CHAPTER 143

I had left Chase's room now, and I was sure I wouldn't see him again before he left. He had been too embarrassed to even look me in the eye. He wasn't used to showing his softer side to people, and opening up to me had been a first for him. His life had been so difficult… Riolu was the only thing he had left that linked him to his parents. I had been right when thinking of Riolu as a parental figure for Chase. Without the fighting type's guidance, I was sure that he'd still be his hotheaded, isolated self instead of the mellowed-out behavior he had adopted now. I'd have to thank Riolu the next time I saw him.

"Well, I've got time," I whispered. "Might as well get the interview guidelines out of the way."

It wasn't like I could train since my team was still in the nurse's care, and I was sure the Poketch Company would appreciate if I didn't call at the last minute. They'd been nice to me, so returning the favor was the right thing to do. I ignored the trainers' whispers as I made my way to my room. It was the same as always. A single bed that could be a double if you squeezed tightly enough, two nightstands on each side, a desk with a chair, a small bathroom, and a television in the top right corner. I considered just lying down on the bed for a few minutes, but my clothes were dirty, so I opted to shower and change first.

After a quick one hour power nap, I called Melody.

"Grace!" She happily said. "We've heard reports of your arrival in Solaceon. I trust your travels went well?"

"There were a… few hiccups, but sure," I said. "How's work?"

"Busy, busy, busy," she answered. "I've been doing a lot of things behind the scenes to build up your image, but I won't go into detail, because I'm sure that would give you anxiety. Can't be too anxious before the big day."

I laughed nervously. "Right."

"Then the sponsorship department had to deal with a dozen angry trainers calling about your preferential treatment, so that was fun," she dryly said. "Anyway, are you ready for your pointers?"

"Yup. Hit me with it."

"With how popular you've gotten, you'll probably be swarmed by interviewers right after your battle. I'm talking dozens of people holding microphones to your face and yelling questions at you. Needless to say, that can be overwhelming for anyone, so just be ready for that."

"Be ready?"

"Yeah, you know, take a deep breath, don't make a bad face, smile— smiling is important, but don't overdo it. You don't want it to look fake. Remember, we're building you up as a talented, but authentic trainer."

"Well, I'll probably be genuinely happy after every battle I win, so that shouldn't be an issue."

"Okay, good. Now, they're going to ask all kinds of questions. I'm sending you a list of potential ones right now that you'll be ready to answer. The battling, strategy stuff, I assume that you've got handled."

"Wait, what else would they ask?" I frowned as I opened my laptop.

"Oh, you know the media."

I opened my emails and scoffed. "What is this? Relationship questions? Questions about Louis and why we split? The favorite Pokemon on my team? This is just drama bullshit."

"But it's the reality of the situation. Louis Bianchi will have it worse, you know? I feel bad for the kid, but it is what it is."

"He can just refuse to answer. I hope he will. Wait, why don't I just refuse—"

"No, that's not your persona. You're a nice, amenable girl. I know this is hard for you, but you've got to work with us."

I groaned. "Fine."

It wasn't like I opposed any of these answers anyway. Questions about Louis, I would just say that it's personal and that I don't feel comfortable talking about it right now. Questions about me and Cece? I'd just say that we're doing really good, but we're keeping the relationship private for now. My Pokemon? I loved them all equally. Even Sunshine had grown on me somehow. There was something about his lazy, grumpy self that endeared me.

"Remember, they'll try to get you angry to get a reaction out of you. Reporters want nothing but to see a rising talent like you slip up at least once. Controversy is juicy. You're too squeaky clean for their liking."

"Okay, I'll be nice."

I did wish I could just have Princess shoo them away, but alas.

"Okay, we have smiling and the questions down, but you also need to speak with an air of confidence. But! You can't come off as a smug trainer either, you've got to walk the tightrope between the two."

"You're asking a lot out of me."

"You didn't actually think we were actually going to let you go through this without practicing, right? We'll get you ready for this, don't worry. If you mess up, I'll be the one on the hook, so your relationship with the company will be safe."

"That just makes me feel a lot more pressure. I don't want to mess up if your job is on the line."

