It took a bit less than one month for me to update this fic, as said in the last chapter that is due to my new commitments and a bit of writer's block. I'm the first one to admit this chapter may seem like a downgrade in quality when compared to other chapters. Several things may explain that, the shift in POV, tiredness, or just a poor job. I wanted to experiment and, by doing so, I felt that some things may seem a bit odd. Still, it is my opinion, however, the most important thing is for me to get this out of the way.

The last chapter had few reviews, but they truly meant a lot to me, having people approve of your work is truly one of the greatest sensations a man can experience, so I'd like to thank everyone for that.

This chapter as I said above is a Skyla POV, and due to how I want to write her, I took my time to experiment with a seemingly lighter writing style at the beginning, as her character is way different than Peter and Elesa. I dare say that by the end of the first arc Skyla will be a lot different than what she is first portrayed as, but I think this is a good thing.

Do not forget to leave a review, as I said it make my work a lot easier when you do.

"To defeat evil, I shall become an even greater evil." – Lelouch Lamperouge

Chapter Nine: Bad Meets Evil

"Class is dismissed for today." Mr. Sampson our Theory of Types said, I glanced to the two figures sitting beside me, Peter to my left, Elesa on my right. We got up almost instantly and went for the exit. Before we could leave the room, however, Mr. Sampson's voice drew our attention once again.

"Mr. Thornham, could I have a minute of your time?"

Peter shrugged and turned to us. "Go on, I'll catch up with you soon."

"No need to." Elesa said impassively.

Elesa, my best friend ever since I was six, is just like that. An extremely tough façade, I heard several boys call her ice queen. But, when at ease near her friends she would become the best friend anyone could ask for: fierce, loyal, and protective.

The way her relationship developed with Peter surprised me. They had lots of conflicts early on, and even today I don't know what caused them to start; although I knew there was this huge fight they had during their double battle. Still, that wasn't the cause of their conflicts, but a consequence. I pestered Elesa for answers for a very long time, but she kept her lips shut on the matter.

In the same abrupt way that their conflicts started, they also ended, and Elesa started to see Peter in a whole new light. Once again, I still don't know what exactly happened, but I would guess that they somehow managed to have a heart-to-heart talk during the weekend. Even so, I'm still unsure of the details.

What I was sure however is that Elesa sees Peter as a dear friend, and I couldn't be happier. A girl would definitively have a hard time when her best friend and crush (who I definitively hoped would become my boyfriend sometime soon) hated each other.

"My daughter is a huge fan of Nancy." Mr. Sampson explained, handing Peter a photo with the pink-haired idol. "It would mean the world for me if you got her autograph, my daughter's name is Samantha."

Peter nodded. "The filming won't start until the next month, but I'll see what I can do?"

Peter staring in a movie came as a surprise to the whole student body. If Peter is to be believed it came as a surprise for him too. Nevertheless, Peter's popularity at school, already boosted by his results at the first exams and his impressive win against Marlon; skyrocketed.

I had divided feelings about that. I was truly happy when Peter started to be recognized and received appreciation from the students. What I was truly unhappy about was the staggering number of harlots that decided to start throwing themselves at him. It was infuriating. Not that I'm jealous, but is that they don't know the real Peter as I do. If someone deserves to be in his arms, it should be me.

To my relief, he acted clueless to those advances for most of the time. And when I found his chasteness faltering for a bit, a timely intervention was needed. No need to thank me, Peter. Even Elesa joined me in laying off some of the most persistent ones. She truly was the best friend I could ask for.

My infatuation with Peter was no secret to her. At first, when they were still into their cold war, she would say that he was just a crush and that would fade away, just like the others. After they reconciled she didn't say anything about the matter, just pointing that she may have been mistaken about Peter. But, even before Elesa changed her mind on him, I knew Peter Thornham was different.

When I first met him at Mistralton, he genuinely intrigued me, with his rogue look, Galarian accent, and sullen attitude. But it took one battle against Falkner for his character to become a lot more complex. His actions: using a disobedient pokémon, verbally lashing at him, and then using the whole shock factor to his advantage; were unlike anything I've ever seen. He was so different from me, Elesa, or anyone that mattered that I couldn't help but feel drawn to him.

See, I like bad boys. Probably because of the whole rigid upbringing I had and constantly moving places until Father finally managed to settle down in Mistralton. I was often compelled to follow the rules: no light on after eleven, curfew at six, no parallel chatting on the dinner table, be polite, follow your teacher's orders. All of this exceptional behavior coming to naught when father inevitably moved to yet another city. Not that it was all bad, I got to experience different styles and live in a different setting, also I met Elesa when Father was allocated in Nimbasa.

Still, sometimes, during the last day of class before I moved, I felt tempted to throw things in the air and say 'fuck I all' it all won't matter tomorrow. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. Still, I grew to appreciate people who did things on their own, maybe even selfishly, without regard to what the high authority would think.

