CHAPTER 299

Water, as far as the eye can see. The warmth of the sun caresses my skin as I lean overboard, watching the water splash on the wooden hull of my ship. This section is hastily repaired after an attack from another beast— a thousand Pokemon in one, uniformity given life. Stretches of dark blue, glowing eyes and a scream that resonated from deep underwater. My hands are rough and calloused, the hands of a physical laborer, but they are larger than I remember them being. The smell of the ocean— salt and wind— fills my nostrils as Wingull and Pelipper fly overhead. One of them, the largest Pelipper, is mine, and I've given him what I have.

Love.

Another man passes by me, tall and broad-shouldered. He says something, but I cannot understand. His lips move, but I do not hear him. It is now that I realize that I cannot hear anything. The world is empty, dark and cold, and there is nothing except a constant ringing in my ears. Still, I move like a puppet held up by strings and smile. Seeing what the man says is easy, with how I can see his emotions move. I've gotten so good at reading people I can even tell when he calls me by my name. Atreus. He pats me on the back and showers me with Love, and even after all these years, it is so powerful I can't help but grin. Why else live, if I could not have this? I kiss him and send him on his way back to the bowels of the ship.

We spend another few hours on the ship, followed by another three, chasing rumors of land out East. I clean, cook, do maintenance and maintain order on the ship while Pelipper keeps watch of threats, and my followers do the same. This is not something I need to do, for they Love me too much to let me work, but it is enough to pass the time. I was with two of my children by the time someone came to tell me that the girl stationed in the Murkrow's Nest had spotted land. Four islands soon came into view, and we celebrated by dancing on the main deck. My children, followers and Pokemon, all together as I liked, but it was only me they could look at. Only me, they all truly Loved. They looked at me with enough of it to fulfill me for a thousand years, and life was a perpetual state of high and bliss.

Hours later, when we reached land, we stepped out of our ships as one, our feet touching the golden beaches. The children with sensitive feet were burning their feet on the sand and hopping along, but I stood perfectly still, as did the others. Locals greet hundreds of us with stone spears and Pokemon of their own I'd never seen before. I know that all of my followers would have thrown themselves in front of me so I wouldn't die, so I did not fear. Their skin is tanned and hair frizzy. Exotic specimens to add to my collection. The leader is easy enough to identify, wearing a mask of some kind of horned beast with a flat head and a nose ring. Within thirty seconds, he was telling the others to put their weapons down and the Pokemon to keep calm as well. The fact that one of the girls was signing it to me meant that we still spoke the same language. Good.

We spent months there, learning their ways, and I made them Love me too. Love me until they'd decided they would rather die than see me leave without them being at my side. I made them need me, just like I'd needed them—

The cold splash of water from the shower was what I needed.

It was clear as day, even when I was taking my morning shower, a plastic wrap over my cast and bandages. I envisioned the smell of the ocean and the sound of the waves against the hull of my ship, with Pelipper and Wingull flying overhead. The suffocating heat of the summer sun. An armada of wooden ships sailing for hours until we hit a shore. The words spoken in the dream had been silent, and for some reason I had forgotten all of their names, but I still felt the intent of every man, woman and child. What they liked, disliked, hated, their hobbies, their relationship with the other members of my group, their fears… I weaved it all into games. Accentuated it until they gave me what they wanted. I started arguments just so I could appear a savior as I solved them, broke down relationships when it looked like they were paying attention to someone else other than me.

Only I and I alone was entitled to their Love. Such a haunting concept, when twisted to this extent. I'd lived through a slice of my predecessor's life last night, and my skin was dirty. I scrubbed my skin until it turned red, scraping it raw as my teeth clamped down on my tongue.

His name had been Atreus. He had been a foreigner, when he had come to Hisui's shores as a baby with his family, but he had never learned from where. I stayed in the shower until my skin was all wrinkled and washed every inch of my skin with soap five times. Why now? The answer ping-ponged around my head the entire shower. There was a bit of a squelch, and I noticed Buddy slipping past the crack below the door. He must have noticed I'd been taking too much time and wanted to check in on me.

"I'm okay. Just thinking about some dream."

He pulled the soap and glove away from me with shining eyes, already proving his worth with Extrasensory, and asked me to step out of the shower.

My body still felt grimy. Like it'd been coated by a thick layer of dirt. Instead of fighting him, I nodded and stood up. "Yeah, I guess I'll go downstairs and eat breakfast, or I'll be late for when Aliyah gets here."

Jellicent rolled his crimson eyes.

"Yes, more people," I said. "No use complaining about it, I need to be here."

He let out an irritated click, saying my friends were the very people making me like this. That without them, I'd have less to worry about. This power business was not a road he thought I should walk.

