The End of the Day

"Jiro!" she called as she reached the bottom of the steps. She tapped her foot impatiently as the battle shield raised. When there was enough space for her to fit, she ducked under it, and ran out onto the arena. Jiro was sitting next to his worn-out pokémon. Both of them leaned back against the wall. Jiro looked up as he saw Miya jogging over.

"Hey."

"Is Dasya all right?"

Jiro and Dasya looked at each other. Dasya blinked weakly. "He'll be okay once we get to the pokémon center," replied Jiro. Miya gave him a hand to pull him up.

"You fought really well," said Miya. "That Night Slash move really was clever. I wouldn't have thought of that."

"Yeah," a voice from behind Miya said. She turned to see Dana walking up to them with long, purposeful strides. "It was an excellent battle. You had me scared for a moment, there."

Jiro looked down, hiding a smile. "Thanks."

"Anyway, sorry about the Hyper Beam. Is your gallade okay?" She asked, her brows furrowing in concern. "It was rash of me and I just knew it was powerful enough to win, but…"

Jiro shook his head as he helped Dasya to his feet. "He'll be all right. His name is Dasya."

Dana extended her hand to Dasya. "You were excellent, Dasya," she said to him. Dasya's thin lips turned upward in a smile.

"I'm glad to see that you weren't turned away by all of that Team Plasma shit," Jiro said to Dana. He ran his hand through his hair sheepishly.

"Me? Of course not. My pokémon live for the exhilaration of battle. Well, these three do, anyway." Dana laughed. It was a tinkling little chortle.

"This was our… first," Jiro admitted.

"Really?! Wow, what an excellent fight, especially coming from a beginner!" exclaimed Dana. She really likes that word, thought Miya. Jiro smiled modestly and thanked her. "Listen, we should probably get out of the way for the next battle. It'll be in a few minutes. Do you know what, though? I usually battle at the Luxuria Town Battle Club. You know, off Route 3? I just came down here for the opening of this one. You should totally come and challenge me again some time. And you, are you Jiro's friend? You, too! What's your name?" she asked, turning to Miya.

"This is Miya," said Jiro, sweeping his arm in her direction. "She and I are partners in the Trainer Program."

"I'm not a licensed trainer, though," Miya amended hurriedly.

Dana frowned. "Well, what are you then? Oh, that came out really rude. I'm sorry. Hey, walk with me to the pokémon center?"

"Sure," said Jiro as he recalled Dasya. Miya hugged Milo to her chest as she followed Jiro and Dana to the pokémon center.

Dana asked her a few more questions about her assignment along the way and gave Jiro a few battle tips. After their pokémon were healed, Jiro and Dana exchanged contact information and Dana left to go back to Luxuria Town.

Back at the hostel above the pokémon center, Jiro leaned back in a beat-up lounge sofa and Miya browsed a vending machine. "Sooo… not bad for a first official battle, huh?" He kicked his feet up on the coffee table.

"Not bad," Miya replied, considering her selections. Well, Miya knew Milo's opinion: candy was always the best option. Miya nudged Milo with her foot as she bought an energy bar. "To be honest, I had no idea you were going to do it. You just said you were going to check it out, and so I figured that meant to like watch a few battles first. I almost missed it!"

"Yeah." Jiro chuckled. "I didn't want to call you cause I knew you were doing that essay. How'd it go?"

"Well, it's done, that's for sure."

Miya played a game of chess with Dasya as Jiro took Navy and Milo for a swim in the pool in the basement, and they ended the day with smoothies at a smoothie shop. When Miya nestled into a creaky bunk bed in the girls' wing that night, she lay awake.

So Dana and Jiro's pokémon had wanted to battle. The battle kept playing over in her head.

The words Ghetsis had said that day echoed in her head. Cruel organizations such as the pokémon league…? But they needed the pokémon league. Pokémon leagues were what held the regions together.

Still… Navy had to wear ridiculous gear just to be able to compete at all outside of the water. And when she fell… she couldn't stop thinking about the pushed-up scales along her belly, her crumpled fin, so easily fixed by the pokémon center. What about Dasya getting blasted back against a wall? All so they could have the glory of saying they won.

Shit.

She was overthinking all this. Pokémon wouldn't fight if they didn't want to, she told herself, and in her head, it felt like a resolution. Her thoughts flitted to Milo, sleeping in a poké ball zipped inside her backpack at the foot of her bed. He probably missed his tank at home.

When she fell asleep, she dreamed of waves and characters from her favorite show, Surf's Edge. Blair, the lifeguard main character, was wearing a red eye patch and asked her, "What is Milo to you? Your partner? Your pet? Your friend?" Then he turned into Lara, whose bubblegum-pink hair was now a stale tea green. "What's wrong?" she kept repeating to Miya. "Girl, what's wrong?" And then her pidove Uffie was there. It's what any respectable pokémon would do.

In her dream, Miya swatted them away like they were flies and then she dreamed of nothing but silence.