Gabby Sciarra stood in the courtyard of Mauville City, Hoenn's bright and shiny testament to modernity, wealth, and power, and hated every inch of it. She didn't want to be here! She wanted to be on the routes, scouting hotshot young trainers and pressing them for interviews. Kids were so much more fun than adults—they were always nervous, or else they were cocky, and either way, when she asked them about the latest scandals, she got sound bites that the League suits and their PR teams would never have let slip through official channels. Like that one trainer who'd almost been mauled in Petalburg Woods—that was real! That was raw! That got ratings.
But no, TVM had ordered her all the way back to Mauville to cover the tail end of some corporate drama. The Devon Corporation had finally completed buying out the remains of Greater Mauville Holdings, and sure, that was important, but it wasn't her brand. Just because Wattson had been on the GMH board at one point, that didn't mean this was League news. And now they'd called a press conference, and she was going to have to listen to some no-name corporate shill yammer on about smooth transitions and serving the people of Mauville City and working towards the future… What a snooze.
Except Gabby was wrong. When the doors at the side of the stage opened, it wasn't some no-name corporate shill who walked out. It was Wattson himself. Gabby snapped to attention and grabbed Ty's arm. "Get him in frame!" she hissed. Ty grunted and swiveled the camera to capture the leader's face. Oh, he looked awful. Wattson was the oldest leader in Hoenn, but he'd never shown his age quite like this. Heavy bags framed his eyes, and his skin was dull and sagging. Either his makeup artist had been off their game today, or something was up. And then a second figure entered from the wings, and all Gabby's fears of a boring press conference went out the window.
He wasn't much to look at. He was taller than Wattson, but thinner, with Kantonian features. He wore a finely tailored grey suit, expensive shoes, and silver-rimmed glasses. Except for his hair, which was cut long and pulled back into a slick ponytail, and the fact that he wasn't wearing a tie, he could have been an extra on any Saffron City boardroom prestige drama. Gabby knew better. That was Jin Astemir, and he had, in fact, walked out of a Saffron City boardroom. He'd been a rising star at Silph before being poached by Devon shortly after the Calamity—rumor had it that Steven Stone had scouted him personally, and Jin's meteoric rise through the ranks at Devon only served to reinforce that. Barely a year after joining Devon, he'd been announced as the company's new CEO. And Gabby knew, because it was her job to know, that he was also a powerful trainer in his own right.
Why Wattson, when he hadn't been on the GMH board in years? Why Jin, instead of Devon's press secretary?
Gabby had a sneaking suspicion this was about to become League news after all.
Wattson approached the podium, and Jin took a seat in a folding chair to the side. The other reporters in the audience were reaching the same conclusion Gabby had, and the crowd had come alive. Voices rose and mingled into a special kind of buzz as they tried to be simultaneously loud enough to be heard and quiet enough not to be picked up by their own cameras' microphones. Then Wattson raised a hand, and everyone fell silent at once.
"Thank you all for coming," he said. His voice sounded just as rough as he looked; there was no trace of his usual cheer. "Now, I know you're here talk about Greater Mauville Holdings' sale to Devon Corporation, and the man behind me will get to that in a moment. But first, I have an announcement to make." He sighed, scratched the side of his face, and flicked his gaze momentarily down to the floor. Gabby leaned forward. This couldn't be—he wasn't going to—
"After thirty-six years serving as Gym Leader of Mauville City, I regret to announce that I will be resigning from my position." The audience broke into chaos. Reporters surged forward, shoving and fighting their colleagues as each tried to reach to the barricade around the stage. Gabby grabbed Ty and pushed ahead as well. Somebody elbowed her in the ribs, but she ignored it. She had to get closer. Questions rose above the din, and Wattson brushed them aside with a wave of his hand. "No, my wife didn't make me do this. And no, this has nothing to do with my health. I'll be around for a long time yet. Just figured it was time to hand things off to the next generation." He grinned, but without his normal booming laugh, the expression seemed hollow. "Speaking of, I'm sure you'd all like to meet the young man who's going to replace me—"
"Leader Wattson!" A reporter from Hoenn Regional News broke through the throng and the barricades to reach the edge of the stage. "Was this handover part of the terms of the Devon Corporation's buyout?"
Wattson scowled. "Who told you to ask me that? I've never let business interfere with my duties as leader, and I haven't started now."