"I won't."

Then what about Justin, he asked.

"That's where it stops. I promise."

That seemed to have shut down the topic. He knew I did not make promises lightly, so he placed the bottle of soap on the counter and asked me to hurry up out of the shower with a reassuring look and I allowed myself to lean against the cold wall as he slipped out of the bathroom with another wet sound. He too, was worried about next week. My team was handling this well— most Pokemon always seemed better equipped to accept death, from what I understood. They were throwing themselves into training for the battle with Byron, and I needed to do the same.

There were issues that needed to be fixed, but I couldn't keep sulking forever, or I'd affect the people around me, too. When I left the washroom, I looked at my family. At Honey being supported by Sunshine as he tried making a fist with his bad hand. At Angel instantly sending a vine to wrap around my ankle while he spun Mimi around the room and sent them splattering against the walls for fun. Princess, calmly carving a stone she had picked up yesterday into a life-sized Meltan that had me hoping they were growing a little closer, and Buddy quietly watching over everyone with a careful eye.

The sight of it brought some much-needed calm. I let myself sink into Princess' fur for a little bit, kissing her wing, and she grumbled that I was throwing off her focus.

Yes. This was what I needed.

"Who wants some food?" I grinned.

—

"That does indeed sound like addiction."

Aliyah's voice was quiet, though her words struck me like a hammer even though I'd known that was what it was. A vice. Even when I'd used it against Zoroark and Mathilda, when I'd been close to dying, the act of twisting someone had felt good enough to make me smile in the moment. My therapist knitted her hands together as I sipped on the tea she'd offered me, as always. Strangely, this one was lukewarm and had a taste I just couldn't place, with a murky green tint to it, but it still tasted good.

She tilted her head to the side as she looked right at me, and her Chimecho wrapped around her neck mimicked her. "You look surprised, my dear. Is there anything you want to say?"

"Well, I only did it to that extent once— you know what, never mind." I shifted uncomfortably on my bed. "No point making excuses, I guess. It is what it is."

"You've been doing extremely well, this past month with me," she said, voice so gentle I could fall asleep. "There have been no issues of self-harm since catching them, and you have veered off a terrible path, but this is treading dangerous territory."

My hands tightened around my cup. "I know."

"Your friend Justin. Do you know if he'll agree to you working on him or not?" she asked.

"There was some reluctance, so I'm not sure," I answered. "It'd be better if he did, though. He isn't himself."

"Would it not be better to let him reach his own conclusion?" she questioned, leaning forward. "After all, if he doesn't want to, there is nothing that needs to be 'fixed'."

"But—"

"Grace," she interrupted, "you are smiling."

A hand went up to my mouth, tracing its contour, and my smile fell, as did the hunger that had been building itself up inside of me. A hunger for change and warping. Moistening my lips, I hid my mouth behind my cup and stayed quiet.

"Describe your state of mind to me again."

My throat tightened. "It felt like I was having fun. Like I was an artist of some kind," I slowly explained. "It was exhilarating. The same kind of feeling I get when I battle and I can't stop myself from smiling. It feels like something I was born to do." I quickly raised a hand. "But I know it's wrong! And I really will stop after Justin, I just want to help a friend. Working on Louis gave me an idea of how to make him feel again."

"I believe you would be better off not using this gift to such an extent ever again, unless you are forced to in the coming week," Aliyah said. At least she was giving me a pass if I needed to use it against Team Galactic, and honestly it would be odd if she didn't. "With Justin, it will take longer. That's more opportunities for you to slip, given your mindset, and you could do something you don't know how to undo."

That was… true enough.

"What if I have someone in the room with me to keep me focused?" I asked.

"You are simply opening for opportunities to fail," Aliyah said. "I will not make the decision for you, but I will express that I believe this desire to use your gift again is not a pure one, borne of a desire to help, but of a nascent addiction."

This wasn't ideal, to say the least. I owned the keys to bettering Justin's situation— if he asked— but couldn't be trusted to actually save him. Frustration bubbled up my chest and I emptied the rest of my tea, teeth grinding.

"Yeah. I need to give it a think," I finally said.

"At the very least, I ask you to warn me before you do come to a decision," Aliyah said. "I will need to be there. From what I understand, Justin is not speaking to anyone from the League, yes?"

I nodded. He had refused a therapist as Chase had.

"I will see if he can be convinced," the silver-haired woman sighed. "This is not something that should be decided in a day, or even a week, and it would help if he had someone."

"He has Louis. I guess you meant a professional, though."

