"Let me see her! Let me see!" Hayley obligingly tilted her phone down to frame the Slowpoke on her lap, and Connie squealed. "Oh my gosh! She's so cute! And pink! And you said you just found her?"

"Yeah." Hayley ran a hand over the Slowpoke's head. Her skin was thick, rubbery, and oddly coarse. "That guy was using her to grow and sell tails." Connie grimaced.

"Ugh! She's so lucky you rescued her. Who could do something like that to such a sweet Pokémon?" Connie shifted her own phone to reveal Marcie, also sitting on her lap. "Marcie! Say hello to Hayley's new friend!" The Ralts shivered slightly and raised one hand in a wave. She was steadily getting braver, but conversation with people besides Connie still seemed to make her nervous. "So, do you think you're going to battle with her?"

"I don't know. I had her watch some battles this morning, but I'm not sure she knew what was going on." It was hard to tell whether the Slowpoke knew that anything was going on. Right now, for example, she was just staring at the phone, unblinking and mystified.

"Well, you'd better make sure she does battle, because otherwise I'm going to steal her for contest appeals." Connie giggled. "She'd do so well in Cute—oh! Do you have a name for her yet?"

"Not yet. I was looking at some lists, but…" Hayley's head hurt thinking about all the tabs she still had open on her phone. "100 Best Names for Water-Types" had linked out to "Most Popular Nicknames of 2054" and "What your Pokémon's Nickname Says About You," which themselves had sent her to "Nicknames as Battle Strategy" and "Do Names Have an Effect on How Pokémon Grow?" And it had just gotten more confusing from there. Hayley hadn't realized that this many names even existed, let alone that picking one could be so complicated. She summed up her troubles with, "I couldn't decide."

"Name her Ceres," Connie said, and Hayley was briefly impressed that Connie had been able to pick something without days of her usual waffling, before she continued, "I was going to use that if I got a Spheal. It sounds so chic, and astrological names are super in right now."

"Ceres," Hayley repeated. It did have a nice ring to it. "What if you get a Spheal later, though? I don't want to take your name if you might need it."

"Oh, don't worry about it! I can always think of another one. I'm really good at names." Apparently so. Hayley looked down at the Slowpoke, tentatively named Ceres.

"What do you think? Ceres? Do you like it?" The Slowpoke yawned and butted her head against Hayley's palm. The movement was probably unrelated to the question, but still, Hayley decided it meant "yes." Ceres it was.

After a multi-week funk, Connie had returned to her usual good spirits. She'd ranked second in her last contest, above Clarissa, who'd ranked third. The upset was due to a combination of Connie finally convincing her parents to send her a TM for the flash technique, and Marcie finally having enough stamina to pull off the misty terrain move she'd inherited from her mother. The addition of shining light on glittering mist to their usual dance routine had sent their beauty scores through the roof. Connie now had three of the ten points she needed to move on to super rank contests while Clarissa had a total of five, but as Connie put it, "She won't be ahead for long."

Hayley was in a good mood too. She'd almost forgotten what that felt like. But the morning had been filled with small, Barrett-related miracles, and the cloud of dread that had followed her for so long was finally lifting. The first miracle had been that when Hayley picked up Barrett and Ceres at seven AM and let Barrett out for breakfast, Barrett hadn't immediately demanded she hand him off to Melinda. Granted, she hadn't asked. She hadn't wanted to bring it up—she didn't want to bring it up ever, if she could help it. But Barrett was never shy about making his feelings known, and that morning, he hadn't snarled at her, hadn't run off, hadn't given the signal for trade. He'd just sat down and started eating as though nothing had happened, despite the bandaged cuts on his stomach and Hayley's arm standing as proof that last night had, in fact, happened.

