Chapter 5:
"No," he says. Thomas puts his drink down on the bar and looks at me. "I've got no problems with you, Psycho, and I don't care how you battle if it works. But I'm not going to battle the girl who's hyped up to win this thing just to defend you."
"Come on," I beg, "I'll buy you a drink."
"I already get free pints here, what difference is you getting me one going to make?" he asks.
"Fine, what else do you want?" I ask.
"There's nothing you can give me that'll convince me to battle bloody Flourette Lauxand until we get paired in the tournament," Thomas snaps at me, "Now go bug someone else."
"Why not?" I ask. I am getting rather desperate with asking him now.
"It's not that I can't beat her because I know I can, it's that there's no point," he says, "It's not my argument and I don't care."
Without another word, I leave Thomas to his drinking. I don't want to get worked up over this. I have a day to find someone. I don't know why I'm even doing this. I don't have to turn up to battle her and I don't have to comply with her. I decide to wander the hotel and see if I can find anyone. I need something to do. I plan to watch the replays of the first round battles later tonight, but it's still a few hours until the show starts. I need to occupy myself until then.
Eventually, I head outside into the grounds. There is no one inside. It is busier outside, but it seems to be mostly ordinary guests. I get a few odd looks from people as I walk past. It seems everyone is against me. I make my way around the outside of the building to the decorative gardens. As hoped, the gardens are a lot quieter. In a secluded corner of the gardens, I take the chance to let out the three Pokémon I battled with.
"I want to thank you guys," I say to them, "You all did a great job today. You all went through a lot, but you did incredibly. Thank you."
There is a murmur of appreciation. Gourgeist seems quite pleased by the praise. Milotic just looks smug. Crobat, however, isn't interested. It sits on the floor staring at its bandaged wing. It is crushed by losing the ability to fly. I crouch down in front of Crobat and it looks up at me. I can see the sorrow in its eyes.
"It's alright," I say, reaching out a hand to stroke it reassuringly, "You'll be flying again in a few days. I don't care that you won't be battling, I care about you."
I'm lying. I do care that Crobat can't battle. It's impossible to ignore the impact it will have. I have to put that aside though because I do care more about my best friend being alright.
Gourgeist chimes in, seemingly to support what I'm saying. Crobat looks to Gourgeist and then back to me. It looks less down but it is still clearly upset. There's not much more I can say to make things better.
I spend a bit more time with my Pokémon. I attempt to talk with Milotic but it is much more interested in itself. Gourgeist tries to cheer Crobat up with little success, even earning itself a hit from Crobat's good wing in the process. I then return them to their Poké Balls and wander away aimlessly.
Elsewhere in the gardens, as I walk alongside a hedge, I hear noises coming from the other side. I stop to listen. It sounds like someone is exerting themselves and taking blows. My curiosity grows and I continue on the path looking for a gap in the hedge. I soon find my way around the hedge into a large secluded area with a fountain in the middle and benches around the edge. Near the fountain, I spot Shaw, thankfully without his bright orange jacket, and a Hitmonchan.
Shaw is wearing a pair of gloves and raising his arms defensively. The Hitmonchan reaches out to punch him, but Shaw moves an arm to block it. Suddenly, Shaw darts forward and strikes Hitmonchan with his free hand. Hitmonchan recoils and Shaw proceeds to attack with a rapid rally of punches. Then, without warning, Hitmonchan jabs a fist and smacks Shaw in the chest. Shaw is knocked back and holds out a hand indicating to stop.
"Good work Hitmonchan, but you really shouldn't let me hit you so many times," he says. He sounds like he's in pain when he talks.
"Are you alright?" I ask and draw attention to myself. Shaw turns to see me watching.
"Fine compared to how you'd be after a couple of rounds with Hitmonchan," he says.
"What exactly are you doing?" I ask.
"We're training," he says. I probably could have guessed that. It just seems an odd way of training.
"Isn't it dangerous, I mean, fighting your own Pokémon?" I ask.
"No more dangerous or any less useful than fighting another person," he says, "Just this way we both get the valuable experience."
I pause for a moment. A thought nags away at the back of my mind and I slowly build up the courage to ask about it.
"Hey, um, Shaw," I begin awkwardly, "What do you think of my battling style?"
"It's disgusting," Shaw says bluntly.
I freeze. Shaw's words are like a dagger through me. Reading horrible comments on Twitter is one thing, hearing something like that from a fellow competitor who I respect is something else entirely. I wait for him to continue before jumping to any conclusions. I had initially been offended by something he said when we first met but he had managed to justify it in a way to redeem himself. Perhaps he could do it again.
"You seem like a nice enough woman, but what I saw in your battle today suggests you have no respect for Pokémon," he says, "I'm not gonna preach at you, but that sort of thing doesn't go down well in my books."
"I see," I say.
"You didn't deserve all the abuse you got for it, but that's what'll happen when you play that way," he says.
"Thank you," I say quietly and turn around to leave.
"Did I say something wrong?" Shaw asks as I walk away.
I don't respond. It is a bitter pill to swallow. I don't like what I heard. I do respect Pokémon, don't I? I care about my Pokémon, Crobat is my oldest friend, and I apologised to Elin. Other people don't know these things, but I still wonder how the use of status tactics shows a lack of respect.
