February

My arms are on fire.

They shake uncontrollably, the pulsing ache of holding up my body radiating with my thundering heartbeat.

“Last one!”

“I… I can’t.”

“I say you can. I’m the expert. You can.”

I hate you Hitmontop. Another push-up. With what strength I have left, I try to stop my chest from hitting the floor on the way down.

Now I have to go back up.

With a scream for release, I push against the ground.

“Come on! This is the Fighting Gym.”

…

Is he not going to say anything else? Like ‘-not the Quitting Gym!’ or something? I glance at Hitmontop.

Nope. He just stated that. That’s his encouragement. Free me.

Push.

My arms lock into full extension, the bones straight and supporting my weight. Eugh, thank Arceus.

“Ok, enough.”

My face hits the ground.

“Good. See you tomorrow.”

Hitmontop hands me my water bottle, then starts his own set of exercises, already done with this interaction. I lay on the wooden slats, panting.

Is this worth it? Am I just wasting my precious time with this while I could be practicing my kicks with Hitmonlee?

No. This is the pain talking. I picture my ideal self, fix it in my mind’s eye.

These past few weeks have been rough. The lack of visible progress isn’t helped by the fact that some things I’m training for just aren’t possible as a Buneary. My stupid little arms don’t even reach above my head.

“Hey. Our match is starting soon…”

And then there’s Riolu. I look up at his fidgeting form, stifling a sigh.

I’ve given him his space, making clear that I’m open to talking about his confession or helping him in any way he needs. He prefers to pretend nothing happened.

“Yeah… I’m right behind you. Thirty seconds to catch my breath.”

“On your ears, work on balance,” calls out Hitmontop.

My groan escapes unstifled. Riolu waits for me in silence.

Why? What purpose does ignoring his feelings serve? I know I’m supposed to let him choose, but why did he have to make the wrong choice?

“You know, there’s plenty of other things you could do-” “Cleo, please. Can we just…”

“…Fine.”

With the break over, I balance on white tufts and follow Riolu upstairs.

At first walking on my ears was next to impossible, but now my upside-down gait is stable. A slow fall forward, catching myself with an extended ear, only to coil the other one and prepare to catch my leaning fall again, much like I imagine walking on stilts might feel. It hasn’t improved the explosive force of my Pound or Double Hit, but that’s fine. It’s not what I want them for.

Snapping my ears forcefully to propel myself up the stairs to the main floor, we meet up with Helen at the ring for our battle. The challengers are currently finishing up their battle in the other field, a surly teenager and a bored-looking Roselia.

“Hi guys, you ready?”

“Morning Helen, yeah we’re good. Any trouble?”

“Kid’s a bit of an asshole, but nothing too bad. Has only shown Roselia so far.”

Riolu parts the ropes and walks into the ring, ignoring the byplay.

“Have things between you…?” Helen whispers.

I shake my head.

She sighs minutely. “Well, let’s see what you’ve got Riolu. Been practicing your new move?”

He nods, warming up with slow katas.

The other battle is soon over, the kid recapturing the Roselia before sauntering up to the edge of the ring.

“So, final battle of the ‘Gym Gauntlet’, huh? Gonna be an actual challenge, or what?”

Helen’s smile becomes fixed. “Good job making it this far, challenger. Let’s see if you have what it takes.”

To me, she glares a different message. Kick his ass.

Gladly.

The umpire reaches his podium beside the ring, Darren this time, and the flags come up. “This will be a two-on-two battle between Trainer Caleb and Gym Trainer Helen, with no substitutions. Standard League Rules apply. Challenger, send out your Pokémon.”

Caleb smirks. The red light coalesces into… a floating cloth? It opens blue-and-yellow eyes.

A Shuppet. Does Riolu have any- “Tsk.”

I look to Helen, whose business smile has twisted into a grimace. He doesn’t, then.

“Trainers, are you ready?”

“Ready.”

“…Ready.”

“Begin!”

The Shuppet titters, black smoke pouring from beneath the cloth.

“No point delaying, I’m retiri-” “Let me try!”, Riolu shouts.

“Don’t be an idiot. If you have no moves, just bow out,” I plead. Helen crosses her arms, resigned.