"But you have to admit that the timing—"
"I don't have to admit to anything," Wattson snapped. "Shame on you for spreading rumors. Now, do you want to keep pestering an old man with gossip, or do you want to meet your next gym leader?" The crowd rippled and murmured, and everyone ignored as two black-clad security agents slipped through to usher the HRN reporter away. Gabby smirked. He'd shot his shot too early. She was going to make her questions count, and it would take more than a couple of goons to shut her up.
Like a switch being flipped, Wattson's scowl was replaced with his signature wide smile, and he clapped his hands. "All right, then! It's my great pleasure to be the first to introduce—Jin Astemir, the new gym leader of Mauville City!"
It was practically a riot. Reporters made a second rush for the stage, waving microphones, shouting questions. Jin paid them no mind as he stood up, strode forward, and extended a hand to Wattson. Wattson gripped it with both of his own, swallowing it completely in his meaty palms. Jin leaned forward and said something inaudible, and Wattson, still with a forced grin, said something back. Then Wattson vanished through the door at the side of the stage, and Jin took his place at the podium.
"Some of you may have had dealings with me before." His voice was smooth and low, with a crisp, refined edge. "For those who haven't, it's my pleasure to meet you. I look forward to a long and prosperous tenure as leader of Mauville City—"
"Leader Jin!" A reporter from Slateport Daily broke through the barricade and landed half on top of the stage. "Does this mean it's true that Devon intends to take a role in the day-to-day governance of Mauville City?"
Jin shook his head. "My position here is as a gym leader, not as a representative of Devon. I will be acting solely in Mauville's interests." He gave a subtle signal with his hand, and more security staff came and took the reporter away. But there were others lined up to replace her. The Wingull Times came next.
"Does that mean you'll be resigning from your position as Devon's CEO?"
"No." A new volley of shouts and questions, and Jin's smile tightened. "No need to be shocked. It's not as though I'm the first person to hold both a League role and a business position on the side."
Security was losing control. Gabby saw one of the agents on the perimeter speak into a radio, and she knew they were on the verge of shutting this down. That meant she had to act now. She signaled Ty, and then burst forward through the bodies ahead of her, shoving them aside with strength disproportionate to her small frame. One particularly stubborn reporter from the Lilycove Circular refused to move; she kicked him in the shins and kept going when he stumbled. Nothing got between her and her story. At last, she made it to the stage, standing atop the fallen barricade with Jin looming directly above her. She thrust up her microphone.
"Leader Jin! Your appointment means there are now three League officials that were hand-appointed by Devon interests. Is Devon's ultimate goal to take over the League itself?" The crowd around her fell respectfully silent, and though Gabby kept her Serious Reporter Face on, inside, she was beaming. She lived for this—turning everyone's heads by asking just the right questions. Jin peered down at her, fixing her with cold eyes and a small frown. He was trying to make her feel small. It didn't work.
"I'm not sure I follow," he said. "If you're referring to Steven, he earned his position legitimately, as did I—and he's retired now, if you recall."
"Steven gave his position as Champion over to Wallace, who in turn gave his position as Sootopolis leader to Juan, both bypassing the normal approvals process. And now we have the CEO of Devon edging out Wattson, just as their deal goes through—"
"Are you implying that I got this position not through merit, but through corporate dealings?" His face was still carefully arranged, but there was a storm going on behind it—she could tell. Gabby scoffed.
"Do you expect anyone to believe that this is just a coincidence? Tell me, what's next? Are you going to try and get one of your number in the Elite Four?"
Jin signaled again, and the remainder of the security force began moving in on the audience. Flashes of light popped with the release of a dozen crowd-control Machoke and Kadabra. Gabby braced herself for all she was worth.
"This press conference is over. If the media can't be civilized, then there's no point in trying to hold a conversation." His voice was as hard as steel, and as he spun on his heel and walked off the stage, he didn't give a single backward glance. Gabby kept shouting questions after him, as did everyone else, until the Machoke finally pulled her away.
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There was a protest in front of the Rustboro City Gym. That wasn't what surprised Hayley; she'd seen pictures of the crowd flash by on the news. What surprised her was the familiar face standing up front.
"The people of Hoenn are not for sale! Tell Roxanne to say no to Devon's power grab!" The protesters shouted and cheered, and the speaker clenched his fist tighter around his megaphone. It was the same person she'd met on the outskirts of Rustboro, the one who had lectured her about the League. His sunglasses were gone, and she could see now that he was definitely a few years older than her. His eyes were narrowed and hard as he spoke again, and his gelled white hair glinted under the sun.