Peter was exactly that. He couldn't care less about what others said about him; if people talked behind his back and pointed fingers at him, he would simply puff out his chest, lift his chin, and show that they didn't matter to him. He enjoyed being like that because he was being himself.

Elesa once told me that Peter wasn't a necessarily bad or selfish person, but that he acted like that because he felt joy in being hated. She even pointed that sometimes he would go out of his way to act like that, and when he did it would just come out as a distortion. We both figured out that most likely it was due to what happened to him in Galar, but not the details of it. A joke Elesa and I shared, but with some degree of truth, was that Peter was our resident mystery.

Yet, along with his whole bad boy attitude, I could see someone who cared more than he let on. Elesa often said that he has a golden heart hidden in layers of a asshole. I could also see that, he was bad, but not evil. Good, but only for some. Someone who loved himself but who also loved being hated by others.

And most importantly, for me: a beacon of ideals I strived to reach and the boy I was enamored with.

The groans and voices of frustration invaded my ears as we entered the meeting room, after yet another defeat at the Battle League.

"And why didn't you follow the plan?" Roger Summers, a senior demanded of me. "You were supposed to set up the Tailwind just before you were defeated. You set it at the middle of your battle and when I came in it faltered."

Before I could say anything, Elesa stepped in front of me. "Like you could say anything at all." She voiced angrily. "It's because you couldn't even put a dent on their Boldore's defenses that I had to sustain a lot more damage."

"I would if airhead there could get my speed up as coach devised." His tone rose in anger and I could see pure anger at his glare.

"If you're pointing fingers at others why you aren't saying anything about your girlfriend there?" Elesa replied in kind, gesturing to Noelle Waiters, another teammate of ours and Roger's girlfriend. "She couldn't bring Tranquill down and Skyla had to defeat her opponent."

"Why you…" Noelle said only to be stopped by a loud voice.

"STOP IT! ALL OF YOU!" Marlon, our captain yelled. "We all made mistakes, it's up to all of us to take the blame for ourselves and not point fingers at the others."

"Listen to your captain." Professor Isiah Wilson, our coach and a teacher at our school said, his tone leaving no room for argument.

"The opponent won because they were more cohesive, they were more supportive, they were more disciplined." He paced around the room, making sure to make eye contact with all of us. "Rather than pointing fingers and shifting the blame, start thinking about helping your teammates improve."

I kept my head down, and by a side glance, I could see that the rest of the team followed my example.

"Right now, we're on seventh, so if the season ended today, we would still qualify for the playoffs. But we're the Institute of Unova, we expect greatness and, right now, we're not delivering it. Think of all the greats that came before you, and remember that you have the best structure at your disposal here; don't let it go to waste. You're dismissed." Coach sad finishing his speech.

After changing out of our uniforms, Elesa and I met Marlon outside. "That's a huge mess." Our captain commented with a frown.

"We were supposed to be good." I lamented, still feeling down about the subject.

"We are great, talent-wise." Marlon said, before looking pensive. "But as for morale and cohesion…"

"… we suck." Elesa concluded. Seeing the looks on our faces she justified her words. "Someone has to say it."

Marlon and I nodded grimly.

As we left the arena, we observed coach Wilson answering some questions from a reporter.

"I want to know, and I'm sure the entire Institute wants to know. What will take for you to give Peter Thornham a chance?" The reporter asked, clearly attempting to trigger coach Wilson by rubbing salt on the wound.

After the display of his skills against Marlon, people started to make noise about offering Peter a place on the battle team. It became even more pressuring after Peter started to appear on the media.

"Rather than speaking about a student who's not even on the team, I'd rather talk about the six students who are." Coach responded harshly. "Since you're incapable of it, I'll be taking my leave." He announced before storming off.

"Coach is pissed." Marlon noted

I frowned. "Do you guys think Peter would be the answer for the team?"

"I mean, he's good. If we added him, I truly think our chances would improve." Marlon opined.

"I think it's a big if." Elesa interjected. "We all saw how skilled he is, but the coach has the final say on it. If he calls Peter, he would be setting a precedent for the media and the school to meddle on the team a lot more, and I can't see him doing that. Peter is also a question mark; we all know he's skilled, but he is also extremely aloof. Considering all we know about Peter, and even being his friends that's not a lot." Elesa said, clearly bitter at that part. "Could you see him agreeing to listen to the coach and working on a team? Because I don't."

I nodded.

"But he's part of the soccer team." Marlon said, making his point

"In which the coach itself listens to his advice." Elesa noted. "Coach Wilson is a lot more authoritarian than that."

Marlon frowned but gave the blonde a nod nonetheless.

The four of us were lounging at the rooftop, which became our regular meeting spot when Peter's cellphone ringed.

