Chapter 7

Lessons in Losing

Xavier's eyes narrowed. "You want me to what?"

Alex took a deep breath, leaning back against the glass wall of the monorail station. This was going about as well as he'd expected. Casting his eyes briefly over Xavier's shoulder, he caught Yvette's encouraging nod and forged ahead. "You need to get stronger before challenging Ramos again. Leave Coumarine for a while, go catch some more Pokémon, maybe even challenge other Gyms."

Shaking his head resolutely, Xavier folded his arms across his chest and glared at Alex. "I can beat him. I'll get that badge next time!"

"And how many times have you said that? How many times have you challenged him and lost now?"

"That's beside the point! Next time, it'll be different! I just know it. I can feel it!" Xavier said forcefully. "You don't understand, you're not a Trainer."

"Xavier!" Yvette cut in sharply, looking scandalised.

"What?" he demanded. "It's true, right Alex? I mean, you're good at what you do, but it's completely different to what we do!"

"Oh, really?" Alex shot back. "So I guess I just imagined beating you in that battle this morning?"

"That's different! You even said yourself you would have lost a proper battle," Xavier snapped. "So what makes you think you can give me advice on this? How many Gym badges do you have?"

"Xavier!" Yvette repeated, trying to step in between the two of them, but Xavier pushed her aside, taking a step towards Alex.

"No, come on. Where do you get off talking like you know what's best for me? We told you we're not leaving Coumarine until I get that Plant Badge!"

An faint surge of anger crept through Alex's body; he involuntarily clenched his fist, stepping forward to answer Xavier's challenge. Though he was a good six inches shorter and not nearly as broad, he looked the Kalosian straight in the eye. "You wanna know how many badges I have, Xavier? More than you, that's how many."

Xavier reeled as if he'd been slapped in the face. "You mean that you-"

"Yeah!" Alex said. "Yeah, I have a Gym badge. Just the one, but guess what, I battled the Gym Leader for it, and I won fair and square - something which you seem to be having trouble with. So no, I'm no expert, but if I'm being honest it's not hard to see what's going on here. So it's time for you to answer my question: how many times have you tried to beat Ramos?"

Xavier at least had the decency to look slightly ashamed of himself, but there was still a spark of irritation in his eyes. "Seven times."

"And have you ever beaten more than one of his Pokémon?"

Silence.

"And you think you're going to beat him next time because... why, exactly?"

"I have a - a good feeling about the next time. It'll be different!" Xavier repeated stubbornly, though he didn't sound quite as sure of himself.

Alex shook his head. "It won't. You're not learning or improving by doing this, you're just bashing your head against a wall."

"You don't know that!"

Alex couldn't quite withhold the sigh that welled up inside him. "No, I suppose I don't. For all I know, you could walk back up to the Gym tomorrow and win. But I don't see that happening. You're good, Xavier. Your Pokémon are strong and you work well together, but Ramos has decades of experience, and he sees right through you. You need to leave Coumarine for a while. Start that journey with Yvette, go challenge some other Gyms, catch some more Pokémon, and come back with a plan. The Gym isn't going anywhere."

Xavier ground his teeth. "That's how you really feel?"

"Sorry," Alex said with a shrug. "I know I probably don't know you well enough to be saying stuff like this, but that battle was hard to watch."

Fury flared anew in Xavier's eyes, visible for only a split second before he turned his back on Alex. "Come on, Yvette," he said tightly. "We'll walk home." Without waiting for her response, he marched away down the platform, his steps swift and heavy with overt rage.

Alex winced, glancing at Yvette with a mixture of guilt and reproach. "That went really well," he said, the words bitter in his mouth.

Yvette pursed her lips. "He'll come around," she said. "I… I think. I'll talk to him once he's calmed down."

"Good luck." Alex could only grimace as Yvette bounced uncertainly on the balls of her feet, glancing between him and her rapidly retreating boyfriend. "Go, I'll be fine!" he said, giving her a quick shooing motion.

Yvette paused. "I gave you my number before, right? At the cafe?"

"Yep, and you've got mine. Text me and let me know how it goes," Alex said.

"Right. Look… I'm sorry. And thank you," Yvette said. "I'll make this up to you next time." With that, she was gone, dashing to catch up with Xavier as he stormed down the road, muttering darkly.

Shaking his head, Alex took a seat in the glass-roofed shelter and stared through it at the open sky, wondering how exactly a quiet morning stroll through the city had gotten so out of hand.

Veronique met Alex as he stepped off the monorail at the bottom of the hill, evidently having been freed from her shift in the pâtisserie's kitchen. Dressed casually in dark wash skinny jeans and a purple tank top, she looked almost summery for once. Her straight black hair and blunt bangs were just as severe as ever, though, and she fixed him with a piercing, managerial glare. "What is it?" she said immediately, jerking her head to indicate the direction they should walk.