"Devon has a monopoly on Hoenn's technology! They have a monopoly on our pharmaceuticals! And now they're trying to get a monopoly on the League!" The protesters roared again, raising their fists and stamping their feet. Hayley narrowly avoided taking an accidental fist to the eye, and she tried to step back, only to find that the crowd had already closed behind her. The police at the edge of the throng had made her recall Barrett, and she was glad he wasn't at risk of being trampled, but without him, she felt horribly exposed. Almost everyone here was older, taller, and stronger than her, and they barely seemed to notice her as they jostled her back and forth.
"Mauville City is a warning! Devon isn't going to stop until they run the entire region!" A middle-aged woman next to Hayley raised a sign—it said Down with Devon, and featured an amateurish but expressive caricature of Steven Stone crossed out with a bold red X. "They expect us to lie back and accept it! They think we're too helpless to fight back! But we can fight back, and it starts here!" He whipped around and pointed at the gym building looming behind him. "Rustboro is Devon's seat of power, and Roxanne is the power behind Rustboro. Tell Roxanne we're not going to stand for this. Tell her she needs to hit Devon where it hurts. Run them out of town, order an embargo on their products, raid their offices, arrest Steven Stone! Whatever it takes! And if she won't do it, then we will! Down with Devon!" He flung down his megaphone, turned back to the crowd, and raised his arms. The yelling and shouting reached a fever pitch, and to Hayley's shock, some of the people around her began moving forward—towards the gym. Were they actually planning to storm it?
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
They didn't get a chance. A sudden, piercing headache doubled Hayley, and almost everyone else, over with pain. A voice rang in her head: You are ordered to disperse. Please leave in an orderly fashion and return to your homes. Hayley winced and forced herself upright again, and she caught sight of a Gallade standing at the front of the crowd. Anyone who remains will be cited for disturbing the peace. Anyone who trespasses onto League property will be arrested.
The protesters, recovering one by one, broke into jeers and shouting. The leader scowled and spat something at the Gallade that was lost in all the noise. The Gallade responded by raising an arm, and an invisible force pushed the boy back into the horde. A few more people sprang forward, but shimmering barriers sprang up to block their path. The voice came again, driving into Hayley's skull like nails. You are ordered to disperse…
Hayley didn't want to get mixed up in whatever was happening here. She glanced around for an escape, but before she could take a single step, somebody slammed into her and knocked her to the ground. A foot landed hard on her ribs, and another smacked the side of her face—she cried out, but the protesters either couldn't see her or couldn't avoid her, and more blows rained down. She couldn't breathe, not because of panic this time, but because there just wasn't enough space, not enough air. Her vision started to blur.
And then suddenly, the bodies atop her were shoved to the side, and a dark, hovering shape appeared in their place, and then she had the sense of being—folded? Or maybe space folding around her?—and all at once, she was lying on grass instead of cobblestone, and the noise of the crowd had disappeared.
She shot up, new bruises singing in protest, and grabbed Barrett's ball from her belt. The Magby appeared before her, looking just as pissed as he had when she'd told him she needed to recall him for a few minutes. But his scowl melted away to a gape as he, along with Hayley, caught sight of what had brought them here.
It was massive, larger than Hayley by far, and only made taller by the fact that it was floating above the ground. Its dark body looked almost like hardened clay, and it was embellished throughout with strange white sigils. And it had eyes—so many eyes, huge and red, arranged in a circle around its head, and as it spun slowly, each of them stared at her in turn.
"She won't hurt you." Hayley tore her eyes from the Claydol to see the familiar boy walking towards it. His hair was mussed, but he looked otherwise untouched by the chaos. He laid a hand on the thing's surface, and it stopped turning. A strange kind of hum, almost like the chime of a tuning fork, came from somewhere inside its body. "I think she likes you, actually."
"'She?'" Hayley repeated stupidly, still not sure that she shouldn't run. The voice of useless trivia had chimed in at the back of her mind to insist it was almost positive that Claydol were genderless.
"Asmarta. She teleported me out, then she decided to go back and grab you."
"Why?"
"I don't know. Like I said, maybe she just likes you." The Claydol, Asmarta, hummed again, and then floated away from the boy's hand to resume spinning. "I didn't expect to see you at the protest. I didn't think you were the political type."
"I—I had an appointment with Roxanne. For the Stone Badge." Hayley was filled with the overwhelming urge to stare at her shoes, but she ignored it and kept her eyes fixed on him. "I didn't think there'd be that many people."
