Chapter 6:

Jax shifted nervously in his chair, the wood beneath him groaning with every shift in his posture. On the way here, he had tried every little trick he knew to crush his nerves. Obviously, none of them worked.

He was currently in a living room, sitting at a table and chair that seemed out of place with the rest of the interior. The room itself looked normal, a brown couch in the middle of the room, in front of a large television. The room was painted white and decorated jarringly, with paintings, action posters, and stuffed animals placed in various positions in the room, like the owner couldn't decide on a theme, and just decided to incorporate everything.

Suddenly, there was the screech of a door being opened, and Jax jumped, his chair groaning underneath him. He shifted his posture to see who had entered.

Standing at the door was a young girl. She couldn't have been older than 17, with curly black hair and dark skin. She wore a protective vest with a white shirt underneath, along with camouflage cargo pants. She took a look behind her, frowned, and continued into the room, not even registering Jax's presence.

After a few moments, two more people entered the room. A young woman with black hair and heavy shadows under her eyes and a middle aged man with an unsettling smile. The woman glanced at him briefly before joining the young girl on the couch. The man, on the other hand, smiled and walked towards Jax. Jax stiffened in response. This must be the interviewer.

"Nice weather outside, right?" The man pulled another chair towards Jax's table, the wooden piece of furniture letting out a groan underneath the man as he sat down.

"Y-yeah, I guess." Jax gave the man an odd glance before looking to the side.

"My name is Hector. A pleasure to meet you…?"

"Jax."

"Jax! Nice to meet you! Say, are you thirsty? Hungry? Wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable in any way."

"No, I'm fine."

"Excellent, but I'll get some tea for us anyway alright? I, for one, am parched"

Before Jax could say anything, Hector got up and exited the room, leaving the teenager alone in the chair. The two others in the room, the young woman and girl, seemed to be having a conversation Jax could barely make out.

"...escaped…now…rely…"

"...wait…we…opportunity…"

"...tracker…year…cost…"

Suddenly, the conversation stopped short, and Jax peeked at the two in the corner of his eye. The older woman was glaring at him, and suddenly the desk in front of Jax looked incredibly interesting.

Jax heard the woman scoff. He grit his teeth in frustration, but kept his eyes down. No point in picking fights. Not with these guys, and especially not now.

"This conversation isn't over yet. We'll continue this later." He heard the woman say, and the girl gave an indifferent grunt in reply. There was the sound of the woman's footsteps storming away, and a small "Oh!" from the doorway that sounded like Hector. Jax looked up, seeing the middle-aged man approaching with two cans in his hand. Hector slumped down on the chair, sliding one of the cans toward Jax.

"You're old enough to drink right?" The cheerful man asked. "If not, I don't care anyway. But man, Sinnoh beer just doesn't measure up to Kanto's-"

"Sir!" Jax could feel his patience running thin with each word out of the man's mouth. "Can we get to the reason I'm here in the first place? Sir!"

Hector's smile faded, and Jax could feel his heart rate rise. Was that too far?

"Oh right! You're the guy the boss was interested in! I thought you looked somewhat familiar!" Hector laughed and slammed the beer can on the table. "Thought it might've just been me getting old. Good to see I'm still sane! Haha!"

Despite the man's claim, Jax was beginning to wonder if he really was sane.

"Alright, first things," Hector said, leaning in. "What made you want to join our organization?"

"Y-yes sir! Um-"

"None of that 'sir' business. Just call me Hector".

"Alright… I don't think my motivation's too special. I used to be a gym challenger. Saw the leak about the League. Pissed me off. Then a friend told me about you guys, and here I am."

"A simple enough story. Who's this friend?"

"Forrest, he told me he does reconnaissance for you guys. That, and tracking down stuff you guys need for missions."

"Hmm, I don't recognize the name, but it sounds true enough." Jax felt a bead of sweat trickle down his brow as Hector scratched his chin. "Well, we could always use new trainers! How many gym badges did you obtain before you quit?"

