Kiran's head hurt.

  He was also out of breath. He usually didn't get out of breath after a battle! He supposed it had to do with adjusting to a different battling environment, but also from how good Juan was. In terms of raw strength, he was just slightly above the Trainers he was used to, but the tricks that especially Lumineon and Dragalge pulled were ridiculous.

  Guess he was nowhere near the top, after all. He grinned a bit to himself at that. Even now, in his tired state, Kiran felt excited, if only somewhat.

  Just then he heard groaning from below him. Oh, crap, Joan! He quickly recalled her, then pressed the Pokeball to his forehead. Even through the Pokeball, being close to her was comforting.

  "Thank you so much," he whispered. "You take a good rest."

  "That was a fine match, young man," said a voice from beside him. Juan was standing to Kiran's right, having already made the trek over to his side. Kiran must've been too out of it to notice. Kiran couldn't help but notice that Juan's breathing was definitely uneven as well.

  "You too," Kiran huffed. "I honestly thought you weren't being too serious about 'performing', but I guess that was wrong."

  They were now walking back through the tunnel that would lead back to the waiting room from before the match. Despite his tiredness, Juan managed a thin smile at Kiran. "Haha, well, now you know. What'd you think?"

  "I'll admit, it definitely caught my attention at times. And it definitely didn't interfere with your battling either, somehow," Kiran said.

  "Well, that comes with practice," Juan said, a twinkle in his eye.

  "Did you drop the performance at the end, though?" Kiran asked. "I noticed you were being a lot more serious after Dragalge came out."

  "Oh, no, no," Juan said, shaking his head. "If I'm trying to look like I'm in a serious fight of sorts, I thought it would look better to battle completely normally at times. Although, that logic probably wouldn't fly at Contests…"

  "That makes sense, I guess," Kiran shrugged. "And the 'serious fight' thing, too, what was that about?" Kiran wasn't offended by Juan's performance at all, he was just curious.

  "Ah, that," Juan said, as his face darkened. "Do you know anything about what happened here ten years ago?"

  "The… natural disasters, and the Legendaries appearing?" Kiran replied, remembering what he had learned in the department store. He opened the door to the waiting room, and he and Juan stepped in.

  "Oh, you know about that?" Juan asked, somewhat surprised.

  "I mean, it's not really a secret…"

  "Yes, that's true," Juan said. "In any case, for the tenth anniversary of that crisis, I was trying to celebrate us surviving, in my own way. Though I suppose losing doesn't really help with that," he finished, with a chuckle.

  Kiran grinned, and rubbed his chin in appreciation. "So I'm a natural disaster, then? I could learn to roll with tha-"

  Just then, the door to the waiting room burst open, and a girl dashed in. Kiran could hear a muffled voice from behind the door. "Wait, kid, you can't go in there…!"

  The girl blurred forward and tackled Kiran to the ground, much to both his and Juan surprise. "Bro, you did it!"

  "Ow…" Kiran groaned. And of course, Nysa wasn't even bothering to apologize. Bitch.

  "Er, miss, fans really shouldn't be back here," Juan frowned. A tournament official entered the room then, and another girl who looked like she was around Nysa's age came behind her. The girl's eyes widened when she looked at Juan, and her gaze instantly snapped to her feet. The official scanned the room quickly, then frowned when he found Nysa.

  "Sister, she's my sister," Kiran managed. He'd definitely have to make a crack later about Nysa being heavy as revenge for this later. "Can she stay?"

  The official stood expressionless for a second. "Fine," he sighed.

  "Wait, her too, please?" Nysa asked, pointing at the other girl, who the guard was trying to move out of the room. He turned to frown at Nysa again, then Nysa turned to Kiran and shook his shoulder.

  "She's that friend I was telling you about! The one I'm traveling with!" she whispered, while shaking Kiran's shoulders.

  Oh, yeah. Kiran realized he hadn't met her yet. "Uh, can you let her stay too?" he asked the guard, who looked at Juan, as if asking for help.

  "It's fine, don't worry. I wasn't planning on staying here anyway," Juan chuckled, moving to the doorway. "Just don't stay here too long, other participants might be using it soon, alright?"

