The next morning, Connie went home to prepare for their graduation, saying something about needing to find shoes that matched their gowns—Hayley had never understood much about fashion and didn't bother asking her to elaborate. After repacking her tent and showering, Hayley found herself once again with too much time on her hands. She checked her supplies for a seventh time, made herself Pecha berry waffles, and then went back to scouring the net for articles about the Magby family. It felt like she'd already read every last one, but she pored through each of them again, just in case there was something she'd missed.
It was kind of weird, because she'd never really cared about reading or studying before. Maybe after cramming for months for her trainer's exams, she'd just gotten used to it. If nothing else, it was a good way to kill time.
Finally, ten o'clock came. Hayley's mother took a picture of her standing in her cap and gown by the front steps, completing a series of similar pictures she'd been taking since Hayley had entered kindergarten, and they walked the few blocks to Pecha Lane Middle School together.
The campus was awash in navy blue robes, the crowd of students growing thicker and thicker until they formed a sea of bodies. The graduation would be taking place on the soccer field, but right now the stands around it were empty, save for a few scattered parents. Everyone else was gathered around where the opening ceremonies would take place: a battered concrete practice field some distance away. It was ringed by temporary bleachers and a rusting chain-link fence, which students were crowding around, weaving their fingers into the metal links and standing on tip-toes to get a better look.
In Hoenn, most students chose the end of middle school as the time to try their hand at Pokémon training. It was the reason why Hayley's school offered wilderness survival modules and a POKE preparation course as part of their standard curriculum. It was also why, at graduation, the school invited accomplished trainer alumni to visit and give an exhibition battle to open up the ceremonies. It was a way to send them off in style, filled with excitement about their futures.
Hayley pushed through the crowd to get a better look. A trainer stood on either end of the faded white battlefield lines. One was a teenage boy with spiky brown hair and a Mankeyz tee-shirt. He bobbed lightly up and down in anticipation, the laces of his tattered sneakers tapping against the concrete. The other was a tall girl with blonde hair pulled into a ponytail, wearing dark hiking boots, jeans, and a black long-sleeved turtleneck. Hayley wondered at her choice of clothing—wasn't she hot?—until the girl turned to peer at something in the crowd and she spotted three deep, wide scars than ran down her right cheek and into the collar of her shirt.
Tearing her eyes away from the trainers, Hayley scanned the crowd for Connie and spotted her graduation cap sticking out, all done up with glitter and puffy fabric paint. Hayley slid through the mass of bodies and found a spot next to her just as the loudspeaker abovehead crackled to life.
"Welcome, new graduates and future trainers. Pecha Lane Middle School is proud to present our nineteenth annual Commencement Battle Exhibition." Cheers and shouts rose from the gathered crowd, and the announcer waited for them to die out before he continued. "This year we have two graduates from our very own school: Alex Stone from the class of 2051, a two-time challenger to the Ever Grande Conference, facing off against Gloria Hart from the class of 2050, who made a spectacular showing in last year's Sinnoh Conference semifinals."
They weren't the sorts of accomplishments that made headlines—but then, Hayley's school was pretty small, and as far as she knew, they'd never had so much as a regional champion. Titleships were usually snatched up by graduates of the prestigious trainers' schools in Rustboro and Lilycove. Still, this would be the closest Hayley had ever been to a high-tier match. She leaned against the chain-link fence and craned her neck in anticipation.
"Each competitor will use three Pokémon, battling under standard Hoenn League tournament rules and regulations. Neither side is allowed substitutions. The match is over when one trainer has had all three of their Pokémon incapacitated." As the disembodied voice boomed over the crowd, a referee stepped up to the sidelines. He raised his red and green flags high over his head, waiting for the signal. "Let the match… begin!"
The boy, Alex, wasted no time in throwing his first Pokéball. A Ludicolo appeared in a burst of white light, dancing and bobbing back and forth in motions that mimicked its trainer's. The girl looked it up and down before throwing the Pokéball she'd selected.
"Pich!" A Sableye materialized onto the field. It hissed as it solidified, shading its eyes against the bright summer sun. Hayley saw that it was wearing dark sunglasses with a band that wrapped around the back of its head.