"Hello, this is Peter Thornham speaking."

….

….

….

At this point, all of us, including Peter, who still held the device into his ear, were silent, until the Galar native spoke once again.

"Thanks, but I'm not interested." He said before ending the call.

Sensing our eyes on him he sighed. "Another agent offering me his services." Peter explained, earning nods from Marlon and Elesa.

"That was a good thing wasn't it?' I asked

Peter shook his head. "Chats like these get repetitive after the hundredth call."

"You had a hundred agents offering their services?" Marlon asked, unable to get the stupor out of his voice.

Peter's cellphone ringed once again, but this time he did not answer it. "A hundred-and-one."

"You already decided on one?" Elesa inquired

"I'm not hiring an agent." Peter stated

"But weren't agents supposed to help you earn better contracts and take care of things?" I asked, then following up with another question. "Why wouldn't you want an agent?"

"I can take care of my own life, besides I'm not comfortable with the idea of having someone taking care of my career and money like that." The Motostoke City boy explained.

"Agents can truly help you out, I can't complain about mine." Elesa offered.

Peter shook his head "For it to work you have to trust the others, I don't trust my own shadow." He admitted.

We were shocked by how openly he admitted it.

"Don't you fear you'll be losing opportunities?" Elesa asked

Peter shook his head. "Any opportunity earned like that would be a mummery. I have to earn my opportunities; and if someone refuses to negotiate with me just because I don't have an agent…. well, I'm sure something better will come along." His tone was calm but serious until he smirked.

"Besides, they demand extortionate fees. I'm not giving my money like that."

We chuckled; Peter is extremely mindful of his expenses. When asked about it he shrugged his shoulders. 'I never starved or any stuff like this, but I couldn't afford much either. When you have little, you become a lot keener on not losing it.'

Still, sometimes he acted downright cheapskatey at times. If he had feathers and a beak, I'd say he's Uncle Scrooge's long-lost son.

Jokes aside, I decided to voice a question that has been bugging my mind. "Peter, why you accepted the role in the movie? Just money?"

"It was one of the factors, but there's a lot more involved. I got a new pokémon, although I won't be able to use him until February."

"Still." Elesa pointed, joining the conversation. "You're not exactly the type of person who enjoys being the center of attention; there wasn't something else you could have done?"

Peter nodded. "There was, but at that one week I had in Virbank I got to think a lot…I dislike fame but this can help me achieve my goal."

I saw Elesa's eyes widen and she kept quiet.

"And what that goal would be?" Marlon asked.

Peter suddenly seemed interested in staring at the ground but he still answered. "Something personal."

"You'll be okay? I'm sure we can help." Marlon offered, earning a nod from me.

The teenager shook his head. "It's something I must do on my own. You all shouldn't worry about it."

And with that, he got up and left.

"Way to make him uncomfortable." Elesa admonished.

"How could I know?" the senior asked

"You know how Peter is when it comes to his past."

Marlon looked down. "I'll go look for him and apologize."

"Don't." my best friend said. "Let him on his own; when he's okay he'll come back."

"Elesa." I called out, the blonde's eyes locking into mine. "You know what Peter's goal is?"

She shook her head. "I have a few suspicions but nothing concrete."

"But you know more than us." I noted earning a nod from the Nimbasa native. "So why won't you tell us, so we can avoid things like these?"

"Because if I do so I'll be breaching Peter's privacy, and giving him more reasons to not trust us." She justified.

"But that's only to prevent us from making him uncomfortable." I attempted to argue.

"No means no, I'll go look for Peter." She announced, before any of us could interject she continued. "Alone."

With that she left, leaving me alone with Marlon.

"They are very similar." Marlon noted grimly.

I just nodded, thinking back on Elesa's actions.

"Hey, Skyla you think they are dating?"

"WHAT!?" I shrieked

"I mean, they are very alike in several aspects, and sometimes I think that they hang out without us."

I didn't know what to say, but I found my words anyway. "Elesa wouldn't betray my trust like that."

I caught my tongue slip a second too late. "So, you're into Peter." Marlon stated as I felt a blush creep into my cheeks.

"I….I….." I kept stammering, trying to find my voice.

"I'm into Elesa." Marlon admitted.

Too shocked by his admittance and my tongue slip, I could only look at the senior with widened eyes.

Unable to think clearly, I just got up and left.

I thought a lot about Marlon's words but I felt unable to either confirm or rule out the possibility. It is somewhat anguishing to have these thoughts in my mind but I couldn't let it go fully. Elesa was indeed very protective of Peter, and Peter sometimes would speak directly to Elesa than the group.

Still, it wasn't anything overly suspicious. Doubt still lingering in my mind, I've decided to get closer to Peter and truly earn his trust.