  Kiran, Nysa, and her friend nodded, then Juan and the guard left the room. Then, Nysa released her Pokemon, along with her friend. Kiran knew that Nysa's Pokemon didn't like staying in their balls unless necessary. He assumed this friend was the same.

  Zara flew over to Kiran's head and buzzed excitedly. Di, Nysa's Frogadier, was a bit more muted, but definitely looked at Kiran with intensity in his eyes.

  "Haha, you guys are fired up now, right?" Kiran grinned, while scratching Zara's head affectionately. It took him a second, however, to realize that something was different.

  "Hey, wait a sec," Kiran said, blinking in surprise at the Rolycoly in front of him. "Is this why you've been gone for most of the last week?"

  "Yep! Just got permission from Col's mom this morning for him to come with me on my journey," Nysa said excitedly.

  "Col?" Kiran asked incredulously. "Real original, sis," he smirked, at which point Col frowned and grumbled at Kiran.

  "Told you so," Nysa's friend mumbled, side-eyeing the wall. Nysa shot dirty looks at both of them, then grumbled to herself about something as she finally got off Kiran.

  "So, I've heard of you, but what's your name?" Kiran said to the other girl, managing to pull himself up into a sitting position.

  "U-um, it's Mary," she stammered, instantly getting nervous for some reason.

  "I don't bite kid, relax," Kiran snorted, as he managed to push himself upwards into a sitting position.

  "Nysa told me you were strong, but… I really didn't think Juan could lose," Mary said. She was now looking at Kiran with admiration. On the other hand, he was amused to see her Combusken and Houndoom staring at him intensely, like he was competition, without any visible admiration in their eyes.

  Kiran looked away and chuckled. "Honestly, I came pretty close to losing. My Pokemon really had to give it… oh, shit," he said, looking down at his Pokeballs, and remembering his team's current condition. "Shit, I gotta get my team to a Pokemon Center. Let's keep talking there, yeah?"

  ---------

  Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shitfasldkfasldkfj…

  That was the level of clearly coherent thought going through Mary's head at the moment. And could one blame her? She was currently sitting in front of a trainer at Gym Leader level for the first time, how could she not be?

  They were currently in Kiran and Nysa's room at the Pokemon Center. They would've stayed in the lobby to chat, but people were able to recognize Kiran quickly and crowded him, which he really didn't appreciate. Mary didn't really get why; she'd dreamed of being a powerful Trainer for so long now, and she couldn't imagine wanting to not have admirers. Whatever the case, they left the lobby to come to the room, after Kiran left his Pokemon at the Center.

  Well, almost all of them. An Espeon was curled up on the bed, looking at Nysa as she was asking Kiran about the battle. Apparently, she had said that she didn't want to fight in this match for some reason. Mary thought Espeon definitely wasn't the most well-groomed Pokemon she'd ever seen, but she was definitely still beautiful.

  "Honestly, the thing that shocked me the most was that Lumineon," Nysa said, her legs crossed on the other bed in the room. "Turning into water? What the hell even was that?"

  "That still played into my plan for the match, but yeah, you heard me think that too," Kiran answered, lying on the bed with Espeon. "Though now that I know that's possible, could Gobi do that with sand…?"

  "Have you ever seen Juan fight full-strength, Mary?" Nysa asked.

  Mary shook her head. "Never," she said. "I have seen videos of him fighting, but I guess he's never had to fight full strength. Publicly, at least."

  After watching a match at that level close-up for the first time, Mary honestly felt like her approach to being a trainer thus far had been fundamentally wrong. Typing was clearly a lot more complex than she had realized.

  "So," Mary started, slowly forcing her gaze towards Kiran. "What do you mean, 'that still played into my plan'?" After asking that, Seraphina, Doom, and Di, Nysa's Frogadier, looked at Kiran rather intensely, to which Espeon raised an eyebrow. Her Pokemon were die-hard battlers, and she assumed that Di was as well. They were really interested in catching up to Kiran, even if that was still light years away, if it was even possible.

  "I knew he was a Water specialist, so I assumed the only way to even have a chance at winning was if I brought out my sand tactics near the end, when I had set up the field, and when most of his Pokemon had exhausted their resources," Kiran answered. "If he had used Lumineon's full strength after I brought out my Flygon, I almost certainly would've lost."

