Norman's gym was a work of art. The inside of Brawly's gym had been dojo-themed, but Norman and his predecessors had taken things a step further and styled the outside to match. Sloped slate roofs, whitewashed walls, and carved wooden paneling made the whole building look lifted straight out of Johto. Upon entering, Hayley had even had to remove her shoes before being permitted to walk across the gleaming cedar floors—something the Dewford gym hadn't cared about.

The differences continued to mount as she waited for the receptionist to finish checking her in. The air rang with the muffled sounds of commands, kiais, and impacts, but while in Dewford the noise had amounted to chaos, here there was a sort of order. Every shout, slam, crack, and thud was purposeful; everything was aligned to a drumbeat Hayley couldn't hear. This was made all the more impressive when she was led to the back and saw the battle area for herself. Unlike Dewford or Rustboro, the Petalburg gym sequestered each of its four preliminary battlefields into its own private room. Aside from her opponent and the referee, there were no other challengers or gym trainers in sight. They would be fighting alone.

"Welcome to the Petalburg Gym," said the trainer who came up to greet her. He was a tall boy a few years older than her, dressed in the same athletic pants and jacket that Norman wore—though while Norman's jacket was a deep, striking red, his was the same grey as his pants. The referee was dressed identically; Norman's uniform code was every bit as strict as Roxanne's. "My name is Cameron, and I'll be your opponent today. Before we begin, allow me to explain the gym challenge. Are you familiar with haikus?"

"Yes," Hayley said, unable to mask the trepidation that filled the word. Having grown up in Petalburg, she knew what was coming, and she wasn't looking forward to it.

"Describe them."

"They're… poems with three lines. One with five syllables, then one with seven, and one with five again."

Cameron nodded. "A layperson's understanding, but technically correct. I will give you a haiku. Memorize it; I'll repeat it again if necessary, as many times as you need. After our battle, you will recite the haiku back to me and explain its meaning. From that, I will decide if you've passed."

"Right." Hayley took a deep breath, squeezed her eyes shut, and then opened them again. "I'm ready."

"Under the water, a Goldeen's beautiful face contains a sharp horn."

Seventeen syllables. Three lines. It wasn't that hard. "Under the water, Goldeen…"

"A Goldeen beautiful face."

"A Goldeen's beautiful face has a…"

"Contains."

"Contains a sharp horn. Under the water, a Goldeen's beautiful face contains a sharp horn."

"Correct."

"Under the water…" Hayley dropped her voice and muttered the poem to herself again and again. Water. Goldeen. Horn. Three lines, seventeen syllables. She could do this. Finally, she looked up at Cameron again. "I'm ready."

"Then let's begin." Cameron departed to the far end of the field. On the sidelines, the referee raised her hand.

"This is a third-tier qualifying match between Hayley Summers and Gym Trainer Cameron. The format will be a one on one single battle. Standard League rules are in place. Gym Trainer Cameron, send out your Pokémon."

Cameron plucked a ball from his waist and sent out… a Lickitung. Okay. Not great, but not terrible—she could work with this.

"Challenger, send out your Pokémon."

On Hayley's side, Sen materialized. He and Barrett had sparred for the privilege of taking on the qualification fight, and Sen had narrowly come out on top. Sen wasn't an ideal matchup for a Lickitung—Barrett would have been better—but Lickitung was, at least, a Pokémon she was familiar with and was one of the ones she'd preemptively briefed Sen on how to fight: "It's bulky, but you're faster. Get in close, hit it hard, and avoid the tongue at all costs." Sen's focused stare told her that he remembered her instructions.

The referee brought down her hand. "Begin!"

"Close in!" Hayley shouted, in case there was any lingering doubt. There wasn't. Sen lunged across the field, and the Lickitung hunched forward, ready to meet him.