"Four."

Hector nodded. "Do you have any other notable skills?"

"Well, I know how to drive, I ride a motorcycle, and um…" Jax lowered his voice. "I know how to work a firearm."

Hector's eyes lit up. "Really now? Knowing how to drive is a rarity. Where did you learn this?"

"I'd rather not say."

"That's fine. I won't pry. Well Mr. Jax, it's looking like you'll be a very nice fit for our organization. Well, it's not like we would have turned you away if you weren't!" Hector laughed and Jax let out a sigh of relief. He had gotten in.

"One last question for you, my new comrade. And I need you to answer this seriously."

Jax suddenly felt a tension that hadn't been there before."What is it?" He said, trying to keep his voice calm.

"Have you killed anyone before?"

Jax felt the temperature in the room drop several degrees. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the girl shift on the couch.

Calm down, calm down, calm down. If they wanted to get rid of you they would have done so already.

"No, I haven't." Jax hoped he could keep the tremors out of his voice.

Hector gave a thoughtful hum. "Is that-"

"Liar."

As soon as those words were spoken, Jax could feel the atmosphere in the room freeze. The girl on the couch stood up, her brown eyes almost seeming to pierce his soul.

Caught off guard from the sudden interruption and the change in atmosphere, Jax heard himself let out a single word involuntarily. "What?"

The girl's eyes narrowed, and Jax suddenly wished he'd kept his mouth shut. They definitely wouldn't let that slide. He didn't know why, but he could feel his gut instinct screaming to get away from this girl.

"Ahem." Jax heard Hector clear his throat in front of him. Jax slowly turned to face the older man. Did he fuck up? Was the interview over? Hector seemed to have a bit more of a tense look on his face, but he didn't look angry. "Now, now, let's not get too heated over an understandable lie, yeah? He might have lied, but it's… understandable to want to keep something like that to yourself, right?" Hector wasn't looking at the girl, but Jax could see the girl relax slightly. She kept her gaze locked on him however, her body language making it clear she didn't trust him one bit.

Hector gave an apologetic smile towards Jax. "Sorry about that my friend! I did a bit of digging into your background, and was a bit curious. I should have known our… spectator wouldn't take any answer to that question well. I apologize".

Jax took a couple of breaths, trying to slow his heart rate. "Yeah, it's fine. Shit happens."

Hector smiled. "Indeed. Well Jax, I think you'll be a great fit for our organization. I'll contact you at a later date regarding your responsibilities".

"Yes! Thank you, I won't let you down!"

As he shook Hector's hand and walked the room, Jax could feel the sharp gaze of the girl not leave him once. He could still feel a pair of eyes on him as he left the building, as if the eyes of the departed themselves were judging him.


The two weeks seemed to stretch slowly for Alice. Every day Jack had made her go to the trainer school, whether for battles or lectures. While training to become a nurse, Alice had found the lectures at the school she attended boring, most of the information being taught things her mother had already made sure she studied. Now though, she could attend lessons as she pleased. She ignored most classes she already had a good amount of knowledge in, and focused on the classes that had to do with being a trainer: battle theory, pokemon training knowledge, pokemon obedience etc. Ironically, many of these classes were taught by Mr. Lewis. If he recognized her (and he probably did, it wasn't like there were any other Joys attending), he never showed it, simply addressing her as any other student in class.

However, what Jack really wanted her to focus on was battling (unsurprisingly). In terms of battles, Alice still didn't feel very confident. Paragon the Starly had a mixed streak when it came to battles, with more losses than wins, but was slowly beginning to get the hang of accurately hitting opponents from the air. Most of their wins came from the other starting trainers, the ones that were a bit more experienced still out of reach.