"Linus, start it off with rain!" shouted the male trainer. The Ludicolo croaked and shifted its steps, hopping in circles and shaking its maracas. The air above the battlefield condensed, and a swirl of clouds began to form, growing thicker and darker until they finally began to leak droplets of rain. Some of the students pushed against the chain-link fence backed away for fear of getting rained on, but the Ludicolo's control was on the mark: not a single drop landed outside the enclosure. The rain grew steady and thick, and the Ludicolo ribbeted with joy as raindrops splashed onto its lily pad. The Sableye looked upwards and cackled at the darkened sky, tilting the lenses of its sunglasses slightly away from its eyes.
"Pich, close in." With another cackle, the Sableye collapsed its form into shadow and disappeared. Hayley barely had time to wonder where it had gone to before it snapped back into existence, wreathed in dark mist and standing safely behind the Ludicolo. Before the Ludicolo could turn around, the Sableye leapt, landing atop its half-filled lily pad in a single bound. It swung its head down into the Ludicolo's face and screeched, startling it briefly out of its dance routine.
The Ludicolo may have stumbled, but its trainer didn't. "Shoot it point-blank!" Alex shouted. The Sableye's demonic grin faltered and then disappeared under the huge jet of pressurized water that shot from the Ludicolo's beak. It was launched across the battlefield and spiraled towards the ground, heading for what would have been a painful impact, but it vanished into shadow again just before its body hit the ground.
"Confuse it." The Sableye re-emerged in the center of the battlefield, pulling its sunglasses down to what would have been the bridge of its nose. Its huge gemstone eyes shone, each facet gleaming a different iridescent color. It stared directly into the Ludicolo's eyes, and the Ludicolo froze, halting its dance until the Sableye popped its shades back on and scampered away.
"Snap out of it, Linus!" The Ludicolo shook its head and began to dance again, but its steps were different this time, erratic and misplaced. It wobbled unsteadily before firing another water jet randomly into the crowd. One of the girls from class C shrieked as the attack hit her, doing no damage but drenching her hair and graduation gown.
"Ranged shadow claw." The Sableye crossed its arms across its chest. The shadows on the battlefield darkened and sprang to life, oozing a malevolent violet aura. They rose from the ground and converged on the Ludicolo, forming countless ethereal hands that tore and scraped at its body. Its striped hair flew off in chunks, red seeping out from the spots where the hands had cut the deepest.
"Seed bomb!" Alex yelled, his voice rising a bit in pitch. The stem on the Ludicolo's head thickened and grew until a baseball-sized seed emerged from the top. It dipped its head down and fired, but its aim was way off, and the Sableye dodged the attack with a lazy lean to one side. Alex clenched his fists, but all things considered, he didn't look too worried. Hayley saw why: the scratches on the Ludicolo's body were already starting to close up, the tiny trickles of blood washing away to nothingness in the rain.
Gloria had noticed, too. "Close in. Full assault. Don't let it heal up." The Sableye vanished and reappeared behind the Ludicolo once more. It leapt onto the larger Pokémon's shoulder, where it flew into a frenzy of claws and bites with its diamond-hard claws and teeth. The Ludicolo cried out and tried to shake it off, but its arms were too stubby to grab it, and the Sableye held on tight.
"Knock it off with Surf!" In a moment of apparent clarity, the Ludicolo's eyes glowed a soft aqua, and the puddles on the ground rose and coalesced into a huge tidal wave. Hayley saw Gloria gave her Sableye an order, but it was drowned out by the crashing of water. The supercharged wave crashed into the two Pokémon, barely affecting the Ludicolo but sending the Sableye flying. The ghost Pokémon landed on its back on the pavement as the water receded back underground. It let out a low gurgle.
The referee raised his flag on Alex's side. Gloria shook her head and withdrew the Sableye, exchanging its ball for another on her belt in one swift motion. "Knight."
Hayley barely had time to make out the figure before it charged at the Ludicolo. It was a huge red Pokémon taller than she was, with enormous pincers and a pair of wings sprouting from its back. It had its pincers raised in an "X" formation as it materialized out of the Pokéball, and the last traces of light were only just fading away when it uncrossed them in a brutal slash across its opponent's torso. Before Hayley could blink, the Ludicolo had fallen over motionless, bright red slashes blooming across its chest.
Hayley felt her mouth drop open in a gape. The Scizor standing on the battlefield was every inch a warrior, from its gleaming bloodied claws to the deep gouged scars that marred its abdomen. It fixed Alex with a fierce glare as it shifted its stance, moving back into an attack-ready position.