I never liked soccer, it felt dull and monotonous; I truly couldn't see the fun in two squads of eleven attempting to put a ball through the net. Peter, as handsome and fit as ever, made the ninety minutes bearable. In the end, the match ended with an Institute win: 1-0.

As I left the bleachers, I saw Peter briefly talking with a shady man who wore an orange cap, sunglasses, baggy clothing, had tanned skin and a white beard.

"Who was that?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

"A scout. Although I still don't know for who he works."

"You met him before?"

"That's the third time." Peter stated, before frowning. "Not that I'm not happy but why you're here?"

"I had some free time." I lied swiftly, earning a nod from the player.

"What did you think of the game?" he inquired; his green eyes trained at me.

"Not for me." I admitted. "I don't know, I only see twenty guys running behind a ball."

Peter chuckled. "I heard that several times before, it's a matter of taste."

I nodded, prepared to execute the next part of my plan. "Actually, I wanted to talk with you about something else."

"I figured it would be." Peter said, offering a reassuring smile. "Go on, speak what's on your mind."

"It's about last time at the rooftop… I wanted to apologize."

Peter frowned. "Why? You did nothing wrong?"

"I felt that I shouldn't have sided with Marlon, I know he wanted the best but we came out as meddling."

Peter nodded. "I know you both wanted to help, but as I said back then unless I do it on my own it will be meaningless."

I kept silent, looking at the ground. Peter could be extremely dismissive sometimes, which turned out to be a huge hurdle when making conversation.

"Hey." I looked up to see his eyes staring back into mine. "There's something in your mind."

I nodded but couldn't find my words. "I won't force you to speak, but, if you want to; I'll listen."

"It's a bit personal."

"I can't promise I'll be able to answer then, but feel free to ask."

I took a deep breath. "It's about Elesa." Once again, a deep breath. "I've been wondering about your relationship with her."

Peter rose his eyebrows. "By relationship…you mean friendship, right?"

I shook my head.

"You can't possibly think we're involved romantically." He uttered, clearly surprised.

"So, you don't?" I asked, attempting to hide the relief in my voice.

Peter shook his head negatively. "How did you even come to think of it?" he asked in astonishment. "Regardless, I know you're looking out for your friend, but be assured that we aren't dating."

I obviously didn't say that I was more worried by the prospect of him dating, but nodded nonetheless. "Still, you're closer to her than to me or Marlon."

Peter nodded. "I feel I have more things in common with her." He admitted. "But that doesn't mean that I don't consider you two to be my friends. It's just that Elesa… she taught me something very important… I just think I'm grateful for that." He explained.

"What she taught you?"

Peter smirked. "Something you know already."

I kept quiet. In his own, awkward way, that was how Peter socialized.

"There's talk of you joining the battling team." I blurted out suddenly, in an attempt to get the conversation going.

The Galarian nodded in acknowledgment. "Rumours often diverge from reality."

"So, they didn't invite you?"

"No. I don't think professor Wilson is my biggest fan."

"What makes you say that?"

"The man himself said that to me in person the first time we met." Peter admitted with a grimace.

"Why?"

"I don't exactly have a clear record, I guess he's just looking out for his team."

"But those are lies." I protested. Earning a hum from him.

"It is, but I don't think he cares enough for that." He pointed out.

"But he's harming the team's chances by keeping you away."

"I wouldn't say so. I'm not sure that I'd help the team as much as people say."

"Why?" I asked.

"From the little I've seen from your team, you guys focus on teamwork; setting hazards, forcing matchups for others, basically contributing to the other's success." He remarked, earning a nod from me. We indeed focused on team tactics, even more than the other teams. "I like to call myself a soloist, but some say I'm egoistic. I think both remarks can be considered truthful."

"Nonetheless, my strategy often focuses on soloing opponents and interacting as little as possible with other factors, such as team. If you look outside of your team system, I may look like an upgrade over pretty much anyone." He pointed out. "But my inability in contributing to others in the bigger picture, and my unwillingness to do so would actually make the team weaker."

I could indeed see some truthful facts on his analysis, so I acknowledged it. "But you were on a team before, back in Galar."

As his frown deepened, I realized I made a big mistake. Before I could apologize, he spoke through gritted teeth, clearly unpleased. "Back in Galar things were different, I was a bit more supportive to the team, but even so we would constantly break the match into one-on-one fights. We were the better team talent-wise, so we were able to do that and not to be countered." He explained.

"I spoke about Galar once again, I'm sorry." I apologized, but by his features, I could see that he wasn't that bothered.

"I guess I'll have to get used to it, I can't go storming off every time someone says something I don't like. Still, it takes a lot of time to get used to it, so I'll do it gradually."

Before I could voice my approval of his attitude, I was interrupted by a female voice.

"Skyla, did you forget?" I turned to see my blonde best friend.

I frowned. "About what?"

Elesa facepalmed. "The match." She said in a reprehensive tone.