Louis would probably be speaking his ear off about how much better he felt now, which… might influence things. I could see why Aliyah had wanted to get him someone else, unbiased and objective. A quiet alarm rang on Aliyah's phone, which Chimecho mimicked with surprising accuracy.

"That is it for today," she said with a dip of her head. "I will be seeing you tomorrow."

"Yeah. Thanks for the help."

Emilia and Pauline were getting here in around an hour, now.

—

We hadn't met them at the airport. Instead, they'd gotten a taxi to the city. Reunions like this were supposed to be jovial and exciting, but instead, it was full of awkwardness. If looks could kill, Emilia would be bleeding out on the floor right now. Louis, now recovered from his high, still looked tired and worn down, but he was well enough to function, and the glare he shot Emilia as she stepped out of the car was unmistakable and full of poison. Denzel was, for his part, standing with his back straight as an arrow and hands behind his back like he was about to be scolded by a teacher. Justin looked ahead, his face and body utterly still and with a bored expression. It wasn't exactly a warm welcome, and I didn't think they'd expected much of one.

When Denzel couldn't be the glue that kept the group together, I at least had to try. I walked up to the car as Emi and Pauline dropped their bags and hugged them both. That seemed to have lowered some of the tension, and the others got close, too.

"How was the flight?" I asked.

"Some turbulence, but other than that, it was okay," Emilia said with a slight smile. She was, I noticed, closing her eyes and resting her head on my shoulder, meaning that she was still hurt.

"Happy to be here, at least," Pauline sighed. "It's not the entire group, but being together like this makes me worry less."

Greetings with Denzel were thankfully warm as well. I hadn't exactly known how things had gone with his messages, but at the very least it looked like he'd been forgiven and they were friendly again. Knowing Emilia, there were conditions to that friendship. She had grown quite a ruthless demeanor these last few months and I imagined she was the kind of person that would rather end a friendship than have it limp along half-dead. Justin didn't even wave, simply greeting them from a distance.

"Pauline. Emilia." Louis' voice was strained and contained a barely-veiled anger. "Good morning. I'd like to have a conversation with you both later about what your recklessness did to me."

Pauline winced, though Emilia faced him, not even flinching away. "I'll listen."

"You'd better," he growled with a clenched fist. "Without Grace here, I would still be slowly withering away in my room, Emilia. I did not ask for any of this."

"And I'm sorry," she said. "I thought we'd all be on the same page. That we'd all want to help. I guess I was wrong."

Animosity like this could almost be a physical thing, even if I wasn't truly looking. It was so thick we could all choke on it, if we weren't careful.

Denzel clapped both of their shoulders. "Come on, guys, people are staring. We can discuss it in private, yeah? As a group?"

"I don't think we'll see eye to eye on this, but sure," Pauline sighed. "We need to unpack anyway."

"Oh, I'll help with your bags…" Denzel started.

From then on, it was the usual process. Getting them a room while we waited around in the lobby, with Denzel chatting with both in an attempt to smooth things over. Louis stewed next to me with his arms crossed, repeatedly tapping a finger against his elbow.

"Can you believe it? The gall to walk up to me and act like she did nothing wrong?" he hissed. "Does she not understand the amount of hurt I'd been going through until you came along? I'm still hurting."

"You have every right to be angry," I said.

"I know I agreed to hear her out, but there could have been… I don't know, a way for her to communicate better about what it was before she dropped it all on us."

Justin, who was standing behind the couch, leaned forward with his hands on the backrest. "I'm inclined to agree, but she could only warn you in so many ways without revealing the problem itself. We both took the final decision, in the end."

"I know. Just… don't fight, or at least try not to? Not now," I said. "I think it's important to hear out the other side first, even if she was mean about it. I want everyone to be on the same page before next week."

Louis ran a trembling hand through his hair. He had fixed himself up last night, now clean-shaven and his hair well-kept.

"I'll try."

"Thanks. I'll be training them later this afternoon when they're settled in, but feel free to do it before or after," I said.

Justin chimed in. "Would in not be better to speak after? What if they have an argument and it hurts their performance?"

"It might, but there'll be no coddling. They might be in emotional distress when things start happening, so even though I would like for you two to make up, I won't let it not happening delay my lesson. There's only so much time we have."

"A fair assessment," Justin nodded.

Once they got their two rooms, we all ate breakfast together at the cafeteria. It had been Denzel's idea, while there was a conversation going on, Louis was somehow managing to be quieter than Justin. At the very least, he was eating. It was odd, to see him so well because of something I'd done. Gratifying. It made it easy to tell myself that I was good, after all.

"So yeah, people are still making fun of Lopunny," Denzel groaned. "She got her account banned from Chatter and… uh, made an alt."

