The next week was an unmitigated disaster. Either losing to Roxanne had seriously damaged Hayley's mojo, or a Ninetales somewhere was mad at her for reasons she didn't understand.
It started with a storm system blowing in from the south. Rustboro was drenched in rain for several days straight, which drove Hayley's training indoors. Yeah, she knew that staying out in the elements would make them tough, but it wasn't really her decision—Barrett was barely putting up with her as it was, and making him run laps in a downpour would probably make him mutiny. So they had to have their battle practice and training drills in the local arena instead of the Pokémon Center battlefield and parks, and it turned out that the arenas were where all the real trainers liked to hang out. Barrett's win rate took a nosedive as they racked up loss after loss after loss, and soon, Hayley was hearing whispers and snickers every time she stepped up to the field. Which would have been bad enough on its own, but halfway through third straight day of failure, Hayley glanced at the crowd and saw Melinda smirking at her.
Melinda, as it happened, had been dominating the arena for two straight weeks, and had developed something of a following. Her Bagon remained undefeated by every zero- and one-badge challenger, and had even beaten a fair number of two-badge trainers. She didn't have a second Pokémon yet—everything around Rustboro was "too weak," Hayley overheard her lamenting, and she was planning to find something worth her time in Granite Cave instead, "if her idiot partner ever managed to beat Roxanne." Hayley recalled that her partner was Kei, a short, bubbly girl with an Azurill. Poor Kei; if this was how Melinda talked about her in public, she could only imagine what she was saying to her face.
Hayley very pointedly did not talk to Melinda. She'd tried to forget she'd seen her at all. But from that point on, every time Barrett took a hit that knocked him to the floor, she felt Melinda's eyes on her, watching and judging—even when she wasn't anywhere to be seen.
That wasn't all. Halfway through the week, Hayley took a trip to a dojo to see if they could help improve Barrett's cross chop technique. Surprise, surprise, he didn't listen to the trainers there, either. Every time he was asked to use the move, he would stand there with his arms stubbornly crossed. If the instructor kept pushing, Barrett would eventually headbutt the punching bag they'd laid out for him, or if he felt particularly salty, he'd shoot it with his embers. Finally, after he tried for the third time to pick a fight with the sensei's towering Hariyama, they were politely but firmly asked to leave. And then Barrett had the nerve to act like she had embarrassed him.
Barrett was actually getting worse. Any progress they'd made together in the days leading up to their first gym battle had been wiped away by their losing streak. Barrett liked fighting tough opponents, but he hated losing, and he'd very quickly started blaming Hayley every time he got knocked out. Never mind that he didn't listen to her most of the time anyway; it was all somehow her fault. He'd stopped looking at her when she talked to him. He turned his back to her while they ate their meals. He was slacking in their afternoon drills, and no amount of coaxing or bribery or praise for Xena would get him to take them seriously again. She'd had to resort to threats, saying that if he didn't do his drills, she wouldn't let him battle the next morning. He hadn't believed her, and when she'd released him in a practice room instead of a battlefield at seven o'clock the next day, he'd tried to burn everything around him in a fiery tantrum.
Hayley checked the Trainer's Eyes app several times a day, even though she knew she shouldn't. Her anxiety turned to a crushing misery when she saw the Stone Badge pop up next to Chad's name, then next to Howie's. Howie had softened up Roxanne's Geodude and Nosepass with a Seedot before clinching a clean victory with Mona, and Chad had beaten both of her Pokémon with his Machop. One Pokémon, just like Melinda. Caleb had lost his match, but it was close; Roxanne's Nosepass had been moments away from falling when it landed a lucky rock throw that fainted his Poochyena. Hayley knew all this because she'd watched their battle videos—even though she knew she shouldn't. She texted Howie her congratulations, but avoided him afterwards whenever she spotted him in the lobby or the cafeteria. Caleb was almost definitely going to win his rematch next week, and then the three of them would be off to Dewford Town, leaving her behind. They'd probably forget she even existed.
It wasn't just Hayley that was cursed. The next contest came and went, and Clarissa took second place. Connie didn't rank. She hadn't even qualified for the battle round. Marcie had stumbled halfway through their dance routine and never recovered, and their resulting scores were abysmal. Connie had been all smiles as usual when Hayley asked about it—"It's totally fine! We'll get it next time!"—but Hayley could hear the bitterness in her words and see the way her eyes and lips stayed tight around the edges. When Hayley tried to ask for a second time if she was really feeling all right, the call mysteriously disconnected.