"It was today?"

"It's starting in five minutes." She turned to Peter. "Sorry, but I'll have to borrow my friend here for a few hours.

Peter simply nodded. "No problems."

The battle arena bleachers weren't packed at all, with the crowd consisting of a few students of the institute and a few visitors from the other schools. The Striaton High had to close its arena for repairs, it was nothing big, but for a month they will be using our arena. Elesa and I decided to watch the match, as Striaton High is just one spot below us at the moment. The other team, The Bay Academy was somewhat weaker, we even won against them early in the season.

"It's likely that you will be assigned to battle Cilan when we face them, see if you can find anything useful watching him."

I nodded. "He's the green-haired one, right?"

Elesa nodded. "Against them, coach will likely use type effectiveness, but we also should keep watch on the others. If you see anything let me know."

I nodded. "Is Marlon coming?"

The blonde shrugged her shoulders. "He said he would, but I haven't seen him yet."

The match was going somewhat as we expected, The Bay Academy team got to the lead early, and by the midpoint, they were 3-2 up; but then Striaton High sent out one of their aces in Chili, and suddenly Striaton led by 5-3 with ease.

Then Bay Academy sent revealed their final battler.

"She's pretty." Elesa noted, causing me to nod.

The girl who stepped into the field has extremely long wavy blonde hair that flowed freely, reaching her waist. Her facial features are exquisite, very pale skin, even paler than Peter or Elesa's and aquamarine blue eyes. The high cheekbones and sharp features almost made the girl look like a princess from fairytales. Almost, as the frowning face and glare sent at his opponent completely ruined that idea.

"Who's she?" I asked. "She wasn't in their team before."

"I don't know." Elesa said. "Let's focus on the battle."

The girl sent out a humanoid pokémon, who wore a black Gothic Lolita fashion style dress, with pink skin and white ribbons ornamenting its appearance.

"That's a Gothorita." Elesa identified. "A Psychic type pokémon."

As soon as the battle started, Gothorita took advantage of Chili's tired Pansear and soon knocked it out with a well-placed Psybeam attack.

"That was to be expected." I opined "Pansear fought three opponents in a row."

Elesa nodded. "Still, that girl is good, her attacks are all well placed, and she quickly managed to dispatch Pansear without suffering too much damage."

"You think she can beat the other two?"

"Unlikely. Both Cress and Cilan are well rested and can set up opportunities for each other. Even if she wins at first, she'll probably be too tired for the other."

"Just like Chili." I completed

For the next battle, Striaton High went with Cilan. Their reasoning came clear when his Pansage carefully dodged each and every attack from the girl's Gothorita and set up a Leech Seed. It was basically game over for the Bay student as the attack would slowly seep out her pokémon's health. All Cilan had to do was stall the match. Yet the girl seemed unfazed, continuing to battle as if she had all the time in the world. She hit Pansage with a Psybeam, and much to our surprise, Cilan couldn't react at all; instead of issuing a command to his pokémon he held his head in pain. It was all the girl needed; Gothorita dispatching Pansage with two well-placed super effective Signal Beam strikes in a row.

"What happened?" I asked. "Cilan may have been surprised by her attitude but that doesn't explain why he suddenly stopped battling."

"He's in pain." Elesa noted, pointing at the sidelines as Cilan was helped by his brothers, hands still onto his head.

"Is he?" I asked

"Yea." Elesa answered, as the green-haired teenager suddenly threw up into the sidelines.

"Food poisoning?"

"It seems likely." The blonde agreed. "Still, very unlucky; it acted at the least opportune moment for him."

I nodded. "I hope he's okay."

For the final battle, Cress, the remaining brother stood with a bit of a concerned expression; clearly bothered by what happened to his brother. Yet he closed his eyes, drew a deep breath, and called out his water type Panpour. Gothorita on the other side looked to be tired, the Leech Seed slowly affecting it.

Rather than stall like Cilan, Cress decided to use Gothorita's tiredness to his advantage, his Panpour managed to land some solid hits, but the girl was still unfazed. It soon became clear why, as Gothorita landed a solid super-effective Charge Beam strike at Panpour. Then once again something strange happened, this time Cress started shaking. The blue-haired trainer did his best to recover, but his movements were sluggish as his reasoning, and soon enough he was also overwhelmed by another of Gothorita's super effective attacks.

"Again?" I asked in surprise.

Elesa just frowned, glancing at the girl in front of her.

We quickly reached the poorly lit training field a few minutes after we received Marlon's message. There, he and Peter seemed to be having a discussion, with Marlon gesturing wildly and the younger teenager just shaking his head. Peter's frown deepened as he saw us, immediately glaring at Marlon.

"Traitor." We heard him speak.

"Someone has to be the voice of reason here, if you're not listening to me, you'll surely hear them." The blue-haired teenager said, pointing at us.