Pauline snorted. "Isn't it kind of your fault?"

"My fault how?"

"Well, first you had her lose to a roof—"

"If you said that in front of her, she'd punch you in the gut," I grinned.

"Nothing new with this guy's team." Pauline pointed a thumb at Denzel and grinned. "Feels like half of them want me dead, sometimes."

Emilia rolled her eyes. "They've made progress."

"You're just good at antagonizing people," Justin blankly said. When Pauline stared at him, he shrugged. "What? It's the truth."

Denzel finished chewing a piece of his ham and cheese sandwich. "It's this reputation she's getting. Every time she jumps, she loses."

"Oh, I wish I'd been recording that," Pauline grinned. "Would have gotten some of the heat off of me."

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"And it would have been horribly out of context."

"That's the point, Justin. Get with the program," she said. "Anyway, going back to my point, every time you have her jump, she loses!"

"I've seen some 'lost to floor' memes," I interjected. Denzel looked at me with what could only be described as pure betrayal. "What? It's not my fault, I browse sometimes! And you told me to be more involved online!"

Pauline snapped her fingers. "I'd bet fifty thousand Pokedollars she has one of those memes bookmarked."

"Come on," Emi sighed.

I looked at her. "Thank you—"

"One hundred thousand, at least."

"Traitor!" I yelled with faux-offense. "I might have saved one on my camera roll. Just one. But that's technically not a bookmark, so you all owe me cash!"

Emilia wiped her mouth, all prim and proper. "No legal contract was signed, and verbal agreements are as good as void."

"You're trying to trick her. They can be binding if you have enough proof and can show intent," Pauline said.

Emilia cleared her throat, having not expected her… whatever they were to throw her under the bus, and an unintentional giggle left my mouth. The conversation continued in much the same vein, joking around and unwinding from the ever-mounting pressure. Eventually, I stopped chiming in when Louis' miserable look tipped more toward anger, and I used us having finished our food as an excuse for us to vacate the table.

—

There they were. Emilia and Louis, in a single room like they were two Pyroar in a cage waiting to duke it out. It was basically the case, or at least it was what Emilia believed, and it was for the greater good, too. Better talk it out now than let it fester for weeks— if they even had weeks. Get it all out there, pour their souls out to one another and see if their differences could be mended. Louis looked at her with narrowed eyes, a foot quietly tapping against the carpeted floor with a constant, almost inaudible thud.

She remembered meeting Louis for the first time with Pauline. It had been at some kind of fundraiser when they'd been eight years old where the top of Sinnoh's society had gathered. The kind of philanthropic gathering that had rich people feel good about themselves when they donated a fraction of their money, in this case, for a fund that had pledged to challenge child poverty and hunger in Sinnoh. Even at ten years old, he'd had his posse of girls constantly surrounding him and had been obnoxiously loud and annoying. Still, they'd been forced by their parents to connect and he had talked their ear off until Pauline cursed at him and told him to shut the fuck up.

Eight years old, and she'd already spoken like that. It wasn't like Josephine was one to gatekeep language from her child.

He had sworn he would ruin their lives right then and there, and Emilia had gone to sleep terrified that night. The Bianchis had been a name people spoke with utmost respect and sometimes fear, once upon a time, but nothing ended up happening, and they met intermittently throughout the years until their parents had forced them all into joining as one big group of trainers to gather the badges as a horrible PR stunt.

If one had told her back then, that she'd be friends with Louis Bianchi, she would have laughed. Quietly, not to bother you.

"Are you at least going to apologize?" he asked.

Ah, so he'd spoken first while she'd been reminiscing. Emilia nodded. "I'm sorry for telling you about all of this so abruptly. I should have… well, I don't know what I should have done, but I shouldn't have done it like this." She uncomfortably rubbed her arm. "Deep down, I still believe the idea behind what I did was right."

"I was a mess, Emilia. I could barely move my feet until Grace helped me!" he yelled.

"I—" she hadn't known he wouldn't be able to handle it, was the thing. She hadn't been able to put herself in that mind space of just collapsing. Emilia had expected him to struggle like she had, but recover quickly enough to start planning. Work was the only thing keeping her sane, these days. "I thought you would be able to handle it. I'm sorry."

"What was even the thought process here? Do you live to put me down?"

He was far more forceful than she thought he would be, but Emilia stood her ground. "No, Louis. I just thought you'd be like me and want to help the others. Share in their burden. I should have been more tactful and realized not everyone would be like that, it was rash of me."

"So you're really doing it, then?" Louis pressed. "What are you even—"

He stopped, but what he'd intended to say still stung. What are you even capable of doing? Emilia bit down on a retort, telling herself that he was just hurt and bitter, and hurt people passed down that pain to others.

