In a flash, Weston's next Pokeball was skybound. "Scolipede, prepare for combat!"

Scolipede stood tall and proud, an adamant tower of poisonous spines and chitin that cast a looming shadow across the pitch. His deep yellow eyes looked down upon his adversaries - as condescending of a stare as one from his trainer.

Marnie could tell from Scolipede's presence on the field alone that this battle was about to get much more intense. "Toxicroak", she called, "you good for another spat?"

Toxicroak turned back to Marnie with fiercely determined eyes and gave a thumb's up - she had no intention of backing down.

Marnie nodded with a small smile. "Alright, good", she replied. "Let's send 'em reelin'."

"A Poison-Type against a Poison-Type, huh?", Piers began. "That seems a bit of a strange choice."

"Maybe Weston's running out of options?", Hop suggested. "Maybe all he can do is try to defend against Toxicroak's attacks?"

No, Marcus thought. There's something cooking in that bug-brain of his…

"Scolipede, use Megahorn!", Weston ordered with a grin.

Scolipede wasted no time rushing in, charging with the horns on its head pointed outward like a pair of massive spears.

"Plant firm and grab it by the horns, Toxicroak", Marnie shouted.

Toxicroak rooted itself to the ground and extended its arms outward as it prepared to intercept the charging Scolipede.

The force behind Scolipede's charge was enough to push Toxicroak back from its original position on the field, causing her to slide across the dirt as she struggled to keep her grip and push against his Megahorn. However, through sheer determination and a monstrous display of brute strength, Toxicroak managed to stop Scolipede dead in his tracks.

Weston grit his teeth.

"Drain Punch, Toxicroak", Marnie called.

Toxicroak released the grip of her right hand from Scolipede's horn, quickly wound back, and uppercut Scolipede in the chin as hard as she could, sending him back onto his hind legs. Toxicroak felt her energy being slightly restored as the attack made fierce contact.

Weston's scowl quickly turned to a mischievous grin. "Earthquake, now!"

Scolipede recovered his balance and shifted his weight back forward, slamming its front legs onto the ground with such force that the earth itself began to quake. The vibrations were so fierce that they could even be felt among the audience - the pitch began to crack into plates as large chunks of earth broke apart and jutted upwards from the impact - and Toxicroak was at ground-zero.

"Toxicroak!", Marnie cried. She could do nothing but watch as the violent shaking of the earth beneath her feet tossed Toxicroak around like a ragdoll, sending her bouncing off of rocks in every direction until she finally collapsed face-first on the dirt.

"I'm certain I can't speak for you, Marnie", Weston sneered, "but that felt incredibly satisfying from where I'm standing."

Toxicroak lay on the ground, trembling from the pain as she slowly began forcing herself back up to her feet.

"If you won't move, then we will", Weston declared. "Scolipede, Toxic Spikes!"

A glint of aggression ignited in Scolipede's eye - the time was now. The many spines protruding from his carapace began to glow purple before Scolipede tensed all of the muscles in his body, launching the glowing barbs like missiles into the air. All around the two Pokemon, the Toxic Spikes began to descend upon the pitch, seeping beneath the surface of the earth and littering it with a potent poison.

"Toxic Spikes? Why now?", Hop questioned. "Doesn't Weston know they don't affect another Poison-Type like Toxicroak?"

"He didn't set 'em up for Toxicroak", Piers interjected, "he set 'em to take control of the battlefield."

"Right", Marcus nodded, his face awash with a look of concern. "That must be why he used Ribombee to lure Marnie into sending Toxicroak out - he knew she'd be using her today."

Hop looked at Marcus with slight confusion.

"When an opponent sends a Poison-Type Pokemon out onto a battlefield that's been covered in Toxic Spikes, the Toxic Spikes get cancelled out", he explained. "Weston knew he couldn't afford to take chances with Marnie's Toxicroak, and developed a strategy to try to deal with her so that his claim over the battlefield went off unabated."

Hop nodded slowly in understanding. "Is she… is she in trouble now?", he asked in a worried tone.

Marcus nodded. "Big trouble."

