now. It’s been a month and so much has happened. I’ve even managed to earn my third badge against Lt. Surge, which is a hell of an accomplishment for my team!”
There was a slight pause, as though Lisa couldn’t decide on her next question. “Three badges is a very notable accomplishment,” she allowed the conversation about Tracy to pass. “You’ve managed to hold onto that title for three months, almost the entire season. Our fans want to know, are you planning on overtaking your traveling companions, Portia Cervelo and Daniel Suzuki, for their third or fourth-ranking spots?”
Mick's ears thrummed as his heart rate increased. Lisa was not letting him get away with an easy interview. She was stirring the pot on purpose. Again.
“Well-”
Mick stopped, forcing himself not to talk about how they decided their gym-challenging order. The audience didn’t need to know about his third loss to Daniel or his sixth loss against Porty. His fans didn’t need to know that he’d spent hours trying to think of ways to undermine a Larvitar or survive an onslaught from a Bayleef.
“When it comes to the lots that we draw for challenges, I haven’t yet ended up challenging a gym first,” Mick finally said in a neutral tone. “If I end up challenging Erika first, then I do not doubt that I’d come out of that battle successful.”
“Oh? Is that an official announcement of where the ‘Rising Five’ is going?”
Mick cringed for two reasons. One, the nickname given to his traveling companions was awful. Whatever forum had dug that out of the trash deserved to have their keyboards smashed and to be deleted from the internet entirely. The more important reason was that Daniel hadn’t permitted him to publicly discuss their journey yet. That information was private, since it directly affected the advertising and sponsorships of four of the five members of their groups. The companies liked to promote their trainers in specific ways and control the flow of information properly.
Mick wasn’t excited about whatever training his Pokemon were going to be subjected to after the interview went live. Daniel’s Larvitar was a brutal battler.
“Yes, that is,” Mick said confidently, covering his faux pas. “We’re going to be conquering Celadon’s gym next, so make sure to stay tuned into @MickToTheStars to stay up to date with our travels.”
Unlike in their in-person interview, Lisa actually supported Mick’s shameless plug. “For a quick link to Mick’s socials, as well as those of the rest of Rising Five, make sure to check out our link dump, where you’ll be able to find links related to everything we talk about in this episode.”
Lisa didn’t miss a beat coming back from her own plug. “So, since you’ve made your travel plans clear and you seem content with your number five ranking, can we get any insight into any future team members that you plan on acquiring? Some viewers with keen eyes noticed a fourth Pokeball on your belt for your battle against Surge, but we didn’t get a chance to actually see that Pokemon.”
Mick ignored the dig at his ranking, knowing that Lisa thrived on drama. “My new teammate is a Kanto classic and a Pokemon that’s going to help me succeed against the remaining gyms. I’ll go ahead and leave it there, Lisa. I can’t give away all of my team’s secrets before their time.”
“Oh, I’m sure that’ll have the forums guessing! That’s a spicy hint at a powerful new Pokemon.” Both people in the interview knew that it wasn’t. Mick hadn’t said anything at all about his new Pokemon. “And with that, though, we are going to have to wrap up our show. Thank you so much for joining us on today’s quick episode of Trainer Spotlight! Make sure to follow us, and Mick, over on our socials @CDTSpotlight.”
With that, a short whimsical tune played and then there was silence. Mick pulled away from his screen. Lisa had booked him for half an hour and their conversation had only been ten minutes. He almost opened his mouth to ask if they needed anything else from him, but Lisa’s voice came back over the call.
“Damn, kid,” Lisa’s voice had lost a lot of her peppy newscaster persona. This was the voice of a jaded professional who was on break. “You didn’t let me get anything on you there. I thought I almost had you with that rankings question.”
Mick would’ve chuckled if Lisa’s attempt at drama wasn’t so flagrant. “Yeah, I’m pretty good at this,” he tried not to brag. This lady didn’t deserve that, she was just a means to a media outlet. “I’m excited for when we do this again in a few weeks.”
“We might. Though, I have to say, once Triumph Day hits, we’re not going to be interviewing a fifth-place rookie. At least, you probably won’t be getting a whole episode. You might get a footnote on the website.”