Rogue the Houndour was a different story. The dark/fire type had never suffered a loss, trouncing all of the other trainer school kids they faced, regardless of experience. Alice couldn't attribute the success to herself, as the Houndour still refused to listen to a thing she said. When it came to battle however, Rogue obviously knew what he was doing, whether it be from some unknown experience or just plain talent. Rogue ran circles around the other pokemon, using its agility and intelligence to wear down the opposition. Alice got a lot of trainers asking how she had taught her Houndour to battle on its own so well, but the only thing she could do was awkwardly laugh and change the subject. However, Jack warned her that Rogue's success wouldn't last forever.

"The little guys were able to pull one over on inexperienced trainers but don't expect that to last. Without proper challenges, you don't expand and improve your battle plan, and while Houndour's battle plan has done well so far, any decent trainer will be able to adapt. That's when you guys will have to work together."

So she said, but Alice wasn't confident she'd do any better.

While the days she spent at the trainer school were fun, Alice was feeling herself becoming more paranoid. She still felt she hadn't put enough distance between her and the Joy mansion. She found herself constantly looking around, expecting her mother's face to appear around the corner. She found herself avoiding the Jubilife Pokemon Center entirely, relying on the inferior trainer school facilities. Usually only the professors knew how to operate the machinery but Alice had years of experience seeing and operating the tech herself.

After about a week, Alice found herself reaching her limit.

"Let's leave Jubilife, please?" Alice and Jack were sitting in their hotel, relaxing after spending the day at the school.

Jack's smiling face turned into a scowl upon hearing Alice's words. "This again? Didn't I tell you not to worry?"

"I know, I know, it's not that it's…" Alice desperately tried to think of an adequate excuse for leaving the city. "I-I want to get a sense for traveling, you know? I want to battle on the road, and just hanging around Jubilife doesn't feel like much change, you know?"

The excuse she came up with wasn't a complete lie. So far becoming a trainer hadn't been the disorienting change Alice had expected. It felt just like one of those vacations she and Jack took to other regions when they were younger, just a bit closer. Alice could see Jack's eyes narrow. She didn't completely buy that Alice wasn't being paranoid, but Jack seemed to be seriously contemplating Alice's excuse.

"Fine." Jack said curtly. She obviously wasn't happy, but she seemed to want to respect Alice's wishes. "This is your journey after all, not mine. I had wanted to plan out everything we were going to do, but I let my excitement get the better of me. We can start heading to Oreburgh o

If you want to. There's also Floaroma Town to the North."

"Hmm." Alice tapped her finger against the bed in thought. "Oreburgh has a gym, right? I don't think I'm quite ready for that."

Jack nodded. "That's fair. There's no rush to complete, but I'd be happy if you did. There's so much I could teach you!"

I think you're teaching me plenty already. Alice thought. Jack had bombarded her with so much advice raising pokemon it got overwhelming. At least the trainer school lessons were slower, and a lot more coherent.


Alice sat in the teacher's lounge. She hadn't been back here since her first day at the trainer school. In front of his usual desk sat Mr. Lewis, the instructor looking over the paper she had given him. Apparently there was a bit of a process when you stopped your lesson to start your journey. Apparently the school wanted to really make sure that kids that left were ready. She ended up having to fill out an application, as well as take one final exam. The exam itself wasn't that hard, and Alice had just given the paper to Mr. Lewis to look over. The tired older man looked over the paper with a stern expression, occasionally looking up to glance at her before continuing to go over the exam.

"Congratulations," said, finally putting the paper down. "You've passed. Quite a good score too, I might add. And there seems to be nothing wrong with your paperwork either. All that's left is the approval of a senior instructor and you'll be good to go."

Alice sighed. "I thought I was old enough that I didn't need permission from an adult to continue my journey."

"And you'd be right. The school legally cannot do a single thing to stop you from continuing on your journey."

"Then why am I here in the first place? Damn it Jack."

"To be fair, we don't get many students as old as you are, even though I'd argue that those your age definitely need it. This was more out of tradition, really." Mr. Lewis leaned forward, clasping his hands together. "I also wished to talk to you before you left."

