Oldale Town had seen better days. Sure, it had always been kind of a glorified rest stop, but nowadays it wasn't even glorified. Once a vital link between Petalburg and Slateport, the construction of Rusturf Tunnel and the ever-increasing prevalence of ferries and flying taxis meant that trainers, contesters, and tourists had less and less reason to travel through the town with each passing year. Hayley would have skipped it herself, if Barrett hadn't insisted on going the long way, and if she hadn't had business to take care of here. It had even less to offer her than Petalburg.

They traveled on a rattling old bus to the town's Pokémon Center, whose red roof somehow managed to look every bit as muted and depressed as the rest of its surroundings. The inside was dated and the attendants who checked them in were brusque and unhelpful, but it beat sleeping in a tent, so Hayley was grateful for it all the same. They went upstairs to drop off their bags, and Hayley automatically sat on the bottom bunk. Miriam was halfway up the ladder to the top when she paused, looked down, and demanded, "This doesn't count as my turn on the top bunk, right? We're only going to be here one night."

"You can have the top in Mauville too," said Hayley, trying to sound as reluctant as possible. For the whole past month, she'd managed to keep up the charade that she'd enjoyed sleeping in the top bunk, and she couldn't give the game away now. She leaned back against the wall and sighed. As lumpy and hard as the mattress under her was, her sore body begged her to lie down on it, just for a little while. She resisted, settling for rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands instead. If she took a nap, she wasn't going to get up until it was time for dinner, and she couldn't let that happen. They were going to be in Oldale for less than twenty-four hours, and she had to make every one of them count. "Do you mind if I shower first? I want to get over to the arena."

"Go ahead. I'm going to pass out while I have a real bed to do it in." Hayley flinched as Miriam's hiking boots fell through the air and struck the ground in front of her. She ought to get up and shower, then, but even with the cinderblock wall behind her shoulders, she somehow felt so comfortable…

"Hey." Miriam's voice came again and snapped her out of her thoughts. "You're still doing that thing tomorrow, right?"

An icy feeling spread through Hayley's body, and suddenly, she no longer wanted to sleep. She pushed herself off the wall and back to her feet. "Yeah. Tomorrow morning."

"You want me to get you anything else for it? Or—"

"I'm good, thanks. You've already gotten me more stuff than I can figure out how to use."

"Okay, but if anyone asks, I didn't."

"Yeah. I know." She sighed again, hefted her bag off the floor, and slung it over one shoulder. "You want to get dinner later?"

"If I'm awake by then. If I'm not, then don't wake me up."

"All right. See you later, then… Miri." Miriam groaned, and as Hayley stepped into the bathroom, a small smile tugged at her lips.

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Barrett's evolution had come with new rules about where and how he could battle. Now that he was a Magmar, and Class II, he couldn't go around spitting fireballs and plumes of toxic smoke wherever he felt like it. The small practice lots next to the Pokémon Center were now off-limits, as were parks and anywhere else too close to buildings or people. If he wanted to go all-out, it had to be on the routes or on a field that was rated to handle it. And since Hayley didn't want to risk anything going wrong while she was miles from a Center, that left the arena as her only choice.

As with everything else about the town, Oldale's arena was run-down and depopulated, with only a small handful of trainers milling around. Normally, that would have been a disappointment, but today it suited Hayley just fine. Before putting Barrett into a battle against anyone else, she wanted to do a test run between him and the other members of her team. And while taking up a whole field in the arena just to battle against yourself was usually bad manners, the fact that the place was practically empty meant that nobody would care.

Hayley took her place in the trainer box of a half-size field and released her team—Ceres and Sen in front of her, Barrett several feet away. His fire was lower than it had been a few days ago, but it blazed up again the moment he caught sight of the battlefield. "Calm down," Hayley said. "We're going to do a quick spar, like we talked about, okay? Barrett, I won't be commanding you, so fight however you want—but make sure to stop your fire if I tell you to stop. We don't want anyone getting stuck in the Center for a week." Barrett grumbled, but he signed okay all the same. "All right. Go stand on the other side of the field."