The one bright spot was that Barrett hadn't asked to leave, but that wasn't nearly enough to make her feel better. She felt in her bones that he was sticking with her not because he wanted to stick with her, but because he was daring her to sever their relationship herself. He wanted her to prove that she was no good, that she would give up on him like everyone else had. And, Arceus, she'd be lying if she said her eyes didn't stray over to the community bulletin board and its shabby little computer a few more times that week. It was only her stubbornness and pride that kept her from sitting back down at the desk.
Hayley was caught in a death spiral. Barrett insisted on fighting at the arena all the time, now—the outdoor practice fields and their weaker opponents weren't good enough for him anymore. But he couldn't win fights against stronger opponents, because he had no strategy. He had to start listening to her if he wanted a chance to start winning again, but he wouldn't listen to her, because he was pissed off about losing so much. She was running out of money and running out of options. She couldn't even catch a second Pokémon, unless she somehow convinced Miriam to go out on the routes with her. There was no way out.
And then, at the end of the week, Hayley lost to Roxanne again. The curse remained unbroken. With no other choice, Hayley gritted her teeth and began her second straight week of pain.
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"Isn't Roxanne supposed to be easy?"
Hayley lifted her face from her pillow. Miriam was sitting on the floor in the far corner of the Pokémon Center dorm room. Her knees were pulled to her chest, and a comic book rested precariously atop them. With her left hand, she kept the book from falling, and with her right, she idly waved a laser pointer around. Xena chased after the dot with limitless energy, bounding and leaping as it wobbled across the walls and the floor.
Hayley hadn't seen much of Miriam since they'd arrived in Rustboro. Or rather, she'd seen her, but they hadn't spoken. Hayley spent most of her time outside the dorm, and Miriam spent most of her time inside it. Miriam was always asleep when she left in the morning, and was usually cloistered in her bunk with her headphones on when she came in to shower or pick up Xena's ball for training. Today, though, Hayley had cut her morning arena time short out of sheer frustration, and she'd come back early to see Miriam doing… this. It could hardly be called playing; she was barely paying attention to Xena, even when the Elekid babbled at her or came over to nuzzle her leg. But at the very least, she was out of her bed and spending time in the same room as her Pokémon. It was progress.
Rubbing the pillow lines from her face, Hayley said, "Roxanne's a gym leader. Gym leaders aren't easy."
"Isn't that why we came all the way to Rustboro, though? You were like, 'Norman's too hard. Roxanne is easier.'" Miriam didn't lift her eyes from the page as she spoke. She seemed to be doing her level best to pretend neither of them were here, despite the fact that she was interacting with both of them. The laser dot slid up the wall, and Xena jumped in a futile attempt to follow it.
"I said that Norman was harder. Gym leaders all have different ways that they battle. It's like…" Hayley trailed off. Miriam didn't care about how Roxanne adjusted her style for newbies and would let small mistakes slide, while Norman treated every match like it was an Elite trial and punished any gap or flaw he could find in trainer or Pokémon alike. "Never mind."
Miriam scoffed. "Is it supposed to take this long, though? I bet I could have beaten her by now."
Indignation flared in Hayley's stomach. "No, you couldn't have. Your type matchup is even worse than mine, and you don't even know how to battle!"
"I don't want to battle," Miriam corrected, rolling her eyes and turning another page. "It's dumb jock shit. Standing around and yelling out attacks… Do you even know how stupid that looks?"
"Ugh. Shut up." Hayley flopped back onto the bed and pulled out her phone. Her browser still had tabs open from the night before, when she'd been surfing the web in a bout of stress-induced insomnia. One of them was for the Rustboro Training Academy, which offered seminars to the public on weekends—in exchange for a steep fee, of course. Hayley had been debating using the last of her savings to sign up for one, in the hope that someone there could help her out of this giant mess she was stuck in. Her eyes slid over the course list again. Introduction to Pokémon Sign Language. Intermediate Battle Theory. Pokémon Nutrition. Training Fundamentals…
She let out a small, soundless laugh at that one. Training Fundamentals. That was probably the one she needed. Because she was clearly doing something fundamentally wrong.