Alice shifted uncomfortably. That didn't sound good.

"Why have you decided to leave now? Your progress seemed to be going quite well. I had heard from Jack that she had wanted to keep you enrolled for at least a month. Did something change?"

I wanted to get as far away as possible from my mother. "Nothing particularly. I'm just a bit tired of school. I've been taking classes for most of life non-stop, and I thought being a trainer would be a chance to get away from all of that."

Mr. Lewis nodded. "I see. But you attended quite a bit of lessons here despite that."

"I wanted to learn to be a trainer. Classes are a good way to learn, even if I'm tired of them. But now I think I've learned enough. I'm ready to move on"

"If you truly feel that way I won't stop you. But let me ask you one last question." Mr. Lewis's eyes bored into hers. "Are you certain that is the only reason? Is there nothing bothering you? The faculty is here to help-"

"NO!" Alice said, a lot louder than she meant to. "Sorry. No, there's nothing wrong. I just… really want to be done with school."

Mr. Lewis looked at her, an unreadable expression on his face. He obviously saw through her lie, but would he keep pressing her? After a long moment of silence, he closed his eyes, dropping her paper on the desk.

"Fine,"Mr. Lewis said. "I won't pry any longer. Good luck on your journey, Ms. Joy. May it be a fruitful one."

"Y-yeah, thanks." Despite the instructor dropping the subject, Alice didn't feel any more at ease. The lump of unease simply turned back into her ever-present stone of anxiety, sinking her mind back into a spiral of worse case scenarios.


While she was leaving the school building, Alice spots some familiar faces walking in.

"Ah! If it isn't my rival! I was just thinking about getting some battling done! This must be fate!" Alice felt herself cringe. She could swear Sammy was becoming worse with the dramatic lines. Antonio gave a small smile and wave, while Miyubi gave a small nod before hissing at Sammy to quiet down.

"Heading down to the field?" Alice asked Antonio, deciding to ignore Sammy for now.

"Yep. Want to join us? Or were you just there yourself?"

Oh right. She should probably tell them. "Well I wasn't. Actually, I'm going to be leaving Jubilife today."

There were a few seconds of silence as the words Alice said were processed. Sammy, of course, was the first to react. "What! No, you can't leave. I haven't gotten a win yet! Me and Blaze are starting to get close, I can feel it!"

"I'm surprised you're leaving already." Miyubi said, catching Alice off guard. The girl wasn't quiet, but she rarely talked to Alice directly, usually talking to Antonio and Sammy instead. "Most people stay a month at the very least."

"Well, things came up. How long have you guys been here?"

"Sammy and I started together, two months ago." Antonio said, eyes downcast. "Miyubi started a month before us. Most kids stay six months."

It was less than Alice expected, but it made sense. Most kids were probably itching to start their journey, and six months seemed just the amount of time for most kids to get the hang of the basics. She was still learning the basics herself, but circumstances meant she had to learn on the fly.

"Well, it was nice-"

"Wait!" Sammy yelled. "Let's have one last battle. We'll meet again, but I want one last shot at beating Houndour-"

"No." Everyone jumped at the icy tone. It wasn't Alice who had said that, but Miyubi, who had stepped in front of Sammy and was glaring at Alice. "I want to battle her."

"B-but she's my rival," Sammy sputtered. " I want to have one last battle before she-"

"You'll battle again someday. Just get her contact information and nag her for a battle in the future." Miyubi said. "Besides, I haven't battled her once."

Now that Alice thought about it, it was true. She had battled Sammy many times, and even Antonio once or twice. But she had yet to battle Miyubi. To be honest, Alice assumed that the girl had little interest in battling, and was simply tagging along with her friends.

Sammy sighed. "Well, if you insist, I suppose I can lend you my rival for a battle."

"I wasn't aware rivals could be lent." Alice deadpanned.