He let his face fall into an unimpressed expression, letting his mask drift away now that they were no longer on air. “I’m not so sure about that. I’m going to make Indigo this year. Take it from me, you’re going to want to keep up with me. If you don’t, you’re costing your outlet coverage of the next great Pokemon Master in his rookie year.”
“Oho? Looks like you might have the bite you need to get noticed, kid. There’s a lot of kids every year that talk that big talk, though. Maybe if you would finally beat Cervelo or Suzuki, then maybe I would take you seriously. Nobody cares if you keep beating down on Morton or Yu, you’ve just solidified yourself as third-best in your little group.”
“It’s always lovely talking to you, Lisa,” Mick said in a flat voice. He hung up the call.
Mick sighed and closed his laptop. He leaned back in his chair, letting the blanket fort that he’d made around his desk collapse. Light and sound that had been blocked out for the interview flooded back in. He could hear people out in the hallway of the Vermillion City Pokemon Center, walking and chatting as they walked back and forth.
He stood up slowly, blinking his eyes as he adjusted to the midday light. Daniel had let him take the room until training, but the interview had gone by in a matter of minutes. He packed his laptop away, carefully wrapping the cords and his very expensive microphone in its carrying case. There was something therapeutic about having the morning to himself. His phone was still on silent and all but one of his Pokemon were recovering from the battle yesterday.
Mick glanced at his Pokeball belt, which hung from the edge of his bed frame. A single Pokeball remained there, holding his newest team member. Lisa had speculated that they hadn’t made an appearance during his battle with Surge because they were strong, but it was just the opposite.
“I hope I know what I’m doing,” he muttered, wrapping the power cord around his elbow. “I have to know.”
He slipped the carrying case into his brand-new and very expensive Silph Bag. The lightweight backpack used the same digitizing technology as Pokeballs, but on any everyday item that a trainer would need on the road. It had cost him almost an entire month’s profit from his RoTube ads, but it was worth it to no longer be the only member of the group carrying a full backpacking frame. Now he could walk the trails in relative comfort.
‘Relative’ was doing a lot of work in that sentence.
Mick sighed again, thinking about how much he wasn’t looking forward to letting the others know that he’d accidentally spoiled their next gym challenge location. If Daniel didn’t run his Pokemon into the ground, he was sure to get a lecture from Marcella. The fact that Connie probably wouldn’t understand why it was a bad thing was a rare blessing.
He slipped his bag onto his shoulder and equipped his belt. Even if training wasn’t going to start for a while, Daniel was already going to be in their training room. Mick’s hand brushed the cold metal of his only remaining Pokeball. Observing that monster training might give Mick ideas for strengthening his newest partner. He wished Porty was here, but she’d disappeared for the day, which she did pretty regularly. Though she hadn’t said what she was leaving for, Mick trusted that if he needed to know, she’d tell him about it.
He’d known her his whole life, so Porty always told him the important stuff.
Mick turned and looked at himself in the mirror before he left. He ran his fingers through his golden curls, removing the dent that the headphones had left. With that adjustment, his image was exactly what he needed it to be. His athletic wear was clean and form-fitting, and the lifted soles in his running shoes pushed him from above-average height to being fairly tall.
“Strong,” Mick spoke to himself under his breath. He slipped his sunglasses on. “Clean. Confident to the point of annoying. That’s the brand.”
Mick left his room and stopped by the front desk of the Pokemon Center to retrieve his three remaining team members. He was careful when surrounded by strangers and random trainers, especially the ones who lit up and recognized him from his gym matches and the internet. Mick kept his smile carefully at a pleasant level, keeping it on the aloof side of approachable.
After his interview, Mick couldn’t trust himself to keep his cool when talking to his fans or his critics, and he couldn’t afford to look like an ass after a bad interaction. Again.
A quick walk to the back of the Center brought him to one of four private training rooms that the Vermillion Center maintained. They were large enough to accommodate half of a faux-dirt battlefield, a channel of water for training water types, and a weight-training area with a small selection of machines and weights. These rooms were open, for a price, to wandering trainers who wanted to reserve private spaces to train during their stay in Vermillion.
With all four of his traveling companions being generously sponsored by massive corporations, they’d had no trouble paying for their own space.