"Eh, I'm not nervous about it, so you shouldn't be. Just relax, alright? The first one's always the most nerve-wracking, but after you go through one interview, you realize that it's not that bad."

"I'll trust you on that."

"Oh, and here's another point: you're amenable, but you can't get walked over either. What that means is that you'll cut the interview short after around two minutes or so. Just give some excuse about having to check your Pokemon into the Center. It works every time."

I smiled at that. It wouldn't even be a lie.

"Now, onto a less cheerful topic. How to handle yourself in case of a loss."

"I—"

"Hold on. I know you've handled losses quite well in the past, like in the battle with your friends—"

Yikes. She hadn't seen my outburst in my Pokemon Center room, that was for sure. I had been a mess for hours.

"—but it's different when interviewers will potentially try to taunt you afterward. You've got to keep your chin up and say that you fought to the best of your abilities. It's okay to be disappointed, but you'll have to appear calm and levelheaded. There isn't really a way to practice that, so you'll be on your own."

"Come on, have some faith in me. Maybe I'll win the whole thing," I said, trying to raise the mood.

"The Poketch Company has full belief in your capabilities, but don't worry if you don't make it to the top ten. There are…" she trailed off, and I heard her type. "There's a cap of 1024 participants, and they're well on their way to filling that out. Even the top fifty would be good enough."

"I'll make it to the top ten," I said.

"Well, a little bit of confidence never hurt anyone," she said. "Are you free right now? We can fill in a few hours of practice if you want. Usually, we'd have set up a schedule, but I know how hard it is to get a hold of trainers."

"Now's fine," I said. She started a video call.

"Okay, I'll ask you questions, and you'll answer them."

Melody coughed, clearing her throat, and started again.

"Ms. Pastel! Ms. Pastel! A moment of your time, please!"

"Yes…?"

"No, see, that yes has to be firmer. You were frowning— don't frown. You forgot to smile, too. You've got to relax your shoulders, you look too tense."

"I didn't even know it started yet!"

"The interview starts as soon as you look at the camera, Grace," Melody smiled. "Let's start over."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

These were going to be a long few hours.

—

Arceus, I was tired. Melody had put me through the wringer with her constant, irritating questions, and I wasn't even close to being up to par. We were going to have a session once per day until my match, which I already dreaded, but suffering now would be better than potentially humiliating the Poketch Company. Thankfully, I was done for the day, and now I was completely free. There were a few things I could try to do.

Reviewing my battle with Fantina was an option, but I could also try to see if my Pokemon were healed to go and train. There was Cecilia's warning to worry about, but I would rather have trained and get spied on than battle without any kind of strategy in place. I was going in blind with my opponents, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to at least have a modicum of strategizing with my Pokemon. I opted for the second option, and thankfully, my Pokemon were all healed. I also used the opportunity to also ask Nurse Joy about telepathy, and while strong reactions like mine weren't too common, there was nothing to worry about besides the excruciating pain, so that was… nice? I opened my Poketch to check what everyone was doing, and they were mostly out training in different corners of Solaceon. Denzel supposedly had something to show all of us later too, but that could wait, and Cecilia had texted us about stocking back up on potions.

Still no message from Lauren.

The best spot to train would be somewhere outside, but the best spot to strategize was actually back in my room. There was no way for anyone to spy on us there if I closed the curtains. My opponent would most likely be someone I had never heard of, but if I could build pairs and talk my team through what we were going to do, the battle would probably go a lot smoother.

Plus, they had already learned all of their new moves anyway, and I could always go out at night, when there'd be fewer people around. I re-entered my room and released the entire team except Sunshine for obvious reasons. They barely all fit in the Center room at this point, and it'd be even worse when everyone was fully evolved. I had kind of chosen a team full of Pokemon that would end up way bigger than me.

My Pokemon each greeted me with their respective cries, and Togetic clingingly flew into my arms. I greeted them in return, petting and hugging each one in return.

"The tournament is in five and a half days," I grinned. "Just like I said, it'll be double battles. That means that you'll have to fight with one another against our opponents."