“Yeeesss. Lisssten to the Buneeeaaryy.”

“No one asked you, napkin. I’ll get to you in a minute.”

“Hey!” Surprised, he forgets his ‘ghostly’ affectation. Poser.

Riolu ignores us, choosing instead to focus. He settles into a rigid stance, then thrusts his palm forward with a “Ha!”

A Vacuum Wave distorts the air in front of him, tearing through Shuppet. Nothing happens.

“Hee hee hee, fear the Night Shade!”

I scoff. The rest of the battle proceeds predictably. Riolu tries his hardest to infuse his attacks with some manner of energy, something that’ll affect the Ghost type, to no use. Helen eventually loses her patience.

“That’s it! I’m retiring Riolu. Come on, it’s over.”

Darren raises his flag. Helen turns to me, hand covering her mouth. “You’ve got this, right?”

I nod.

“Good.”

Riolu drops down next to us, fists clenched and eyes on his feet.

I hop into the ring.

“What the hell is a Buneary doing here? That’s not even a Fighting type!”

I can’t help but scowl. “Got more Fight in me than the rag. Start the battle.”

Caleb stares, flabbergasted. Darren drops the flag.

“Ooohh nooo, aa Noormal tyyypee… How the taaablees have tuuurned!”

“You would know, wouldn’t you tablecloth?”

“Shut up!”

Shuppet appears next to me, stabbing toward my chest with his horn. Even guessing it was coming, the Feint Attack is too quick to dodge.

So is my Payback.

Smashing both ears into the back of his head, I press Shuppet into the floor, his half-assed attack easy to push past.

“Aaaiieeee…”

“Shuppet, get out of there! Shadow Sneak!”

Nah, he doesn’t get to do that. The Dark mindset is easy to get into right now, and I keep hammering the black hankie to the ground.

A whistle is blown.

“Shuppet is unable to battle! Step back, Cleo!”

Oh. Shuppet wriggles weakly beneath me, crumpled.

A Chimecho floats in, ringing with a small Healing Pulse. I hop back to our corner.

Riolu is fidgeting, still not looking at me. “Cleo… I, uhm…” “Save it. Battle’s not over yet.”

“Roselia’s probably coming out next,” Helen mutters. “It’s shown AoE poison, looks like Venoshock, Magical Leaf, plus a drain. Mega Drain, probably. It likes to stay at a distance but isn’t that quick, so you can close in fast.”

“Alright, thanks coach.”

“Go get’em.”

The red flash on the opposite side of the ring reveals the Roselia, as expected.

“Roselia, no playing around. Finish it fast!”

The flowering Pokémon looks surprised for a moment, but lazily nods.

“He’s nervous. Are you dangerous, Miss Buneary?” she asks in a slow drawl.

"Let's see.”

Darren’s flag drops. I dash.

“Magical Leaf!”

Roselia readies the attack before Caleb even starts talking, which is good for her because my foot is in her face before he finishes. Charged petals still fly at me remarkably fast, spreading stinging papercuts.

We both stagger back- Agh, what the fuck? The bottom of my right foot burns when I put weight on it, and I spot Roselia’s little smirk. Her brow sports a small thorn, slowly dripping red blood. Poisoned.

I’m on a clock.

“Venoshock,” the trainer manages to get out before I unfurl my ears into a Double Hit. Roselia flinches but, again, perseveres, a clear fluid beginning to drip from her flower-hands, “on the ground!”

Crap. She sprays the corrosive fluid in a tight circle around her, committed to staying in place. If I step on that with an open, poisoned wound, I’m probably done.

Well, time to see if my work with Top has paid off.

I jump onto the venom circle, twisting myself sideways to land on my ears.

Her face is priceless.

Switching to mom’s version of Double Hit, I kick again and again, all while furling and unfurling my ears to step and duck and dodge a retaliatory Poison Sting. Leaves crunch and vine-arms splinter. I can’t stop my growing grin. I’m doing it.

“Mega Drain! You can outlast, Roselia!”

The emptying sensation the Thorn Pokémon inflicts is so similar to the Zubat that, for a moment, I almost puke.

Get your head in the game.