"What's going on?" Elesa demanded, her voice sharp.

"Nothing."

"Bullshit." Marlon countered. "Peter challenged Caitlin to a battle, I'm attempting to tell him it's a very bad idea."

"Who's Caitlin?" I asked

"The girl from the Bay Academy who defeated the triplets." Marlon explained.

"And why that would be a very bad idea?" Elesa asked, glancing between the two boys.

"You saw what she did to them. Both Cilan and Cress are at the infirmary."

"You're saying that it was this Caitlin girl who injured them?" Elesa inquired further,

Surprisingly, it was Peter who spoke. "I suspect it was her."

"Do you have anything that would confirm that?" I asked. Peter may be a good friend, but I often held back on jumping to conclusions that could paint others in bad light

"I don't, but whatever she did…I felt it too."

"How so?" Elesa asked her eyes narrowed.

The Galarian sighed. "I don't know how to explain, it's like there's this instinct telling me something is off."

"That's hardly believable. No offense, though." My best friend stated.

"I believe in Peter." Marlon stated. "Cress is a good friend of mine and after the match, I spoke briefly with him, he said whenever his pokémon was hit he also felt pain. That's why you can't fight her." The team captain exclaimed.

"I am free to do so." Peter countered, glaring at us.

From the few months I've had to know Peter, it was clear to me that he was a great defender of the concept of free will and freedom overall. He'd often justify his actions using the same quote: 'I am free to do so.'

It is yet another thing I've come to admire about him. Father could be a bit authoritative and overbearing at times, so seeing someone my age standing up and holding his own against that was inspiring.

"For you to get sent to the hospital like Cilan and Cress?" Marlon asked.

"I agree with Marlon." I opined. "What you would even get from battling her?"

His gaze was steely. "No offense, but she's a league above all of you."

I truly believed he meant that. But it still hurt our pride as trainers to be set aside like that,

"My true goal…it's even above her…" the green-eyed teenager said, almost in a trance. "I need to know if I'm on the right path."

"There are other ways to do that." Marlon attempted to speak but was cut, this time by Elesa.

"Let him do it." We both turned to blonde in surprise. "Nothing we say would prevent him from doing so anyway, besides I trust Peter." She said, staring directly at Peter's eyes.

The Galarian nodded at Elesa, but we could see he was as surprised as us by her attitude. "Thanks for the concern." He glanced at me and at Marlon. "All of you."

Before we could speak further, we were interrupted by the sound of footsteps and glanced at the girl from before. She was even prettier than before, but she also had a deep glare. In fact, one could easily make a competition of who has the deepest glare: Peter, Elesa, or her.

"What's the meaning of this?" she demanded glancing at us.

"I promise they won't bother." Peter said, glancing at us in a dismissive tone.

We took the clue and left the field and climbed into the bleachers. Regardless of whether we agree or not with his decision we were truly interested in this match's outcome.

Below us, Peter turned to Caitlin. "I issued the challenge; do you have any specific rule you want to add?" he asked.

"Let's make it brief." The girl said curtly. "Two on two, singles."

Peter nodded, taking a pokéball out of his belt. "Before we start…you're not normal right?" the teenager said, earning a glare from the girl. "We're not normal."

"How so?"

"Whenever I look at you all I feel are headaches and an instinctual need to fight."

We leaned on our seats, expecting the blonde's answer. "It seems I was right then. You're the enemy." Her glare became even more pronounced.

Without any further ado, Caitlin took out a Luxury Ball: a special, and expensive model of pokéball; calling forth her pokémon: a Duosion.

This psychic type pokémon strongly resembled a cell, with a small light green core, which seemed to be in the process of splitting, being surrounded by a bigger, darker substance.

"Braviary, free flight!" Peter called, revealing his ace.

There was no referee, so with an almost perceptible nod shared between the two, the battle started.

"Braviary, take the skies and use Wing Attack." The Galar native wasted no time issuing his commands, with the dual type flying towards Caitlin's pokémon his glowing white wing aimed at the opponent.

"Reflect." Caitlin said calmly.

The psychic type then put up a purple-colored shield-like wall, encompassing him and protecting him from Braviary's attack.

I could see the frown in Peter's features deepen, but he quickly recomposed himself and glanced at the field.

As a member of the battle team and the granddaughter of Mistralton City's Gym Leader, I was accustomed to analyzing battles with a critical eye. For instance, from the little I've seen of Caitlin, as strange as her battle was, I could see that she would usually opt to take the initiative rather than relinquishing it to the opponent, so it was a surprise to see her settling for just defending.

"That's a good Reflect defense." Marlon noted. "A weaker shield would've cracked already."

Marlon's employed what some would call an anti-meta playstyle. His strategy would usually focus on pairing an unimpregnable defense with moves that would prevent the opponent from employing his own strategy. A good example was his battle against Peter last month, with the blue-haired trainer using Cursed Body, Constrict and Scald, attacks that would severely hinder Peter's usual tactics.