"Bind." The Lickitung's namesake tongue struck out like a whip, dripping paralytic saliva. Sen detected safely to the side. That got him past the tip, the deftest and most dangerous part, but now he had to contend with the rest of its length. The Lickitung twirled, whipping its tongue around in an arc as it simultaneously drew it back into its mouth, and Sen had to dive to avoid being knocked off his feet. But that dive also got him close enough to strike. He drew back a palm and lit it up with aura—

"Tuck and roll." The Lickitung curled up and stiffened its muscles just as Sen's force palm made contact. The impact sent it tumbling away—too far, Hayley realized with a lurch. It was continuing to roll on purpose.

"Watch out for rollout!" With its speed kickstarted by Sen's strike, the Lickitung came careening around at an alarming pace. Sen jumped to the side to avoid it, but that just gave it the chance to build its momentum even more. This was exactly the sort of situation they needed rock tomb for, Hayley thought ruefully, but Sen's use of the move still hadn't progressed beyond pulling up a few small stones. They'd have to work with what they had. "Psi-tackle!"

Sen planted his feet and thrust his hands forward. The confusion wasn't enough to totally knock away the Lickitung, but it was enough to bring it down from "barreling freight train" to "swerving bicyclist," which was all Sen needed for an opening. On his own initiative, he jumped up and delivered another force palm—from above this time, which weakened its power, but also drove the Lickitung towards the ground instead of spinning it away on another charge.

Unfortunately, it also left Sen totally vulnerable in midair. "Bind!" Cameron ordered again, and Sen's eyes widened as he realized his mistake.

"Detect!" But trying to swerve away in the air was a lost cause. The Lickitung's tongue shot out again and snatched him up, wrapping in a tight coil around his entire body. Sen struggled as it began to squeeze him. He was stuck fast, and they had only moments before paralysis set in and left him unable to move at all. Cameron turned his eyes on Hayley, evaluating her as she raced to think of her next move. What was the best way out of this? Confusion? No—"Force palm! Over and over on the tongue!"

With inhuman flexibility, Sen managed to slip one arm free. He channeled his aura into it and slammed it down on the tongue, where it would have stuck fast if not for the miniature explosion propelling it back. He brought it down again, and again, and though the aura spark was barely visible by the third hit, it was just enough to finish the job. The Lickitung recoiled and dropped him, pulling its tongue in halfway to tend to the bloody welt that had opened up. Sen barely righted himself before hitting the clay, and as he stood up, his movements were stiff. It wasn't full paralysis, but it was bad enough that they had to finish this fast.

"Focus," Cameron chided his Pokémon. "Finish the fight with one more lick." The Lickitung grunted and drew its tongue in the rest of the way, recoating it with saliva. Sen lurched up to strike while it was vulnerable, but the Lickitung tucked its legs in and rolled away. Still, Sen tried to give chase, but a full-body spasm knocked him down to his hands and knees. Crap. If they couldn't get close, they had no way to finish this. His confusion would just let it set up for another rollout, and his rock tomb was still too weak to—

Rocks. Tongue. An idea emerged in Hayley's mind, devious enough that Miriam might have been whispering it in her ear. It was cheap, but it… It might work. "Sen. Scatter shot the tongue."

Sen didn't turn to look at her, but she could feel his judgmental stare as though his eyes were peering at her through his skull. Hayley stood her ground. "It's that or lose."

They had no time to argue. The Lickitung was hustling forward again, and it was almost within range. With palpable disdain, Sen completed his mental calculus of "winning dishonorably" versus "losing dishonorably" and made his decision. He struck the ground, transmuting the clay in front of him into a cluster of small rocks. Then, using his telekinesis to supplement his burgeoning geokinesis, he swung an arm in front of him and launched the rocks just as the Lickitung opened its mouth.

It went just as Hayley had envisioned. The sharp rocks peppered the Lickitung's tongue and stuck there, making the Lickitung stumble and cry out in dismay. Sen used the last of his mobility to detect back, strike the ground again, and send another volley. Several landed close to the base of the tongue, meaning the Lickitung wouldn't be able to retract it at all until it peeled them off. Its weak point would have to stay exposed. They had the advantage—

"Hammer arm." Hayley's mouth dropped open as every muscle in the Lickitung's rock-laden tongue bulged. It brought it flying down towards Sen, who tried to dodge, but his shaking legs couldn't carry him to safety in time. The tongue struck him across the back with a force that sent him sprawling across the battlefield. The arenas here were bare clay, with no obstacles for him to hit, but his body still crumpled as he rolled to a stop. Hayley dug her nails into her palms.