  Kiran then turned his head towards Espeon, who had raised her head and faced him. He seemed to be listening intensely. Telepathy, probably? Mary looked at Nysa and realized she was facing Espeon now too. The same applied to all the Pokemon in the room, save for Zara and Kitty, who were napping.

  Mary frowned. She didn't like the idea of being the only one in the room being excluded from a conversation.

  "No, Athena," Kiran snorted. "Lamia wasn't 'too lazy', there was no way we could've predicted a Lumineon of all Pokemon would give us that kind of trouble."

  "Um, Athena, was it?" Mary asked tentatively, after which the feline Pokemon turned to face Mary. "You don't have to leave me out of the conversation."

  There was a pause, then-

  "If you're certain," said a female, monotone voice in her head.

  Ow, ow, ow, ow… almost immediately Mary felt the pain. Her brain felt like it was being squeezed from all sides, hard. She had to grab her head in response. But she could do this. If she couldn't even do this, how would she be able to break free of her shackles?

  She grit her teeth, even if her brain felt like it was burning, and managed a small smile at Espeo- no, Athena, was her name. "I'm certain," Mary managed. Already, after a few seconds, the pain was subsiding, if only a tiny bit.

  It took her a second to realize that both Kiran and Nysa were staring at her with wide eyes. "W-what?" Mary stammered. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

  "Wow, Mary," Nysa said. "I haven't seen anybody who could take telepathy that well on their first try with it."

  "Yeah, same here," Kiran added.

  Really? A top trainer was telling her that she was one of a kind? The joy Mary felt from hearing that made her forget about a tiny bit more of the pain, and she managed a small smile again. Though the pain was definitely still searing her brain, that was for sure.

  "It took me weeks to even be somewhat okay talking to Athena!" Nysa claimed.

  "Months," Athena deadpanned, to which Kiran chuckled, and Nysa stuck her tongue out at Athena. The pain seared her brain again, but Mary was more prepared for it this time.

  She would break herself to get stronger, if she had to.

  "I'm still going to make fun of Lamia when he gets out of recovery. And I'll be able to look better than him when we have to face him again and I can take on that Lumineon," Athena said, her chest puffing out a bit at the end of that.

  "Again?" Kiran frowned.

  "What were those things you mentioned… Gym Badges?" Athena asked. "You mentioned that he's one of the people who gives them out, right?"

  Kiran groaned and stared at the ceiling. "Right. Right. I guess I just didn't want to think about that guy for a while," he said.

  Mary remembered something Nysa had told her just then, about traveling separate from Kiran. "So you're not going to Fortree first, then?"

  Kiran shook his head. "Nope. Never really been surfing over long distances, so starting off going east from Lilycove is how me and some people I met are starting," he said.

  There was a bit of silence after that. After that rowdy arena, and now having to deal with telepathy pains, it was honestly very welcome to Mary. Kitty purred in his sleep, and Mary petted him affectionately.

  While Mary knew that she had a ticket to watch so many more high-level matches than the one she had just seen, her mind was already starting to drift to starting her journey, especially now that she knew first-hand how big the gap between her and people at the top was.

  And honestly, she just really wanted to get out of Lilycove. It was her home, yes, and it was a nice city, but dear Latias, being around her parents was so suffocating. The sooner she got the hell out of here, the better.

  After a few more minutes of pleasant silence, Nysa looked up from her phone that she had been scrolling through. She had probably been on some trainer forums. No doubt they were blowing up now about Juan being beaten.

  "So, you're ready for tomorrow?" Nysa asked, looking at Mary.

  "Tomorrow?" Kiran asked groggily. He was on the verge of falling asleep, which made sense to Mary, after that kind of a challenging match.

  "We were planning on leaving to start our journey," Mary responded.

  "Oh," Kiran said, his eyes widening a bit. "You aren't going to stay for the whole tournament?"

  Nysa shook her head. "Nah, Mary suggested leaving early to get a head start on our competition. I agreed with that, so we made plans to leave tomorrow," she said.

