CHAPTER 186

"You are? That's great! I'm going to be flying into Veilstone tomorrow with our media team to get you prepped, then."

"Wait, media team? Can't we— can't we do this over video like during the Solaceon tournament?"

Melody chuckled. "Oh, Grace, this interview is going to be a much more involved process and we'll need to be there with you to ensure that you're as prepared as possible. Can we meet tomorrow at six?"

I sighed as anxiety began to build up in my chest. I was a public figure now. There was no denying it, and I couldn't run away from that fact. It was going to be difficult, but I had the opportunity to use my public outreach for good and I wasn't going to ruin that. There was the possibility of me messing up, though. What if the interviewer asked a question that wasn't vetted to try to catch me off-guard? Melody had told me that controversy and drama was juicy and drove views, and Chase had spent enough time complaining about for-profit media to me to make me understand that if they could screw me over to make money, they probably would.

"If tomorrow doesn't work, we can schedule it the next day. I know you're probably busy training for your battle against Maylene," Melody said.

"Tomorrow works," I said. "Yeah, tomorrow's fine. What channel is this going to be with?"

"SGNC. I'll send you the full details via email later, I've got to start packing since I'll most likely be staying here as long as you and I still have work to finish up here. Make sure to read them over, okay? And don't tell anyone, not even your friends!"

"Wait, what? But they're the biggest—"

She quickly hung up, leaving me with the chilling sound of silence. I had a feeling she wanted to drop the call as soon as possible so I wouldn't change my mind. SGNC, or Spectrum and the Global News Company was the biggest cable news network in Sinnoh with millions of viewers every night. They were the first damn channel on when you turned on your television in a Pokemon Center. The Poketch Company was… essentially gambling on my performance up there. We were joined at the hip, and if I fucked up it would reflect horribly on them. How the hell had Melody sold this to her bosses? She must have made me sound much better than I actually was.

"Legendaries…" I muttered. Just another thing to add to my plate.

At least there wouldn't be a live audience. Surely I could handle one interviewer. I'd managed with a dozen of them getting in my face after every battle at the Solaceon tournament.

I wasn't feeling hungry anymore, but it would have been rude of me to cancel on my friends on such short notice. And having dinner with them did help keep my mind off things, especially with Emilia's wild contest stories. Apparently, some mean girls in Hearthome had promised to follow her here and had declared themselves her rivals. Not that she cared one bit about them. Maeve was a lot more talkative than usual too. I suspected that she was worrying a lot more about our circumstances than she let on and hanging out with friends was a good way to help. I couldn't help but realize that Emilia was kind of becoming this crutch that we were all able to lean on. She was just so… bright. I ended up telling Maeve about the changes I'd undergone because of fairy type energy, and she almost had the exact same reaction as Emilia. Thankfully I'd expected it this time, and Emi was there to help out.

Two down. Now there was only Louis and Justin to go… not that Justin would care at the moment. I hoped it would help him relate because he too had been changed by type energy, but that was just me trying to keep my spirits up.

Emilia asked to take selfies at the end of dinner to post online. She took pictures of our food and desserts too. She and Denzel were real socialites.

—

I woke up bright and early the next day, since I hoped to do a lot of things before Melody swooped in and carried me off to her media literacy dungeon. The first thing I did after breakfast was ask Nurse Joy if I could pick up my Pokemon yet, and I got a stern talking down to because Sunshine had been very difficult to work with.

"I'm sorry, he usually isn't like that," I apologized. "He lost in what he'd consider an underhanded way, and he's very emotional."

"Warn us next time, will you? He nearly burned millions worth of medical equipment when he woke up," she scolded. Nurse Joys were terrifying when they were angry. "Thankfully, the Blissey and Audino intervened instantly."

I dipped my head. "Sorry again."

I'd gotten Electabuzz, Turtonator and Pupitar back. Princess and Angel still needed to stay an extra day because of Infernape and Jellicent was just resting in his Pokeball. It wasn't ideal, but it'd do. I quickly headed out of the Center and back toward route 214. They had all fought hard, so they deserved a break if they wished, but I doubted that they'd take it. The sky wasn't as bright as the previous days and rain softly pattered against the ground. If Bella had been here, this would have been some great weather to sleep in. Nightstalker sometimes let the rain fall so I could hear the sounds while she kept us under a barrier all night.

Honey, Sunshine and Sweetheart had three very distinct reactions when they saw me. Electabuzz dejectedly stared at the ground, disappointed in his performance against Vespiqueen. Pupitar screamed at me to ask if I'd seen her flying, which I obviously had, but she just wanted praise. Turtonator… hid his anger. It was still there, easy to see if you knew him well enough. The slightly uncomfortable heat leaking out of him despite the fact that he would never do it on purpose when I was this close. His eyes, slightly narrowed and his pupils thinned down to slits. The light smoke coming out of his snout and mouth with each exhale.