Barrett tromped off, his oppressive heat following him, and when he was out of earshot, Hayley turned back to Ceres and Sen. "Sen, you'll be up first. Do you want me to give you orders?" He shook his head. "All right, I might call out some advice, but otherwise you'll be on your own. Remember, every time you touch Barrett, you risk getting burned, so you'll probably want to fight from a distance with rock tomb and confusion. Ceres, if Sen doesn't win, then I'll send you out next. Your strategy is going to be all about disable, yawn, and water gun, so be prepared. Got it?" Both of them nodded. "Okay. Let's go."

Hayley recalled them both, then threw Sen's ball out onto the field. She raised a hand. "On my mark! Three, two, one, go!"

Sen slammed a foot into the ground and clenched his fists against his chest, yanking up a foot-high clump of clay that hardened into stone. But instead of detaching it and launching it at Barrett, he left it fused in place and repeated the process to pull up a second rock. It was a new tactic they were working on—do all the hard work of transmuting upfront, then either throw the rocks later or use them as obstacles to slam foes into. It had potential, but it was slow, and Barrett wasn't going to wait patiently for it to be done. He shrouded himself in fire and charged like a comet, using his flames to propel him forward, and Sen barely managed to finish a third rock before needing to detect away. He blinked and reappeared a couple yards to the side, and Barrett skidded to a stop and aimed a jet of flame at his new location—but he'd used up too much fuel on his flashy approach. The fire sputtered and died just before reaching Sen. Hayley kept herself from rolling her eyes.

Sen leapt back to one of his rocks and struck it with his palm, severing half of it cleanly, and then launched it at Barrett with telekinesis. He aimed at his stomach, having learned from their many spars that it was Barrett's weakest spot. Barrett's eyes flashed, but his new body was still sluggish, and the detect didn't trigger until after the rock slammed into his gut. Snarling in frustration, he belched out a thick cloud of smog that Sen had to dash away from, putting both the rocks and Barrett outside the range of his telekinesis. Inside the haze, Barrett's form flickered like a giant candle as his fire ignited once more.

"Watch out for flame wheel!" Hayley shouted, but Sen was already preparing. He smashed a fist into the ground, bringing up and launching a shower of stone fragments. A moment later, Barrett came racing out of the smog like a Zubat out of hell, and though he blazed straight through the shards, they didn't even slow him down. He charged all the way to Sen, who dodged, but not fast enough—Barrett clipped him in the side and sent him flying. Sen struck the ground and bounced once before catching himself and flipping back to his feet. He didn't show any sign of pain, but the left half of his body looked singed from just that brief contact, and Hayley was sure he was feeling it.

Hayley chewed her lip. She'd known Sen would almost definitely lose this fight, but he couldn't lose this quickly, or his pride would be wrecked. There had to be a way—Barrett was already running in again, this time with his arms raised for a cross chop. "Sen! Hit him while his flames are down!" As Barrett closed the gap, Sen blinked behind him with detect and landed a force palm on Barrett's leg, making him collapse to one knee. But before he could dodge away again, Barrett whipped his tail around and caught him in the stomach, throwing him through the air until he landed flat on his back.

Several seconds passed, and then both fighters staggered back to their feet. Barrett was favoring one leg now, but still raring to go, while Sen clutched at his abdomen and struggled for breath. Two hits, and he'd been reduced to this. He wouldn't be able to take a third. And now Barrett had burst into flame again and was pulling off ribbons of fire into a fire spin. There had to be a way. The poison cloud over Sen's rock field was thinning; if he could get back there, he could land at least one more shot. "Sen—"