  Well, that was the official reason Mary gave, anyway.

  Mary thought Kiran would be a bit more upset by that, but he just shrugged and started to drift off again. Well, they had lived together for their entire lives, so what Nysa was saying made sense.

  If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  After about a minute, Kiran had actually fallen asleep, and Athena had also snuggled against him, to sleep. Mary was getting the feeling that they should probably leave.

  Nysa got off the bed and walked toward Mary. "Let's get lunch. Remember that ramen food stall I told you about?" she asked.

  Mary perked up at that. "Yes, lets go." she said. The two of them were actually quite a good match when it came to food desires. Mary had only really been exposed to more upscale restaurants and food growing up, while Nysa had apparently barely had any food growing up, but at the same time, didn't really have a taste for particularly fancy restaurants. Street stalls, pop-up restaurants, and out-of-the-way family restaurants were both of their favourites.

  As they were both walking, with their Pokemon, back to the lobby, Mary's phone buzzed. She frowned. She couldn't think of anyone who would be texting her right now, except…

  With a dreadful knowing feeling, she took her phone out and saw a text from her mother, as she had expected.

  "Honey, the McAllisters said they were coming over today. Just wanted to check if you were going to drop by to say hi. I'm sure they won't mind that fuss from the other day. They – and I – would really appreciate you being here."

  There she went again, with the veiled threats. And 'fuss'?! Stalking Mary – her daughter – everywhere because she decided to be polite once and not knowing how to take no for an answer was just a 'fuss'? Mary had hoped that Nysa beating them down in that battle would get them to take a hint, but apparently not.

  Good thing Mary had been smart enough to start discreetly moving her Trainer supplies to Nysa's Center room little by little over the past few weeks. She'd also moved some of her parents' and her money into a private account with the money she'd already earned as a trainer, as a backup.

  Seraphina growled beside her and leaned against Mary. She looked down at her Combusken, who was looking up at her with concerned eyes. She had seen the text too, and she knew more than anyone else how bad her parents were.

  Mary smiled and rubbed Seraphina's head, which caused her to whine a bit. "Don't worry baby, I'm fine," she said softly. Then Mary took a deep breath.

  "I'll be fine," she exhaled.

  "Mary, everything alright?" Nysa asked, turning her head back.

  Mary felt bad. Nysa vaguely knew that her parents weren't great, that's why she let Mary use her Pokemon Center room to store supplies. But she didn't know quite how horrible they were, and they were powerful enough to inflict said nastiness on lots of people, including Nysa.

  But Mary couldn't bring herself to tell Nysa. She was so fun to be around, and good with battling and Pokemon, and was the first person in Mary's life to really believe in her goals. How could she risk scaring her away by telling Nysa everything about her parents?

  "I'm fine. What kind of ramen did you want, anyway?" Mary asked, speeding up to walk alongside Nysa.

  Everything would be fine.

  ---------

  Ashlyn was angry. Well, that was honestly pretty normal for her, but she was feeling even more of it right now.

  She was currently leaving the stands of the stadium that Juan and Kiran had fought in. On one hand, she really hadn't wanted to see his stupid face again. On the other hand, she had resolved to work towards kicking his ass – in battle, of course – so she decided to see just how strong he really was.

  He really was strong. Ashlyn had known in the back of her head that people around Brawly's level weren't actually invincible, but actually seeing a Gym Leader battling at full strength get defeated in person was another thing entirely.

  Ashlyn had made her way over to a burger pop-up restaurant that had been set up in the inner parts of the stadium. Burgers and fries… meh, it was unhealthy, but she didn't have to be completely disciplined with food.

  She looked down and had to smile to herself. Chomps was looking at the menu, and drooling from the smell of seasoned meat coming from the shop kitchen. Mo would probably have been doing that too, but he was currently napping on her head.

  "You've never had this kind of food before, huh?" Ashlyn asked. Her Mawile shook her head, while still looking amazed. "Yeah, I doubt cave food really measures up, huh? Though it's not like I lived that much better."

  Chomps looked up at Ashlyn, tilted her head, and made a noise like she was asking a question.