"Sen! Get up! You've almost got this; one more force palm and you'll win." The rocks were still working. The Lickitung had to coil its tongue around itself as it ambled up for another hit—no rollout this time. Sen pushed himself to his knees, fighting for every inch as tremors wracked his body. "You can do this. Come on!"

"Hammer arm." The Lickitung uncoiled its tongue and slammed it down again—

Sen punched up. The flash of aura was almost as bright as Xena's spark as his hand exploded against the Lickitung's tongue. Aftershocks raced through its length, rippling it like a ribbon and finally knocking the Lickitung itself off its feet. It wailed, curling itself as well as it could around its bruised, bleeding, and rock-covered tongue, as Sen pushed himself forward for one more strike. Cameron called for a protect, but it was too late. One more force palm to the Lickitung's chest, and the battle was over.

Hayley was lightheaded and giddy as Sen limped back to her, eyes locked on hers. "That was amazing," she gasped. "I'm sorry I didn't see the hammer arm coming, but you handled it perfectly. Are you all right? Nothing broken?" Sen begrudgingly performed the arm-lift-and-pirouette that she'd by now made standard for him and Barrett after particularly intense fights. Ceres had to roll onto her back instead. "Good. I've got to recall you for a bit, but I'll let you out soon."

She put Sen back in his ball, then looked up to see Cameron standing several paces away, face unreadable. "You've passed the battle portion of the challenge," he said. "Now for the other. Do you remember the haiku I gave you?"

"Yes. I think so." Hayley squeezed her hands into fists and tried to chase the battle high from her mind. Then she uncurled her hands and held them in front of her, ready to count. Three lines, seventeen syllables. First there was five: "Under… the water." Seven: "Goldeen… A Goldeen's face—beautiful face." That was it. Then five again: "Contains a… a sharp horn."

"Correct," Cameron said, and Hayley's shoulders sagged in relief. "What does it mean?"

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"I guess it means…" She chewed her lip. Beautiful Goldeen, sharp horn. Roses and thorns. "What's pretty can also be… dangerous." Cameron's unblinking gaze told her that he was looking for more, so she continued: "And if it's under the water, then it's—hidden? Hidden beauty. Hidden danger. Is that it?"

A long pause, and then, at last, Cameron nodded. "I'll accept it. Congratulations, Hayley Summers. You're now qualified to challenge Norman for the Balance Badge."

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Miriam's qualification battle had been a little later in the morning than Hayley's had been, which meant she was in the Pokémon Center lobby dropping off Yuna's Pokéball at the same time Hayley was there picking up Sen's. Sen, of course, didn't accept any form of healing, but Hayley had pressed him into getting checkups multiple times a week and after high-level battles. It had helped when Hayley had told him that the biometric readings the centers took would give him hard data on exactly how much stronger he was becoming, rather than him having to rely on self-assessment and vague feelings of power. Still, he was far from a model patient, and the nurses on duty had started to give Hayley an exasperated side-eye every time she walked through the doors.

Miriam and Yuna had evidently faced a Girafarig and won, though that didn't stop Miriam from complaining that the haiku test had been "bullshit" and that the gym design was "a total ripoff of the stuff in Johto." The fact that Norman was literally from Johto did nothing to sway her on the second point: "It's not like he's the one who built the gym. Whoever built it ripped it off." Her grumbling turned to malicious glee, though, when Hayley relayed the rock tomb strategy she'd used to win. Hayley had been correct in thinking it was the exact sort of cheap trick Miriam loved.