"She is just going to sit and wait?" Elesa asked with a deadpan.

Elesa would employ the most entertaining style possible, combining speed, grace, evasiveness with quick switch-ins. It was truly made to impress, and despite the flashiness of it, she made it work more often than not. She often was criticized as being more interested in showing off rather than winning the battle, which was a big lie. Elesa wanted to win as much as anyone, she just found the most entertaining way to do so.

Then there was me. My style could be either interpreted as traditional or as a throwback. The thing is that I learned from grandpa, so I obviously had an easier time in employing a similar style to his. With me, I'd attempt to find a balance, not be overly aggressive as Caitlin or Elesa, nor as defensive as Marlon. I often employed 'old school' tactics such as manual switch-ins, long charge attacks (such as Fly, Bounce, or Dive), and status reducing moves on opponents.

Shifting my attention back to the battle in hand I saw the frown on Peter's face ease a bit and I knew he planned something. Peter's style was also unique. If put beside ours one might wrongly think that he incorporated elements from each of our styles, but only in hindsight. His greatest asset would be his intellect. A pragmatist at heart, he would take his sweet time to properly analyze his opponent, but after that he would go to work, taking charge of the battle and assaulting the opponent relentlessly.

"Steel Wing." The brown-haired teenager commanded.

The eagle once again took the eagle took the skies, his wings glowing steely white, and slamming at the protective Reflect, shattering it.

"Safeguard." The girl commanded, with Duosion creating a turquoise veil which enveloped it.

"Peck." Was Peter's response, his pokémon diving towards the opponent, beak glowing white.

"Once again, use Reflect."

The pink shield once again came to life, halting Braviary's attack.

"Now, use Future Sight." Caitlin said calmly.

Duosion sent a stream of psychic energy upwards, but it quickly vanished after a few seconds.

"Clever." Marlon complimented. "Reflect keeps Braviary away and Future Sight not only enables Duosion from attacking from its protected spot but also is an extremely tricky attack.

I nodded, after all, it was hard to defend against something that you can't see.

"Steel Wing." The male teenager nodded, seemingly unfazed.

"Reinforce the Reflect." Was Caitlin's response.

The offense against defense game continued, each time Braviary shattered the Reflect, another would rise up.

"Why is Peter sticking with that strategy?" Elesa asked in frustration.

I knew why, flashbacks of the day I first met him coming back into my mind. But I kept them to myself, it may be petty, but it something that belonged only to me.

In fact, as soon as another screen was crushed, a wormhole opened above Braviary, the Future Sight attack heading straight at him.

"Cross guard and redirect."

His commands surprised us, but we soon saw geniality in his strategy. Cross guard apparently was the use of Steel Wing in a defensive stance, crossed and covering the pokémon's chest. The Future Sight connected, but soon was redirected by the Steel Wings towards the unsuspecting Duosion who was hit head on.

"Now, use Wing Attack."

The restless attacks, even on downed opponents were another characteristic of Peter's style.

Braviary approached from above, but Caitlin just smirked.

"Trick Room." Just as the girl finished uttering her command, Duosion summoned a light blue rectangular room, its walls and ceiling vanishing after a few moments.

The move's effect was clear, Braviary suddenly slowed down significantly and Caitlin's pokémon evaded the attack with unnatural speed.

"U-Turn." Peter called out quickly, sensing the shift of power and wanting to get his pokémon out of there as fast as possible.

But to no avail.

"Thunder."

Lightning yellow electricity surrounded Duosion, before quickly latching towards Braviary, who still struggled with the effects of the Trick Room.

The result was a perfectly connected attack, which grounded Braviary.

"Hey." Elesa called out, pointing to Peter, most specifically his right arm.

"It's shaking nonstop." Marlon said with a frown.

"Just like Cress."

From the stands, we couldn't see Peter's expression but we saw how hard he clutched his shaking arm.

"The fuck?" we heard him say.

Caitlin just smirked. "Still up? Well not for long. Duosion, use Thunder once again."

"Braviary, evade it."

To his credit, Braviary attempted to escape, but as soon as it took flight, residual electricity jolted through his wings, paralyzing and making him an easy target for the super-effective attack.

The Valiant pokémon and his master collapsed in synchrony.

"PETER!" I heard Elesa yell in concern as he planted his face on the ground.

"Unlike the others, you knew what I was." We heard Caitlin speak to the downed form of Peter, her voice icier than a Sheer Cold attack. "Like all the other you failed. You aren't worthy of my time." She spat.

"Will you shut up?" we heard Peter mutter, attempting to get up. "I've been through worse things."

Steady and slowly, Peter indeed managed to get up, the shaking gone.

"How interesting." The girl commented. "You used your own bad experiences to recover."