She saw him bite his lip and mutter something as he recalled his Ludicolo, but his hand was steady as he threw out his next ball. A huge blue and yellow canine burst onto the battlefield with a howl, lifting its head towards the stormy skies. It was a Manetric, lithe and fierce, its fur crackling with sparks as the rain poured down onto it. It stared down the Scizor, narrowing its eyes and giving a deep-throated growl. The Scizor gazed back at it coolly.
"Thunder." The Scizor leapt out of the way just as an enormous column of lightning crashed onto the pavement. A deafening crack split the air, rattling Hayley's teeth and making her ears ring. When she blinked the spots out of her eyes, she saw the concrete where the bolt had struck was burned black and smoking.
A small frown creased Gloria's face. "Air slash." The Scizor raised one of its pincers across its chest and held it there for a moment, waiting. Then in one clean motion it swung it down, loosing a shockwave that split the air and raced towards the Manetric. The Manetric tried to dodge, but the hit came too fast, and it recoiled with a yelp as the air blade sliced across its face.
Despite having landed a blow, the Scizor was at a disadvantage. Scizor were physical attackers, but if this one's metal frame so much as touched the sparking Manectric, it would be electrocuted in an instant. The Scizor and its trainer both seemed to realize this, both hesitating to make a move as the Manectric recovered.
"Manny, keep using thunder. Give it everything you've got."
"Knight, evasive maneuvers."
The Manetric took a step back and composed itself, raising its hackles with a growl. The Scizor shifted, bending its knees like a sprinter about to take off for a race. Another howl, and another sheet of lightning roared down from the sky. The Scizor dodged too quickly for Hayley's eyes to track it, seeming to blink and reappear several yards to the side. Just as it did, another bolt came down on top of it, forcing it to evade again. It went on and on until Hayley's eyes were blind with spots and her ears near-deaf from the thunder. Finally, a metallic hiss and shriek rose above the crashing of thunder, and the lightning stopped coming. Hayley squinted to see the red shape of the Scizor lying on the ground, its carapace burned and slightly melted from the powerful current.
Gloria grimaced. She recalled the Scizor, clasping its ball to her chest for a moment and whispering something before replacing it on her belt and sending out her next Pokémon. "Hermia, it's all you."
A Flygon emerged from the ball, keening softly. Its green body was long and graceful, but along its side ran several deep scars of the same type its trainer and the Scizor had. It watched the Manectric with eyes that blinked and flicked back and forth underneath pinkish-red shields.
Alex's face darkened. Hayley knew why—Manectric learned electric attacks almost exclusively. With the Flygon's near-immunity to them, his Pokémon would be almost useless.
"Rush it." The Flygon let out a low keen and began to beat its wings, forming a fine mist as raindrops hit them and scattered. It lurched forward several steps before taking to the air, zooming towards its opponent. The Manectric growled and jumped away. The Flygon sped past the Manetric in an apparent miss, but then suddenly pivoted in midair and slammed its long, muscular tail down hard onto the Manectric's back. The Manectric yelped and crumpled, falling onto its stomach onto the wet pavement.
"Manny, bite down on its tail!" The Manectric struggled to its feet at its trainer's voice, snapping at the Flygon's tail, but the Flygon was faster and spiraled upward out of its reach. With the Flygon out of its melee range and immune to its long-range techniques, the Manectric was a sitting duck as Gloria ordered a dragonbreath attack. The Flygon circled and dove, releasing from its mouth a stream of bright blue flames that hissed as they drove through the rain. The flames consumed the tired Manectric, and when they died down, it had fallen on its side on the ground. The referee raised his flag to Gloria.
Both of them were down to their last Pokémon. Hayley leaned forward in anticipation. Alex ran his fingers along his belt and paused, muttering, before selecting one and tossing it onto the field.
It was a Swampert. Hayley marveled at its form; Swampert were the final forms of one of the rare Hoenn starters, and this one was a testament to why they were in such high demand. Swampert were usually well-built, but this one was especially huge and stocky, its muscles bulging under slimy blue skin. The Swampert's arms, strong enough to crush boulders, flexed lightly as it sized up the Flygon, and the fins on its head twitched. The Flygon bucked its head and keened, sounding a challenge.
"Sloan, ice punch."