Cheap or not, though, she was proud of herself for thinking of it in the heat of the moment. The difference between this fight and her Dewford qualifier, where Drew's Mienfoo shutting down her trap had left her empty-headed and scrambling, was plain to see: she was getting better. Quicker. More adaptive.

Before they parted ways again, Miriam leaned in to Hayley and whispered, "By the way. I figured out more stuff about that guy. I'll tell you later."

"Um, thanks, but I think I know enough—"

"The more info you have, the better, right? I'll tell you tonight."

It had turned out that while Hayley's idea of doxxing had been getting a phone number and home address, Miriam's idea of it went much, much further. Whether it was because she was determined to prove her savviness, or whether she was just excited to run her Porygon through his paces ("Searching the internet for public data is totally legal! He can't say no!"), Hayley wasn't sure. All she knew was that each day, Miriam came to her with a new piece of information about Evrard. Where he'd gone to school. Where he worked. What cafes and restaurants he ate at. Where he'd gone for vacation last year. It was downright freaky, and almost enough for Hayley to call the whole thing off—almost. Instead, she filed away what she thought she might need, tried to discard the things she didn't, and scrubbed as much as she could about herself from her forum post histories and social media accounts. After everything went down, she didn't want Evrard to be able to stalk her back.

Before Evrard, though, Hayley had to think about Norman. Her match would be in ten days, just after her Class II exam and Connie's hearing. It was time to knuckle down and solidify her strategy for taking on his team. Linoone, Spinda, and Vigoroth. Linoone would be a straightforward fight for either Barrett or Sen, and Ceres was an obvious counter to Spinda. The Vigoroth, though…

There were two problems with the Vigoroth. One, with it being the strongest Pokémon in the match, Barrett and Sen would both fight tooth and nail to have the opportunity to face it. And two, after her near-death experience in Petalburg Woods, Hayley didn't trust herself to keep her head when staring one down. She'd somehow managed to avoid facing any Vigoroth directly in the arenas, but she'd seen a few of them from the sidelines, and each time her pulse had quickened, her breath had caught, and her mind had filled with the scent of rancid breath and the sight of dripping claws. It had never been enough to drive her into a full-on panic—but if one of them got close to her, if it entered her side of the field and stared her down, that might do it.

And if Barrett or Sen saw her collapse, that would spell the end of any respect they'd built for her.

It wasn't a position she wanted to be in, but she had no choice. So she'd pondered the question during sleepless nights and eventually decided that she wanted Barrett to take the matchup. Just as Vigoroth posed two different problems, she'd come to this conclusion for two different, equally selfish reasons. One, Barrett wouldn't be able to psychically sense her fear the way Sen would. And two, fighting a Linoone might not be enough to make him evolve, but facing down a Vigoroth almost certainly would be.

It was a decent enough plan. Now she had to get Sen to sign off on it.

She released Sen in the grass a short way from the Pokémon Center. He scanned his surroundings and, finding neither teammates nor an opponent, looked to her for clarification. "I want to start preparing you all to face Norman," she said. "But first, I want to talk to you about something."

Sen slowly nodded. Hayley sat down cross-legged on the ground, letting her get closer to Sen's level without the condescension that came from bending over. "Norman has three Pokémon: Linoone, Spinda, and Vigoroth. His Vigoroth is the strongest, and I know both you and Barrett are going to want to fight it. Normally I'd let you decide between yourselves or spar to see who gets it, but in this case, I want to know if you'd be okay with me giving that fight to Barrett."

Sen tilted his head, and Hayley felt his pressure at the back of her skull. She thought about signs and purposely did not think about how Vigoroth terrified her. After a moment, Sen lifted up one hand and curled in his middle finger. Why. Well, she'd seen that question coming even without the sign.

"I think Barrett's close to evolving," she said, still not thinking about fear. "Don't tell him I told you this—I don't want him to be disappointed if it doesn't happen—but I think fighting Norman's strongest Pokémon might be enough to make it happen."

Sen's mouth curled in an unconvinced frown. "Evolving's important to him," Hayley pressed. "You know that. And when it's time for you to evolve, I'll do the same thing for you, I promise."