The second miracle had been that when Hayley had released Ceres for breakfast alongside him, Barrett hadn't thrown a fit. After all the work he'd done in the forest to make sure Hayley couldn't catch a Shroomish or Seedot, she'd been expecting him to be upset, possibly violent, when she introduced him to his new teammate. But instead, he'd just scoffed, rolled his eyes, and continued scarfing down pellets, like Ceres wasn't even there. After a lot of guarded staring and thinking, Hayley had come to the conclusion that, maybe, he didn't see Ceres as a threat. In the forest, he had tried to point her towards the weakest Pokémon he could find, and she supposed Ceres fit that profile—weak; not a rival; acceptable; ignore. A Slowpoke that took ten minutes to be cajoled into eating breakfast wasn't going to be replacing him as a fighter any time soon, and so it was safe to share space with her without immediately trying to drive her out.

The third miracle had been that when Hayley had pitched the idea of training at the outdoor practice fields instead of the indoor arena—because, for a whole host of reasons, Hayley could not be around Melinda right now—he'd just grunted and shrugged. Hayley had been ready for protests, possibly a fight, and had armed herself with a list of points to argue her side, but Barrett had hardly put up any resistance at all. Which led her to the fourth, final, and most unbelievable miracle—

Barrett was listening to her. He wasn't doing it cheerfully, wasn't playing the role of an obedient partner, but he also wasn't disobeying her out of spite. Hayley hadn't realized it at first. She'd gone on autopilot for the first couple battles, occasionally calling out embers, cross chops, and dodges but mostly letting him fight on his own. But by the third fight, she'd realized that when she called for an ember, he was actually using ember. When she called for a dodge, he wasn't planting his feet and standing stubbornly in place. Immediately suspicious that he was planning something, Hayley had called for a smog attack, and then nearly fallen over when he'd grumbled, rolled his eyes, and blown out a cloud of sulfurous smoke. He'd listened.

After that, the rest of that morning's battles had turned into a delicate dance between trainer and Pokémon, rather than between Pokémon and opponent. How far could she push him, how many commands could she give him, before he rebelled? How "creative" could he get with carrying out those commands before it didn't count as listening anymore? Blindly, dumbly, and without saying a word, they both felt out the shape of their new dynamic and what its rules would be, and by lunchtime they were both exhausted and could barely stand to look at each other. But they'd made real progress, and it gave Hayley hope.

This change in Barrett was so sudden that it barely made sense. Had her miniature speech after the fight with Taro gotten through to him? Was he trying to make sure she wouldn't get rid of him, now that Ceres was on the team? Or… Was it something else?

She might have imagined it, but a few times that morning, she thought she saw Barrett sneaking glances at the bandage on her arm. She'd fought for him, last night in the tunnels. Maybe that was what it had taken to finally make Barrett willing to fight for her.

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Ceres, on the other hand, was delivering fewer miracles. Hayley had braced herself for what she knew she should expect, but it was still dismaying to see just how slow a Slowpoke was. Not only had it taken ten minutes to convince her at breakfast that the pellets in front of her were food, but they had had to repeat the whole ordeal all over again at lunch. And now, standing in the Pokémon Center pool with a waterproof dressing over her bandage, it was taking far longer than it should have to coax Ceres onto the first step of the pool stairway.

"Come on, Ceres," Hayley said again, patting the step. "You're a water-type. You like water." Ceres just stood there and gawked like she'd never seen water before. Hayley lifted her hand out of the pool and sprinkled a few drops of water on Ceres' forehead. A few moments later, Ceres made a low humming sound, blinking in amazement.

Maybe she hadn't seen water before. Or maybe it had been so long since she'd seen it that she'd forgotten all about it. Jeez, that was a depressing thought. Hayley sighed, leaned over the deck, and put a hand on Ceres' back, nudging her forward. With her other hand, she lifted each of Ceres' front feet from the ground in turn. "Come on, walk. We're walking." Finally, Ceres shifted her weight and lumbered to the very edge of the pool, though not before letting out a yawn. Hayley covered her mouth to stifle an automatic yawn back. "Good yawn, Ceres. But I want you to walk. Not yawn."