"Well I say they should be! It sounds cool!"

"I'll be waiting inside." Miyubi said, ignoring Sammy and walking into the building.

"I haven't even agreed!" Alice called, but the girl didn't turn around.

"I suppose our ultimate battle will have to wait for another day." Sammy grinned. "You should prepare yourself."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure you'll be so much stronger next time we meet."

"Well, yeah, but that's not what I meant!" Sammy pointed towards the school. "I meant your battle with Miyubi. You know she's the best trainer in the school, right?"

Alice's eyes widened in shock. "What?!

"Yeah, she's like, super strong! Even I haven't beaten her once!"

"Why isn't she your rival if she's that strong! Haven't you known her longer?"

Sammy shook his head. "Miyubi started her journey before mine, so I have to make myself a worthy opponent for her. Also, she feels like my sister, so I can't really get into it."

"He also stopped challenging her after she called battling him boring." Antonio snickered.

"Y-you didn't need to tell her that."

Alice had thought that this would be another battle where she'd simply throw Rogue and the problem and he'd win. Would things be different this time?

Alice had sent a text to Jack letting her know she'd be a bit late heading back. She now stood across from Miyubi on the school indoor battlefield. There had been a couple of kids using the field, but once they saw who was battling they wrapped up quickly and allowed them to use the field, eagerly watching in the stands. Apparently this was a match that had been anticipated for a while, as more kids began to trickle in after a while. She knew her Houndour was infamous, but to this extent?

OK, big crowd. No big deal. Alice thought. Just ignore them. They're kids. Who cares what they think.

"I had wanted to face you later." Miyubi broke her silence, startling Alice. Right, the reason she was here in the first place. "I was thinking I'd wait a month at least, so I could get a bit of experience as a trainer."

"Why me?" Alice asked.

"Because I want to." Miyubi said simply. "Besides, by helping you, Sammy will be encouraged to grow as well. And then maybe he'll start to be a challenge."

"How exactly are you going to help me through a battle?"

"By crushing your Houndour's ego." Miyubi said.

Alice flinched. Rogue had gotten quite cocky the more he won. Perhaps by losing once, it would humble the dark type into listening to her. It would be the logical thing to do. However…

Her attitude pisses me off. Alice thought, glaring at the young girl. The way she acted as if the battle was a forgone conclusion before it even started rubbed Alice the wrong way.

Sammy was the one acting as the referee this time. "Alright, so how's this going to go? A two on two? Or just one on one?"

"One on one is fine." Miyubi answered before Alice could say a word.

I'm the one leaving, shouldn't you wait for my opinion? "Works for me." Alice said, glaring at the other girl. She didn't want to keep Jack waiting, after all.

Sammy nodded excitedly. "Ok! This will be a one on one battle between Alice and Miyubi! Choose your pokemon!"

Alice was tempted to send out Paragon just to spite the other girl, but she knew the Starly wasn't skilled enough for this battle. She'd have to have faith in her disobedient ace. Alice threw her pokeball, and Rogue appeared, giving his signature yawn and staring absent-mindedly across the field.

"Rogue, pay attention! This is probably going to be our toughest battle yet!" At Alice's voice, the Houndour simply gave another yawn, not taking her words seriously.

Miyubi threw her pokeball without a word. There was a flash of light, and a pokemon she hadn't ever seen in person appeared. It was a large blue penguin with two yellow ridges on its head connected to its beak, and four white dots on its mostly blue body.

I'm pretty sure that's a… Alice took out her pokedex. Sure enough, the pokemon in front of her was a Prinplup, the evolved form of Piplup. This would be the first time Alice would be battling against an evolved pokemon, more evidence that Sammy wasn't joking about how strong Miyubi was. And on top of that…

We're at a type disadvantage. Alice grimaced. She didn't quite remember every type of matchup, but even kids knew that water beat fire. Rogue had finally gotten the memo when Prinplup appeared, hunching down and growling at the pokemon.