Nearest Mick, two Pokemon circled each other in a mock battle on the battlefield. The first was a brown-furred quadruped that was unmistakable as an Eevee, and the other was a red-shelled lobster Pokemon with a dark glint in his eye, a Corphish. Daniel’s Pokemon each held colored ribbons, and the goal of their training seemed to be taking their opponent’s ribbon. Bonaparte, the Eevee, leaped backward and twisted his hips in the air to avoid Nelson the Corphish’s claw. The red claw snapped closed a fraction of a second too early, fraying the ribbon but not retrieving it.
Mick watched the two go back and forth for a moment, mentally keeping notes on the agility that the two Pokemon were having to display for the exercise. He glanced around the room, looking for their trainer.
A steady rhythm of impacts on padding sounded from the far side of the room, deep within the weight training area. Daniel was there, holding the weight bag for a scaled green Pokemon that stood at maybe half of his height, larger than the average version of his species. The trainer was average-height and lean, his slit-side tanktop showing off a defined physique. He had a ring of sweat down his back and chest that almost soaked the Silph Co. logo on both sides. His sharp features were pulled into a concentrated squint, but no particular emotion was on his face.
“Again,” Daniel said forcefully, his voice having the same timbre as choppy water. “From the heel. You’re not twisting your hips enough.”
“Tar,” Brutus grunted. The Larvitar turned his entire body with his next punch and the resulting thud echoed far louder than the others had. Daniel showed no discomfort, but his whole frame slid back a few inches from the force.
Brutus followed it up with two more punches in quick succession, both delivered to the middle of the bag. It pushed itself back again, but this time Daniel was able to strain and keep it in place. The trainer’s arms and side flexors clenched like iron and held firm.
Only when his Larvitar stepped back from the bag did Daniel glance Mick’s way. “Hey,” he grunted.
Mick inclined his head once, not bothering with any of his choreographed smiles. Daniel had made it clear that he was immune to Mick’s practiced charms early on in their travels. The higher-ranked trainer seemed to accept that response, and he went back to coaching his Pokemon. His basic courtesy done, Daniel no longer referenced Mick’s existence.
Wordlessly, Mick pulled one of his Pokeballs from his hip and released his starter. The flash of white light solidified into a two-legged pink-wooled creature that only stood as tall as his hip, though she’d had to practice for some time to get used to walking on only two legs when she’d evolved. The crystalline orb on the end of her tail glowed bright blue and the Flaaffy grinned wide upon seeing her trainer. She waddled up to Mick, wrapping both of her arms around his leg.
Mick couldn’t help the smile that pushed up on his face. Valkyrie always managed to lighten his mood with just her presence. He ran his fingers through the large floor of white wool that clouded around her head before tapping her twice on the head. Mick pointed across the way toward a standing machine that looked like a squat rack with two battery terminals attached to it. Valkyrie glanced across the way to the machine, then to Daniel, and back at him. She nodded once, raising her right hand in front of her mouth and grinning. His entire team had become accustomed to training in relative silence, since Daniel preferred a quiet gym. Valkyrie waddled over to the machine, resuming the same discharge exercises that she’d done before their gym battle.
Like clockwork, Mick pulled out his other two team members and assigned them to training machines. Tyrfing the Nidorino was assigned a striking pad to exercise ramming his horn into, and Beyla the Miltank was tasked with a leg press for stronger kicking power. Both of his other teammates were as happy to see him as Valkyrie, but both also respected the norm of silent training.
After setting up his teammates to train, Mick meandered to a machine of his own to work himself up. He pulled a few plates down, carefully sliding each one onto the pegs of his machine. Next to him, Daniel had moved on from personally training Brutus and instead was loading up a barbell.
Mick swallowed once and took a breath. If there was ever a time to mention it, it was before the others showed up.
“So,” he breathed up, staring at the third plate in his hands and keeping Daniel in his peripheral. “There was a mistake made in my interview today…”
Daniel didn’t look over. He didn’t even reference that Mick was speaking, instead laying down on his weight bench and gripping the barbell. He started his repetitions slowly, stretching on each one.
“I, well, I accidentally mentioned our next gym challenge,” Mick admitted, sitting down on the leg extension machine. “Where it would take place, I mean.”
Daniel’s reps paused with his weight near his chest. He resumed a moment later.