"Call it selfishness, if you want. Call it vanity, but I won't be sitting in a Center while the world is blowing up and I know about it. And I don't care what Chase has to say."

"And are you prepared to die for it?"

"Yes." The words left her mouth before she knew it. "Yes, I'll die to help my friends shoulder the burden if needed. I'll be there if they need to talk to me, and I'll train until I'm not a burden."

She believed he would snap back. Say that she was only saying that, and didn't truly believe it, or say that she was being stupid for no reason. Instead, he let out a long exhale, all of his built-up anger deflating in seconds.

"Fine. And Pauline is the same? You aren't dragging her in this."

Damn it, it pained her to see him care. Her heart wrenched, but she didn't show it. A dozen contests gave coordinators enough experience keep a mask on their faces.

"She wants to help. She's more into this training thing than I am," Emilia sighed.

"Just don't drag Justin into this."

"We won't. What I did— no, what I wanted to do was to give you a choice, Louis," she explained. "To give you all the facts so you could pick what to do. You're both free to do whatever you want, and we won't judge you for it."

"Okay." His jaw unclenched, and he uncrossed his arms. "That's everything I wanted to know. I don't… forgive you, but when everything is over… I think this is fixable."

She dipped her head. "Thank you."

"It is what it is. Now, please leave the room, I need to get my business in order and make some calls to Floaroma."

—

We had traveled to the edge of route 218 for this mock 'death match'. Pauline swaggered forward with excited steps, barely containing her anticipation for the battle, while Emilia was looking around as if to analyze the terrain and what she could work with. This was a pretty classic forested environment, as it went, so there wasn't much of anything unique to spice things up. No creek or meandering river, no hill or depression, just a bunch of trees and tall grass, the ground as flat as it could be. Plenty of cover, if they needed it, but nothing else aside from that.

This would be less about training and improving their team power and technique-wise and more about strategy and how they worked together. There would also be a need to teach them how to expect when attacks were aimed at them and not just their Pokemon. I hadn't exactly come with a plan in mind, and I didn't think I would do anything too complicated. A simple forest worked well enough for that.

When we finally got far enough and stopped, I began. "Let's do it like this," I explained, holding a finger up. "If your barrier is shattered, you lose, because you're basically dead. I won't be using Honey, so I won't have Protect, but you both should definitely pick up that TM. I already let the others know to do the same."

Except for Chase, given that he was too poor to afford it and far too proud to accept it as a gift, even in the face of so much danger. Thinking about him for too long was going to give me a headache, so instead I just shook it off and smiled.

"Okay, what if there's an accident?" Emilia asked. "Like, what if one of our attacks accidentally shatter the barrier and hit one of us?"

"Come on, Emi. Believe in our Pokemon a little," Pauline jeered with her hands on her hips. It was at times like these that the divide between coordinator and trainer was clear as day. "They know how to not mess up that badly. Even Vigoroth!"

Already, her hands were hovering over her belt. She was excited to do this, I realized. To finally do something other than wonder what was going on between everyone and what secrets were being hidden. Emilia was too, but it was hitting her a little more than she'd expected.

"Okay, so it'll be a… five on nine," I confirmed. Six on ten might have been too much, and I wanted this to be close and for them to actually be able to win, so Sweetheart wasn't going to participate. There'd be no point if she could just sink them into the ground. They were going to fight waves of grunts at most, not Commanders. "Use everything you have at your disposal to shatter Claydol's barrier."

I would have liked to say I would be able to use everything, but there was no way for that to be true if I didn't want them splattered on the ground by the end of it.

Pauline grinned. "Got it."

We positioned ourselves at around the same distance trainers would take in a Gym Battle. It would have been nice, to be able to give the Iron Islands a whirl and train there after flying for a few hours, but Braviary wasn't the fastest and we'd be gone for too long, so these woods would have to do. They were not as dense as Eterna Forest, and were quite easy to navigate, being at the edge of the route. There were still plenty of ways to use trees as cover for ambushing or as weapons. I wished we'd gotten permission to stand in one of the battling arenas in the city for future training sessions, but that was against the rules or whatever. Numerous Pokeballs hissed as scarlet light filled the woods, and our entire teams were released. It had been a bit, since I'd seen Emilia and Pauline's teams in the flesh. I observed them getting their teams up to speed, and I leaned against a tree, surrounded by my Pokemon.

"Gothitelle and Metang are going to stick close to them to keep them safe," I whispered. "You're going to prioritize the ones with high mobility— Ambipom, Vigoroth and Primeape, mostly. They can work extremely well in the woods while Braviary's going to be a sitting Ducklett unless she flies up, so Princess, you're going to target her…"

—

"Are we ready?!"