Screw it. She clicked the button to sign up. It was better than getting the rest of her money nickel and dimed away from her by every other trainer in Rustboro, anyway. And who knew; maybe it would actually help.
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"Welcome to Training Fundamentals! Today, we're going to teach you everything you need to know to get started as a Pokémon trainer."
Hayley had made a miscalculation. She hadn't realized that when the website said the course would teach "the basics of training," it had meant the very basics. Not only was she the only person here who was a licensed trainer, she was the only one who was more than eleven years old. Even seated, she stuck out a full head above everyone else.
Maybe she should have left when she realized her mistake, but—the class was non-refundable. And besides, the proctor had entered the classroom before she'd figured out a way to make a graceful exit. So Hayley squelched her dignity and vowed to find a way to make this count.
The proctor, a cheerful woman approaching middle age, introduced herself as Miss Maira, and then released a Plusle at her feet. Some of the kids near Hayley craned their necks to get a better look. "This is Sparky, and he's going to be my assistant for today," she said, speaking like she was addressing a kindergarten class. "Now, I'm sure most of you have Pokémon at home, or even one of your own. How many of you have tried to get them to follow commands or use attacks, like you've seen trainers do?" A number of students hesitantly raised their hands. Hayley wanted to die. "And how many of you have gotten those Pokémon to listen to you?" Half the raised hands went down, and some of the kids ducked their heads in embarrassment. Miss Maira gave a reassuring smile. "That's all right; that's what we're here today to learn. Now, every Pokémon is different…"
Over the next few hours, Miss Maira outlined the different ways trainers could communicate and bond with their Pokémon. She explained that while the details would vary for every Pokémon a trainer worked with, a training program would always have one of two basic starting points: one for Pokémon that understood human speech, like psychics and those that had already spent a lot of time around humans, and one for those that didn't, like wilds and low-intelligence species. Using Sparky as a roleplay partner, she went through scenarios for how to explain new tricks and techniques to both kinds—verbal description and guidance for those who understood, versus coaxing and rote repetition for those who didn't. She demonstrated how to stand and behave to come across as nonthreatening to a scared wild Pokémon, and how to speak confidently but respectfully to one that could communicate as an equal. She called up students periodically to walk through some scenarios with Sparky themselves; Hayley made herself as small as she could every time she scanned the audience for volunteers.
Hayley already knew most of what she talked about, but to her surprise and slight mortification, some of it was new. Hayley had scraped together her knowledge from public school electives, library books, and the internet, and evidently it had left her with some gaps. First of all, the term "negative reinforcement" apparently meant something completely different from what she'd thought it meant. Then there were reframing techniques, where a bad behavior could be directed into a good one. And there were suggestions for how to demonstrate new moves to a Pokémon, even when a human couldn't, for example, breathe fire. Hayley had her doubts that any of it would help with Barrett. Her problem with him wasn't just miscommunication—he hated her, and no class could solve that. But if she wound up catching a second Pokémon and starting from square one, well… Some of this would be good to know.
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When the lecture was over, they were led out into the courtyard and handed over to a group of uniformed Rustboro Academy students. Miss Maira nodded towards them. "All of these students here have gotten top marks in their training courses. They'll be leaving on journeys of their own when the summer is over, but they're helping out with our seminars until then. If you have any questions that you were embarrassed to ask me, or if you have a Pokémon with you and you want them to help try out anything we discussed, just ask them!" She beamed at all of them in turn—even Hayley—before going back through the double doors and disappearing into the halls.
Hayley shifted her weight from foot to foot, glancing around. Most of the other kids did the same. The air was tense and awkward until, finally, one little girl stepped forward and held out a Pokéball. "I'm trying to get my Zigzagoon to learn water pulse," she lisped through a missing tooth. "I saw it on TV, but—it's not working. Can you help me?"
From there, the kids broke off into groups, clustering in twos and threes around the academy students. Hayley stood back, feeling like she should do something, but not knowing exactly what. Most of the academy students were giving her funny looks, and one black-haired girl in particular kept turning to stare. Hayley heard her introduce herself as Alis. Her movements were confident and self-assured in a way that reminded Hayley of Melinda, and from the way the kids hung on to her every word, she seemed to be giving good advice. She couldn't have been more than a year older than Hayley, if that, but she was clearly in a league of her own.