Suddenly the math’s changed. Roselia’s attacks are powerful, plain and simple, and she’s proven surprisingly tough. If this becomes a contest of endurance… I’ll lose.

Have to finish it in one, then. A plan forms, only… But I can’t see another way. I’ll just have to deal with it.

My ears propel me into another pirouette, and I land on my feet. It burns. A lance of pain spears my leg all the way to the pelvis, but I can’t stop now.

I release a Thunderwave, then drop into Top’s Low Sweep. My still tired arms support me as I make a three-sixty rotation, each arm momentarily lifted for my torso and legs to pass. One, then the other, a fulcrum for me to pivot around. Roselia is swept off her feet, falling face-first into the remnants of her Venoshock.

I finish the movement in a low crouch, the reason I chose it instead of Low Kick. To transition straight into a Bounce.

Flying straight into the air above the boxing ring, I allow myself a moment to just feel happy.

My sweat, my hard work… This is what I can do now. And I still have so much to go.

Roselia is still fallen, twitching with paralysis. My vision swims from the poison, but there’s no way she could dodge this.

The frictionless descent begins.

As I accelerate, the look on her face becomes clear even to my fading sight. Panic.

“Protect!”

Wait, what?

She closes her eyes, and a faint glow starts to solidify around her form.

I grit my teeth. Bust through.

Impact. My piercing kick into her weak, green-tinted shield.

It flares… cracks… breaks.

But the momentum is gone.

I fall to my knees beside Roselia, both of us panting.

I stand… stumble… kneel again. Dammit.

Helen sighs behind me.

“I’m retiring Cleo. Get in here Chimecho.”

The flags rise. “Gym Trainer Helen has no Pokémon remaining. Caleb wins!”

I distantly feel my wounds closing with a soothing cold, and hear Helen grabbing an Antidote for me to drink. But my eyes are on Caleb.

“Here’s your ‘actual challenge’. Good luck with Maylene.”

He pouts, but thankfully stays quiet.

I spit to clean my mouth, ‘coincidentally’ in his direction, then accept my Antidote.

After he gathers himself and returns Roselia, leaving with Darren to schedule his badge match, I get to my feet and walk back to our corner.

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Helen claps my shoulder on the way. “You kicked ass. Gave that kid exactly the wake-up call he needed. In the end, a Gym Trainer’s job is often to lose… It happens. Sorry. I can tell you really wanted that one.”

“Yeah… thanks.”

“Cleo.”

Riolu stands in front of me, taking deliberately slow breaths. He’s finally gathered up the nerve to look me in the face.

“Can you help me become stronger?”

I click my tongue. Not what I was hoping for.

“…Stronger how?”

“In battle.”

“Why are you…” I exhale. “…Are you sure? Really sure?”

“Yes. Will you help me?”

Should I?

Or rather… Is it my right to decide whether this is what he truly wants? No, no it isn’t.

“…I could teach you Payback. It’s good coverage.”

“Ah… maybe… no, sorry. I can’t. Dad says Dark moves are immoral, because you have to want to hurt someone for them to work. ‘We’re stronger when Justified’, whatever that means. Can I, uh… learn something else? Sorry.” He scratches an elbow awkwardly.

I hum. Weird hill to die on when you fight for a living.

“Fine. Rayn found a TM on our way here. I checked at the Centre last week, and it’s Shadow Ball. I’ll let you use it. And, of course, I’m happy to help out with whatever in our training, even if I’m busy at other times.”

“…Wow. A TM… Thank you. I’ll make it up to you.”

“Anytime. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for lunch with Maggie. Unless you want to join us?”

“Actually, Mags hasn’t come in yet,” Helen comments.

I blink. “…What? She’s never late.”

“Haven’t seen her today, maybe she’s sick?”

“I saw her last night, she was fine.”

“Got called into work, maybe,” the casino’s not even open this early “or she’s catching up with a friend. Who knows, don’t stress it. We grabbing lunch, then?”

“You go, I’ll wait for her.”

Heading outside the Gym, I search the path up here for signs of my friend, still confused. Did she forget? We’ve made a habit of it by now…

But she said she doesn’t even know people here. Could she really be caught with…

Caught with old friends.