Grace called out from afar, her bandaged hands cupping her mouth so her voice would carry further. Pauline eyed Emilia and licked her lips. It had been so long, since she'd fought like this— since Solaceon, and she'd be lying if she'd said she hadn't looked forward to this lesson. Tangrowth, Togekiss, Claydol, Turtonator and Jellicent. She didn't know very much about the Claydol other than it being specialized in defense. The psychic did not hang close to her like Gothitelle did with Pauline or Metang with Emilia, but the wind stopping around Grace was unmistakable. There was a lesser, actually visible circular barrier wide enough to give them space to battle without burning the entire forest down.

"Should we go over the plan one more time?" Emilia whispered.

"You're just making yourself more nervous," Pauline said. They had been planning this for days, before they even reached the city. "We'll be fine. Gothitelle."

Barriers appeared around both her and Emilia, and Pauline called out, saying that they were ready. It was difficult to ignore Tyranitar staring daggers at them from beyond the battlefield's periphery. Her forehead was stuck against the barrier as she whined, obviously wanting to join in on the fun. Electivire, meanwhile was sitting it out as well and cheering for his team obnoxiously loudly.

Grace called out again. "Three! Two! One! Go!"

Vigoroth was the first to go, pushing himself forward with a hand clawing at the earth, but everyone followed him soon enough. A grunt from Primeape had the normal type climb atop a tree and follow him as they swung from branch to branch. With a loud screech that had her ears ringing, Braviary took to the air and disappeared into the skies while Charizard stayed low and flew so close to the ground her tail lit a trail of fire behind her.

"Now, Braixen!" Emilia yelled.

The vulpine flicked her wand upward, gathering the flames into a ball that glowed white. Wind spun around it, trees catching fire until Braixen sent it wide, making sure to give ample space in order not to burn the other members of the team. Her flames weren't as powerful as the two fire types present, but she could steal and make their fire her own.

Already, Jellicent had disappeared somewhere, most likely underground like he always did, and Lycanroc had stayed with them for that very reason. The rock type carefully pawed at the ground, a shifting mound of earth as he sensed for the ghost to stop him from ever getting to them from underground. Unfortunately, he had left two shades behind that were already attacking the rest of their Pokemon. Trees around the two shades died as they sucked moisture from the bark and leaves and too many rays of water to count shot out, bending and curving around the vegetation. Braixen grunted, directing her ball of white flame to evaporate the water, but there were too many!

A darkened slash from Vigoroth dispelled one of the jets while Primeape swung with more and more haste, but Ambipom wasn't as agile and fell behind as water hit her in the head. Instead of throwing her back, it coalesced into a ball until it started drowning her, but Metang shattered the water with a burst of psychic energy. Charizard beat her flaming wings, dodging two of the beams by gaining in altitude, but a blunt rock that had been hiding behind a tree hit the fire type in the head.

Damn Togekiss, Pauline thought as she bit down on her tongue. Even when she wasn't here, she was causing trouble. The fairy type had joined Braviary in the skies, and Braviary's only job was to distract her for long enough. "Hammer Arm, Vigoroth!"

The normal type snarled, spittle falling from his mouth as his arm bulged to twice its normal size and he slammed it into the base of a tree. Splintered bark flew across the battlefield, but Pauline flinched, nearly falling backward when countless flaming spears hit her barrier. The thin sheet of psychic force did not shatter, but heat prickled at Pauline's skin. How the hell could Togekiss micromanage all of this shit?! When she got another look at the state of the battle, she did not regain her smirk. Beams of Dragon Pulse were flying everywhere, burning brightly as the air around the blasts combusted. They weren't aimed at anyone in particular, but they were making life difficult. Ambipom's fur was starting to smoke, as was Primeape's and Vigoroth's. The latter's veins bulged as he used his second Bulk Up and grabbed the tree trunk he'd destroyed before throwing it at Grace with all of his strength. A thin, pink light wrapped itself around the trunk, slowing it enough for it not to shatter Grace's barrier until Tangrowth threw it back, using Claydol's Psychic as an extra boost. Vigoroth's claws raked against the bark's underside, splitting it into two, and the tree slid against the forest floor and came to a stop.

Claydol fired back a wide net of mud that soaked everything in the vicinity. Vigoroth, Primeape and Ambipom were close enough, now.

"Metang!" Emilia called out.