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“I know that we hadn’t agreed to advertise our next stop yet, and I know that I messed up. If anything, though, since we’re heading out soon-”
The door to the training room opened, a boisterous ditz throwing it open with all of her weight. “Yoo-hoo! Boys! It’s training time!” Connie yelled in a sing-song voice, tossing her hands into the air in spontaneous jazz hands. She flicked her dark bob-cut back, showing off her bright white teeth in a grin.
Behind her, another girl walked in. She yawned, covering her mouth. Marcella’s hair was in its trademark chaotic frizz, held back by only a scrunchy that had survived for what must have been a decade there. Her glasses were askew, though only enough to mildly inconvenience her.
Daniel racked his weights. He stood and went to greet the girls, though he stopped by Mick’s machine for only a moment.
“Don’t let it happen again, Rank Five.”
Though there hadn’t been any real emotion behind his monotone words, Mick’s stomach sunk at the statement. He’d been ready to begin his leg extensions, but his muscles now felt weak, just like he was. Daniel stepped away from him, now having fully cemented the fact that Mick hadn’t won against him a single time in the last three months.
Mick leaned back in his seat. That hadn’t gone as poorly as he’d thought it would, but he still wished Porty was here. His eyes wandered to the trio of Connie, Marcella, and Daniel, frowning even more when Daniel began to speak candidly with the other two. If it was ever clear that Mick was the odd man out, it was now. Without Portia to bridge the gap between them, he might as well not have been here.
Connie was the daughter of the CEO of Ocean View LLC., the company that owned Acapulco Resorts in Porta Vista, and Marcella had several family members in both the administrative and engineering sections of Silph Co., she’d been essentially guaranteed a sponsorship when she’d applied. Daniel hadn’t been born with any huge connections, but his pre-season testing and interviews had gotten him scouted by Silph and given an incredibly powerful starter.
Mick didn’t have any of that. He’d gotten decent scores on his testing and came from a middle-class family, but decent didn’t get him sponsors and middle-class didn’t afford him supplements, Pokemon, or luxury. He was lucky that he’d made friends with Porty when he was young, but that had never had anything to do with her family business. When they’d met, he’d-
Mick heard his name being said and he tuned back into the conversation.
“-Oh, and Micky can come battle with me!” Connie said, her daft voice just slightly too high-pitched to not cause headaches. “I’m pretty sure I’m going to win this time! Daddy sent me a brand new Pokemon, and she’s so cute.”
Mick sighed, letting his weights fall. He didn’t have to do what Connie said, but she was helping cover the cost of the training room, something that Mick couldn’t afford to do.
“No.”
Connie and Mick both blinked, eyes flicking to Daniel. The solemn trainer had spoken firmly and quietly, but with enough force to stop even Connie in her tracks.
With eyes on him, Daniel elaborated. “Rank Five needs personal training. He’ll be battling Brutus with his new capture.”
“What? No, I won’t!” Mick stood up without thinking, jamming his ankle on the weight bar. He mentally cursed but forced himself to his feet. “Neptune isn’t ready.”
The training room went silent. Eevee and Corphish had stopped their battle to stare, and all of Mick’s team paused their exercises. Connie stepped back, looking more shocked that Mick had yelled than anything else. Marcella raised a tired eyebrow, her gaze deceptively awake and alert.
Daniel slowly turned toward Mick, his steel-grey eyes half-lidded in disinterest. He didn’t raise an eyebrow, shrug, or motion in any way, but his stare alone was enough to cause Mick to swallow.
“I mean- Well,” Mick’s voice was shaky. He clenched his fists. “It’s just that, Neptune can’t battle yet. We have a long way to go, and Brutus is- Brutus is too strong for him.”
Daniel gave him a dry look. “If something can’t contribute toward a victory, it’s not worth the time.”
Mick clenched his jaw. He glanced at the other two, but Connie didn’t meet his eyes and Marcella only watched carefully.
There it was. It sounded like Daniel was talking about Neptune, but that was the real reason that Daniel, and by extension the other two, didn’t respect Mick. He was strong, yes, but not in the overwhelming way that both Porty and Daniel were, nor did he have Marcella’s connections or Connie’s money. He hadn’t been scouted before the season, nor had anyone reached out to sponsor him since. Outside of being a pretty competent trainer, Mick’s main role in the group was being Portia’s tag-along.