  "Don't you remembe- oh, right, we met right before w-we…" she trailed off, and took a breath before continuing. "before I left Dewford. "Well, I was poor as anything growing up. Most people in Dewford were, still are really. There is the Gym, and the town is a stop along shipping routes, but even before the disaster ten years ago, the town was never really in the best shape."

  She wanted to know. The people of Dewford weren't bad people just for existing, so why did they have to get the shit end of the stick all the time? Other cities, as she could obviously tell by looking at Lilycove, had it better, so why?

  Well, it's not like she didn't know what to do about it. Get strong enough to join the League, and then cut out whoever was rotting the region from the inside. Then everything would be fine.

  She'd make it work even if she had to cut through Wallace himself.

  Ashlyn ordered three burgers, one for herself, and the other two for her Pokemon, and they took a seat near a window once their food was ready.

  After she got Mo to wake up, she was about to bite into her food, but she couldn't help but overhear a conversation going on at the table directly behind her, between two boys who looked around her age.

  "Holy shit, can you believe Juan actually lost?" one of them said.

  "Gives me some hope, if a random from Orre can take him down," the other one said.

  "Aaagh, I can't wait to leave for our journey! These thrilling battles are going to be so much fun!"

  "How naive," Ashlyn thought. Even without any real goals, did they think they were in for a cakewalk? After all, she knew that Hoenn was one of the most dangerous regions for trainers to go on Pokemon journeys. The trainer death count went through the roof every year. These idiots were never going to make it.

  Although…

  Ashlyn tried to imagine it for a second. The thrill of taking down a tough opponent after a long battle, hugging her Pokemon afterwards without any other care in the world… heh, then maybe she'd be in the hospital after Sumo got too excited and almost broke her ribs. But she could smile and it would be fine, because of how much fun she was having.

  Ugh, what was she even doing? She shook her head to get rid of those thoughts.

  Mo whined beside her and gave Ashlyn what she assumed was a concerned look.

  "I'm fine, don't worry," she said with a forced smile. "How do you like the burger?"

  That kind of carefree life was for other people, without important goals. Ashlyn had work to do.

  ----------

  "Well, that didn't go well."

  Wallace and Juan were currently looking over the ocean from the Lilycove docks. It was a section that was closed off to the public. Wallace knew his old mentor would never want to be swarmed by the press, or fans, not after a tough loss like that one. And of course, being around the open ocean would always serve to lift his spirits, if only a little bit. Especially right now.

  The Champion took a seat next to Juan, his feet now hanging off the side of the pier. "I really can't believe you lost," Wallace said.

  "I can't believe I lost," Juan chuckled. "After Lumineon, and especially Dragalge, I thought I had it in the bag. Its been a while since either of them had been defeated." At the moment, Juan was looking forward with a tired look in his eyes.

  "Are you alright?" Wallace asked.

  "More or less," Juan said. "Though I guess, even after all this time, close losses like that can still sting. I'd mostly forgotten what that felt like."

  Wallace couldn't relate to that. It had been fifteen years since he'd last lost a Pokemon battle. Well, outside of Contests, at least.

  Would there ever be someone who could make him feel like that again? Maybe it could be Kiran.

  Juan raised his eyebrows at Wallace. "Is your mentor's loss so amusing, Wallace?" he joked.

  "He seems like he can go far. Who is he facing next?" Wallace asked.

  "Glacia."

  "Oh, er, never mind then," Wallace grimaced. Juan laughed at that reaction. Strong as Kiran may be, he stood no chance against Glacia, at least not right now. Though it would be interesting to see if he could at least make it close.

  "You should keep an eye on him after this tournament. A Trainer who knows how to evolve a Ceruledge would be beneficial to have contacts with," Juan said.

  Wallace blinked in surprise. "What?" he asked. "How did you know that?"

  "You saw how seamlessly he and that Ceruledge worked together while battling. Not even talking a good chunk of the time. You could only have that kind of bond after decades of being together, and there is no way a small child could have captured a Pokemon as dangerous as a Ceruledge without debilitating harm coming to him," Juan explained.