As trees burned to a crisp around them, thin rays of electricity linked themselves from Metang to Primeape, Ambipom and Vigoroth. The three Pokemon took to the air and dodged a barrage of darkened, bright and neon green vines from Tangrowth, but the Mud Slap still slowed and coated them. The impact was stronger than it looked, with Ambipom being kicked back a few feet and Vigoroth having to anchor his claws into one of the few remaining trees. Still, Metang let out an echoing groan and his Magnet Rise carried them further. They would have slipped, had they not been floating above ground. Approaching so close to Turtonator was basically a death sentence, and they all caught on fire.

But that was fine.

"Braixen, now!" Emi said.

They had expected the temperature to get this high. Braixen's sphere of light disappeared, and she twirled her staff once more. Fire peeled off of the three Pokemon's fur like paint.

Charizard took to the heat like a fish to water, circling and weaving around the trees as she fired off a Flamethrower at Tangrowth and Claydol. The grass type was obviously within a barrier as well and was playing defense, with the way he used his vines to keep other Pokemon from approaching. Grace wasn't doing much of anything, which was making Pauline nervous. Claydol was hit by one of the Flamethrowers and Pauline hoped the barrier would waver, but it didn't even rattle. One of the Night Shades finally blew up when Braixen got her fireball close enough to it, and purple smoke billowed out of the—

"I think she got one of the shades blown up on purpose," Emilia said.

"Huh?"

It made sense, thinking about it. The smoke spread far further and was thicker than what Pauline remembered and they'd staked everything into this one attack. Braixen would not be able to keep the heat at bay for long. A ghostly aura permeated Primeape's fist as he let rage course through his veins, and a Night Slash coated Vigoroth's claws after Pauline called out the order. Ambipom had gathered pieces of bark, mud and threw them forward after coating them in darkness with Fling. Pauline could only hold her breath as her three Pokemon plunged into the smoke.

Braviary collapsed back through the trees, falling into the flaming forest with her plumage already burned to a crisp and wounds all over her body, and a Moonblast bore down from the skies, sucking in flames, leaves, and tree bark as everything began to orbit around it. Gothitelle and Braixen kept themselves and their trainers still with psychic, but Lycanroc was nearly pulled up until Metang kept him still by putting one of his hands around the rock type. Still, he was floating and his feet were off the ground…

"Shit."

Her words were almost breathless. The shifting earth he'd constantly been outputting below them was gone, now, and Jellicent was free to—

The ghost emerged from the ground a writhing mass of vapor and liquid, and Emilia nearly ran off at the terrifying sight. Tendrils of purple shadows gathered around Jellicent's mouth, and Lycanroc quickly tried to deal with him with Stone Edge. Pillars of sharpened stone exploded out of the ground and flew toward the moon, but just passed through Jellicent like he was nothing. A split second later, the Shadow Ball cracked the barrier. He didn't even bother to hit Metang or Gothitelle, he just… won. Pauline expected the scorching heat to burn her face, but it was only unpleasant instead. Turtonator must have been preparing to pull down the intensity already… shit, had she been communicating with Jellicent the entire time like in her Gym battles? The spears around them who'd been wreathed in blue flames had already gone out. The moon winked out of existence and Togekiss landed onto the burned field, slightly hurt by Braviary, but they were all surface cuts and wounds.

A gust of wind cleared the lingering purple smoke, and Pauline noticed Vigoroth, Ambipom and Primeape all unconscious and burned to a crisp. Primeape had made it the closest, and Grace's barrier was nearly— so nearly shattered. If Pauline had to guess, their tricks had nearly worked and Rage Fist had made contact, and maybe a few Flings too, but… damn it, it looked like she'd moved in the smoke to dodge most of the projectiles. In the end, they'd thrown everything they had into hitting her, and not her Pokemon, and it showed.

Damn it, it had ended in such an anticlimactic fashion that her blood was still pumping as if the fight was still going on. Jellicent was working to extinguish the fires that were still going and Tangrowth was using his vines as roots to replant the trees that could still be saved. It took another two minutes for the way to be cleared, though they recalled their Pokemon far sooner than that. They tried discussing what had gone wrong, too, but they couldn't really see it. If they'd sent Metang up to buy time from Togekiss, then the Magnet Rise trick to rush Grace wouldn't have worked.

"What about sending Charizard up there?" Emilia asked as Grace limped their way. "Two against one might have been manageable."

"But she was keeping the pressure off on the rest of her team and drew out attacks… blegh. I don't think there's an easy answer. We got close, though."

"Close isn't enough," Emilia exhaled. "We needed to win."