Hayley didn't get a chance to finish. Sen lifted his head and yelled, splitting the air with an extended kiai, and a blue aura burst around his body. He stood up straight and flung out his arms, and the light coalesced into three humming orbs. Each blazed with deep azure light and pulsed and flickered like flames, and so did his eyes, blazing with proud fury as he thrust his hands toward Barrett. The orbs obeyed, racing ahead and spiraling around one another, and Barrett, who'd been briefly stunned by the display, snapped back to life and lurched away. He made it out of the path, but then Sen drew back one hand and the orbs followed, as if tugged by strings. They struck Barrett in the side, one after the other, and they must not have actually been made of fire because Barrett felt them, hissing in pain as he reeled away. For just a moment, it looked like Sen had regained the upper hand—

But Barrett still had his fire spin. He'd lost control during the dodge and the hit, but now he regained it, and he thrust out his own arm to send the flames whirling towards Sen. Sen, depleted from his attack, didn't have the energy to dodge, and the fire consumed him.

One second, two, three. Hayley shot her hand into the air again. "Barrett, back off!" Barrett growled, crossed his arms, and stood up straight, and the flames disappeared with a whoosh. Sen was flat on the ground, unconscious and covered in shallow burns. Hayley recalled him and released him at her feet, checking for any serious injuries, but nothing had been blackened or charred. Not much worse than he'd gotten in any of their other spars, just… there was more of it. Hayley sighed as she grabbed a burn heal out of her pack and applied it. When it was done, she recalled him again to let him rest. Then, she stood to address Barrett.

"You did really well," she called over the field. "Just remember to keep your attacks short if you want to hit a Pokémon's entire body like that." Making deeper burns in smaller patches, like they'd done to Brawly's Makuhita, was okay by League rules, but charring every inch of your opponent's skin was not. Barrett grumbled and tossed his head, but still strutted back to his starting position with a swagger in his limping step. He'd beaten Sen more handily than ever before, and Hayley was sure he wouldn't let him live it down.

Next up was Ceres. Hayley's heart instinctively twisted at the thought of her being immolated, but the truth was that with her thicker skin and dulled pain response, she was in a much better position to handle burns than Sen. And if they played their cards right, she'd barely be burned at all. Hayley tossed her ball onto the field, where she greeted Barrett with her traditional bellow. One more, Hayley raised her hand. "Three, two one, go! Ceres, water gun!"

Ceres inhaled and spat out a jet of water. Barrett disappeared into smoke just before the attack reached him, blowing forward and out of its path. He rematerialized behind Ceres, slamming her hindquarters with a mist-wreathed cross chop. Unperturbed, Ceres stopped her attack and began turning to face him, but despite his injured knee and general sluggishness, Barrett was still faster. He shuffled to the side, and the air around him shimmered as he took in the air for a flamethrower—

"Disable!" This was the crux of their strategy. Ceres' eyes glowed moments before Barrett's fire washed over her, and a couple seconds later, the flames stopped. Barrett stayed momentarily frozen in place, disbelieving that anyone, much less Ceres, had been able to cut off his evolved form's fire, and in that window, Hayley struck again. "Yawn!"

Heedless of the blisters forming on her skin, Ceres opened her jaw and let out an enormous yawn. Barrett snorted in disdain, but his body sagged all the same, even as he sucked in another breath. This time, he sent forth another cloud of smog that settled over the both of them, half-obscuring them from Hayley's sight. Hayley winced. Both yawn and water gun needed Ceres to breathe in deep to execute them, and if the air around her was poison… "Water arc! As wide as you can!" It would definitely hurt her, but if she could blow away some of the smog and hit Barrett in the process, then they could still come out ahead. Inside the cloud, there was a quiet cough from Ceres as the smog hit her lungs, and then a long stream of water burst out, whipping back and forth. Ceres turned as she attacked, and found her mark on Barrett, who was still shaking off the yawn and couldn't quite move fast enough to dodge. The water didn't knock him off his feet, but it did drive him back a couple inches as it crashed over him. Barrett grunted and reflexively tried to ignite his vents to burn the water away, but his fire was still disabled. Ceres was still holding strong.