It was a lot more contained than I had expected.

"I heard you gave the Nurse Joys a tough time. You know that you shouldn't do that, right? They had nothing to do with your fight against Vespiqueen."

The dragon's scales lost a little bit of their color at the mention of Nurse Joy, and I finally understood that they must have terrified him. Those Blissey and Audino might have looked innocent, but they were trained and bred by the League.

"Just don't do it again, okay? I know it hurt your pride to lose in such a way, but we'll get our revenge. We just have to work harder," I smiled.

He responded with a timid nod. He really wasn't being himself.

"Just take a breather and relax today. The weather's not great, so that's a shame, but feel free to go off and sleep somewhere," I said. "Hey, Honey. You're not at fault for your performance, I am. I messed up my orders and failed to switch you out when things weren't working. I'm sorry."

I patted him on the shoulder and he lit up slightly. He'd gotten a lot better at taking losses, but the fact that he hadn't even gotten one hit in against Vespiquen weighed on him. I told him he could take a break too, but he wanted to get back to training right away.

"Keep building up your electrical capacity, then," I nodded. "I'll start looking for a bigger battery that can do the job until we get to Sunyshore when we get back. Sweetheart, you can do whatever you want to. The others are still in the Center."

I crouched, petting the little spot between the spikes on her head.

"You should probably check on Sunshine, though. I'd do it, but he wouldn't like it if it was me," I whispered.

The rock type grunted and crawled toward where Sunshine had gone. I thought she'd do that the whole way, but after a loud hiss, she flew off and crashed in the distance. We definitely had to work on those landings. They had messed us up completely during the battle with Vespiqueen and allowed her to fill her vents to keep her grounded. Pupitar were slower than their Larvitar form and she would slow down further the more she grew, so it was high priority along with Iron Head. I wanted her to learn the move so she could better focus the steel type energy to deal more damage when she flew at things even if Iron Defense would work for now.

Today, she was on break, though.

I lifted the hood of my raincoat and thought back to the battle. Zachary had gone over most points, so I didn't need to have an autopsy like I usually did, but I still needed to look to the future. The most pressing part of his analysis was using my Pokemon as a unit beyond things like custom moves. As it stood, they were pretty bad at navigating destroyed fields, so that was off the table. Only Princess and Buddy would be able to, and that was because they could fly. I needed to find something with synergy, but the more I racked my brain for answers, the further away they seemed.

The second urgent issue was my tempo, and that was something I could actually fix for my battle with Maylene by practicing against trainers. It didn't matter if they were worse or better than me so long as I could get it down. The sheer amount of psychological pressure Zachary had inflicted upon me by just having his Infernape wait in silence could not be understated and I was desperate to recreate it against other opponents. It would make their minds race and desperate to know what the hell I was planning, but I wouldn't even need to be planning anything. Granted, I doubted that Maylene would fall for those kinds of tricks, but the fact that attacking nonstop made me predictable and she wouldn't hesitate to shut me down right away.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

For that, though, I wanted to wait for Princess and Angel to get healed and to let the rest of my Pokemon just relax for the day. I spent the next two hours learning more about Mayelene's tactics since I had given a bit too much importance to Aura the last few days. Sure, it was a pain in the ass, but it wasn't the only thing they had going for them. I recalled my team when I was done and finally released Buddy so that he could accompany me back in town.

I had a few stops to make. First was buying Honey his new battery. I swung by an electronics store and got him a bigger model. Unfortunately, solar batteries were kind of limited outside of Sunyshore because they specialized in solar energy, so I could only buy something with double the capacity. Honey would enjoy the gift nonetheless, but he deserved better.

Second, it was finally time to get Sweetheart her… premium dirt. There were a lot of stores selling specialized food for different kinds of Pokemon. Aron, for example, had to supplement their diet with iron, as was the case for many steel types. Garbodor or Muk grew with trash or toxic materials, so many cities actually paid trainers with those Pokemon to clear out some of that waste. Only a few Pokemon ate dirt. The only one I knew of besides Pupitar were Mudbray and Mudsdale. I had looked up this store the day I had made it to Veilstone and it had excellent reviews. Now, I finally had time to go there.

The building was rather empty, save for a man on his phone over the counter. Hundreds of packs of dirt were laid out on shelves, each with different names and contents. I didn't even know where to start. I thought that I would have been able to swing by and just grab one, but there were too many options for me to know what to pick. Plus, these looked way too big to fit in my bag. In fact, they were the size of my bag and looked to be even heavier than that. I placed a hand under one of them and gave it a tentative lift, and it was a lot heavier than it looked. As heavy as Sweetheart had been as a newborn. I wasn't confident I'd be able to carry one back at the Center.