"So you were an innocent bystander that got caught in the crossfire." Why was he mocking her, when he was the one who'd caused all the trouble? "What did you think of our message?"
"It was…" She fumbled for words, stealing a glance at Asmarta again. Was this going to turn ugly, if she said the wrong thing? Finally, she settled on asking, "Were you really going to storm Roxanne's gym?"
He shrugged, unbelievably nonchalant for someone who'd been inciting a rebellion just three minutes ago. "I knew they were going to stop us. League security's too tight for anyone to force their way in like that."
"What if they'd attacked you?"
"They wouldn't. It's bad optics to use force on a bunch of unarmed protestors." He glanced at something in the distance, and following his gaze, Hayley realized they hadn't teleported very far at all—the top of the gym building was still visible, several blocks away. "Anyway, even if we'd gotten in, it wouldn't have mattered. Roxanne's all in for Devon; she won't listen to anything we have to say. You know half of her fossil Pokémon are gifts from Steven Stone?"
She hadn't known that. Hayley rubbed at a growing bruise on her arm. "Are you going to tell me not to battle her, then? If she's part of your system?"
He turned back to her and gave a strange half-grin. "So you remember our talk from before. Have you given any more thought to what I asked you?"
Do you want to keep competing in this rigged game the system set up for you? Or do you want to break out of it?
She'd been trying to put the question out of her head, and being reminded of it rankled her. She frowned. "I'm not dropping out, if that's what you mean. I won't quit just because you told me to." Beside her, Barrett prodded her leg and huffed. He was getting bored. The boy nodded towards him.
"Is that the Pokémon that hates you?"
"I—yes." Hayley clenched her fists at her sides and tried not to turn bright red. Barrett snorted, as though the boy had said something extremely funny. "We're working on it."
"Good for you," the boy said, and for just a moment, the sarcastic edge to his words disappeared. But it came right back when he opened his mouth again. "So, I guess I'm keeping both of you from your gym battle, huh? Go on." He gestured in the direction of the gym. "You've probably got an hour or two before the crowd comes back. Ask Roxanne about the things I've told you, or don't. It doesn't matter; she won't tell you the truth either way."
Hayley scoffed, and she was about to leave it at that, but then she realized something—something that bothered her. "Why were you protesting in front of the gym in the first place? If you knew you wouldn't get in, and you knew Roxanne wouldn't listen to you even if you did, why were you telling people to go run in and talk to her? What was the point?"
"To send a message," he replied, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Roxanne doesn't care about any of us individually, but she can't ignore a mob at her door. She knows we're out here, and she knows we're working to make her life hell. Sooner or later, she'll have to make a move."
"And if her move is to get you all arrested?"
"Then we'll deal with that when we come to it." He raised a hand and beckoned, and Asmarta floated over. "If you're sticking around Rustboro, we might cross paths again. Tell me your name?"
"Hayley," she said, and immediately regretted it. She didn't want to see him again. The boy nodded.
"I'm Ennis. Look me up when you've had enough of battling and you're ready to start fighting." He placed a hand on Asmarta's side, and the air rippled, and then he was gone.
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Hayley didn't ask Roxanne about any of the things Ennis had said. She didn't want anyone at the gym to know she'd been in that crowd—it would only cause trouble if people thought she was a protester. And so she stood at the battlefield with her lips pressed together, blocking out the pain from her bruises and scrapes, one eye on Barrett and one on the gym leader. She had to ignore everything else that had happened. She had to think.
Roxanne's battlefield was hard-packed clay punctuated with huge slabs of rock. The fields in the gym trainer room had had a few boulders, but these were on another level; some of them had to be ten feet tall. A number were cracked, shattered, or cleaved straight through, and their remains littered the field as gravel. The biggest rocks were off to the sides, and while the center of the battlefield was the most scarred, it also had the clearest lines of sight. If Barrett stayed there, she'd be able to see what he was doing. Not that it mattered. He probably wouldn't listen to most of her commands.
"Remember what we talked about," she said. Barrett scoffed. "I mean it. No using cross chop, no using anything like a cross chop. Don't start attacking until the referee says to go. And stop attacking when I tell you to, or you're going in your ball for a week." Barrett's back was to her, but she could feel him rolling his eyes.
The referee stepped into position. Three Magnemite fitted with cameras floated down from the ceiling, one getting uncomfortably close to Hayley's face. She tried not to grimace. Right—everybody would be watching. She couldn't screw this up.