Infuriated, Barrett detected forward and away from Ceres' attack just as it trickled to a stop. "Yawn again!" Hayley shouted. Ceres' yawn was interrupted by her coughing and by Barrett reappearing at her side and driving a fist into her flank, but she persisted, and soon it echoed across the field. The smog had thinned, and Hayley could see Barrett more clearly now. He was moving slowly and sloppily, barely willing to lift his feet, and as he punched Ceres again, it looked like he was moving through a thick gel. Normally, a Pokémon as strong as him wouldn't be affected so drastically by yawn, especially since Ceres' water gun ought to have nullified the first one and snapped him back to wakefulness. But Ceres had a trump card in this fight: her disable. Fire-types used their fire to keep their body temperatures up, and Ceres had cut Barrett's off. That, combined with the yawns and him being doused in water, was slowing his metabolism to a crawl. It had worked on him when he was a Magby, and clearly it still worked now. Ceres could actually win this.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Ceres! Water gun again!" Ceres rumbled, coughed, and spat out another jet of water. It hit Barrett dead on, and he snarled in discomfort and pain. But the smog and the hits from earlier were taking their toll, and Ceres could only keep up the water gun for a few seconds before stopping and gasping for breath. Barrett growled and lurched forward again, injured knee nearly collapsing under him, and cross chopped her directly on the head. Ceres gasped and groaned and yawned again, and Barrett slumped onto his hands and knees. She opened her mouth for one more water gun, and—

Her eyes slid closed. At the same moment, Barrett toppled over. Hayley held her breath and waited, but even as Barrett's flames began to flicker back to life, neither of them stood up. It was a double knockout.

Hayley shook her head and recalled them both. She stepped out of the trainer's box and back to the sidelines, freeing the field up for anyone else who might need it—though there wasn't exactly a line—and released Ceres and Barrett to check them over. Ceres' burns were minor, though they still looked painful, and Hayley treated them as thoroughly as she had Sen's. She also injected an antidote to get rid of any lingering toxins from the smog, and sprayed a potion over everywhere Barrett's hits had landed. Barrett only needed a potion, which she applied as quickly as she could while his flames were still low. His knee didn't look too bad, but she'd have to double check once he woke up.

With first aid done, she released Sen alongside the others and turned to her Pokédex. She wanted to figure out what move Sen had used against Barrett. If she hadn't known better, she might have thought it was aura sphere, but Meditite couldn't learn that move naturally and she definitely hadn't given him a TM. She had her suspicions about what it could be, though, and after flipping through some pages, she was almost positive she was right.

Hidden power was a weird move, one which almost no Pokémon could learn naturally but which almost every Pokémon could learn through a TM. It drew its power from the user's cells and its form from their DNA, manifesting in a burst of energy that was entirely unique to the wielder. Meditite were one of the few Pokémon with the inherent ability to use it, and Sen was definitely at a high enough level to pull it off. Hayley smiled as she clicked her dex shut again. A new move, and one that would help his long-distance game to boot. Sen might have lost, but this would hopefully soften the blow.

Sen stirred, and the first thing Hayley did was check with him to make sure his ribs were just bruised, not broken. Thankfully, everything seemed to be intact. Hayley wasn't used to thinking of Barrett's tail as a weapon just yet, and clearly neither was Sen; even Barrett probably hadn't expected his tail sweep to be that effective. As expected, Sen was disgruntled about his loss. He kept silent and still the whole time she checked him over, refusing to look her in the eye.

"Hey, don't take it so hard," Hayley said. "You did really well, and that new move you pulled off was amazing. Barrett's going to be stronger than you for a while, sure, but I know you'll catch up again. It'll just take some practice." Sen gave a tiny huff and shook his head. "Don't be a sore loser," Hayley chided him. "You said you wanted strong opponents, and now you have one. Just think how much faster you're going to grow now."