The entire team looked at me excitedly, except Buddy, who couldn't care less about fighting for sport. Still, I knew he'd give it his best, so I wasn't worried.

"The first two of you that I send out will be the most important part of the battle. You need to have good synergy, since you'll be fighting in pairs. Here's what I was thinking…"

The first, most threatening pair I could think of was Togetic and Tangrowth. Using his Sunny Day, Chlorophyll and brute force combined with support from the air from Princess, I figured that this would be an incredibly hard duo to counter unless the enemy sported an impressive fire type. Poison could be a problem too, but I trusted Togetic was good enough to counter the worse of it with Psychic or Ancient Power while Tangrowth did the heavy lifting.

Not that she was just support. She could pull her own weight too. I reckoned that I'd keep this one shelved for now.

And the reason for that was because I wanted to battle with Sweetheart. She was still the weakest of the group, but it wasn't actually because she lacked in power. It was due to her lack of experience, and that was my fault. I had kind of babied her a whole lot, only fighting easy battles on route 207. Now, I was hoping to let her reach her full potential, which was why I wanted my first battle to begin with her and Tangrowth. I had considered Electabuzz, but Angel would be better at keeping opponents locked down if they proved to be too much for Sweetheart.

Electabuzz and Jellicent was another pair I'd workshopped, and it was thanks to a single technique I was thinking of using. It was simple, as far as combinations went. Brine was Buddy's most powerful water type move, and it was capable of flooding the field if it went on for long enough. I had even tested it with Cecilia's help using a mini barrier created by Slowking. Kadabra's barrier would act as a container for the water, and it'd be enough for any opponents to be ankle-deep in it.

Or something else, if they didn't have ankles.

Then, Honey would come in with a Thunderbolt, electrocuting both opponents. It was his strongest electric type attack— stronger than even Discharge, so I wanted to abuse it as much as possible.

The last powerful pair I had thought of was Jellicent and Tangrowth, although that would probably only be used if I needed some serious firepower to win. Togetic's help would severely be missed here, and without her ability to affect the field, it'd be a cage match to see who knocked who out first. There was a lot of uncertainty in that.

After explaining everything to the team, I let them lounge and relax for a bit. Togetic practiced her psychic on a pillow, and she was getting really good at it. I simply browsed the internet for a while and chatted one-on-one with Emi on the phone to see if she didn't feel lonely. She missed us, but she was doing well. Apparently her channel had taken off after she had started reporting on corruption in the coordinator industry. There were only four videos up right now, but she already had twenty-thousand subscribers. With Vincent's excellent editing, she was doing very well.

Vincent was actually getting most of the video revenue, since he was involved in a lot of the research and again, did all of the editing, so it was starting to become a job for him. As the sun started to set, I finally got a message from Lauren.

Lauren G.

Meet me. Bring your two friends.

What? Meet her where? By two friends, I assumed that she meant Cecilia and Denzel.

Me

Which Pokemon Center are you staying at?

Lauren G.

576 Hunter Lane.

I inputted the address into my phone and then frowned.

Me

That's not a Pokemon Center, that's the tournament building.

Lauren G.

Yes. Meet me there.

Me

Uh, k. By friends, you mean Cecilia and Denzel, right?

She didn't bother answering and just used a thumbs-up reaction instead. It was time to rip off the bandaid and tell the others that I had met Craig's sister in secret. I didn't really think that they'd mind when I explained that she was shy.

Actually, she wasn't shy. She was more of a loner by choice.

Things worked out perfectly, since Denzel was already back and Cecilia was on her way. I called them over to my room, and while we waited for Cece, Denzel showed me his phone.

"Check it out. Some guy on the forum did an exposé on all of our teams. Well, all of us and Craig's sister. It's really good."

"I have something to tell you about her, actually."