It was probably around noon now, and Coumarine had finally broken through its lethargy to take on all the hustle and bustle of a small oceanside city. The streets were far from crammed, but Alex breathed an inexplicable sigh of relief as normality resumed around him. He hadn't realised it, but the quiet, laid-back pace of life in Coumarine's warren of cobbled streets had set him on edge. Now that he was back among bustle of something resembling reality, he felt his shoulders unknot - relieving pressure he hadn't realised was there.

"Made some new friends," he said cryptically. Realising Veronique was still looking at him askance, he elaborated. "Then possibly lost them for good."

She scowled. "That doesn't explain anything, you realise."

Letting a grin creep onto his face, Alex briefly related the events of the morning.

Veronique frowned slightly, but shrugged. "Sounds like they have their own problems to deal with. What about you, though?"

Blinking in surprise, Alex almost tripped on a cobblestone. "I'm not sure what you mean," he said carefully.

"Don't try and get cute with me, Alex." Veronique elbowed him in the ribs, a gesture that seemed equal parts playful and reproachful. "You're no better than them, you know. You've been drifting since you got here."

"Oh." Alex felt like he should be snapping back with something smart, but he found himself unable to find the words. "Have I?"

A light grimace. "Like a Chimecho in a hurricane. I brought you along to keep you from moping, but you just seem determined to mope in Kalos instead."

"I don't mean to," he said quickly. "In fact, I've been trying not to think about… the Contests and everything."

There almost seemed to be a hint of pity in Veronique's eyes as she regarded him silently for a moment, but it was soon replaced by steely disapproval. "And that's exactly the problem. I've been around you long enough to know a funk when I see one - and to know that unless you figure it out soon, you're just going to keep floating aimlessly."

"Then what should I do, oh wise sage?"

"We'll start with lunch," Veronique decided, steering him towards a snappy little cafe that she had evidently been on the lookout for. "Here, this place does great Pokémon food too, apparently."

Ten minutes later, Alex was watching with some amusement as his Pokémon team proved Veronique right. Four bowls of altogether-too-expensive Pokémon food sat beside their table on the sidewalk, upon which Azumarill, Swablu, Plusle and Minun were gladly gorging themselves. This left Alex and Veronique almost as alone as they had been before, sitting opposite each other at the too-small table as the lunchtime crowds eddied past them like a rock in a stream.

"So," Alex said at length, carefully placing his coffee down on the saucer. Its bitter taste clung to the inside of his mouth as he tried to pick his next words carefully. "What's your take on… everything?" He gestured vaguely, uncertain how to proceed.

Veronique pursed her lips. "I'm going to be honest with you, Alex. I brought you to Kalos because I knew you'd do this anyway, but I wanted you to be within reach for a swift kick up the ass if you needed one."

"Right." Alex swallowed. "And that would be what this is."

"Indeed."

"I see."

Veronique looked him straight in the eye. "Let me ask you one question: What have you done since coming here? We've been here a week, and you've hardly taken any time to do the things you're interested in."

"The pâtisserie-"

"-has always managed just fine without you, and will continue to do so."

"I went with you to the Showcase!" Alex protested.

"Which lasted all of half an hour and just about got us involved in a kidnapping," she snapped. "Honestly, I was hoping that today you might finally get out of the house and do something."

"And I did! I had a battle, went up to the Gym…"

Veronique's glare hardened. She had a way of looking right through him that made him shiver, though he could tell she wasn't exactly angry. He had seen Veronique angry before, and it wasn't an experience one could forget so easily. Instead, she just shook her head. "I'm still disappointed, Alex. How can you have so much insight into other people's problems but not stop to think that maybe - just maybe - you should take your own advice?"

That gave him pause. Luckily, it was at this time that the waitress stopped by with their food, giving him an excuse to fall silent for a few minutes. Eventually he put down his fork and sighed. "You're trying to say I should do… something else? Like what?"

Taking a sip of water, Veronique twirled her hand airily. "Anything! Go challenge the Gym yourself, get back into Contest training, go backpacking. Whatever! Don't just expect to loiter around here until we go back to Hoenn."

Alex tried to speak, but Veronique held up a hand. "Not finished. Look, it's lovely of you to help out in the shop. Mama loves you for it, and we really do appreciate the help. But I didn't bring you all the way to Kalos for a part-time job. As your manager, I have to insist you actually take the holiday you're supposed to be on. So to that end…"

"Uh-oh." Alex recognised that glint in her eye. "You've signed me up for something again, haven't you?"

"Muahaha!" Veronique chuckled with just a hint of her typical dryness. "You know me too well. Actually… Étoile dropped by the shop again this morning."

Alex winced slightly at the bite in Veronique's voice. "I'm surprised she had the time after all the fuss last night."