When the last of the kids broke away from her, Alis caught Hayley's eye and began walking towards her. Hayley fidgeted in place and wondered if she should just go, but—no, that would be rude. She'd paid for this class, she'd shown up, and now she would suffer whatever it was about to throw at her. Alis stopped in front of Hayley, looked her up and down, and raised an eyebrow.
"How did you end up in this class?" There was nothing scornful in her voice, at least; just pure curiosity. "It's supposed to be for little kids."
"Oh. Uh…" Hayley dropped her gaze and kicked her toe against the dirt field. "I didn't realize that when I signed up. I've just had trouble getting along with my starter, and I figured…"
She was expecting Alis to sneer or laugh at her, but to her immense relief, the girl just shrugged. "Starters can be tough. Did you learn anything from Maira that might help?"
"I don't think so. I mean, the class was good, but I got him from the GTS and—yeah. I know." Hayley sighed at Alis' wince.
"Getting your starter from the GTS was not a great idea. People dump all kinds of problem Pokémon on there."
"I know," Hayley repeated. "But I've got him now, and… There's got to be something I can do, right? To make him not hate me?"
Alis crossed her arms, thinking. "What species is he?"
"A Magby," Hayley said, and Alis hummed.
"Well, I don't have any experience with traded Pokémon, but I can give you a few general pointers, at least. Why don't we have a battle? I have a Torchic, so he shouldn't be able to hurt her too—"
"You have a Torchic?" For a moment, all thoughts of Barrett flew out of her head. "And it's with you right now? Can I see it?" Alis blinked at the interruption, and Hayley caught herself. She should probably at least try to act more mature than the literal ten-year-olds that were here with her. She cleared her throat and tried again. "I mean… I'd like to see it. If that's okay. The Torchic family are my favorite, and I've never seen one up close?"
"Uh, sure," Alis said. She was still visibly bewildered at Hayley's sudden personality change, but seemed to be doing her best to hide it. She drew a Pokéball from her pocket. "Her name's Kenna? She's pretty friendly, but hopefully she won't just run straight at you. We've been working on that."
The ball dropped to the ground, and in a flash of light, a perfect little Torchic materialized. Hayley gasped and crouched down to get a better look. She was adorable, and despite the fact that she looked young, she already held herself with the pride of a seasoned battler. Her beak was wickedly sharp, her talons were trimmed to neat points, and her plumage looked thick and full enough to cushion any hit. She tilted her head to one side, fluffed up her feathers, and stared at Hayley, before looking back up at Alis for direction. Alis smiled back at her. "Go say hello, Kenna."
Kenna hopped forward, and Hayley had to restrain herself from reaching out and scooping her up. She was so cute, and so tough, and everything Hayley had ever imagined wanting in a Pokémon. When she was a few inches away from Hayley, she stopped, tilted her head again, and peeped. Hayley made an undignified noise. "She's amazing. I'm so jealous."
"Isn't she?" Alis' voice swelled with pride. "I was lucky to get her; I scored in second place, so I had to pick second, and I was sure the guy ahead of me was going to take her, but it turned out he wanted Treecko instead. His loss."
Hayley froze with her finger halfway to Kenna's fuzzy head. "You scored…? What do you mean? Where did you get her?"
"Oh, from the Littleroot program, obviously." Hayley's stomach dropped into her shoes. "I'd been planning to buy one from a breeder, but the Birch starters just have this vibe to them, you know? Plus, this way I can afford an Eevee by the time I leave next month. Then I'm one-third of the way to my ideal team…"
Alis' voice faded out into ringing. Hayley stood up, slowly, watching Kenna watch her as she went. "Oh," she said, her own voice ringing in her ears. "That's… That's great." And then she turned on her heel and sprinted out of the courtyard, ignoring Alis' shouted questions from behind her.
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Hayley ran until she couldn't anymore, and then she kept walking. She had to get as far from the Rustboro Academy as she could. She didn't want to be anywhere near Alis. She didn't even want to breathe the same air.