Barrett woke next, and thankfully, his knee already seemed to be feeling better. Unfortunately, that meant he was able to stomp around and snort about the indignity of, Hayley guessed, Ceres first taking his fire and then knocking him out. "It was a tie," Hayley assured him. "And if I'd been giving you commands, or if you hadn't fought Sen right before, you definitely could have won. That smog you used was a really great idea; I'm impressed you were able to think of it. It was a good move against Sen, too." Barrett grumbled, but his hunched back un-bristled just a little bit. "Good. Just because you've evolved, that doesn't mean you're going to win every single fight. You still have a long way to go. Remember that."

Finally, Ceres opened her eyes and yawned. A quick check determined she'd definitely been knocked for a loop by Barrett's cross chops, and her breathing was still a little shallow, but it was nothing a night in the Center wouldn't fix. After ensuring she was okay, Hayley wrapped her in a hug. "I'm so proud of you! Barrett went down at the same time you did. That means you tied." Off to the side, Sen was staring curiously at Ceres. He clearly hadn't expected her to be able to succeed where he had failed. "We're going to work on having you use some other moves, like confusion and protect, while you're holding disable. Okay? That way you won't have to keep getting hit. It'll be tricky, but I know you can do it." Ceres rumbled and headbutted her hand.

Ceres and Sen had fought against Barrett harder than they'd ever had to before. That was one of the benefits of having an evolved Pokémon in the party—now that he was stronger, everyone else was going to work to keep up. Sen would be driven to increase his strength and stamina even further, and Ceres would be pushed to master multitasking. And as they improved, Barrett would improve alongside them. By the time they fought Jin, everyone would be twice as fierce as they were today.

Hayley patted Ceres' head one more time and stood up. "I think each of you has a few more battles left in you," she said. "What do you say we see what Oldale's trainers have to offer?" Everyone nodded, grunted, and growled in unanimous agreement.

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Hayley's plan for confronting Evrard was as solid as it could be. He went to the same coffee shop every morning; all she had to do was wait outside, then casually walk after him when he left. She'd get his attention when they were alone, they would talk, she would get him to agree to what she wanted, and then she would immediately go back to the Pokémon Center, get her things, and leave for Route 103 with Miriam in tow. Evrard didn't seem especially dangerous, but he did seem like the kind of person to stalk her back, and she wanted to avoid as much trouble as she could.

There was a bus stop with a bench right across the street from the coffee shop. It gave her the perfect excuse to sit and wait. Dressed in a sweatshirt she'd taken with her from Petalburg, hood pulled up to cover her hair and prevent Evrard from recognizing her at a distance, she felt like a spy. A really, really nervous spy. She'd showed up early, and as the minutes ticked by, she waffled between desperately hoping she'd gotten it right and he would be here, and desperately hoping she'd gotten it wrong and he wouldn't be. She wasn't doing anything wrong, she kept reminding herself. Despite Miriam's constant talk about doxxing and stalking, all she was really doing was tracking him down for a quick talk. Then she would leave him alone. Nothing bad was going to happen.

Then, she saw him. He looked exactly the same as he did on camera—tall, thin, with mousy brown hair cut in layers down to his jaw. He looked more tired than he did in his videos, probably because it was just past seven o'clock, and he was wearing a teal blue polo and khaki slacks that were a far cry from the hip outfits he recorded in. Hayley's hands clenched around her knees, and she shrank back to avoid him seeing her, but she didn't need to worry. His gaze was locked on the coffee shop. A Rapidash could have pranced down the street, and he probably wouldn't have noticed.

He went in, and Hayley went back to waiting. Her eyes were glued to the shop door just like his had been, as she reassured herself that he was definitely going to come out the same way he'd gone in, that there wasn't a backdoor she'd somehow missed. Minutes passed, and then he reemerged, holding a tall coffee cup in one hand. He walked down the street, and the moment he reached the corner, Hayley stood up. This was it.