He handed me his phone and I was surprised to see that Goalducc was a competent analyst. He didn't meander much and went straight to the point, identifying strengths and weaknesses. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw that he'd gotten Jellicent's ability wrong due to my mistake during my fight with Candice, though. And obviously, he didn't know about Denzel's Milotic or Cecilia's Golett. I had an inkling that she was planning on using him for the first few matches. Lauren had apparently caught her sixth, a powerful Rhydon that didn't listen to what she said, and all in all was probably her easiest Pokemon to deal with along with Lairon. The rest of her team looked as threatening as I expected, but Duosion being able to use two Psychics at once was what worried me the most. Barry Lane's name did catch my eye, however. It was the name of the trainer I couldn't place back when I had thought about his father Palmer in Mount Coronet. Apparently, he was a threat to keep track of. I'd look him up when this entire tournament ordeal was done. Right now, it was better to keep my head in the game.

"He's good," I nodded, giving him back his phone.

"Right? Finally, someone who isn't mean about it too. I followed him, and I think you should do the same."

"Eh, not that much of a—" I stopped. The Poketch Company was going to make me use the forums at some point anyway. "Fine. Goalducc…42."

I typed his name on my phone and gave him a follow.

"You're probably making his day. He was so happy when I replied to his thread that I could feel it through the screen."

"Did you send it to the others?"

"Just Cece and Mira," he shrugged. "I don't want the people who weren't included to feel bad."

"Fair enough. Any spies out there?" I teased.

"Yeah, actually, it was annoying as hell. I couldn't train Milotic at all today," Denzel sighed. "But whatever. I'll figure something out by tomorrow. If I don't, I'll ignore them and just reveal him to everybody in a livestream. Might as well make some content out of it and make some cash."

"Always on that grindset, aren't ya?"

He looked at me disappointedly. "Never say that again."

"Yeah, I knew it was wrong as soon as it came out of my mouth—"

There was a soft knock on the door.

"Ah, Cece's there," I said, shooting up. I released Togetic and opened the door, holding my breath.

It was her.

If I ever became the Champion, I'd have them install peepholes on every door.

She greeted me with a kiss that lingered longer than usual, and she had a very satisfied look on her face.

"Looks like you've figured something out," I smiled.

"Yes," she simply said. "And I also had quite a lot of fun chasing away spy Pokemon."

"You're not allowed to hit them," Denzel teased.

"I did not," she rolled her eyes. "I simply scared them away, that's all. I've had plenty of people do it to Fletchinder."

"Maybe I should just chase them away too. Sylvi could be good at that."

"Oh right, you're spying too," I said. "Anyway, what I'm about to say doesn't leave this room, okay? Don't worry, it's nothing bad."

"Thank you for preemptively saying that," Cece said.

"Remember Craig's sister? Lauren?"

"Yeah, she's here. She's been hanging around the Hunters' place a whole bunch, battling trainers to practice. It looks like she doesn't care about secrecy anymore," Denzel said.

"That's because she's got those custom moves she's hiding, right?" I said. "Probably lures people into a false sense of security— anyway! I met her in Hearthome once, and she also came to see our gym battles. She wants to meet us, like, right now."

Denzel's mouth gaped. "You met her and you didn't say anything? Damn it, I'm so jealous…"

"Don't let Pauline hear that," Cecilia laughed.

"Pauline and I are just friends."

"Of course."

I sighed in relief. I almost thought that Cecilia would be jealous or something, but I was glad that she wasn't. If the situation was reversed... I might have been just a little bit. Not to Pauline's level, though.

"She's hanging out at the tournament building. The one where we signed up. I don't know what she wants to talk about. She's not very vocal."

"Well, let's get going then," Denzel exclaimed. "I already want to ask her so much stuff about her battling—"

"Did you not hear what I said?" I sighed. "Not. Vocal. Don't overwhelm her with your… extrovertedness."

"Ugh, okay."

"And remember, she isn't her brother," Cecilia added.

Right, she probably knew a thing or two about being compared to a sibling. After telling our friends what was going on, we quickly made our way toward the Hunter residence. In Solaceon, quickly meant twenty minutes. Lauren wasn't difficult to find. Her hair was so dark that it actually stood out in a crowd. She still had her Duosion worryingly floating over her head, possibly talking to her while she was listening to music on her phone. The psychic type noticed us and started panicking in its goo, moving around wildly. Lauren stared up from her phone, pushed up her glasses, and then looked directly at us. We waved.

She didn't wave back.