That was her Torchic. Alis had said herself that she hadn't even needed to get one from Birch! If she had enough money to buy an Eevee… She hadn't needed a stipend. She'd already had special access to gyms and gym leaders just from being a student at the Rustboro Academy. She hadn't needed any of those things, but she'd taken them anyway, and now Hayley was flat broke and stuck with a Pokémon who hated her and paying for the privilege of learning from the person who'd taken her spot. Were the other two top scorers like Alis? Private-school rich kids who already had everything they could ever want? Maybe they were here at this very school. Maybe Hayley had even seen them today. Rustboro Academy had the best training program in Hoenn, after all. It'd be easy for any student there to test higher than everyone else.
They shouldn't have even been allowed to take that exam. It wasn't fair. They shouldn't—
Hayley had been right, all those months ago, when Connie had first pitched the idea of her applying to the program. She'd never had a chance.
As Hayley walked and fumed, her feet somehow brought her to the plaza where the Devon National Headquarters was located. The protests here were still going; the entire street had been cordoned off to accommodate the mass of people crammed into it. The police presence here was far heavier than it had been at Roxanne's gym, and Hayley spotted Machoke, Kadabra, and one Gallade standing at the edges. Was it the same Gallade from Roxanne's gym? Would it recognize her if it was? In any case, Hayley stood well away from the mob, watching from an alley on the opposite side.
Ennis wasn't addressing the crowd this time. Instead, the leader was a woman she didn't know, with broad shoulders and brown hair cut into a faux-mohawk. She was listing off the crimes of Steven Stone.
"We all need to stop and think! Mega evolution was rare in Hoenn three years ago, but now it's almost nonexistent. Why? Think about what key stones and mega stones are. It's in the name—they're rocks! They get pulled out of the ground! And who owns the rights to all the mines in Hoenn? Who's been sending machines to bulldoze every single habitat that might have something valuable sitting in the dirt? Steven Stone! It's not enough for him to be the richest man in Hoenn, he wants more! He's gathering enough power so that if he can't subjugate you with his company, he'll subjugate you by force!"
Was any of that even true? Hayley didn't know. At this point, she didn't care.
She still hadn't figured much out about the system Ennis had talked about. Rationally, she knew that if it did exist, it probably ran deeper and had graver offenses than her, personally, not getting a Pokémon she'd wanted. But this was the part that had hurt her. This was the part that felt real. And at that moment, as she quietly seethed and watched the people in the crowd scream and stamp and jeer, she thought that maybe Ennis wasn't as crazy as she'd first imagined he was.
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Hayley lost to Roxanne for a third time. If anything, she and Barrett had done worse than before. Walking out of the gym, Hayley didn't feel ashamed like she had after her first match, or frustrated like she had after her second. She just felt… numb.
Melinda had beaten Roxanne. And Howie, and Chad, and now Caleb, and Forrest, and Corbin, who'd started with a Taillow, for Arceus' sake! Even with her one-Pokémon handicap, Hayley ought to have at least gotten past Roxanne's Geodude by now. Why hadn't she? Was it really just her? Was she missing something that everybody else had?
Was she just wasting her time by trying?
Hayley didn't say a word when she handed Barrett's ball back over to the nurses. Her feet felt like lead as she trudged back to her room. She just wanted to flop down onto her bed and sleep. But she couldn't, because when she opened the door, Miriam was sitting on Hayley's bed again, scrolling through her phone and eating potato chips.
"Get off my bed." Hayley was long past being civil. Miriam glanced up at her, then returned to her phone. She didn't make any move to get up. "Miriam!"
"Chill out, I'll be done in a minute." She fished another chip out of the bag and bit into it, showering the sheets with crumbs.
"Go eat in your own bed!"
"My legs are tired. I'm not climbing all the way up that ladder every time I want to sit down." Hayley marched over to the bed and glared down at Miriam, arms crossed. Miriam ignored her.
"Get. Off. My. Bed."
Miriam scoffed. "What's got you so bent out of shape? Did you lose to that gym leader again?" When Hayley didn't answer, Miriam finally looked up. "You did lose. What is this, the third time?"
"Get off!" Hayley shouted, her voice cracking into an embarrassingly shrill pitch. At last, Miriam stood up, but she made no move to get out of Hayley's way. She stood in front of the bed with her arms crossed, mirroring Hayley's posture.
"Don't get pissy with me just because you suck," she said.
"I don't suck."
"Yes you do."
"I have a type disadvantage!"
"I thought good trainers worked past type disadvantages," Miriam shot back in a singsong voice. Hayley resisted the urge to shove her.