Peter called back his Braviary and sent out Eevee. "I'm not a quitter." The teenager said between gritted teeth.

"Very well." The longhaired girl said in a condescending tone. "I shall show you your pain can't compete with mine."

"Eevee, activate Iron Tail, but don't lunge towards Duosion." Peter commanded.

Despite the oddness of his trainer's instructions, the evolution pokémon did as asked.

"Now use Bite."

"Brilliant." I turned to see Marlon leaning forward, his eyes glued at the battlefield.

"What?" I asked.

"Trick Room is still in effect, so slower pokémon get faster. To get around that Peter used Iron Tail not to attack or defend, but simply to slow down Eevee with it."

In fact, Duosion and Caitlin were caught off guard with the makeshift strategy, and before the psychic pokémon could react, Eevee gnawed at him.

"Do not let go." Peter yelled.

"Pain Split." Was the girl's response.

"Fuck! Let go." Was his immediate reply.

Thankfully, the normal type managed to let go of the opponent just before it drained its health.

"Psybeam."

"Take cover with Iron Tail."

Peter's pokémon spun and used his metallic tail to take cover and protect itself from the attack, but only managed to cover a part of his body, with the rest being open to the magenta particles beam.

As Eevee was knocked back we heard Peter groan in pain and take his hands to his head.

"Let's stop this battle." Marlon said, earning nods from us.

"PETER!" Marlon yelled. "Give up man."

"Don't get hurt because of this." I added.

"It's okay, you tried." Elesa completed.

He turned, giving the most hateful glare we ever saw from him.

"Shut the fuck up." He said, shocking us with the hatred in his voice. "I've come a long way…" he turned to Caitlin. "If I can't beat her, I can't defeat him…" his glare turned into a pained look. "If I can't defeat him…I'd be better off dead."

He turned to the battlefield. "Eevee, let's show the strength of our pain."

The normal type quickly got up and glared at Duosion.

"Activate Iron Tail." Eevee's tail shone in preparation. "Now Bite once again."

Using the same strategy as before the Evolution pokémon lunged forward, opening his maw and preparing the attack.

"Not this time." Caitlin countered "Reflect."

Just as Eevee neared the recurrent pink shield appeared, but Peter seemed unfazed. "Now attack the Trick Room with Iron Tail."

Canceling his attack at the last minute, Eevee instead used the Reflect as a leaping stone, slamming his tail at the Trick Room construct, properly demolishing it.

"Future Sight."

"Shadow Ball."

Just as Duosion attempted to prepare the attack, Eevee released the ghost type attack, which went through the Reflect and collided with the opponent.

We could see Caitlin grit her teeth. "Duosion, get up." The Mitosis pokémon got up, a bit more battered but still up for the fight.

"Psyshock."

Duosion materialized psychic masses of energy, seven in total, and hurled them at Eevee.

"Swift." Peter countered.

The normal type flicked its tail, releasing several golden stars towards the opposing attack. The two collided creating a curtain of smoke that encompassed the field.

"Swift." The Galarian trainer commanded once again.

"Quick thinking." Elesa noted. "Swift is almost impossible to miss, so he took advantage of the smoke to attack."

However, we were shocked when the smoke cleared. Rather than seeing the attack connect, we saw both the stars and Eevee floating into the air.

"How?" Peter asked

"Not all instructions are issued verbally." Caitlin said, her eyes glowing with an eerily blue color.

The stars were suddenly hurled back at Eevee, and Peter almost instantly fell to his knees.

Caitlin huffed, before glaring hatefully at Peter. "Be honored you witnessed my power. Duosion, use Psyshock."

The purple matter appeared out of thin air and was launched at the still floating Eevee.

In response, Peter started coughing blood.

"Let's stop this madness." I heard Elesa say, but before we could intervene, Caitlin's icy voice made itself known once again.

"Duosion, finish him. Full power Psyshock."

"STOP IT." I yelled, but she paid no avail.

We could only watch helplessly Peter and Eevee losing consciousness simultaneously.

With this chapter finished, now I've properly introduced all the tagged characters. Since information on Caitlin is sparse, to say the least, I may have gone a bit OOC with her, but I do like how I portrayed her as an enemy rather than a friend.

Some people may have noticed already, but I took inspiration in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Akiza Izinski to write Caitlin. However, I assure you that by the end of the story Caitlin will be her own character.

The next chapter may take a bit long for me to update, not only due to my obligations but also because it may exceed 10K words in opposition to the usual 7-8K I usually put up. Please bear with me, because after that, the next 3-4 updates have the potential to be the best chapters of the entire arc.

Once again, I'd like to ask my readers to review and give me your thoughts and suggestions on the story. Feedback only makes this story better. Finally, a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year; 2020 was probably hard for everyone, but hopefully, 2021 will be better.