Marnie glared as Toxicroak barely managed to rise back up to her feet. At this point, she had to have been operating solely on will-power. "We'll use Earthquake as well", Marnie called.

Toxicroak let out a roar as she raised both of her arms over her head, preparing for the attack.

"How original", Weston mocked. "Scolipede, charge into the air and use Megahorn!"

Scolipede quickly ran into a full gallop towards Toxicroak, charging head-first with the strength of a freight train.

Toxicroak slammed her fists into the earth, triggering another violent quaking that began to rip the ground apart beneath them.

Just as the quake spread out to him, Scolipede ran forward along one of the large protrusions of earth that jutted into the air and jumped, diving forward towards Toxicroak at full-speed while remaining perfectly safe from the violent shaking of the earth below

"Toxicroak, look out!", Marnie cried frantically.

There was no avoiding it. Scolipede's Megahorn hit its mark with full-force, sending Toxicroak backwards into the dirt. She bounced across the ground, skipping like a stone across a pond as she spiraled into the wall on the side of the arena with such force that the impact cracked the concrete. There was no walking away from a hit that clean.

"Toxicroak is unable to battle! The winner is Scolipede!"

Marnie's shoulders sunk slightly as the call was made. She returned Toxicroak to her Pokeball without uttering a word.

The feelings shared by Marcus and his company felt uncomfortably dissonant with the roaring sounds of applause that filled the stadium around them. Under any other circumstances, maybe they'd be inclined to agree with the general audience. Maybe this was one of the most riveting battles Wyndon Stadium had ever housed. But all those sentiments fell to the wayside today - there was far too much at stake, and every loss Marnie suffered felt like another nail in the casket for Spikemuth and its people.

Marcus began to feel it again - that same anxious feeling he had when he was getting off the bus. It felt like a hole was opening in his chest, like an emptiness was starting to overtake him. But it didn't make any sense to him; he had nothing to be this nervous about, nothing to feel this distraught over.

It was at that moment that Marnie turned ever so slightly in his direction. He swore he could make out a look in her eyes, even from where he was sitting. It was a look of sadness, emptiness; the look of one who feels as though they've let everyone around them down.

Then it hit him; these feelings he was having weren't his - they were Marnie's.

It was almost too much to bear.

Don't count yourself out, Marnie, Marcus thought to himself. You can do this.

Marnie took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Keep it together, Marn, you can do this…

...You've got to.

She clutched her next Pokeball tight before casting it forward with all her might. "Scrafty, let's go!"

Scrafty took to the field, grasping at her loose-fitting shedding skin with her hands.

Immediately upon entering the fray, the Toxic Spikes in the ground began to inflict Scrafty with their poison. Scrafty recoiled in anguish as the sensations of pain and sickness began to permeate her entire body.

"That's who I'd've gone with too, if I was in her shoes", Piers remarked with a nod.

Hop raised a curious brow.

"Of course", Marcus replied, "it makes perfect sense!"

Hop sunk his neck into raised shoulders. "Will one of you please explain what's going on?"

"Scrafty's special ability is Shed Skin", Piers answered, "meanin' that there's a chance that it can rid itself of that poison affliction by sheddin'."

"Ooooh", Hop replied. "You're thinking she's gonna try to use that to her advantage?"

"If that's the plan, then Scrafty'd better try to make it quick", Piers exclaimed. "The longer she's out there dukin' it out with that poison in her, the more damage she's gonna take."

"Trying to play smart now, eh?", Weston mocked. "Really, there's no need for you to pretend that you're something you're not."

Marnie glared, trying to mask her insecurities as the bug trainer verbally assaulted her.

"Really, do you think your beloved Scrafty's ability is going to save you?", he asked with a grin. "Please, she doesn't stand a chance against Scolipede, not with a trainer like you guiding her."

Marnie's eyes widened slightly, her facade slowly cracking as she felt Weston's words striking nerves deep within her.

"It took a bit, I must admit", he continued, "but the fact of the matter is that I've got you figured out now."

Marnie grit her teeth. "What's that s'posed to mean, huh?"