"Be careful! Prinplup is a water type, you're at a disadvantage here!" The fire/dark type tensed up even more. At least now he was taking this seriously.

"Both sides' pokemon have been chosen! The battle between Alice's Houndour and Miyubi's Prinplup will now begin! The battle will continue until one sides' pokemon will be unable to battle, or if a trainer forfeits! Start!"

At the referee's word, Rogue immediately spat out a poisonous cloud at Prinplup with impressive speed.

"Bubblebeam." Miyubi said. Prinplup replied with a stream of bubbles, the water blowing away the smog. Rogue gracefully dodged, making a small leap to the side. Miyubi and Prinplup wait for a response, but Rogue simply stares them down in return, having no intention of making the next move.

After a short pause, Miyubi decides to initiate. "Keep doing Bubblebeam. Slowly walk forward." The Prinplup begins its beam assault again, but takes a single step forward. Rogue dodges, and the Prinplup starts the beam again. The same process repeats, but with Prinplup slowly making its way across the field. As the water type gets closer, the beam becomes harder to dodge, with Rogue slowly becoming backed into a corner. After one beam almost grazes the Houndour's back, the dark/fire type makes its move, sending a large plume of smoke across the field, much larger than the cloud earlier.

There's Smokescreen. Alice thought, covering her mouth as a dark hazy smoke covered the field. This type of smoke wasn't toxic, but it would make your eyes water.

"Icy Spin! Blow the smoke away!" Alice hears Miyubi yell. Icy Spin? What kind of move was that?

Alice saw a cloud of spinning icy crystals bloom from the middle of the field, pushing away the smokescreen. In the middle, Prinplup spun in place, at such speed she was sure the pokemon would get dizzy. Near Prinplup, she saw Rogue bracing against the storm of ice, trying to get close to the water type. With a roar, he leaped toward the ice storm, embers flaring in his mouth. Unfortunately, the attack would never connect. Alice watched in amazement as the Prinplup gracefully stopped spinning and sidestepped the attack. It dodge was so seamless, Alice found herself rubbing her eyes to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Rogue yelped in surprise as he hit the ground, but Prinplup wasn't done yet.

"Hold it down with Metal Claw!" Miyubi yelled. Uh-oh. Rogue snarled as Prinplup used its body weight to slam into the Houndour, crossing its glowing flippers in an X-shape and pinning him to the ground. Rogue tossed and turned, but the evolved pokemon strength and weight were too much for the dog.

"Finish it. Bubblebeam." Miyubi said. Prinplup opened its beak, glowing blue energy building up inside. Seeing this, Rogue's struggles intensified, but it was far too late. The Bubblebeam came down on Rogue's body, and the Houndour thrashed in pain, trying to get away. But the beam showed no sign of letting up, and soon Rogue's thrashing became weaker and weaker, and eventually subsided.

"That's enough." Miyubi said, and the Prinplup immediately stopped its beam and stepped back. The mist from the constant water faded, but Rogue's body didn't move a muscle. He had fainted.

"Houndour is unable to battle! The winner is Miyubi and Prinplup!" Sammy yelled. "An awesome win as always, Miyubi!"

If Miyubi was happy about her win, it didn't show on her face. She returned Prinplup to its ball with a frown on her face and glared at Alice.

She won, what's her problem? Alice decided to ignore the younger girl for now and walked over to Rogue. The Houndour still hadn't gotten up, and Alice could see the bruises left by the point blank Bubblebeam. He wouldn't be battling for a day at least, possibly more. She would treat him at the Nurse's Office.

As Alice returned Rogue to his pokeball, she heard footsteps coming up from behind. Turning around, she saw Miyubi, Antonio, and Sammy walking up to her.

"That was so cool!" Sammy gushed. "I mean, you lost, but it was still cool!"