"Earthquake," Gloria countered immediately. The bulky Swampert ran on all fours to the Flygon and reared up, one of its hands shimmering with a coating of blue ice. In response, the Flygon kicked off from an invisible midair surface and circled higher, going from a hover to wide, lazy spirals. It bucked its head upward and gave a mournful-sounding cry, and the concrete under the Swampert began to tremble and ripple. The Swampert was knocked off-balance and lost its footing as the tremors intensified, becoming fierce enough to send vibrations all the way through the ground to where Halyey stood. "Good. Now strafe and use dragonbreath." The Flygon dove again, moving in to circle the Swampert. Its movements weren't quite as smooth as before, though; it seemed to be flagging a bit, its pivots and turns becoming wider and slower. Was it getting tired out already?
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The Swampert hopped backwards and ducked out of the way of the Flygon's blue flames, its powerful legs carrying it to safety before it could be more than singed. "Sloan, knock it out of the air!" Alex shouted. "Use hydro pump!"
"Evade." But the Flygon's dodge came a second too late as the Swampert inhaled deeply and unleashed a huge, rain-empowered torrent of water that hit the Flygon square in its torso. The Flygon squealed as one of its wings collapsed under the force, and it landed hard on the ground.
"Go in for another ice punch!"
"Dragon tail!" The Swampert ran in towards the prone Flygon, but just as it got within range, the Flygon rolled nimbly to its feet and whipped around to smack the Swampert with its tail. The Swampert, having reared up again for the punch, was caught right in the stomach and thrown back, staggered and gasping for breath. The Flygon stood tall on its hind legs, one wing crumpled and a sheen of ice coating its side where the Swampert's attack had grazed it, but still exuding an aura of quiet power and confidence.
"Finish it off with a hyper beam," Gloria said. The male trainer's jaw dropped and he ordered a dodge, but the Flygon was faster than the winded Swampert and built up the charge before the amphibious Pokémon could even grasp what was happening. Time seemed to slow to a stop as the charge reached its apex, and Hayley stared in awe at the magnificent creature, its mouth brimming with shimmering orange-white light, ready to release devastation upon its opponent. Then the attack fired in a huge, blinding beam of pure destruction, hitting the Swampert dead-on and enveloping it completely. Despite its bulk, the Pokémon was thrown across the battlefield, tumbling across the pavement before rolling to a stop just outside the boundary lines. It laid there on the ground, its thick skin covered with burns and scrapes, its only movement being the slow up-and-down heaving of its chest.
The students stood in stunned silence for a moment, but then someone let out a whoop, and the rest of the crowd burst into cheers. The Flygon nodded its head and chirred lightly, acknowledging its audience before walking back to its trainer. It was visibly drooping now, almost swaying on its feet, but it still managed to lower its head so Gloria could stroke its long antannae. With nothing more to power them, the rain clouds started to dissipate, letting warm sun stream onto the battlefield once again. On the other side of the field, Alex muttered to himself as he recalled his Swampert and looked over its Pokéball, but then he clipped the ball back to his belt and walked over to his opponent for a begrudging handshake.
"Did you see that?" Hayley shouted to Connie beside her, more out of excitement than anything. Everyone had seen that. Connie, however, seemed a little less impressed.
"I feel like that Flygon should've moved a little quicker, you know? That hydro pump should've been easy to dodge."
"Maybe because it was raining?" Hayley guessed, remembering the way its flight had slowed down over time. It couldn't have just been tired if it still had the energy to pull off a hyper beam. "It might've been a little weighed down."
"She should've given it a way to get rid of the rain. It looked like she knew her opponent's style pretty well, so she should've prepped for it. A defogging attack would be both practical and elegant."
Hayley turned back to the female trainer, hoping she could ask her about the battle, but she was already swarmed by a dozen students from across the graduating classes, who were all blurting out questions and looking upon her with awe. Tired it was, the Flygon still took to the crowd better than its trainer, crouching down and letting the students pet its scaly body while Gloria looked on with a small smile.
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The rest of the graduation ceremony couldn't hold a candle to that battle. Hayley squirmed in her seat as the school principal droned on with a speech about futures and opportunity. Around her, her classmates were just about as interested as she was: Campbell was dozing off with his head on Caleb's shoulder, while Chad tied knots in the hair of the girl sitting in front of him. Miriam had pulled out her Gameboy from under her robes and was tapping at the buttons, while Connie was reading something on her phone. Only Howie seemed to be paying attention, sitting up straight and apparently hanging on to the principal's every word. Hayley just replayed scenes from the battle over and over in her head and prayed the boring part would be over soon.