Mick squeezed the muscles in his back, willing himself to stay calm. Daniel’s words were awful, but they weren’t without merit, were they? None of his statements had ever been rooted in anything but the practical truth.
“Be that as it may,” Mick said diplomatically, literally biting his tongue. “Neptune will not be battling today.”
Mick met Daniel’s gaze, keeping his own stare as steady as possible. It was like staring at a brick wall. Anxiety inflated in Mick’s chest. If he looked away or showed any weakness, Daniel would force him into a battle. This wouldn’t be the first time.
A pair of fingers snapped in front of his face, jolting him out of it.
“Break it up, you two,” Portia said sternly. She stood next to them, and none of the four of them had noticed her arrive. Chiffon the Natu sat on her arm, showing off exactly why the door hadn’t opened to notify them of her arrival. She must’ve teleported in.
Mick, Connie, and Marcella all jumped, and even Daniel flinched. Portia’s light brown eyes flickered between them, and both took a step back.
“What I said stands true,” Daniel spoke quietly. “He’s never going to improve if he doesn’t battle with it.”
Portia frowned. “Daniel, he’s had the Magikarp for less than a week. Even you wouldn’t have something like that in fighting shape yet, no offense,” she added quickly with a glance at Mick. “And you’ll need your team in full shape if you’re going to battle me.”
Daniel’s eyes widened, and a dark grin slowly slid to the corners of his mouth.
Mick cursed inside. Portia only ever seemed to agree to battle Daniel to protect him, and even though she won every time, he wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep it up forever. The dynamic of this awful group was semi-stable, but only because Portia was proveably the strongest. She’d been the one to seek each of them out, to have them use their connections and strength to become some of the top-ranked rookies around.
Portia glanced back at the rest of them. “Marcella, would you mind being Connie’s sparring partner today? I know she wants to try out her new team member.”
Marcella shrugged, glancing down at her phone. “Yeah, that’s fine. I can have Porygon run my morning analytics on their own. Though, I did want to mention a tip that I got from my Silph contact when you’ve got a sec.”
“Oh, yay!” Connie grinned, throwing her hands in the air. “I was worried I wouldn’t get to play with Cruella today!”
Marcella gave Connie side-eye. “You named it Cruella?”
“It’s so beautiful, isn’t it? A pretty name for a pretty girl!”
As the other two walked off and Daniel gathered his team to battle Portia, Mick let his shoulders fall. “Damn, I’m sorry Porty-”
“Don’t be sorry,” Portia cut him off. She’d turned his way, giving him her full attention. She had a smile on today, something that he wasn’t quite used to. Whatever she’d been up to, it had left her in a decent mood. “Just spend today working with Neptune. Once he evolves, he’ll be a powerhouse.”
Mick opened his mouth but quickly thought better of it. Instead, he nodded once.
Portia smiled. “Good, now stand back. I’ll try to make this quick.”
----------------------------------------
True to her word, Portia’s battle with Daniel went quickly. It wasn’t just that her Bayleef had an immense typal advantage over Brutus, but that the way that Portia battled was entirely counter to Daniel’s style of fighting. They were the unstoppable force and immovable object made reality. And, for the fifth time in a row, the immovable object won out.
Mick stood to the sidelines during their battle, as did Connie and Marcella, though Connie was more focused on chatting than studying the battle. Marcella had pulled a laptop and webcam from her bag, recording the fight and letting her Porygon analyze the matchups.
After it became clear that Portia would win again, Mick retreated to the narrow channel of water that took up the back wall of the training room. He released his final teammate there.
A red-scaled carp flopped into the water, flailing about with his fins before finding his buoyancy in the shallow and stagnant water. Neptune the Magikarp opened and closed his mouth aimlessly, staring up at Mick with unknowing eyes.
“Hey, buddy,” Mick said fondly, reaching over the water to rub Neptune’s scales. They had the consistency of tire rubber. “You ready to start training today?”
Neptune splashed slightly more than normal, probably indicating a ‘yes’.