No

I’m running down the hill before I know it.

What path does she take… no shopping, she does that after work. Straight from home then.

I sprint down slopes and staircases to Veilstone’s ground floor, then around the side of the hillock, dodging pedestrians and crossing the street in a split-second between the passing of two cars. Shouts and blaring horns emerge in my wake.

My right leg still aches faintly from the poisoning, but I refuse to slow down.

Am I overreacting? Maybe she just didn’t feel like coming… No, she wouldn’t do that.

A flash of blue down an alleyway, glimpsed for but a moment. I stop.

I’m in her neighborhood now, cheap brutalist buildings and no greenery. The residential streets are empty on a weekday, but the sounds coming from the alley are still hard to catch. These oversensitive ears have to be worth something, though. Straining myself, I start hopping back. Low voices emerge from the windy, amorphous background.

“…ith Jan that one time. Saturn got so mad when we came in hungover the next day, remember?” Maggie.

“Commander Saturn. Yeah, I remember… Jan’s awaiting trial now. Got her locked up, ‘flight risk’ they said. Most of us are.”

“…yeah.”

I edge around the corner of a closed liquor store, peeking into the alleyway. Maggie sits on the ground, a blue-haired woman crouching in front of her. There’s a knife in her hand. A man in grey sweats leans against the opposite wall, hood up to hide his own teal bob, tapping his foot. Twitchy.

“Haven’t seen you when I visit. No one has, as a matter of fact. I asked around.” The woman’s grip on the kitchen knife tightens and slackens erratically.

“…I moved back in with my parents.”

“Hmm… Well you’re here now. New hair, too, I see. Interesting.”

“…yeah.” Her calm voice is betrayed by shaking hands, pressed into the gritty pavement.

What the fuck do I do?

Can’t just charge in, they might panic and hurt her. Maggie’s eyes dart to the alley’s exit, widening as she spots me. I duck out of view.

“Want to leave already, Mags? We have so much to catch up on!”

“N-no, I just… I thought I saw someone.”

“I don’t see anyone. Do you, Kurt?”

“No one,” a male voice grunts.

God, I wish I had a phone.

The street is empty of pedestrians, but a car appears around the corner, heading toward us. I wave frantically at it, but refrain from calling out.

It passes us by.

“…But just in case, go ahead and peek around, make sure we’re not interrupted.”

A noise of assent, and I hear steps heading my way.

Is this my chance? Do I take him out and risk scaring the woman? I’ll have to be fast.

“Lana, please don’t do this. It’s over, we were tricked.”

“NO! IT’S NEVER OVER!” Lana shrieks, loud enough that my ears roll reflexively, “GALACTIC WILL LAST FOREVER!!”

“Ok ok ok I’m sorry I’m sorry put the knife down I’m sorry-”

Go

I burst into the alleyway, almost crashing into Kurt. My ear caves his face in.

Someone screams, and I dash past him towards Maggie. Knife at her throat.

“GET BAC-” I Quick Attack center-mass, throwing Lana into the wall at the back. I feel ribs break.

“Maggie, are you-”

RED

She lays against the wall, hands clutching at her neck. Dripping red.

Oh God, oh Jesus fuck-do I press do I run for help?

I flounder in front of her. “Wha-what do I do!?”

“buh… bag… p-potion…”

Where’s-THERE

Thrown into the back, by the wheezing Lana. A gym bag.

Tear it open, shoveling through towels and clothes. A purple bottle.

Dash back to Maggie. “H-here, take the hands away.”

She shivers, full-body. Blood drips between her fingers.

“C’mon, you have to let me pour it. Please.”

She shuts her eyes. I bite the nozzle off, no time for sprays. The hands come away.

A spurt of red arcs through the air before I’m pouring Potion into the wound, dumping the whole bottle, soaking her face and shirt.

…

The wound slowly knits, forming an ugly brown scab. Thank you.

I track the other two. He moans on the ground, holding broken teeth and a fountaining nose. She breathes weakly, grimacing with every inhale. The knife is lost somewhere. Good enough.

I slump, exhausted.

Slick arms lift me off the ground, pressing me into a soaked chest.

Sometime later, we remember to call the police.