Finally, the speeches were through, and they started calling students alphabetically by name. Each went up to the stage one by one to shake the principal's hand and receive their diploma and formal trainer's certificate. When it was Hayley's turn to walk up the the podium, her stomach was in knots, and her limbs felt tingly and numb—not because she was nervous about all the people watching her, but because this was it. The papers the principal put in her hand made it all official, completing her transition from student to trainer. This time tomorrow, she'd be out on Route 104, putting everything she'd learned to the test. She'd have to start proving herself for real.
Hayley walked back to her seat in a daze, nearly oblivious to the audience's clapping and Connie's long, loud whistle.
Once all of the names had been called, another staff member stepped up to give the closing speech, which was about as exciting and memorable as the ones that had come before it. The school band warbled out a triumphant tune, and hats were flung into the air. And then, the real excitement began. Hordes of preteens stampeded from their seats to the exit of the field, heading back towards the practice battle range. Cries both human and Pokémon filled the air as pops and bursts of white light revealed dozens of her classmates' starters. The practice field was too small to contain all of them, so they spilled into the spectator area, staking out spots on the grass and around the bleachers as they shouted challenges and boasts. After months of waiting and bragging, it was finally time for them all to put their starters to the test in their first official battles as trainers.
It was the most Pokémon Hayley had ever seen in one place. None of them looked very strong, but the variety more than made up for it. The species ran the gamut from common to rare, from Corbin's Taillow and Caleb's Poochyena to Clarissa's shiny Snorunt and Addison's… whatever the heck it was. It looked like a puff of cotton candy with huge eyes and a pink, slobbery tongue. It must have been the Kalos Pokémon she'd been bragging about; Hayley had never seen one before. Clarissa and Addison drew a lot of attention from the surrounding students, who oohed and ahhed over their rare Pokémon. Melinda, who did in fact have a Bagon by her side, had a crowd around her as well, and even the quiet Wesley drew a bit of attention as he held onto the strings of a listless-looking Drifloom.
Hayley had drawn Barrett's Pokéball from her pocket, but now she was just rolling it between her fingers, hesitant to drop it to the ground. What if he attacked her again in front of all these people? Everyone would think she was a loser; Caleb and Melinda would call her pathetic, and Clarissa, Skye, and Addison would just laugh at her. Her cheeks reddened at the thought.
"Hayley!" She spun around to see Howie running up to her, his faithful Aron clanking along behind him. "Now that we're officially licensed and all, do you want to have a battle?"
"Um." Okay, she had challenged him to a future battle during last month's camping trip, in a fit of cockiness. But what could she say to him now? Sorry, my Pokémon doesn't listen to me? "…I don't know if my Pokémon is ready to battle yet."
Howie frowned, pushing his glasses back up his nose. "Well, let me see them. You can't go into the wilderness with a weak Pokémon. It's not safe."
"I don't think…"
"If you're nervous, we can go easy on you." A small grin spread across his face, and her blush deepened. He knew he had her.
"No way!" she shouted, a stab of pride overwhelming her better senses. Before she could stop herself, she threw Barrett's Pokéball hard onto the concrete. "We'll fight you! Go, Barrett!"
The Magby appeared in a flash of light. He squinted as he noticed his new surroundings, turning his head from side to side to take in the throngs of humans and Pokémon. Finally, he swiveled back around to Hayley and huffed, crossing his arms as if demanding an explanation.
"Uh, hey!" She forced a broad, hopefully confident-looking smile onto her face. Please don't attack me again. Not in front of all these people. "Are you ready to have a battle?"
At the word "battle," the annoyed look on the Magby's face vanished, and he snapped back around to face his opponent. Howie grinned and waved, his Aron trotting out in front of him. "Hi there!" Howie said. "You're going to be my first real battle. Should we get started?" Barrett gave a soft growl and spat a globule of fire to the ground.
The two trainers stepped back several paces, giving their Pokémon room to move around, though it was still a bit cramped with all the other students also setting up for battle around them. Hayley realized she was wringing her hands, and she quickly unclasped them and hid them behind her back. "Ready?"