Antonio nodded. "Houndour did its best. Prinplup is Miyubi's best pokemon, so it's understandable why he lost-"

"That was the worst battle I've ever had." Miyubi's statement cut off the support from the other two, silencing them.

Alice flinched, but stood her ground. "Worst? Isn't that a bit much?" She wasn't going to get talked down to by an 11-year old with an attitude problem. "Listen, I don't know what you have against me, but my Houndour did-"

"The pathetic one isn't Houndour, it's you." Miyubi snapped.

Alice blinked. "What?" What the hell had she done?

"Tell me, during that entire battle, did it not occur to you once to maybe help your pokemon?"

Alice snorted. "Like Rogue would listen to a single thing I'd say."

"The issue is that you didn't even try!" Miyubi snapped. "Pokemon battles are a team effort! Tell me, have you ever made an effort to support your pokemon? Look up strategies, discuss battle tactics, anything?"

"W-well I'm kind of new-"

Miyubi ignored her, continuing on. "I don't know what kind of issues you and your Houndour have, but if they truly didn't want to battle, they'd just circle up in the middle of the field and sleep. Your pokemon obviously is willing to battle, but if direct orders aren't cutting it, you have to find other ways to win. That's just what it means to be a trainer." With those words, the girl turned around and stormed off, leaving her two friends behind.

Alice barely registered as Sammy and Antonio apologized for Miyubi and said their goodbyes. Her mind spun with thoughts. Alice didn't understand why Miyubi was so angry, but she felt that some of what the girl said had merit. She had been content with leaving Rogue's battles to himself. If he wasn't going to listen to her, there was nothing she could do but wait for the Houndour to heed her. But this wasn't sustainable. If she was going to improve, she had to find some way to support Rogue. The Houndour had a talent for battle, being able to come up with strategies on its own, better than she could. How the hell could she support someone better than her?

The treatment at the Nurse's Office was surprisingly somber. Usually Rogue put up a big fuss whenever she tried to treat him, but even after regaining consciousness the pokemon didn't seem to struggle much. The battle had taken its toll, both on Rogue's body, as well as his pride.

Maybe this is an opportunity. Alice thought, looking at the circled up dog. He's met an opponent who he couldn't beat on his own. Maybe he'll heed me a bit more.

"Looks like you got beat pretty badly here." Alice said aloud, watching the pokemon for a reaction. "Maybe if you started listening to me a bit, you could win."

Rogue turned his head, gave Alice an incredulous look, snorted, and lay back down. Alice didn't need a translator or mind reader to understand that. What could you do that I couldn't? The look seemed to say. And Alice didn't have an answer.


"How do I become better at battle strategy?" Jack blinked in surprise at the first thing Alice said when she walked in the room. When Alice had entered the hotel room, Jack had already finished packing their bags, and was sitting lazily on the bed, flipping through channels on the television.

Jack tilted her head in confusion. "Where'd this come from?"

"Does it matter?" Alice didn't want to talk about the battle.

"I guess not." Jack leaned back onto the bed, hands behind her head as she thought. "There are general strategies some trainers employ, but many of them rely on team synergy. I think your team is a bit young to try something that ambitious. I thought you were learning about this at school though."

Alice shook her head. "The lessons were good, but a bit vague when it came to it. Also,I was thinking on a more individual level. I'm sure many trainers have a strong gameplan with each pokemon. Like a combination of moves or something."

Jack's eyes lit up. "Oh right! Well, I'm personally more of an adapt on the fly kind of trainer, but having an idea of how to approach your opponent is important. Some people are better at thoroughly planning, and others adapt."

"Are there common strategies used among trainers?" Alice asked.

"Yep. Of course, using a well known approach means there's a greater chance your opponent has an answer, but that doesn't make a strategy any less strong. Simply harder to use."

That would work for now. Rogue was smart, but there were certainly ideas out there that hadn't even crossed the dark type's mind. If she could teach them to Rogue, maybe the Houndour would take her seriously.