Fight, Sen signed, pointing to himself. Strong. Train.

"Are you saying you are stronger, or that you want to get stronger?" Sen held up two fingers. The second one—he didn't want to miss the chance to push himself in a fierce fight. "I get it," Hayley said. "But Barrett's been waiting a long time to evolve. And if it doesn't happen before we leave town, it might not happen until we get all the way to Mauville. I don't want him to be stuck that long."

Sen's expression didn't change. "Okay, think about it like this," she tried. "We won't be visiting any arenas between here and Mauville, and the wild Pokémon will be pretty weak. If we don't come across any traveling trainers, the only Pokémon you'll be able to really spar against will be the rest of the team—and if Barrett evolves, that means you can train against a Magmar instead of a Magby." That caught his interest, but still, he held out. His rivalry with Barrett made this a double-edged sword, Hayley realized; the part of Sen that wanted strength would be happy for a tougher opponent, but the part of him that was proud didn't want Barrett to start consistently winning. With that argument falling flat, there was just one more card to play. "And if you let Barrett take this fight now, I'll let you take the fight against Jin's last Pokémon. It'll be a Metang. A lot stronger than a Vigoroth, and a lot rarer."

Sen stood up a little straighter. He'd seen Metang in some of the battles Hayley had watched on TrainerTV, and after Hayley had explained them to him, he'd been equal parts baffled and intrigued. So, this offer was less about fairness and more about bribery—but it worked. After several seconds of consideration, Sen solemnly nodded. Hayley smiled. "Great. Thank you, Sen. I'm going to let the others out now—remember, don't talk to Barrett about any of this until after he's evolved."

With that settled, Hayley unclipped and tossed her two other balls, and Barrett and Ceres appeared. Ceres ambled up and headbutted her warmly, while Barrett scowled and crossed his arms. He was still sore about missing out on the qualification fight, but Hayley was sure his mood would turn around when he learned who he'd be facing in the gym battle.

"Let's talk about Norman."

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The next afternoon, Hayley was back in Connie's room. There had been no separation session that day, only another round of Marcie throwing everything she had against Yuna, and some of Connie's old cheer was managing to shine through her gloomy edges. It wasn't as bright as it had been before Reese—before Slateport as a whole—but it was better than it had been at any point over the past two and a half weeks. They were going through flashcards for the Class II exam, with Connie and Marcie sitting on her bed and Hayley sitting on the floor, and if Hayley shut her eyes, she could imagine that they were still in her living room at the end of last spring.

"What level of sound can cause immediate damage to human hearing?"

"One hundred twenty decibels."

"Right. Which Pokémon have restrictions on being released near waterways?"

"Any class two poison-type, any Pokémon that secretes poison like Grimer or Wooper, and…" She blinked. A shadow had moved in the corner of her vision. She turned her head to look, but nothing was there. "There's… um. I can't remember the third one."

"There isn't a third one. You got both right." Oh. "What's the minimum safe distance to stand from a fully powered thunderbolt?"

"I think it's at least…" The shadow moved again. Once more, there was nothing there when she looked, but this time a chilling cackle rose in her ears. She flinched and looked back at Connie. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

She hadn't imagined it—had she? Licking her lips, she tried to refocus on the question. "So a thunderbolt is—" She jumped as another cackle echoed around her. "You seriously can't hear that?" Was Marcie playing tricks on her? Was she going crazy? Or…

Connie sighed and leaned back against the wall. "Anima, knock it off." Immediately, the third round of cackling ceased. Then, Connie locked eyes with Hayley and said, "You have to promise not to freak out."

"Freak out about what?"

"I know you're going to want to freak out, but don't, okay? She's totally safe. She won't hurt either of us."

Hayley swallowed. "Won't—what? Connie, what's going on?"