After spending some time with the Slowpoke, Hayley was coming to the conclusion that Ceres listened when she spoke, but didn't understand what she was saying—either that, or she was too lazy to say anything in response to a question or do anything in response to a command. It was the exact opposite of Barrett, who had always understood what she was saying, but never listened. The first step in training Ceres, whether for battle or otherwise, would be to teach her what certain words meant, and what she was supposed to do when she heard them. The Training Fundamentals course had given Hayley some decent advice here, and she supposed she was grateful for that, though in a resentful sort of way. They were starting off with walk, yawn, and stay. Ceres was already a champion at the last two, though she hadn't yet yawned on command, and Hayley had no way to know whether she was actually listening to stay or not. Staying still was kind of Ceres' default state of being. Once they got a handle on the basics, Hayley figured they could move on to more complicated commands—go there, no yawning, et cetera—and maybe, past that, they could work on battle techniques. Headbutt. Body slam.

Water gun.

The idea of Ceres one day learning water gun was why Hayley was in the pool. She was probably getting ahead of herself, given that Ceres hadn't even mastered walk yet, but if Ceres was going to use water techniques eventually, why not introduce her to the idea of them ahead of time? And Hayley couldn't really explain what water techniques were without having some water on hand for a demonstration. Besides, even if the idea was a total bust, the pool would be good for Ceres anyway.

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"Come on, Ceres. Come in the water with me." She took hold of Ceres' foot again and gently tugged, touching it to the surface of the water. It took a bit, but at last, Ceres made a strange rumbling noise—almost like a purr, but deeper—and dipped her second foot in along with the first. Hayley grinned. "That's it! Good job!"

"Hey! Hayley!" Hayley glanced up, looking around, as Ceres continued tapping her feet into and out of the pool. When she caught sight of the person waving in her direction, she struggled to recognize her. Her hair and face were covered by a swim cap and goggles, leaving few identifying features. She was flanked by two Pokémon, a Psyduck and a Azurill. Hayley actually recognized the Azurill first, and placed the trainer by association. Meriel. Kei.

Hayley gave a halting wave back, which Kei took as her cue to hustle over, moving at a speed that fell just short of breaking the "no running on the deck" rule plastered on every wall. Meriel bounced along at her side, while the Psyduck waddled behind. She lifted up her goggles and positively beamed down at Hayley and Ceres. "I didn't know you had any water types!"

"I just caught her," Hayley said, not wanting to go over the whole story again. "I didn't know you had a Psyduck."

"I just caught him. It took forever; Melinda never wanted to come out on the routes to let me look." The corners of Hayley's mouth twitched in sympathy at that. "His name's Mallory, and he's going to help us beat Roxanne." She hopped into the pool, and Meriel followed. Mallory stayed on the deck, tilting his head to stare at Ceres. Ceres stared right back. "You don't have the Stone Badge either, right?"

Hayley winced. Right to the point. "Yeah. Type disadvantage."

Kei disappeared under the water for a moment, then re-emerged floating on her back. Meriel began paddling in circles around her. "Roxanne's a pain," she said. "I mean, technically I have a type advantage, but I can't get past her Nosepass. That thunder wave shuts Meriel right down. If we can get Mallory's psychic attacks working, though, he should be able to use them even if he's paralyzed, so maybe then we can finally win." At the sound of his name, the Psyduck quacked, shuffled forward, and tipped into the pool. The movement was so painfully awkward that Hayley wondered if he was okay, but a few seconds later he broke the surface again, bobbing up and down like a buoy. Ceres continued staring into space where the Psyduck had been, and then gave a plaintive groan as she came to the realization that her new friend had left her.

"You can come in too, Ceres," Hayley reminded her. "Just put your feet in. Like this." She pulled her front feet again, and this time, Ceres obligingly pushed the rest of her body forward to follow them. At long last, she slid off the deck and into the water covering the step with a wet smack. The water on the top step wasn't deep, only a few inches; enough to envelop half of her body while leaving her back and head dry. Her tail stub, though, was fully underwater, and Hayley hoped the waterproof bandage on it would hold. Ceres looked positively shocked to be in the pool, as though she hadn't realized that the water she'd dipped her toes into could touch other parts of her as well. Her muscles all tensed up, and Hayley held her breath, but finally she relaxed again, lifted her head, and let out a long, loud bellow. Hayley smiled. "You like it, huh?"