Weston smiled. "Ever since I first sent Scolipede into battle, I've predicted every move you've made, and every resulting outcome that has followed." He leered at her with a widening grin. "And I can already say with absolute certainty how this next round is going to end, as well... would you care to know?"

Marnie had no words, only her flustered attempt at the nerves-of-steel visage she was trying to maintain as she did her best not to allow herself to be perturbed by Weston's words.

"The crushing defeat you allowed your Toxicroak to suffer in the last round made you feel awfully insecure about your ability to succeed here today, didn't it? Now, you'll try to dance circles around your standard-ordinary battling style to try to confuse me. But I promise you, it will only end in yet another crushing failure." He was relentless in his verbal attack, venom seemingly dripping from every word he spoke. "And this time", he continued, "when I defeat you, and you realize that I was correct about everything from the beginning, you will break…"

"...and victory will be mine."

Marnie felt her blood run cold within her as she seemed to freeze in place. The roar of the stadium crowd began to dull until it was nothing more than brown noise, as though she was hearing it all from underwater. The blinding lights of the arena faded to black until she stood alone within an empty void. Everything she was feeling at that moment - her insecurities as a trainer, her worries of not being strong enough, her fears of failing - all of them had been read outloud to her almost word for word as she'd been experiencing them. What was this guy? Was he a mind reader? Could he see the future?

"Scra, scra!"

Marnie snapped back into the moment at the sound of her Pokemon calling back to her. Scrafty was looking over her shoulder back towards her trainer, a fierce look in her eyes as she shook her head. "Don't listen to him", she seemed to be saying. "Don't let him get to you."

Marnie settled, allowing Scrafty's message to take a moment to process before nodding back at her. "You're right", she replied. "We gotta keep our heads in the game."

Weston chuckled. "Dear, girl, you were never even a player."

The tension on the pitch was almost suffocating between trainers and Pokemon, both parties staring one another down with the intent of bulldozing the other.

Weston extended an index finger outward. "Let's show these people what the future of Galar looks like, Scolipede!", he shouted. "Use Earthquake!"

Scolipede pushed himself off the ground and onto his hind legs before allowing gravity to care him back to the earth, slamming both feet into the dirt with all of the might he could muster. The stadium began to tremble as the already devastated landscape of the pitch began to crack and quake even more.

"Scrafty", Marnie called, "up into the air n' use Ice Punch!"

Scrafty quickly scaled a boulder jutting out of the ground and jumped off of it straight into the air, avoiding the Earthquake. She balled her right hand, concentrating a large amount of ice energy into her fist as she descended upon Scolipede.

"Just as I predicted", Weston sneered. "Scolipede, use Venoshock!"

A sinister purple energy began generating between the horns on Scolipede's head as he faced upward at Scrafty. With a mighty roar, Scolipede let the energy loose. As it sailed through the air and struck its target, the energy seemed to condense into liquid form, drenching Scrafty from head to toe. Scrafty let out a cry of agony as the poisoning symptoms it had already been feeling seemed to multiply by the hundreds upon coming into contact with the Venoshock.

"Scrafty, no!", Marnie cried as she watched her Pokemon drop limp to the ground.

Piers grit his teeth hard. "So that was the strat, then", he said. "Poison the enemy usin' Toxic Spikes n' knock 'em down quick with the double-damage from Venoshock." He looked out onto the battlefield, a great worry weighing heavy upon him. "Chairman Aster was right 'bout one thing… this kid's pretty ruthless."

"Heheheheh!", Weston laughed out loud. "You couldn't have been more predictable if you'd tried!"

"C'mon, Scrafty!", Marnie called out as Scrafty struggled to get her feet back on the ground.

"Oh, look at that", Weston marveled with a chuckle, "the poor thing is still trying to fight… Frankly, I pity the creature." He shrugged. "I mean, a loyal Pokemon who follows a foolish trainer's every word even when that trainer causes them to suffer so?" He leered. "That almost sounds like abuse to me."