-0-

A closing door and approaching footsteps rouse us from our torpor.

Maggie and I sit on an out-of-the-way couch on the first floor of the station, watching people work. Going back and forth.

She still has the blanket the paramedics gave her, and the wet-wipes got most of the blood. My fur is still uncomfortably sticky in places.

The detective dodges around desks to make his way to us, notepad in hand. His hair is grayed and his skin loose, like he recently lost a lot of weight, but he does his best to look warm.

“Afternoon, I’m Detective Powell. Sorry about the delay, we used Galactic electronics and had to revert to paper for a while. Doing alright, miss? Need anything?” Sounds tired, too. Guess it’s not just a trope. Then again, the whole Galactic situation has probably netted him plenty of overtime recently.

Mags shakes her head lightly. “I’m okay. Do you need us for something?”

“Just to answer some clarifying questions, if that’s alright. I read the statement you gave to responding officers, and I can assure you those two won’t be bothering you again. It’s not exactly a whodunnit. That said, do you know if they targeted you specifically? Not many people out and about at that time.”

Wait. Does he not know?

“I… um… yes. Yes, sir.”

“Oh? You know them, then?”

“We were… co-workers.”

“Beg your pardon?”

“I used to work with them… at… Galactic.” Maggie's voice loses strength as she goes, becoming a whisper by the end.

The warmth in the man’s eyes dissipates.

“Ah. I see.”

“Powell!” a voice calls out from the opposite end of the office space, a younger woman in a neat pantsuit waving a handful of manila folders, “Got the files. Took me a bit longer because I had to fetch three instead of two.”

“Yeah, I gathered. Give it here.”

He flips through them while the woman settles at his side, greeting us with a nod. “Detective Sylvia.”

Powell flips one file around, showing us a printed mugshot. Maggie, sallow and with red-rimmed eyes, still with the teal bob.

“This you?”

“…yes, sir.”

“You’re still blacklisted from owning Pokémon.”

What? Her shirt is stained with her own blood, what are you on about?

“Cleo’s not mine!”

“Whose is it, then?”

“No one’s!” I burst out. “Why are we even talking about this? Those two just tried to kill her!”

Powell blinks, then stares at me.

“The law is the law, even when other things may seem more important,” Sylvia pipes up. “Detective Powell is just trying to get all the facts.”

“Yeah, like why a Buneary just backtalked me.”

“Wha- You knew about this! I made a statement!”

He scowls. “I thought they were joking.”

“Feel free to go read it, then. We’ll wait.”

He fixes me with his gaze. “No need. Just tell me what you were doing there.”

“Maggie was late for lunch. I went to check on her at her apartment. Heard voices in the alley.”

Powell hums, eyeing Maggie askance. “You go on a lot of lunch dates with Wild Pokémon, girl?” Maggie shrinks under his scrutiny.

Motherfucker, “Do I look ‘Wild’ to you?”

“Sylvia, call the Rangers, have the Buneary returned to its natural habitat so I can get back to doing my job.”

“Powell, she’s-” “I work at the Gym, thank you very much. You can have us both dropped off there.”

He huffs. “Maylene’s then. Should’ve just said so.”

“I am not Maylene’s. I work at the Veilstone Gym.”

Powell ignores me. “Sylvia, get Maylene down here. They’ll pay the fine for unsupervised Pokémon and we can get it out of our hair.”

“Pay a fine!?”

He turns back to me, trying to crush me with a glare. Rayn’s is better.

“Yes, pay a fine. Be glad your ‘friend’ actually got hurt, or I’d charge them with assault with a Pokémon.”

“You fucking piece of shi-” “HEY, Hey, let’s chill out! Back up, here!” Sylvia interposes herself between us. “Why are you giving yourself more work, Powell? The Gym will come pick her up and that’ll be that, we can get to work on the case we were assigned. Do you have time for this?”

Something passes between them, and Powell exhales.

“Let’s go, the idiot’s jaw should be healed enough for him to speak by now.”

They walk off. Sylvia looks back with an apologetic expression, but nothing more.

Most of the office eyes the scene with detached curiosity. A couple Growlithe stare at us, wide-eyed, from where they sit at their trainers’ feet. An Electrike studies me with a pensive look. Good.