She followed him for two blocks, ready to dart behind a tree or building if he looked back, but he never did. At last, they hit a stretch of sidewalk with no shops and no pedestrians, just darkened houses and empty parked cars. It was the best chance she was going to get at a private conversation. She breathed in deep, pulled down her hood, and picked up her pace. When she was a few yards behind him, she said, "Hey." Her voice was quieter and more halting than she wanted, and Evrard didn't stop. She clenched her fists and tried again: "Hey! Evrard!"

That got his attention. He stopped mid-stride, hesitated, and turned around. With his coffee cup still lifted halfway to his mouth, he stared down at her through bleary eyes. "What?" he snapped.

"I want to talk to you."

His frown deepened. "Why? Do I know…" His voice trailed off, and then his eyebrows raised, just slightly, in recognition.

"You've been making videos about my friend," Hayley said. "Connie Harper. And I want you to stop."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He turned away from her and began to walk off, but Hayley ran up and blocked his path.

"Don't lie. Your name's Evrard Perry, and you make videos about coordinators, especially about Connie. I know that's who you are."

He looked her up and down, thinking, calculating. His expression was carefully neutral, but his body was tense; he was on his guard. Finally, he brought the cup stiffly to his mouth again and took another sip, eyes locked on her the entire time. "Yeah, I make videos from time to time," he said. "So, what? You're not a fan?"

"No."

"And you tracked me down and came all the way here to whine about it?"

"I wanted to talk," Hayley said, "and I know you would have just ignored me online. So I decided to come see you face to face."

"Okay, then talk. Say your piece." Still watching her the way a Stantler watched a car on the road, he put his free hand on his hip and settled back on one heel. Hayley took a deep breath and willed herself to remember every bit of information she'd socked away.

"Your name is Evrard Perry. You work at Lumtree over on Hawthorn Street, which is where you're going now. You used to work at Illumeve, but you got fired because they found out you were posting on contest forums instead of working—"

"What the hell." Evrard's eyes widened and his jaw went slack, and Hayley, emboldened, pressed on.

"—and you still do that at your job now, you're just better about hiding it. You live on Dawnwood Boulevard in the gray apartment building, unit twelve, and you live alone because you broke up with your girlfriend—"

"Have you been stalking me?"

"—after she cheated on you back in February. You can drive but you don't have a car, you have a sister in Verdanturf but you don't talk to her, you're allergic to Rattata fur—"

"Okay, enough!" He held up his hand in a placating gesture and shook his head. "Look. Kid—"

And then he stepped forward. Whether it was to loom over her or brush past her, Hayley didn't know. Either way, she stepped back, and her hand reflexively went to where her trainer belt was hidden under her sweatshirt. A flick of her wrist, a whoosh of fire, and Barrett was standing several feet behind her. Evrard froze, and the alarm that flashed across his face sent a triumphant rush through Hayley's chest. "Don't get any closer," she warned.

"'Don't get'—are you threatening me?"

"I just want to talk." The air behind her got warm as Barrett approached, though he still kept a few paces away. She'd told Barrett already what she'd wanted from him in this encounter, and he'd been happy to agree. The fact that he was big and scary now delighted him. "And I want you to listen."

"You are threatening me. You're brandishing—"

"I'm not brandishing," she shot back. "Barrett has a right to be here just like I do. He's just making sure I stay safe."

Evrard gave a stilted laugh. "Don't get cute with me. I can report you for this."

"You can try." This time, it was Hayley who stepped forward, and Evrard stepped back, dropping his coffee cup on the ground. He was almost a full foot taller than her, seven years older, and he was afraid. Barrett, obedient for once in his life, didn't move a muscle. "But I'm not threatening you with Barrett. I'm threatening you with what I know about you."

"And what are you going to do with what you know? Follow me to work? Light my apartment on fire? I'll call the cops—"

"I'm not going to do anything to you." Every muscle in her body was trembling, and her palms and neck were growing slippery with sweat; she didn't know if it was because of Barrett's heat, or something else. "I just want you to delete those videos. If you do that, then I'll leave Oldale and I'll leave you alone."