Mick chose not to sigh. This was all a gambit, one that he would win if he put the time in. He had to. People didn’t just choose to train a Magikarp for competitive battling. It was the most common Pokemon in the world and it was incredibly weak, yet it also evolved into a monster of destruction that was known for swallowing whole schools of fish and erasing ships from existence. A Gyrados was not only dangerous, but it was expensive to own. All three of his captures so far were relatively tame, in terms of their diets, and that had been on purpose. With Mick’s tight budget, he definitely wouldn’t be able to afford this Pokemon’s diet. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have to.
This was Mick’s key to getting a sponsorship. Just being a good trainer hadn’t done it yet, nor had regularly putting himself into the media or rubbing shoulders with other high-ranked rookies. With a behemoth on his team like a Gyrados, someone would have to sponsor him. Once he had real backing and support, as the others did, Mick would finally be able to go all out. He would be able to afford the supplements that the others used, import rare Pokemon like the others, and he’d be able to forge more and more important contacts.
Mick spent the rest of the training session running Neptune through drills. They weren’t focused on cultivating any sort of power from him yet, mostly because there wasn’t a whole lot to cultivate, but instead Mick chose to work on order response time and communication training.
The rest of his team would stop by to say ‘hello’ and take their breaks, and they all seemed very accepting of their newest teammate. Only Tyrfing hadn’t warmed up to the fish yet, though he was like that with everyone. Mick was able to put the sounds of Portia and Daniel sparring out of his mind, to ignore Connie’s endless meaningless chattering, to forget about Marcella’s constant watchful gaze. Mick simply enjoyed being around his Pokemon.
As pleasant as it was, he had to return to his reality when the others finished their training.
Connie was the one who came to get him. “Micky! It’s dinner time,” she called, leaning on his shoulder. “We’re totes going to that cafe by the shore again, it was so tasty! If you ask real nice-like, I’ll buy you an appetizer,” Connie said with a teasing grin.
Mick sighed. If it wasn't for her grating voice, lack of personal space, use of annoying nicknames, transactional attitude- If it wasn’t for a lot of things, Connie would be the most pleasant member of the group, besides Porty. While she insisted on eating at some of the most expensive restaurants that Mick had ever seen, she always offered to pay his bill. She treated it like a fun in-joke, which almost made up for the cringe in his stomach at how casually she treated the gap in wealth between them.
“Yeah, sure,” he said absentmindedly, scratching Neptune across the top of his head. The Magikarp was tired. Any amount of swimming outside of following a current drained him like a full-body workout.
Connie huffed. “I said ‘If you ask me real nice-like-’”
“Connie,” Mick said quietly. “Will you please not?”
The ditziest member of their group looked startled, and it only took Mick a moment to realize why. He’d never brushed her off like that before. The double team of Lisa’s interview and Daniel’s assholery had worn him out.
“Oh,” Connie said, her eyes looking downcast. “Well, I guess…”
Mick felt genuinely bad. She wasn’t a friend by any means, but Connie had never been mean to him. He sighed again and summoned a practiced smile from inside him, and after today, it was deep inside.
“Thanks, I appreciate it,” he said. “Let’s go get dinner.”
That seemed to add some pep back to her step. Connie flipped her dark hair, offering him a hand to stand up. He returned Neptune and took her hand, though he quickly let go when he was on his feet. The two of them walked over to the others, who were in the middle of discussing something serious.
“-and they heard that through the executive V.P. of the Safety Commission, so it’s probably true,” Marcella said. “Basically, they’re upping the stadium for something major and it’s gonna be accompanied by a big rules change.”
When Connie and Mick walked up, Portia glanced their way and explained. “Marcella was just letting us know that Silph Co. is sponsoring the battle between the champions in two months. They’ve completely reworked Indigo’s stadium for it, and there are a lot of high-level executives being kept in the dark about a major announcement being made there.”
Daniel shrugged, not acknowledging Mick or Connie. “If we don’t know what the ruling is, there’s nothing for us to do. That information on its own isn’t valuable.”
Marcella wrinkled her nose at him. “I still don’t know how you received a Silph sponsorship,” she muttered. She turned her laptop around, showing them a long string of code that flickered pink and blue. “Obviously, that’s not all the information. Porygon managed to snag an email as it was transferring out-of-network from the Silph databases. It’s not completely decoded, the server’s Porygon saw to that, but I have enough to know that the rules adjustment is going to regard new held items in the Indigo tournament.”