Maggie releases a long sigh. “You shouldn’t have done that, Cleo…”

I scoff. “Have dignity?”

“Antagonized him… Defended me.”

My head snaps toward her. “Huh?”

“He was right to dislike me. Galactic ruined people’s lives.”

“He said I should be glad you got hurt. Did you hear him calling you ‘girl’? Where did the ‘miss’ go? No. That kind of shit doesn’t fly.”

She still looks vaguely conflicted, but says no more.

We wait for someone from the Gym in morose silence.

As the people we see in the office space start changing, likely at the end of a shift, I inspect my first human friend. She leans her head against the wall behind us, breathing slowly. Hair a mess, shirt ruined by the blood.

Shaken. Tired. Sad.

“Can I move in with you?”

She fails to process my words. “…What?”

“You can’t have Pokémon with you. I want to escort you to and from the Gym. Work, too.”

“Cleo, I can’t ask you to give up time out of your day to just escort me around.”

“Don’t. Just let me.”

“I can’t- It’s too much. I don’t want to be some… some damsel you keep having to save.”

It’s what anyone would have done. I only helped because I was in a position to help. It’s no trouble at all.

I don’t say any of these things. They’re not even true.

Instead… “The first time I met Rayn, we… Well, no, the first time we met, Rayn was trying to kill me.”

Maggie startles. “What?”

“His pride was on the hunt, and they targeted my family. I got away, but as you can imagine, that made our second meeting a bit tense.”

“I imagine it would…”

“He witnessed me being a bit more cunning than my siblings, and I witnessed him being more level-headed than his. I saw an opportunity.”

“It’s interesting to hear about you two, but what does it have to-” “I’m getting there, getting there. So, to capitalize on our potential to work together, I proposed a bargain.”

“…Ok?” Mags mutters, still off-balance.

“This deal dictated the terms of our ceasefire, and it’s since been added to when necessary. Now the bargain sets the terms for our friendship.”

She blinks. “You want to… make a deal?”

“Yup. I help you when I can, you help me when you can. Simple, equal.”

Maggie doesn’t look convinced. “We’re already doing that. That’s just being friends.”

“Ah, but this is a promise. A commitment. Instead of feeling like you owe something, or don’t deserve it, which you totally do by the way, you commit to helping me in return someday.”

“This sounds like you’re just trying to make me feel better.”

“Is it working?”

“…Yes.” She looks to the ceiling for a few seconds, thinking. Something seems to spark in her mind, because she turns back to me with a small smile. “Sure. Ok. It’s a deal. …But you’re not escorting me to work. Mornings when we both go to the Gym are fine, and at night when my shift ends too, I guess, but that’s it.”

I frown. “Half-protection is no-protection.”

“Cleo, you work at the Gym. It’s your job to train; you’re not leaving in the middle of your workday to ferry me to the casino. These are the terms. Take it or leave it.”

“What, we’re haggling now?”

“This is what a deal is, honey. It’s not just what you want.”

You don’t have to look so proud of yourself. “Tsk, fine! Deal. I’ll bring my stuff tonight.”

She snorts. “Your one bag?”

“You got a problem with my bag?”

“No, no, it’s lovely. I especially like the blue ribbon.”

“Got it from an old lady in Celestic Town…”

We banter while we wait, spirits lifted.

-0-

The walk back to the Gym is an awkward affair. Maylene herself comes to pick me up, barefoot and worried, pausing only to check on Maggie and wish her well before spiriting me away from the police station.

Through side-streets and avenues, we traverse Veilstone. My occasional glances at her face reveal a shifting conflict of emotions; her silence not one of stoicism, but of uncertainty.

I let her think.

Eventually, she settles on her approach. “They really gave me an earful over the phone.”

I wince. “Sorry.”

“For what?”

“That… That they gave you an earful.”

She nods to herself, something confirmed. “Not sorry for the rest.”

“No. Should I be?”

Maylene rubs at her face with both hands, pushing them up into her hairline. “I don’t know, Cleo. I’m not good at this. One of the Gym’s Pokémon attacked humans, seriously injured them, and she’s not even sorry. But also, Cleo ran to her friends’ rescue, saving her life from the remnants of Galactic; and she should be punished for it? I just… I don’t know.”