"Anima, come out." From the edge of the room where the shadows had moved, a shape began to emerge. First a horn, then a round head and two glowing eyes, then—

Shuppet. It was a Shuppet. Hayley jumped to her feet. "Connie—"

"Don't freak out! I told you, she's fine. She's been hanging around for a couple weeks and hasn't hurt me or Marcie at all." The Shuppet floated over to Connie's shoulder, cloth body rippling. Marcie tilted her head to glare at it—her—but made no move to attack. Connie reached out a hand to poke it, finger phasing halfway through, and both she and the ghost giggled in unison. "Her name's Anima. And I know she's a spooky ghost and everything, but she's a friend."

Hayley's pulse raced in her ears. A Shuppet. Not just any ghost, but a Shuppet. They fed on bad feelings, they were attracted to them, and so if one was here now… "I thought you were getting better. I thought you were feeling better."

"I am. But not all the time, you know? It's…" Connie trailed off and dropped her gaze. "You know it's been hard."

"I know. But you're—"

"Calm down. Okay? I know how it looks. I'm not stupid." Anima fluttered down to Connie's lap, and Connie gently nudged her away. "Yeah, Shuppet eat bad thoughts. But that doesn't mean they make bad thoughts. Some do, but Anima doesn't. She's just eating what's already there."

"How can you be sure?" Connie gave a bitter laugh.

"Because I know my own head. And so does Marcie. And we both agree there's nothing in there that wasn't already there before Anima showed up."

Hayley looked at Marcie, who had put a protective hand on Connie's leg, but was otherwise sitting perfectly still. "You really think she'd let someone hurt me?" Connie continued. "She doesn't even let other humans make me feel bad, let alone ghosts."

"But she... Anima…" Hayley's eyes slid back to the Shuppet, who stared right back at her. "She won't want you to get better. She'll want you to always be—"

"I'm not ever going to 'get better.' Don't you get it?" Anima cackled and floated up in front of Connie's face; Connie waved her away. "Not in the way you keep thinking. I'm not going to go back to how I was four months ago, before the contests, before Evrard, before Reese. It doesn't… work like that." Marcie clambered into Connie's lap. Connie hugged her tight. "My therapist says there'll be good days and bad days. And that there'll be more and more good days as I go on, but the bad days might never disappear. And that I have to know how to survive them. Anima helps me survive them."

"By eating your feelings?"

"By being there. And I don't mean—you and Marcie, you're there for me too, and so are my parents, and even Addie and Skye. But my feeling bad hurts all of you. Marcie especially. She doesn't get sick from bad thoughts anymore, now that she's a Kirlia, but they still hurt. And Anima's…" Finally, Connie looked up again and met Hayley's eyes. "She's someone I can talk to, and no matter how many bad things I tell her, it'll never hurt her. She'll never get upset. It works out, don't you see? For my good days, I have Marcie and all of you. For my bad days, I have my therapist and Anima."

It made sense, in a twisted sort of way, but the thought of it made Hayley feel sick. A supernatural manifestation of tainted emotions, hovering around Connie at all times, guiding her forward… "I still think it's a bad idea."

"Please. She helps me. You have Ceres for this sort of thing, don't you? Let me have Anima."

Hayley… had been using Ceres as a dumping ground for her problems for the past few months. But that was different, wasn't it? Ceres didn't get stronger from her negativity. She didn't have an investment in Hayley being upset.

But Connie had been improving. That wouldn't have happened if Anima wanted her to stay miserable all the time. And she had Marcie to watch over her—the best detector of emotional tampering someone could possibly wish for.

"Have you told your parents about Anima?" Hayley said at last. "Or your therapist?"

"Not yet. I will, but I know they'll try to drive her away just like you did, so I want to wait until she's mine. The hearing's in a few days, and if my suspension gets lifted, I'll be able to catch her and make it official. Then I'll tell them."

"You promise?"

"I promise." Connie's eyes were huge and pleading, the same Lillipup eyes that had goaded Hayley into going to a spa day, but with so much more at stake. It still felt like a bad idea. But Hayley had had so many bad ideas, and Connie had always trusted her to pull through. She could trust her now, just for a few days more.

"Okay. But you need to tell them right after the hearing, and I want to be there too."