I trudge back to my hotel room. I am no longer in the mood for anything else. I understand how Crobat feels. We have both been told that we shouldn't do the things we want to, the things we do so well. The only difference is that there is a legitimate reason for Crobat not battling, the injured wing. I see no reason not to battle with status tactics. I've used them for years. I've won tournaments and other accolades with them and there's been no issue over it before. I have been invited to the World Championships and I have reached the top 8. If there was a legitimate reason not to use these tactics then I wouldn't have got this far.
I reach the stairs in the hotel and Raymond is stood by the lift. He stands patiently waiting like he was when I first saw him. He doesn't react to me walking past so I leave him and climb the stairs. As I reach the next floor, I hear the lift open on the ground floor. I look back down and Raymond doesn't move. Instead, Lancelot Elderidge steps out of the lift.
"Good evening, sir," Raymond says, "How did the first day go?"
I stop and listen. That seems like an odd question. Raymond was there. I take a few steps back and look over the railings. I can just see Raymond and Lancelot stood together. Lancelot nods and holds out an arm to gesture for them to walk.
"It is a grand success," Lancelot says, "The Battle Gears all worked well and the trainers put them to good use. There was a moment of worry when that girl collapsed after the first battle."
"That has been put down to exhaustion," Raymond says, "Rumours have been circulating that she had no sleep last night."
"Yes, that is rather fortunate. There could have been some concern…." Lancelot says, but moves out of my earshot so I don't hear the rest.
I keep looking over the railings even though the two people are now out of sight and earshot. It didn't seem like an unusual conversation but something seemed off about it. The wording that Lancelot used. It almost sounded like his concern wasn't about my wellbeing when discussing my collapse. I snap out of it and continue my way up to my room.
I settle down in my room and check out the television. I don't watch a lot of television normally, but I can tell Unova's channels are worse than the ones in Kalos. I want to turn it off very quickly but I want to watch the battles and I have nothing else to entertain myself with until then. The mind numbing rubbish also seems to help distract me from the depressing thoughts of the day.
Eventually, the highlights show hosted by Steven Stone begins. He is joined by Sinnoh's Byron and Johto's Clair to provide analysis of all the battles. I am captivated by Steven. As far as I am concerned, he is the best trainer in the world and he has the looks and charisma to go with it. I am so lost gazing at him that I am suddenly thrown off when the screen changes to show the first battle.
I watch my battle over. I am impressed how well I did to come back into the match with Gourgeist when I was so tired. The commentator also seems impressed by some of my moves. Then the tone seems to change. Using Aqua Ring to deal damage goes down well, but causing another burn and inflicting the torment in Elin turns everyone against me. The commentator is supposed to be neutral, but, from then on, it is clear he too favours Elin.
The battle finishes and I am declared the winner. It is a good feeling. Seeing it over lets me finally celebrate a little. The commentator is putting a sour note on my victory though as he sums up the battle. He is wrapping up his coverage of the battle when I collapse in the stadium and all Hell seems to break lose. There is a mass panic and people rush across the arena to attend to me while the commentator is describing what he sees.
"I am pleased to say that Holly is fine and has made a full recovery," Steven says as the cameras return to the studio. He then turns to the other two. "Obviously the big talking point is Holly's tactics. Does she really deserve all the stick she's getting?"
"Absolutely," Clair says, "She demonstrated that she can battle like anyone else and then switched to these quite frankly brutal tactics that have traumatised that poor boy and left one of his Pokémon blind."
"No, I completely disagree," Byron says, "Elin used a status move before she did. The difference is, he didn't take advantage of it. There is nothing in the rules against these sorts of tactics. Kanto's Elite Koga uses the same sort of strategies and no one's ever called him out on it. In fact, Holly uses those sort of moves all the time in other tournaments and has made it her signature."
"You're missing the point," Clair argues, "Koga has the common decency to not to cause serious permanent damage to his opponent's Pokémon which is why his tactics have got him a place in the Elite 4. Holly is bullying her way to the top and stopping some quality trainers from reaching their potential."
"I'm sure she never meant to cause that sort of damage. She's been around long enough that if she had malicious intent, we would know," Byron says assertively, "I thought she battled excellently and thoroughly deserved her win. She knows her Pokémon well and has found innovative ways of battling with them."
"Well, this is going to continue to be a divisive issue I'm sure," Steven says, "You can have your say on Twitter, as many of you already have, with the hashtag #ewc."
I sit on my bed and try to take in what the Gym Leaders had said about me while they move on to discuss how Elin had battled. It seems even they are divided over how I battle. I like what Byron has said about me. He compared me to a member of an Elite 4, one of the highest compliments a trainer can receive.
I have made up my mind. I am going to stand by my tactics. I am a specialist in status conditions and I will continue that way whether people like it or not. I have no malicious intent so people should have no reason to worry and I will show them that in the next round against Rhianne.
Next up is Rhianne's battle. I grab a pen and some paper and start making notes. I watch the battle carefully, jotting down every move. I want to study this battle properly and understand her style. Her opponent, Kyle Austin, was one of the tournament favourites going into the match and should probably have won the battle. Yet Rhianne managed to somehow pull off a commanding victory. Her strategy appears to focus on preventing the opponent from landing hits. Pulling this off successfully enabled her to beat a stronger opponent. I notice that Crobat would be excellent against this kind of strategy. My heart sinks.
AN: After all the wonderful comments I've had, I feel bad uploading a chapter that I'm not completely confident in. So I apologise if this feels like filler. Also, don't worry, the battle with Flourette will still happen.