Howie swept his hand towards her. "You can do the honors."
"Okay! Barrett…" Her fingernails dug into her palms as she remembered the list of techniques he'd had registered in his Pokédex entry. Ember, smog, and cross chop. She'd start off simple. "Use ember!"
Sure, he hadn't listened to anything she'd said up until now. But a tiny part of her had held out an irrational hope that once she put him into a battle, he'd stop messing around, get serious, and actually follow her commands. But that was stupid. No, of course he didn't listen, and didn't make any move to attack. He just stood there, scraping his claws against the scales on his chest.
There was an awkward pause as Howie politely waited for Barrett to make his move, but after a few moments where nothing happened, he straightened up and took the lead. "Ramona, tackle!" The Aron obediently lowered her head and scuffed her front foot against the ground like a Ponyta, and then charged forward.
"Barrett, dodge it!" But Barrett made no move to get out of the way, only spitting a couple of glowing yellow embers onto the ground. Hayley cringed; a tackle from a Pokémon as heavy as an Aron would be like getting hit by a linebacker. He wasn't going to take the hit just to spite her, was he? "Barrett, dodge!"
Just before Mona's armored head impacted his chest, Barrett came to life, swiveling gracefully to the side to avoid the charge. The Aron skidded as she fumbled for purchase on the smooth concrete, trying to stop and turn herself around. Before she could manage, Barrett spat a small bolt of fire that hit Mona's backplate with a sizzle. She gave a small cry as the spot on her carapace burned red-hot.
"Mona, stay focused! Turn around and go in for another tackle!" Mona's back straightened at Howie's command. She clomped around in a slow circle, looking Barrett straight in the eye before charging in again. Once again, Barrett sidestepped the attack and shot a small jet of flame that hit Mona in the side, throwing her off-course.
"Good, Barrett! Keep it up!" Barrett ignored her, blowing a lazy plume of smoke towards the sky. But the Aron turned around more quickly this time and came in for a third tackle. Barrett didn't notice her coming until she caught him right in the stomach, throwing him to the ground. Mona circled and smacked into him again before coming to rest several paces away, looking up at her trainer with gleaming eyes.
"Good job, girl!" Howie praised. Hayley shifted her weight from foot to foot, biting the tips of her nails. That blow looked like it had really hurt, and Barrett wasn't moving. Was he badly injured? Should she call him back? She was reaching into her pocket for her Pokéball when she heard a grunt from the battlefield. Barrett was staggering back onto his feet. Howie whistled. "Wow, he's pretty tough if he can stand up to one of Mona's tackles. We've got him now, though. Mona, one more hit!"
The Aron pawed the ground and charged forward once again, and once more Hayley yelled for Barrett to dodge. He didn't listen, of course. This time, he planted his feet firmly on the ground, narrowing his eyes and crossing his forearms in an "X" shape. He wasn't planning to cross chop Mona—was he? Her armor was too thick; he'd only hurt himself. "Barrett, dodge! Dodge!" But as the Aron readied to strike, Barrett lunged forward with a cry, striking the Pokémon right between the eyes. The force stopped Mona in her tracks and knocked her backwards. Mona squealed as she lost her balance and toppled over, her steel faceplate dented. Now marooned on her side, she flailed her stubby legs in an attempt to right herself, but she had about as much hope of doing so as an upturned Anorith.
Shocked that it had actually worked, Hayley opened her mouth to praise Barrett—but suddenly he bounded forward again towards the downed Aron. He planted one foot on her exposed stomach and leaned in nose-to-nose, sneering. Then, he opened his mouth and exhaled a small, steady jet of flames straight into her face.
Mona's squeals turned to shrieks as she writhed helplessly on the ground. The flames burned her faceplate like a blowtorch, setting it alight with a red glow. Hayley just watched, stunned into silence, until a panicked shout from Howie snapped her back to reality. "Barrett, stop!" she shouted, straining to be heard over Mona's cries of pain. This was getting beyond a regular battle; if she didn't do something, Mona was going to be seriously hurt. Barrett ignored her, keeping up his assault. "Stop!" It was no use. She fumbled for the recall button on her Pokéball, but it slipped through her fingers and fell to the ground. By now, though, Howie had drawn his own Pokéball, and the Aron dematerialized into red light just as Barrett's flames finally sputtered and went out.