"Need any help?" The young man called out.

"Yes, please," I said.

He hopped over the counter and we both ignored the fact that he almost tripped and face-planted.

"Are you looking to feed Pokemon or grow berries?" He asked.

"You grow berries with this?"

"How do you think all those berries get into those stores? We pack the soil with nutrients and sell those to the companies that grow them. That's the majority of our clients, along with amateur gardeners."

"Cool. Well, I have a Pupitar to feed, actually—"

"Ah, Pupitar. You don't hear that often," he said. "If you're looking to speed up the evolution process, we have… follow me."

I followed him deeper into the store until we reached a row of untouched packets of dirt labeled BLEND. Yes, literally just blend.

"This is what I tend to ship out for people that own Pupitar. It's mineral-rich soil with plenty of calcium, iron, and magnesium for her cocoon. Lots of good bacteria that'll help it break those down more efficiently and a neutral pH balance for optimal nutrient absorption. Now, for the costs… it'll be fifteen thousand per pack."

My eyes balked at the price. She'd get through this one pack in a single day.

"If you don't got enough money for it, I can't give it to you," he shrugged. "Those are our rates."

"I have the money, but she eats a lot. I don't have the money to buy one of those per day."

"Well, you can mix it in with her usual food if you really can't. She'll evolve slower, but it'll still speed up the overall process and you'll keep the benefits. Oh, and I assume you'll want to get it delivered?"

"No, no, I've got someone that can carry it back to my Center," I waved. "I'll buy…"

Since I had planned my savings around the salary from the Poketch Company and not the LTIP, I could use the money from the latter to buy this. Since it was February, I'd be getting paid soon, so I opted to buy two bags instead of one. Plus, next month, I'd be able to renegotiate my salary since three months would have passed from the time I'd signed with the Poketch Company, and I was hoping that they'd increase it. I had been a bit of a pain for them with what I'd done on route 215, but before that, I had basically been the model sponsee and listened to everything they'd said. And if the interview went well, that would basically guarantee my raise.

"Thanks for doing business with us," he said as I paid. He carried the two packs of dirt on a flatbed trolley.

I released Electabuzz and he picked up one pack in each arm with a heavy grunt. I tried to get one off of him, at least for a little bit, but he refused to hand it to me and said he could handle it. If Angel or Princess were here, they would have been able to help too. The others weren't built to carry stuff like this. Sunshine's arms weren't as long and dexterous as Honey's and he had no fingers to properly grip the bag.

He might not have looked the part, but Electabuzz was strong. He was a Pokemon, after all, and even though he was panting by the time we'd made it back to the Center, he didn't struggle too much. He grinned, flexing his arms as he dropped the two packs inside of my room. I didn't know how much I was speeding up Pupitar's evolution, but I'd be able to tell depending on how quickly her next molt came. The examiner had said that she'd be ready to evolve by the time she grew to 6'5'', so there was a while to go still. I would also need to actually use it all before we left Veilstone because there was just no way I was willing to travel with this.

Knowing Tyranitar's reputation, evolving even two weeks early could be crucial with Sweetheart's performance in the later gyms and the Conference. Bella had warned her about not getting violent and giving in to rage as they were known to when they evolved. Hydreigon were even worse. Hopefully it wouldn't come to a fight. I couldn't imagine Sweetheart trying to hurt any of us on purpose, but she might still do so on accident. The power she'd be able to wield would be completely alien to her, so it would take us a while to get her used to them, along with just walking around in such a huge body.

There were also rumors of Tyranitar being truly impossible to command while they were mega evolved… but I was getting ahead of myself. Trainers capable of mega evolution were the exception, not the rule. I wasn't getting that any time soon, first because I didn't even need to look at the price to know that a Tyranitarite was expensive beyond anyone but the richest of trainers could afford and that I was way too weak to withstand the process. Craig, a fully grown man with years of experience was still wiped out every time he used it. I bet that I'd pass out immediately.

That wouldn't stop me from daydreaming about leveling a small hill with her. I bet she'd enjoy that.

I spent the rest of the afternoon alone and the anxiety slowly built up as six in the evening approached. I even refused an invite from Emilia back at the Pokemon Game Arcade. It was only when there were thirty minutes left that I remembered that Melody hadn't given me a place to meet her at, but a knock at my door forced me to relinquish all fantasies of her giving me an excuse not to show up.

It was strange, how she'd been in Hearthome yesterday and was already here. Being a trainer and traveling everywhere had made me forget how small the world truly was when you could travel on a plane anywhere. You could go from one end of Sinnoh to the other in just a few hours while for me, it had taken months of grueling travel with both highs and lows. I wouldn't give it up for the entire world, but I had to admit that flight sure was convenient.