"Is she your second Pokémon?" Kei asked. Hayley nodded. "Huh. Weird choice, but I bet she'll help a lot against Roxanne."

Suddenly, Hayley had a very obvious idea. "Do you think your Pokémon could help Ceres learn some water-type attacks?" Kei hopped back onto her feet and beamed again.

"Oh, sure! Mallory won't be much help—" A miserable quack issued from a few yards away, where the Psyduck was trying and failing to propel himself through the water on his stubby little flippers. "Sorry, Mallory. But, Meriel can definitely show off her water gun and try to walk her through it."

"That would be great," Hayley said. "I was thinking I'd have to spit water at her or something to show her what to do."

"Oh, ew, do not do that." Kei laughed. "Not in this pool. Pokémon swim around in it all day." She scooped up her Azurill and set her on the step next to Ceres. "Meriel, show Ceres how you do water gun. Don't hit her with it! Just show her." Meriel happily obeyed, hopping onto her tail and spitting a thin stream of water into the air. Ceres watched, enraptured.

"Thanks," Hayley said. Then, because she apparently no longer knew how to hold a conversation that wasn't about training, she asked, "So you have a rematch against Roxanne coming up soon?"

"Yeah, four days from now. I really hope I beat her this time." She sighed and leaned against the edge of the pool. "Battling sucks. I don't know how you guys do it all the time. I need badges if I want any hope of getting scouted, but every time Meriel gets hurt, I'm like, what if that's it? What if she can't run or swim anymore? Then what is this even for?"

"You're still trying for the Pokéathlon?"

"Yep." Kei popped the "p" at the end of the word. "And all the agents I talked to said they won't even look at bringing someone in from Hoenn unless they have a two-badge minimum."

"That's dumb," Hayley said. "Being good at battling doesn't have anything to do with being good at sports."

"I know. It's totally just a way for them to justify keeping out foreigners." She sighed again. "And it's just my luck that I would get stuck with Melinda for this, too. She keeps saying that I'm holding her back, and that she should be all the way in Lavaridge by now."

"Melinda's a jerk," Hayley said, then paused. "Why don't you go to another city, though? You don't need Roxanne's badge specifically. If you went to Dewford or somewhere and tried challenging that gym instead, it might at least get her to stop complaining for a while."

Kei's face darkened. "You know what? I actually was going to do that. After I lost to Roxanne the first time, I was thinking I might just go and try Brawley next. But then Melinda started going on about how I'm weak, and that she never should've been paired with me, and that if I had any sense I'd quit so she could get reassigned to someone who knew what they were doing. And I thought, screw it." A malicious grin snaked across her face. "If she's going to be that rude about it, I'm going to stay right here in Rustboro and keep challenging Roxanne for as long as it takes."

"Oh, wow." Hayley tried to keep a straight face, but found she couldn't stop herself from grinning right back. "That's evil."

"I know," said Kei. "But she deserves it. Maybe I'll take my time with Brawley, too." On the steps, Meriel chirped in agreement, then went back to demonstrating her water gun.

Melinda, Hayley decided, was not nearly as terrifying as she'd first imagined her to be. Not while Kei was there, keeping her in line. Maybe the people who decided these pairings had known what they were doing after all.

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"Are you good?"

Miriam's fists were clenched and her shoulders were locked. Lines of tension ran all the way from her jaw to her feet. Her eyes were firmly focused on the ground. She was, very clearly, anything but good. All the same, she pushed a lock of hair behind her shoulder and mumbled, "Yeah. Whatever." In front of her, Xena cheered.

"All right. So, for opening moves, there are four basic strategies to pick from—buff, field, status, and damage." Hayley kept her voice casual and her eyes on Xena, as though she was having a conversation with the Elekid rather than giving a lesson to Miriam. Miriam, she knew, would turn around and leave if she even thought Hayley was talking down to her. "Field moves are stuff like laying traps, or setting the terrain to your advantage, like what Rigby's Sneasel did with ice beam. You don't have anything like that, though, so ignore it for now. Same with buffs—" She paused. "Actually, I think the way Xena spins her arms before an attack might count as a buff? It should be pretty easy for her to learn the charge technique, if you want to lean in to that."