“You are good at this.”

“…At what?”

“This. Being a Gym Leader, being responsible. I can’t imagine the weight you carry, and you’re being thoughtful and considerate, giving me a fair shake. That’s the best I could hope for.”

She sports a little self-deprecating smile. “Thanks, I guess. Doesn’t tell me what to do. But I suppose that’s my job.”

We just walk for a couple minutes, digesting the day.

I hear Maylene take a forceful breath. “Ok. Match review. Did you make any mistakes?”

“Oh, uhh… I don’t think so?”

“Wrong. You were at the Gym, surrounded by people who could help you. Have a Gym Trainer come to give you legitimacy, have Riolu get me and inform me. As soon as you spot Maggie, call the police and keep an ear on the situation from cover, only intervening if it turns imminently dangerous.”

…Ah. I don’t have a phone… but a Gym Trainer would.

“Even without a phone, when the responding officers arrive, get them to call me immediately. Don’t sit there until a Detective calls to tell me the Wild Pokémon in my Gym has assaulted two people and I have to come get her and pay a fine. We thought you were out for lunch!”

Crap. Ok maybe I did make a couple missteps.

“I… Yeah, sorry. I panicked and just ran. Didn’t start thinking until I was already there.”

She nods tightly. “I’m the Gym Leader, Cleo. It’s my duty to deal with these things. When you run off alone, it discredits and besmirches us. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Gym Leader.”

“Good.” Her posture relaxes. “Now the other half. I’m so proud of you.”

The whiplash has me stumbling, and I struggle to shift gears. “…Thank you?”

“What you did was heroic. That anyone would call it assault is concerning, and frankly a bit sickening.”

I’m left speechless.

“Your goal of making people and Pokémon peers has given me a lot to think about lately. I see you training with the Hitmons. They’re having the time of their lives watching you grow. In a way, I should’ve seen you’d have trouble asking the Trainers for help. You haven’t done it once in the month you’ve been with us.”

I… guess I haven’t. They’re not my Trainers, but… Or, rather, they’re trainers, not my Pokémon Trainers. The fact that the term comes with so many connotations of obedience and possessiveness that have nothing to do with training is… disturbing. But unsurprising.

Maylene tastes her next words carefully, chewing on them before speaking.

“Maybe you don’t know this, but a Pokémon injuring a human is an incredibly serious thing. If a Trainer uses their-a Pokémon to attack someone, that carries a heavier sentence than using any other weapon.” She huffs briefly. “Pokémon are considered weapons in the legal sense… how have I never noticed that? Regardless, the reason for this is because it’s considered a terrible crime to make a Pokémon believe they can attack humans. Assault with a Pokémon is worse than ‘regular’ murder.”

She grabs at the air with her hand, trying to encapsulate her thoughts. “I’d always considered that fair. ‘How evil to force a Pokémon to hurt someone’. But… It’s not that, is it? People hurting each other is always evil. No. It’s ‘They don’t know good from evil, they’re wild beasts that have to be tamed’. And that’s… not right. Not at all.”

She stops and kneels, putting her hands on my shoulders. “I now believe that Pokémon deserve more than they have. I’ll support you wholeheartedly, as will the Gym. I look forward to the day Lucario and I run the Gym as co-Leaders.”

Maylene gives me a light shake, pleading for her words to be heard. “All you have to do, is remember that humans can be your allies too.”

My eyes moisten. I don’t know what to do with my hands.

“I’ll… I’ll try.”

“Starting now. Anything I can do?”

I rack my brain for-oh. “I’m moving to Maggie’s apartment. I’ll be coming in to train in the morning and leaving at night.”

She hums. “Ok. I’ll adjust your regimen to include a hill sprint every day. No eating anything outside the plan.”

I give her my best salute. “Yes, Gym Leader!”

She nods, smiling. “Come on, let’s go eat. You missed lunch and it’s past three.”

My hunger manifests in an instant, vast and yawning. “Oh, Arceus, yes!”

“And you’ll apologize to the staff and Riolu after.”

“…Yes, Gym Leader.”