—

It was embarrassing to say, but that had been far closer than I'd expected it to be. I had expected some of what they did, like using Braviary to draw Princess away. The flying type wasn't as good with fine control as she was, but the strength of her winds was something else and she was able to keep her locked up in the skies for as long as she was still capable of fighting. Of course, there was the spearhead of Vigoroth, Ambipom and Primeape, but everything else? I hadn't thought enough about how unique the strategies Emilia could use were and how good their teamwork was in general. Lycanroc being good enough with ground TE to actually keep Buddy away, Metang being able to make non-steel types float with Magnet Rise, Braixen being a menace that nearly won them the battle. If their Pokemon had been just a little stronger, they would have breached my barrier first. Granted, I'd been going easy, but…

Not that Pauline was useless. She brought much-needed muscle to their duo and her Pokemon were faster, stronger and had more stamina than Emilia's. They were what I would have considered a match made in heaven and had gone far better than I thought they would, even if they looked disappointed with themselves. There were still areas to iron out, but again, who didn't have that? I was going to give far less advice than I thought I'd need to, and most of it would be big picture stuff.

When I finally reached them, I spoke up. "You guys did great."

"Still lost," Emilia bit back with bitterness sharp enough to cut. "I really thought we'd get you."

"You almost did, and that's far better than I expected."

This was why I truly believed Chase was wrong. When the chips came down and things would become a matter of life and death, together, they could be a force to be reckoned with. They completed each other in a way few trainers could.

Angel patted both of them on the head, something I could tell Pauline found condescending and Emilia odd, but it was better than Sunshine being angry at them for coming so close to winning because we'd forgotten to check our egos. He'd complained about not being able to let loose the entire fight, and I kept having to tell him we weren't actually trying to kill them. Sure, we were all individually stronger, but it was lazy to think I could just win because of that. It was a good thing I'd come up with a strategy, even if it was admittedly simpler than theirs, or I would have lost.

"You were sweating during the battle," I said. "You need to iron out your barriers to keep yourselves fully insulated and not partly. You told me you could handle it, but that was clearly wrong."

"Well, I thought it was fine. It was with Charizard's heat," Pauline grumbled.

"Just in case, practice it," I added. "Emi, you call out your attacks too much."

"What?" she frowned.

"You yell them out for no reason, even when your Pokemon is close enough to listen, and that tips all of us off. Even when you don't say an attack, I know which Pokemon it's coming from. Imagine if I'd called out for Princess before she launched that Moonblast, for example."

It must have been due to her coordinator background, where she was always making her voice as smooth and beautiful as possible. The advice was obvious enough that I felt dumb giving it, but whatever.

"Trust your Pokemon. They know enough to work on their own without being micromanaged," I told her. "Pauline did well in that regard."

"What did you think about the overall battle, though?" Pauline asked.

I tapped my chin for a few seconds. "It was a good strategy if you think you can't win," I said. "If the gap between you and your opponents is too big, you make them bleed and take them down with you, so you focus only on them. If they want to kill you, you kill them too."

Pauline grinned, and I noted Emilia pulled out a notepad to write on.

"But! In a fight like this one, if it was real, half of your Pokemon would be dead, even if you'd won. That's heavy sacrifice." I watched them shiver at that thought. "That's why you play it conservatively unless the gap in power is wide and in your favor. You keep your Pokemon close together and don't send three on a suicide mission. You were still playing to win, not to survive."

"Fair," Emilia agreed with a sigh. "We did put winning above that."

"I wanna reiterate that you would almost have killed me though," I shrugged. "It's all about goals, really. If everything's truly lost, don't hesitate. Go for the throat."

Claydol's wider barrier finally went down, and I recalled most of my Pokemon save for Princess.

"Wait! You took down Braviary, so we won't be able to get back!" Emilia groaned with a facepalm.

"Shit. Uh, I can just have Princess bring you two back and then come and pick me back up." Before they could protest, I continued. "Your Pokemon need to get to the Center, go. They should all be healed tomorrow or the day after and you two can practice together."

"Why can't we fight as a team?" Pauline asked.

"If we get separated, we need to be ready," Emilia said before I could answer.

"That. I'll see if I can have Denzel give it a try too, even if he'll be a baby about it. It'd be good if you fought against a variety of Pokemon and strategies. Oh, and also," I smiled, "Planning for days is kind of cheating. You won't have that much time in an actual fight, so the minute I gave you is a little more realistic."

"The planning gremlin telling us not to plan," Pauline rolled her eyes. "What's this, opposite day?"

"I really thought that nickname thing was over."

Pauline snorted. "What, you thought I'd ever let you live it down? Hell no. Even when we're old and gray, I'll be calling you gremlin." She wrapped an arm around my shoulder and laughed.

When we're old and gray. Wasn't that a nice thought?

It was time to focus on the coming Gym Battle, now.