"Grace! How are you?" She asked with bright eyes. She still looked the same as always, her dark hair tied into a bun and pronounced dimples when she smiled.

"Great," I lurched.

"Don't be so nervous, we aren't even doing the interview yet. Do you want to reschedule to tomorrow?"

"No, no, I'm fine," I said. "Gotta do it. I owe you and others this."

"You don't owe me."

"I do. You got chewed out because of me and I could tell how bad it was affecting you and I said I'd pay you back. We can go."

Her smile softened and she led me out of my room. "Thank you for doing this. I know it's hard for you, but it's a great leap forward. And look, the interviews after your battles weren't bad after the first few, right? It'll be the same here."

"You kind of dropped that it'd be on Sinnoh's most watched channel and then hung up. That was a little rude," I said.

"Sorry."

We stepped off the elevator and Melody brought me to a car parked in front of the Pokemon Center.

"Company owned," she smiled, turning to the driver. "Back to the Poketch Building, please."

Right, they had a presence in every major city in Sinnoh, and I heard they wanted to get into Floaroma and Sandgem too.

"Did you read what I sent you?" She asked.

I nearly facepalmed.

"You didn't," she added. "I'll just tell you here, then. You're going to be interviewed by Mallory Ryan at 9:00 pm. That's a prime timeslot with the most viewers, so you'll have a lot of eyes on you."

Mallory Ryan. I knew that she was SGNC's most popular anchor, along with her co-host Patrick Cox. I remembered disliking them for how they covered the protests by stirring up controversy and drama when we were staying in Eterna city, so we were already starting off on the wrong foot.

"Yeah," I dryly said.

"We'll prepare you, don't worry. The team's waiting back at HQ. It's next week on Friday, so again, lots of eyes. We have nine days to get you ready, which is plenty of time. I'm not Craig's liaison and I wasn't in the position I am now when he first started working with us, but apparently he completely bungled his first interview."

"That does not help," I said, clenching a fist around my seatbelt.

"Oh, it doesn't? I thought it'd be good to show you that we all start somewhere. You're a decent interviewee with the training I already gave you back in Solaceon."

"But this isn't the same, and you know it."

"Yes. It's a lot more serious and high-key, I won't deny that."

Silence settled in for a few seconds as I waited for her to continue, but she didn't. Maybe she wanted me to relax.

"So it'll just be Mallory, then? Not her co-host?"

"Yes, just one. Two would have been unfair for someone who's just dipping their toes in. Mallory can be… well, she's a little vicious when she's interviewing someone she clearly doesn't like, but the Poketch Company has a good relationship with her and a lot of our sponsored trainers have already gone on her show and none of them had problems."

"Vicious how?"

"Asking questions that weren't vetted, mostly. She's good at her job and can easily get under people's skin, but she found your interaction with the Rangers very interesting. She's a little bit of a Pokemon rights activist, you see. Shows up at anti-Parasect protests and such."

"Anti-Parasect protests?"

"People that think that Parasect shouldn't be allowed to be trained because the parasite takes over the brain when they evolve and they therefore can't give consent to being used in battle. She also hates it when cities expand… you should have seen what she said against the new port the League's planning to build in Solaceon."

"I thought the news were supposed to be neutral," I said. "Not that I disagree with her."

"Oh, please. News channels aren't neutral," she laughed. "Every channel's got their own agenda to push. It's just how things work."

"I guess. Anything else to know about Mallory?"

I was slightly more sure of myself now that I knew she and I shared some values, but I couldn't help but worry.

"You got the gist of it. She's already sent the questions she wants to ask and our team is reviewing them right now and no doubt editing a bunch of them to send back."

She continued to explain the process to me as we rode toward the Poketch Company building, and as it turned out, almost every one-on-one interview was conducted like this. I honestly believed that the questions were a surprise every time, but that did explain how so few people got tripped up on the news during an interview. The Poketch Company building here had the same, modern look that it had in Hearthome with its facade covered in clear glass windows which still made it look horribly out of place compared to the concrete-filled buildings that littered Veilstone, but the company didn't seem to care about fitting in. It hadn't in Hearthome, after all.

As we both stepped inside of the building, my phone rang with news that made my heart swell with joy.

"Can we postpone this to tomorrow?" I asked. "This is— this is urgent."

"Is it? I mean, I guess we could, but…"

I nodded and bit my lip anxiously. "Please. My girlfriend just made it to the city."

The woman sighed, smiling at me. "Fine. Tomorrow at six, I'll come to pick you up. Go."

I was already out before she finished her sentence.