Daniel raised an eyebrow at her words, but Portia stepped between them. “That’s very valuable information, Marcella. I’m not sure why a rule about items would require a stadium rework, but that gives us an idea to start with.”
Marcella shrugged, sending Daniel another glare. He didn’t return it, instead absentmindedly looking into the mid-distance.
Portia sighed, glancing back to Mick. He got her message. “Well,” he said, coughing into his sleeve. “Let’s get going. We’re going to that beach cafe again, right, Connie?”
Connie’s eyes lit up, having glazed over for the rules speculation. She squealed. “Yes! I’m going to get the caviar toast again!” Connie grabbed Marcella and Daniel’s wrists, both of whom resisted, and started dragging them away. “Come on! Tasty food and beautiful views call for us!”
Portia gave Mick a small smile. Her earlier good mood had slowly been dragged out of her over the day, he could see the stress on her shoulders again. Not for the first time, he thought about asking her to drop this group. He wouldn’t, because this was something that she believed in enough to maintain, but he thought about it.
Mick swiped his curls out of his eyes and put on his sunglasses. “So,” he nudged his shoulder into hers, “what had you in such a good mood earlier, Porty?”
Portia’s eyes widened at the edges, surprised that she’d been caught. “Good mood?” Her voice sounded exasperated. “That might be a stretch. I was more relieved that something that could have gone horribly turned out alright.”
“Oh? Was it Chiffon?” Portia’s abashed look told Mick everything he needed to know. “Again? That’s like the fourth time!”
Portia sighed. “I know, and this time it was a very rough vision. Tr- The trainer saw something very bad. I didn’t stick around long enough to know what it was, but it knocked him down.”
“That bad?” Mick’s eyes narrowed as he caught something in Portia’s words. “You almost said the name there. Who was it?”
She cringed, her shoulders pulling in. “Well…”
Mick’s stomach dropped for something like the sixth or seventh time that day. “Porty…”
“To be fair to Tracy,” Portia started. “He was really nice about the whole thing-”
“Why are we being fair to Tracy?” Mick’s eyebrows brought themselves into a deep furrow. “That asshole tanked my first real shot at getting a sponsorship and we’re giving him the benefit of the doubt and hanging out with him?”
Portia frowned. “First of all, was not ‘hanging out’ with him. I ran into him when I was visiting home. Second of all, he seemed to regret a lot of what happened between the two of you.”
That stopped Mick in his tracks. “Wait, what?”
“I only stopped to chew him out,” Portia fiddled with one of her locs, staring at the ground as they walked several steps behind the rest of their group. “But when I mentioned that I was upset about how he handled your situation, his face- I don’t know, he just looked sad. Then he mentioned that he was planning on talking to you about it when he saw you again.”
Mick didn’t know how to feel about that. Every interaction he’d had with the guy, Derek Tracy had come off as arrogant and preachy. He’d gone out of his way to trash Mick’s first major interview, his debut to the professional battling scene, while seemingly hungover, and he’d humiliated the Pewter Gym by raising a Hoenn flag after winning. Tracy was self-aggrandizing at best, narcissistic at worst.
“I don’t know about all that,” Mick held up both of his hands when Portia started to defend Tracy again, “but I’m glad that he didn’t overreact about Chiffon.”
Portia’s face lost its annoyance. “Yeah,” she sighed. “That could have been bad. If he’d decided that he wanted to talk about it publically, he could’ve made that a big deal.”
Mick nodded. “You said it knocked him on his ass?” A small smile drifted over his face. “I hope he saw an awful future.”
“Mick!” Portia shoved him with her shoulder. “Didn’t I just tell you that he felt bad about your interview?”
“I don’t mean, like, ‘family member dies’ bad,” he conceded. “I just mean, like, ‘is humiliated on public TV’ bad.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered. “I’m sure that’s what you meant.”
Mick walked with Porty in relative silence after that. It wasn’t an awkward or charged silence. The two of them were just comfortable being quiet with each other. With the other three several steps ahead, well out of earshot, Mick could almost imagine them as not friends, but maybe decent acquaintances. And walking with Porty and some acquaintances to a dinner he wouldn’t have to pay for? All while imagining the villain of his story getting an ending that he deserved?
Mick could live with that.