"The internet said it's usually good to start with thunder wave. To like, paralyze the other Pokémon." Miriam spoke through gritted teeth, still determinedly not looking at Hayley. Hayley almost nodded, but caught herself and stopped. It might come across as condescending.

"Paralysis moves are good openers, but you want to make sure your opponents won't resist them. Ground types are obvious, but sometimes Pokémon will also just be big or strong enough to push their way through it. Since it takes Xena a while to fire an attack, it's better to go straight for damage if you think paralysis won't work.

Miriam frowned. "Will paralysis work on Barrett?" At Hayley's feet, Barrett scoffed. Hayley shrugged.

"I don't know," she said, ignoring the indignant snort that earned from the Magby. "We've only really gone against stun spore paralysis, not electric paralysis, and that's a completely different thing. I guess we'll find out."

Miriam grumbled and muttered something to herself. Xena responded by glancing over her shoulder and giving a cheerful "Beh!" Miriam sighed. "Fine. I guess we'll try it. Xena, use thunder wave or whatever on Barrett."

"Barrett, long-distance ember." She could have told him to run in and disrupt Xena's attack altogether—the Elekid's charging time left her wide open. But she didn't want to go all-out against Miriam on their first battle. Sure, Hayley wasn't going to lose, but she also wasn't going to purposely steamroll her. It wouldn't be good sportsmanship.

If the tables were turned, Miriam would definitely have taken the chance to steamroll Hayley. Miriam was… Miriam was rude, and obnoxious, and everything she did seemed designed to get under Hayley's skin. But just as Hayley had come to Barrett's defense in the tunnels, Miriam had defended her. When things were grim, when Hayley made a stupid mistake that risked both their lives, Miriam hadn't run—instead, she'd charged into the fight, ready to kill. So, Miriam was an asshole, but she was an asshole who'd probably saved Hayley's life. For that, Hayley could manage to be nice to her for at least a little while longer.

On the field, Barrett's embers made a clean hit, singeing Xena's fur. The Elekid cried out, but didn't stop swinging her arms. A moment later, a spark leapt from her horns, zigzagging through the air towards Barrett. Barrett disappeared into smoke and rematerialized a few feet to the side, unaffected. Showoff.

"That's bullshit," Miriam said. Barrett huffed proudly, and Hayley folded her arms.

"You didn't have to use feint attack for that. You're going to tire yourself out." Still, she didn't tell him no. This was the wordless compromise they'd finally reached. As long as he was willing to work with her, to roll with the choices she made in battle, she could extend him the same favor.

"Ugh, screw this. Xena, do thundershock."

"Smog and hide. If you touch Xena, you'll get shocked." It took longer than saying don't touch her, and if Xena had been more skilled, she could have attacked twice over in the time it took the sentence to leave Hayley's mouth. All the same, she risked offering the explanation now in the hopes he would remember it in the future. Someday, if she made the right choices for long enough, and explained to Barrett why she made them, he might trust her enough to do whatever she said without question. But she'd have to earn it first.

Xena's thundershock hit Barrett's smog cloud, and, to Hayley's surprise, the bolt branched off in a dozen different directions and diffused through the smoke. From within, Barrett gave a yelp of pain. Well, crap. She hadn't expected that. Neither had Miriam, she was sure, but that didn't stop Miriam from smirking as though this had been her plan all along. Time to go on the offensive—if Miriam actually won this, she and Barrett would never let her live it down. "Barrett, ember again! Make it count."

They were all still learning. The last month had been a brutal slog, and most of the time, Hayley had felt like she was treading water. But it hadn't been a waste. It had taught her how far she had to go, and what she'd need to get there. And that knowledge made her stronger.

At Hayley's feet, Ceres yawned. Hayley glanced away from the battlefield for just a moment and smiled. "Maybe someday you'll battle, too. Would you like that?" Ceres' expression didn't change, but her eyes seemed to glimmer.

Who knew what the next month would bring?