"Yes, well… she said she wanted to apologise, but she didn't sound particularly apologetic. But in any case, she reiterated that we're invited to the Showcase next week in Lumiose. Backstage passes, VIP seats, all the bells and whistles. So... I told her we'd go."

Alex had to admit that he was still curious about the mysterious Showcases, so he nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

"Indeed! And that, Monsieur Dreary, is exactly what you need. So I've booked us tickets and everything." She reached into her pocket and waved a pair of colourful stubs at Alex. "Think you can handle the train?"

Alex took one of the proffered tickets and glanced over it quickly. "I suppose - wait, Battle Train? What's this supposed to be?" he asked.

Veronique grinned, suddenly back to her mischievous self. "The other thing that you need - a challenge!"

Despite himself, Alex felt the corner of his mouth crooking into a smile. "A plan and a challenge, huh?" he mused.

"Baby steps, ma amie," Veronique said, patting his hand reassuringly.

Alex wasn't sure if the gesture was necessary, but somehow it made him feel better. He honestly hadn't realised he was moping, but Veronique always seemed to see through him. He wondered if it was something to do with being an outside observer looking in, but if that were the case, wouldn't he be able to read Veronique as easily as she read him? And yet, she was still an enigma in many ways. As he watched her return to her toasted brioche, Alex studied his oldest friend's face. It was strange, really, how inscrutable she could still be after all these years. Every inch of her face was intimately familiar, from the gentle sweep of her cheek to the way her eyes - green like his own, but darker - shifted as she talked. Even today, when Veronique's makeup was relatively minimal, those eyes stood out against her pale skin, expressive and dark. Hers was a face that he knew better than his own, for sure, but it betrayed no unusual emotion that he could divine.

"Something on my face?"

Alex blinked, feeling himself flush as he returned his attention to his own lunch. Sure, just gaze intensely into her eyes while she eats. That's not weird.

Veronique quirked an eyebrow, and Alex again had the uncomfortable feeling that she could see right through him.

The rest of the afternoon passed without major incident. Veronique took advantage of the rare time off to properly show Alex around her hometown. While his early-morning wanderings had taken him to quite a few of the local landmarks, it was newly interesting to hear Veronique's take, which always included stories from her childhood - those few half-remembered years before the Vincents had moved all the way to Hoenn, winding up next door to Alex's own family. Here was the park where she had run off and gotten separated from her parents, over there was the shopping centre where Jean had taken his eye off her for two seconds, and round the corner was the plaza where she had wandered off chasing a Fletchling, causing her mother to start a mass panic until four-year-old Veronique was found.

"I'm starting to sense a theme here," Alex commented, earning himself a punch in the arm.

The two of them eventually returned to Le Pâtisserie Vincent with weary feet as the sun was setting. Before bed, Veronique extracted a promise from Alex that he would take his Pokémon out for some training the following day. "You've been too negligent," she scolded him. "I know we're technically on holiday, but that's no reason to neglect your training regimen - or your Pokémon."

The only further event was a brief text from Yvette, which arrived just as Alex was settling down to sleep on his camp stretcher in Jean's room: X still pissed. Wants 2 challenge Ramos again tomorrow. Think it mite be last time tho. U coming?

Wincing, Alex flicked back a quick Better not. Wish him luck tho before rolling over and drifting off to sleep.

Sunday dawned bright and cold, with a slightly bitter edge to the breeze that rolled in from the north. Still, Alex took Veronique's advice to heart and found himself once again standing in the park - alone this time, with no sign of Xavier, Yvette or their tiny hangers-on. Instead, Alex faced down his Pokémon with no small amount of trepidation.

"I haven't been fair to you guys," he confessed. Interesting start to a pep talk, some part of him acknowledged.

For their part, his Pokémon seemed unfazed. Plusle and Minun were busy rubbing cheeks, trying to see who could conjure the biggest static discharge. Azumarill listened intently, but seemed unconcerned with such lofty concepts as 'fairness', and Swablu… Swablu settled itself on Alex's head and cooed softly in a way that he could only imagine was meant to be gently reassuring.

"Still," he continued, "I should've given you guys more attention. You fought hard for me in the Grand Festival, and we almost made it. You didn't let me down, so I can't let you down either. Let's get back into it!" He clapped his hands, earning a delighted chorus of squealing from Plusle and Minun. The twin troublemakers bounded up onto Azumarill's head, each taking hold of one of its long, upright ears and swinging in tandem as they jittered with anticipation.

Alex grinned. Their enthusiasm was infectious; even Azumarill seemed set on training. "Okay," he said. "Swablu, I want to put you through some movement exercises. Melanie's Tropius flew rings around you in Lilycove. Azumarill will provide obstacles for you. Plusle, Minun, tumbling. The usual routine - I'll come around to help you in a minute once I've got these two going. Alright? Let's get you all in top shape!"