  "Huh," said Wallace. That was true. Having the knowledge to being able to obtain a Pokemon as notoriously powerful as a Ceruledge at Hoenn's fingertips would no doubt be very useful. And if the method for evolution was too dangerous, making sure Kiran doesn't spread it too far would be in all of Hoenn's best interests.

  Suddenly, the bushes behind both of them rattled. They both turned around, a bit surprised, since this had always been an incredibly quiet area.

  A mane of fiery red hair, pulled back in a high ponytail that was somehow spiky, emerged. "There you are, Juan!"

  Juan sighed in annoyance. "Hello, Flannery," he groaned.

  To Juan's abject horror – not Wallace's, because he knew they weren't here for him – the twins came out of the bushes next.

  "Hey, old man!" Liza said.

  "We saw you got your butt kicked!" Tate said.

  "If you were at all watching that, 'butt-kicking' is hardly how anyone would describe that loss," Juan said, glancing at Wallace in a not-so-subtle sign for help.

  Well… Flannery and the twins weren't here for him, so Wallace decided he would ignore that plea. He turned his head to his left, away from Juan, whose face morphed into a betrayed look.

  As he watched Juan get pestered, Wallace smiled. Not in mockery – well, kind of – but in terms of joy, in seeing such an amusing scene. With all the tension currently in the world, this was among what he wanted to protect.

  Wallace then looked over the horizon. With the various regions making moves, and now a potential criminal enterprise to have to deal with, could he protect?

  He sure hoped so.

  --------

  Nessa was tapping her foot repeatedly, impatiently, while sitting on the couch in the arena waiting room.

  She somehow didn't realize that she might be required to actually talk to Raihan before their match. Now she was just in a bad mood, wanting the match to start as soon as possible.

  And of course, it was at that moment the door opened and he walked in.

  And instantly, Nessa started thinking about the things she didn't like about him. That stupid… hat? Bandana? What the hell even was that on his head? And had anyone bothered to tell him how dumb his mullet-in-three-segments hair was? And, oh yes, Raihan, the spiked hoodie jacket definitely distracts from the fact that you look like you wear boxer shorts everywhere.

  And then there was that ridiculous reality show, Love in Wyndon, that he was in charge of. Why does winning battles have anything to do with whether you're able to go on a date with anyone? And Nessa knew how much corruption existed in Galar. Was Raihan just manipulating results to be able to fuck whoever he wants? Yeah, probably. That was it.

  "Yo, Nessa," Raihan said to her with a friendly wave and a cheeky smile. "You ready to lose?"

  "In your dreams," she huffed, with a thin, forced smile. Admittedly, Raihan did currently hold the crown of strongest gym leader. Nessa didn't care. She'd pound him into the dirt.

  "Just got off the phone with Sonia," he continued, while flopping down on the couch opposite Nessa. "She wished me good luck, said she hopes I kick my opponent's butt."

  Oh, so he was actively trying to piss her off now. All she gave him was a raised eyebrow.

  "Damn, no hesitation whatsoever," Raihan chuckled. "Well, the wishing good luck part was true, at least."

  "Like she did for me, or would do for anyone she's friendly with," Nessa said icily. God, what did Sonia even see in this loser?

  There was a bit of silence after that. Nessa started to go over the order she would send her Pokemon out, which was of course subject to change if need be. Countering the sandstorms Raihan would obviously put up as soon as possible was crucial, so Mantine would be going first. And of course, Goldy and Lapras were her anchors, so they would be going last, taking advantage of the rest of her team's efforts…

  Raihan cleared his throat, which annoyingly shook Nessa's concentration. "So, I know this may be a bad time, but I heard about that scandal involving some people who were in charge of your modeling agency. Are you alrig- ah, you know what, I'll shut up," he finished quickly, pursing his lips and turning away.

  He had ended like that because Nessa had glared holes in him for bringing that up. Did he really think she wanted to remember that now, of all times?

  Just beginning to think about that incident made her press her nails against her palms until it hurt. Then she took a let out a long exhale. It was better to just ignore any thoughts about that. Yes, it was better to focus on other people's issues instead. That would be good.

  Finally, an employee for the tournament came to get them. And soon enough, Nessa and Raihan were standing on opposite sides of the arena, with the match about to start.

  She could do this. She would win this.