The referee raised his hand and spoke. "This is a first-tier gym challenge between Hayley Summers and Leader Roxanne. The format will be a two on two single battle. The challenger is allowed one substitution."
Not that that would help her. She only had one Pokémon.
"Standard League rules are in place. Leader Roxanne, send out your first Pokémon."
Roxanne bowed her head, just as she had for Melinda's battle, and sent out her usual Geodude. Hayley couldn't tell if it was the same one Melinda had fought, but it probably wasn't—gyms stocked huge numbers of low-level Pokémon for low-tier battles. Barrett stepped forward and growled.
This was it.
"Begin!"
Barrett charged forward like a linebacker taking off at the whistle. Hayley shouted "Ember!"—but it wasn't so much a command as it was calling out what Barrett was going to do anyway. Barrett still refused to start battles in any way besides "run straight at it and hit it with fire."
"Rock throw, barrage." The Geodude smacked the ground with both hands, and it exploded into a shower of rocks as the clay transmuted to stone. Before the rocks could hit the ground, the Geodude snatched them and flung them, one after the other, at Barrett.
"Dodge!" Barrett ducked around the rocks coming his way, but he refused to change his course. He kept going in a straight line, even as one of the rocks clipped the top of his head and another hit him in the shoulder. As he closed the last few yards of distance to his opponent, he inhaled deeply, ready to fire.
"Evade." With movements that seemed far too quick for its size and weight, the Geodude hefted itself onto its palms and cartwheeled to the right. Barrett tracked its movements and spat a volley of embers at its new position, but the Geodude hopped from hand to hand and avoided them entirely. "Counterattack." Still on one hand, the Geodude pivoted into a wide arc and swung its free hand behind Barrett, smacking him hard on the back. Barrett yelped and toppled forward.
This thing was fast. Hayley had seen videos of Roxanne's Geodude before, and she'd known they could be surprisingly nimble, but seeing it in person—it was just insane. "Barrett, get up! Use ember!" The Magby grunted and pushed himself to his feet. He lunged at the Geodude again, beak already sparking and smoking, and shot a clump of embers at its face. The Geodude dropped to the ground and crossed its arms over its body, and the sparks bounced harmlessly against the back of its rocky hands. They'd barely even left a mark.
"Sand attack." The Geodude rolled itself backwards and grabbed two handfuls of clay dirt from the battlefield. Hayley shouted for Barrett to dodge, but he ignored her; he was already preparing another ember. The Geodude's attack was faster, though, and it caught Barrett in the face before he could finish. Barrett hissed and swiped at his eyes, his aborted fire attack disappearing into black smoke. "Now tackle."
"Dodge!" Hayley yelled again. "Dodge to your left!" Barrett squinted one eye open just in time to see the Geodude barrel straight into his chest. He landed flat on his back with a grunt and a thud. The Geodude kept rolling, completing a perfect somersault, then caught itself with one hand and spun itself around like a basketball.
It was toying with them, Hayley realized. It didn't think they were enough of a threat to take the battle seriously—and Roxanne clearly agreed, because she wasn't doing anything to stop it. It flipped itself backwards and landed on top of a rock, and then started making a low, gravelly noise. Was it laughing?
"Finish this up with Rollout." The Geodude hopped off its perch and tucked its arms into its body. It began rolling in slow circles around the battlefield as Barrett staggered to his feet, smoke pouring from his mouth and daggers shooting from his eyes. He wasn't out yet.
"Barrett, you can do this! Like we practiced!" She'd drilled him with the soccer ball for just this reason. "Dodge to the side and strafe with ember!" But Barrett didn't dodge. Instead, he hunched his shoulders and ran straight at the Geodude. Hayley had a sickening flashback to his battle with Mona, except this time his arms weren't crossed—they were raised. As the Geodude spun around and began its final roll towards Barrett, Barrett gave a war cry and charged to meet it. His embers coalesced into a mini-flamethrower and struck their target dead-on. For a moment, Hayley dared to hope.
But it wasn't enough. The Geodude rolled through the flames like they were nothing and smashed straight into Barrett's chest. Barrett flew several feet through the air and then bounced on the ground for several more, until a rock finally caught him and stopped him in his path. He didn't get up. Hayley yelled his name and ran to check on him. Off to the side, the Geodude was strutting around on its hands, making pleased, rocky noises from somewhere in the back of its throat.
"The challenger is out of Pokémon," the referee called, as Hayley knelt next to Barrett. "The winner is Roxanne of Rustboro City gym!"