"You've never even battled," she said. "You don't know what it's like."
"I know that when we left Petalburg, you were all, 'oh, I'll do Roxanne first, she's easy—'"
"I never said that!"
"But little kids beat her all the time and stuff, right? She's got to be easy." Miriam was gloating now. Hayley had had enough.
"If she's so easy, then you beat her."
Predictably, Miriam smirked. "I don't want to. I don't do battling."
"But you said last week that you could beat her, right?"
"Well, yeah." Miriam's smile faltered for just a second. "Because I could. If I wanted to."
"Then prove it."
"I don't have to prove anything to you." Her voice was dropping dangerously low, but Hayley kept going.
"You won't prove it because you can't. I bet you can't even get past one of her gym trainers. Do you even know what moves Xena has? Because I do. Maybe I'd have beaten Roxanne by now if I could spend more time training my own Pokémon instead of raising yours for you!"
The smirk was gone from Miriam's face. She leaned in towards Hayley, ready for a fight. "You're not better than me, Hayley. Just because you run around all day doing jock shit."
"I'm better than you at training. Admit it." Miriam scowled and said nothing. "I beat Roxanne's gym trainer on the first try. So either go and beat one yourself right now, or admit that you can't do it."
Miriam's eyes flitted around the room before landing on Hayley again. She clearly hadn't expected Hayley to call her bluff, and now she was cornered. "It… It doesn't even mean anything, you know? To be good at standing around and yelling attacks. Anyone can do it."
"Then it'll be easy for you," Hayley said, and she couldn't stop the note of smugness that crept into her words. "Won't it?"
Miriam stood still for a full minute, visibly trying to think of a way out of the argument that didn't involve admitting defeat. Her mouth opened a few times, then shut without making a sound. Finally, she huffed, dropped her arms to her side, and glowered at Hayley for all she was worth. "Fine. But when I win, you have to admit that you suck." And then she stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
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Miriam was gone until mid-afternoon. She'd probably had to wait for a walk-in appointment. Hayley spent the first few minutes after she left basking in a self-satisfied glow, but then a weird anxiety began creeping in. What if Miriam did beat a gym trainer? What if she was secretly a savant at battling, and she did so well that Roxanne herself was impressed, and maybe Roxanne would give her the Stone Badge on the spot, and then she'd start sponsoring Miriam's journey through the rest of the circuit, and she'd even give her a special Pokémon, and Hayley would have to admit that she sucked, and everything would be wrong forever—
She told herself that she was being ridiculous, but still, the fantasy grew and grew, and she was picturing Miriam standing over a defeated Wallace when the door finally slammed open again. The image of Miriam as champion disappeared as she took in the real Miriam, red-faced and huffing and practically growling with fury.
"That was bullshit!" she shouted, slamming the door behind her again. "They knew I had an electric type, and then they went and used a Pokémon that was immune to electricity! They did it on purpose!"
Hayley did her very best to hide her small, smug grin. "Wow. I can't believe they did that."
"It's bullshit!" Miriam threw her bag onto the floor, then kicked it for good measure, and when that wasn't enough, she turned around and kicked the wall, too. "It was rigged!" Another kick. "They wanted to make sure I didn't win!" Two more kicks, and then she stomped her foot back onto the floor. "They had the nerve to tell me I needed more practice! Practice for what? To yell out different attacks when they try and screw me again? It's bullshit!"
"That's awful. Don't they know you're already a really good trainer?" Miriam spun around and glared at Hayley, and Hayley pretended to be very interested in her phone.
"Don't. I know what you're thinking. But this doesn't prove anything. I got screwed, okay? It wasn't fair. The next time I go in there, I'm going to wipe the smile off their stupid jock faces, and yours."
That got Hayley's attention. "You're going to challenge the gym again?"
"Duh. I can't let them think they won." Miriam picked her abused bag off the floor and re-shouldered it as though nothing had happened. "I'm going to go out tomorrow, and I'm going to teach Xena some new moves. They're not going to know what hit them. And then I'm going to beat Roxanne on my first try, and then you'll have to admit that I'm better than you."
"Huh." This wasn't how Hayley had expected things to go, but—it might actually work out for her. If she could convince Miriam to visit one of the routes for training…
She might have a shot at getting out of this death spiral after all.
"All right. You're on."