"No, you're going to leave me alone right now, and I'm going to get a fucking restraining order to make sure you don't come back." His voice was pitched up and strained, but still, he was holding his ground. "You think you can intimidate me? You're way out of your depth."

"You're out of your depth." Hayley took another step. This time, Evrard stayed where he was. Hayley glared up at him. "I'm not afraid of you, and I'm not afraid of the police. I've met plenty of people who are way, way worse."

And then, in the blink of an eye, everything went off the rails. Evrard reached into his back pocket, and Hayley's mind flashed white with panic. In the blankness, she visualized, sharp and frantic, him drawing a knife the way the man under Rustboro had; the fact that there was no reason for Evrard to have a knife, or that a knife would do him no good when she had Barrett at her side, didn't occur to her until it was too late. She jumped back, bumping into Barrett, and Barrett snarled, sensing her fear at a danger that wasn't there. Before she could stop him, he detected in front of her and struck at Evrard with a fist ignited in flame. Evrard yelped and threw himself backwards, tripping over his own feet and dropping what he'd pulled out—his phone, just his phone, he'd been reaching for his phone. He wasn't burned, but the front of his shirt was singed, and now Barrett inhaled and prepared to finish him off—

"Stop!" Barrett growled, but he halted just in time, the flames on his back flaring with the desire to be unleashed. She thrust out his ball and recalled him. He vanished into red light, and then it was just her and Evrard on the sidewalk. Evrard was on his back, sweating and panting, one elbow bleeding where he'd struck it against the concrete. Hayley, shaking and breathing just as heavily, stepped up to loom over him like Barrett had done. His body tensed, but in this position, he couldn't run.

"You're psycho," he snapped instead, voice trembling even as he stared her down. "Fucking psycho!"

"Take down the videos." Hayley's words came from somewhere outside her, running on autopilot, as inside she coiled around herself and screamed and panicked about what she'd just done. "Take them down, and I won't have to see you again." Then she turned and strode away at a speed just below a run, legs shaking like jelly under her.

This was bad, was the only coherent thought in her head. So, so bad. Brandishing and intimidation was one thing, but assault—if he stuck to his guns and reported her, that wouldn't just be a point on her license. She might get arrested. Her career might be over, her life might be over, all because…

Why had she flinched? Evrard wasn't dangerous. She'd been sure of it. So why had she suddenly become so afraid? Nausea swelled up inside of her; she clamped a hand over her mouth and forced herself to keep walking. Don't think about it. Don't think about it. What was done was done. All she could do now was cross her fingers and pray and get out of Oldale as fast as she could.

"How'd it go?" Miriam asked when she finally made it back to the dorm. Hayley just shook her head and grabbed her already-packed bag off the floor.

"Let's go."

"That bad, huh—"

"Let's go." Miriam shut her mouth, picked up her own backpack, and the two of them checked out of the Center and walked down to the bus stop without saying another word.

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Hayley spent the rest of the day in fear. The ringing in her ears and the pain in her stomach made her unable to focus on anything for more than a few seconds. When she'd released her team on the route, Sen and even Ceres had immediately known that something was up, but she hadn't explained to either of them what it was, and eventually they'd stopped prying. Barrett had been visibly proud of himself and slightly miffed that she wasn't pleased with him too—he'd protected her, after all. It had been the first time. And Hayley couldn't even appreciate it.

Miriam continued to cast sidelong glances in Hayley's direction, but the two of them didn't talk, except to briefly agree to stop for lunch and then to make camp when the sun was getting low. The knot in Hayley's stomach grew and grew. It wasn't until just before dinner, when Hayley knew that Connie would be calling at any moment, that she finally bit the bullet, took out her phone, and opened Evrard's TrainerTV page.

All of the videos about Connie were gone. She scanned the page over and over and refreshed several times to make sure, in case she was somehow hallucinating or just failing to see them in her panicked stupor, but they didn't reappear. He'd taken them down. She had won.

Hayley's phone slipped from her hands, and she let out a noise that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob.