Chapter Fifty-Four - Small Mistakes, Small Respect

Tabitha was concerned about many things. She had... made a mistake.

She wasn't her sister, who so rarely made mistakes that she never had to learn to deal with the consequences of her own failures. No, Tabitha made plenty of errors. She was reminded of them constantly. It wasn't like her parents had the gift the way she and her sister did. They were the first persons she'd learned how to read the thoughts of.

In any case, this newest mistake was a whole new one. She'd beaten someone, tried to prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that she was stronger, and all that had ended up doing was creating a rift between herself and the two girls she wanted to call friends.

Well, perhaps there was only a rift with one of them?

Broccoli, for all of her incredible openness and the cleanliness of her mind, was... actually hard to read?

If the average person was clutching onto their precious thoughts like an angry librarian huddled around a precious book, Broccoli was like... an overeager librarian dragging others into an archive filled over capacity with open books ready to be read.

It was obfuscation via openness. Giving away so much that Tabitha had no idea how to parse it all.

In any case, she didn't think that Broccoli was angry or upset with her. She'd spent some time this Saturday with the girl to be sure, and was positive of her assessment.

Jazz, on the other hand... Tabitha, when she'd first met Jazz, had dismissed her. Even later as they fought, she'd seen Jazz as someone chasing a dream that simply didn't matter to Tabitha. Another young hopeful in a sea of them.

Now? Now Tabitha wasn't sure what she thought.

She found her seat in the Azalea Town Gym's stands. These were guarded by a League kadabra who lazily put up a barrier between the spectators and the main arena even as the day's next event was prepared. Broccoli and Jazz were both missing from the stands, and for obvious reasons.

She sat up a little straighter as the gym's lights flashed on and then shifted to one end of the arena. The referee, a man bored with his job but still giving it his all, spoke up. "And now! A warm Azalea welcome for the bug master! Bugsy!"

There was some polite, even enthusiastic clapping.

"Facing him, a young hopeful with one badge under her belt, coming from the not-so-distant Violet City, Jazz Poison!"

Tabitha joined in the polite clapping this time as Jazz stomped to her side of the gym. She had fought Jazz and had been... not terribly impressed? Jazz might have had some talent, but it was far from being realized. She needed a lot of work still to find her footing and train her pokemon, and she was starting late if she wanted to get anywhere.

Tabitha was starting late as well. She didn't put much thought into it, however. Late was late, but Tabitha at least knew what she was doing. She wasn't sure it was the same for Jazz.

And yet...

The referee went over the rules, and Jazz gave her consent with a nod and a clipped "I understand."

And then the fight started with a clear, excited "Battle... begin!"

"Go, Metapod," Bugsy said as he tossed a pokeball out.

Jazz nodded, as if to herself. "Go, Zubat!"

Her zubat appeared in a wash of red and flew in a quick circle while crying out his name. It wasn't just a show, he was using the sound to echolocate. A slight but serious disadvantage that pokemon had which could also be a big advantage against certain specific moves. It needed a moment after being released from its ball to scan its environment, but it could see right through moves like Smokescreen.

"Metapod, Harden," Bugsy said. The young gym leader leaned onto the long net-tipped pole he carried around with him as he watched the battlefield.

"Supersonic," Jazz said.

The screech went out, hitting the immobile metapod with ease. The metapod gathered some Normal-type energy and reinforced itself. "Again," Bugsy said.

Jazz's eyes narrowed. "Get in there and Poison Fang," she said.

"Zu!" her zubat shouted before rushing towards the metapod. It was already finishing its second Harden.

"Tackle!" Bugsy said.

The metapod lurched forwards towards the zubat who weaved to the side and flew up to regain some altitude. It was already turning to get back to the metapod, and with the metapod's slowness...

"Harden again," Bugsy said.

Tabitha nodded slowly. The Tackle had been there to gain some time, then. The metapod got another Harden off, and then Zubat was almost on him and...

And Bugsy recalled his pokemon.

Tabitha blinked.

"Sorry, I don't want to use pokemon that are above your level, but I've seen what you and your friends can do," Bugsy said. "It wouldn't be fair if I didn't treat you with due respect."

He hadn't said anything like that to Tabitha. Then again, he'd used a second badge team on her, she was certain of it. She'd still rolled over it, but... interesting. She couldn't get much from the gym leader's thoughts. Too many other people, too much distance, and gym leaders usually had a sort of aura to them that precluded easy psychic reading.

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Recalling his metapod now was tactically interesting. The Hardens would wear off, but not entirely. A pokemon buffing themselves with some intent to keep the buff going would be able to keep some of the benefits even after being recalled and re-released mid-battle. Most of those Hardens would wear off, but there had been three in a row.

Interesting.

Jazz tsked, but she wasn't down anything at the moment. Zubat wasn't tired out by a little bit of acrobatic flying and she hadn't used any overly strong moves.

"Go, Scyther!" Bugsy said.

A large scyther appeared on his end of the arena. The pokemon was a bipedal preying mantis, tall enough to reach Tabitha's chest, with bladed arms as long as her forearm. They were a Bug-catcher's dream pokemon in many ways, and one of the poster pokemon of the type.

And they were a clear step up in danger and threat. "Scythe!"

"Scyther, Leer!"

The pokemon glared at zubat with pure hatred and barely contained rage. Behind it, Bugsy dropped to one knee, as if to better see from his shorter pokemon's viewpoint.

"Zubat, Supersonic," Jazz said.

"No dodging that," Bugsy muttered. "Focus Energy. Don't allow yourself to be confused."

"Now, get in close, Poison Fang," Jazz shouted.

Zubat rushed in, its foe's head was wobbling slightly with the after effects of its sonic attack, and Tabitha could feel Scyther trying to fight through it and failing. That was, until Zubat was almost on it, mouth opened wide and dripping with poison.

"Fury Cutter," Bugsy said.

Zubat chomped down on the scyther's shoulder. A moment later the bat screeched as the scyther started to cut into it. The positioning was awkward for both of them, but that didn't matter too much. Zubat let go and tried to fly back, only to earn another cut across its chest.

Jazz winced, and Tabitha could feel the sudden spike of despair. "Absorb while you're still close, make room!"

It worked, some small amount of energy was pulled from the scyther, healing Zubat a little, but only a very little. Grass-type moves had a serious type disadvantage here.

"Get in close, Quick Attack," Bugsy said.

His scyther did just that, blurring forwards and up into the air. Tabitha suspected that Jazz had forgotten that scyther could fly.

He was smacked out of the air, but before hitting the ground, Jazz recalled him in a safe wash of red energy. "I'm switching him out," she called to the ref.

It was a little dirty to recall a pokemon mid-attack, though it could be argued that the attack had landed already. It was the crash that hadn't. Zubat wasn't entirely out of the fight yet, but it was a near thing.

"Go, Bellsprout," Jazz said.

Tabitha wanted to shake her head. Another type disadvantage. Made worse by scyther's ability to fly and Bellsprout's limited range.

"Scyther, get in and Fury Cutter," Bugsy ordered.

"Bell, Poison Powder, all out!" Jazz shouted.

The bellsprout sucked in a deep breath, then shouted out its own name even as it spat out a deluge of poisonous powder. Tabitha was reluctantly impressed by the sheer amount. It was clearly a well-practised move.

The scyther shot into the cloud and sliced... at nothing. The Bellsprout had moved.

The crowd couldn't see it, but Tabitha could sense what had happened. Bellsprout had fallen down and rolled out of the way. It's tiny stature coming in handy. "Vine Whip," Jazz ordered, and a series of cracks sounded out.

Scyrther flew back and out of the poisonous cloud, clearly angry at having missed... and poisoned as well. He coughed faintly, then glared harder.

"Scyther, beat your wings hard, let's clear the air a little," Bugsy said. Not a move, just an application of basic physics empowered by a pokemon's type energy. It worked, pushing the powder away and clearing some space to see.

"Now!" Jazz said.

Scyther had landed to make better use of its wings to clear the air, so it was at ground level when Bellsprout came rushing at it as quick as its little roots could take it.

"Fury Cutter," Bugsy ordered.

A slash landed, clearly cutting the Bellsprout deep before he could arrive, but it didn't stop the little pokemon from Wrap-ing around the scyther and tightening its grip.

Jazz grinned, and it was a mean expression. "Acid," she said.

Tabitha hummed. Maybe Jazz was worthy of some small amount of respect. She'd have to redouble her efforts to impress the girl. Maybe beating her in a few days? Wait... no, that hadn't worked last time.

Why were people so complicated even when she could read their minds?

***