Marnie bit her lip at his words. Get out of my head… get out of my head…

Scrafty was now standing again, but barely. She'd taken so much damage from poison, it seemed as though most of her strength was being used just to try and keep her balance.

"Well, she's got spirit, I can certainly respect that", Weston remarked. "And as a show of that respect, I'll grant her the mercy of a swift defeat. Scolipede, Megahorn!"

Scolipede glared at his sickly opponent before relentlessly charging forward with the strength and the presence of a bulldozer.

Marnie was helpless, all she could do was watch. "Scrafty, get outta the way, quick!"

Though Scrafty had the spirit to stand up against her opponent out of spite, there was nothing she was capable of doing beyond that at the moment; the poison coursing through her caused her to languish to such a severe degree that she couldn't even move.

Scolipede charged in, his horns striking Scrafty's torso with full-force, sending her sailing backwards into a nearby boulder, where she collapsed, unconscious.

Marnie's eyes widened in pain and horror, her shoulders sinking a little lower.

"Scrafty is unable to battle! The winner is Scolipede!"

Weston stood proudly in the limelight, accepting all of the cheers and praises that resounded across the arena upon the end of the match.

Marnie quietly returned Scrafty to her Pokeball, doing everything she could to maintain the image of her nerve to whatever audience members might have been looking at her. The truth, however, is that all of that was gone now. Weston had done it - he had shaken her confidence, he had gotten into her head, he had cracked her resolve; he had broken her. And although the battle was not finished yet, she could not shake the feeling eating away at her - the feeling that he'd already won.

"Now that one of the contestant's is down three of their Pokemon, there will be a twenty-minute intermission. Please stay tuned for the battle to come!"

Weston turned his back on and faced the exit to the locker rooms on his side of the pitch. "Hear that?", he said through a grin. "Twenty minutes… that's when I will accept your surrender." He began to take his casual stride off of the field. He had gotten to her, and he knew it. "Galar has no place for weakness", he reiterated.

Marnie clenched her fist tightly and dug her nails into the palm of her hand as she made her way off the field. It was all she could do to keep herself from breaking down into tears in front of everyone.

A heaviness fell over Marcus and company as the first half of the match came to a close. His heart felt a combination of sunken and broken as he watched Marnie do everything in her power just to keep herself together in front of the public eye. All he wanted to do was help - he didn't know what to do, and he didn't know how he'd do it, but what he did know for certain is that if there was anything he could do to help her find clarity, to help give her strength, to ensure that she didn't have to feel this anxiety and sadness and loneliness she was feeling ever again, he would do it in a heartbeat.

"She's not lookin' too good out there, Piers", one of the Team Yells members commented nervously.

Piers shot him a glare. "You tread carefully when talkin' bout my lil' sis like that, you hear me?", he threatened.

The Yell member recoiled defensively. "N-no, I didn't mean nothin' like that, it's just…" he hesitated.

"Well? Say what you're gonna say", Piers insisted.

"...She's actin' kinda… off her game…"

Piers let out a sigh before slowly standing to his feet. He then proceeded to slam his fists into the metal rail in front of his seat, causing Marcus and Hop to jump in surprise.

"You listen well, you hear?", Piers shouted. "Marnie's out there putin' everythin' she has out there in front of the whole world. For us. She's givin' it everythin' she's got and shoulderin' the pressures and concerns of everyone in all o' Spikemuth just so we can get a fightin' chance. She's got the weight of the world on her shoulders right now, and she's still goin' because she doesn't wanna let us down. But y'know what? I say that she needs to know that we're not 'bout to let her down. And if we need to cheer harder and clap heavier to do that, then that's exactly what we'll do, ya got it!?"

All of Team Yell became profoundly misty-eyed at Piers's speech.

"Let's do it for Marnie!"

"Marnie's the best!"

"Yeah, let's go Marnie!"

Marcus took in all of Piers's words. Cheer harder… and clap heavier…

A lightbulb went off in Marcus's mind. It's not much, but it just might be enough…

"Piers?", Marcus called.

Piers turned to the young champion with a raised brow.

"What does one need to do to join Team Yell?"