Barrett straightened up, panting slightly. As Hayley knelt down to pick up the Pokéball, he turned around and looked her—slowly, deliberately—in the eye.
A challenge.
Hayley aimed the ball and pressed the recall button, zapping him out of her sight. She fumbled for words as she looked back up at Howie. He had released Mona from her ball again and was looking her over. She was breathing heavily, and now that the glow from the fire was fading, Hayley saw that part of her faceplate was warped and deformed, with a small hole about the size of a quarter melted straight through to her rocky skin. Howie muttered some soothing words to her and sprayed a potion on her burns.
"I'm—I'm sorry," she started. "I never fought with him before, and I didn't think… I didn't… Is Ramona going to be okay?"
Howie placed a hand on Mona's trembling back and nodded slowly. "Yeah," he said, his voice thick. "Aron are pretty tough. Some rest and iron supplements and she should heal up fine." He was trying to make it sound like no big deal, but his wide eyes and unsteady hands showed he was just as shaken as she was. He recalled his Aron again and got to his feet. "That's a… hell of a Magby. Where'd you get it?"
"GTS," Hayley muttered, still staring intently at her shoelaces. She realized now that some of their classmates had stopped what they were doing and gathered around, drinking in the aftermath of the battle. Her cheeks burned bright red. Everyone had seen. Forrest was snickering at her; Melinda was shaking her head in distaste. She swallowed. "Sorry," she whispered again, and then spun on her heel, dashing of through the crowd and away from the battlefield.
She almost wished Barrett had just tried to light her on fire again. Mona didn't deserve to be attacked like that. Howie had challenged her to a battle—but she shouldn't have let herself get drawn in. She knew this was going to happen. Maybe not this exactly, but something like it.
Hayley came to a stop at the top of a hill that was overlooked by a huge, shady tree. From here, she had a good view of the battlefield. Most of the students were still paired off in battles, though others were showing off in other ways. Chad had his Macop facing off against Caleb's Poochyena, while Caelin's Beautifly was blowing silvery gusts of wind at Skye's Skitty, and Osmund's Baltoy had Corbin's Taillow in the throes of a psychic attack. Off to the side, Kei's Azurill was spitting globs of water into the air that Clarissa's Snorunt froze solid with icy blasts of wind, and Campbell's Gulpin was showing off how many berries it could cram into its mouth at once. Connie and her Ralts were off on the other side of the battlefield from where Hayley had been, with Connie trying to coax Marcie into playing with Gavin's Shroomish. The Ralts was hiding behind Connie's legs as the Shroomish peered around them curiously, trying to get a better look. Well, at least Connie hadn't seen what had just happened.
They all looked like they were having fun. None of the Pokémon, Hayley noted sullenly, looked like they were trying to maim their trainers or one another. She was beginning to get an idea of why Barrett had passed through so many hands. How could such a small Pokémon be so violent, so hateful?
Hayley's ears pricked up at the sound of a tinny jingle playing on the other side of the tree. She leaned around the thick trunk and saw Miriam slumped against the other side, Gameboy still in her hands. It didn't seem like she'd noticed Hayley. Should she try talking to her? It hadn't gone well last time, but maybe… Hayley waffled back and forth for a bit before clearing her throat and going for it. "Um… Hey?"
Miriam tapped a button to pause her game and turned to Hayley with a glower. "What do you want?"
"I was just thinking…" All the Pokémon down on the field had trainers beside them, and Hayley didn't see any running around here. "Do you have your Pokémon?"
"Yeah."
"Can I see it?"
"No."
"Why not?" Now that the question had come to mind, Hayley was struck with a burning curiosity about what Pokémon Miriam had started out with, if only to know what poor soul was going to be suffering her company with her.
Don't think that! Be nice.
"It's an annoying little shit. I don't want to deal with it."
Hayley's mouth dropped open. "What? How can you say that about your own—"
"Hey, how about you go bother someone else?" Miriam interrupted, hitting the button to start her game again. "I'm trying to get all the red coins in Voltorb Battlefield. It's important. You wouldn't understand."
Hayley sat there for another minute, watching the screen as a Lucario in red overalls ran around and jumped between platforms. When it was clear Miriam planned to keep up the silent treatment, she returned to the other side of the tree and plopped down again with a sigh.
She had to deal with her for three months. Three months.
Between Barrett and Miriam, how the hell was she going to make it?