"Huh," the Team Yell hooligan grunted aloud. "That's it?" His provocations fell on deaf ears, however.

The punk-looking trainer could have hurled a deluge of the most foul obscenities ever heard, and Cassius Hargreaves wouldn't have paid them any mind. He was understandably distracted by his partner Pokémon's defeated body sprawled across the ground, groaning softly.

For as much as he would have liked to hope otherwise, Cassius had come to terms with the notion that defeat was likely going to be a mainstay of his challenge. Early on, anyway. Preliminary mock battles against Hop and Gloria would have probably seen him get his ass kicked, for lack of a better term. The solace in that, however, was that it would expose holes in his style of battle that he could patch and learn from. As Hop had conveyed, it was better to lose in front of them than millions of people on live television.

He'd grappled with it a lot. No one liked to lose at anything, but it was a necessary part of his process of becoming a better trainer. No one was perfect. Well, except for Leon, but that was beside the point. Cassius had somewhat mentally prepared himself for defeat, so that it would sting less when it inevitably came. He'd bear it, and learn from it.

There was no comfort to be found in this situation, however. He'd been humiliated by a common trainer who wasn't even endorsed, as far as he knew. This fanboy covered in facial paint probably wasn't even a tenth of a gym leader's strength, or even a fellow endorsed trainer. And he'd played him like a fiddle, dispatching Hyla with ease.

The feeling washed over him, like a cold miasma of despair. He couldn't show as much—that would only make this situation worse—but it was a vastly unpleasant reckoning. His first battle against another person, and he'd gotten annihilated.

"Oi," his opponent called out. "We done 'ere? Or do you plan on gawkin' like that all day?"

However much Cassius wished he could hide away from this moment, he was still very much visible. He shot a look toward Hop, who still looked occupied with his opponent some ways away. He hadn't noticed Cassius' situation yet. Quite honestly, he didn't look to be struggling at all.

Slowly, Cassius palmed Hyla's Poké Ball, returning her to her capsule so that she could rest. What was after that? Did he concede defeat, and pray that the goon would stay silent on how awful he was at battling? He didn't have any other Pokémon, so he couldn't—

His eyes widened. That was wrong—he did have another Pokémon. Though, it didn't bring him nearly as much comfort as it should have. Rookidee's Poké Ball hung around his waistline, almost seeming to stare back into him.

So, he had two choices. Bow out as gracefully as he could, and hope that he didn't come off as a complete novice, which he was. Or, risk sending out Rookidee, pray that it listened to his commands and won them the battle, or risk further embarrassing himself by having his own Pokémon attack him. Neither were appealing, or surefire.

There was no denying his loss if he bowed out. But, for as uncertain of a chance as it was, he couldn't go out like that. Not as a champion's endorsed trainer, and not as someone who wanted to become better. He'd have to overcome his fear of Rookidee eventually—why not now?

Cassius palmed the Poké Ball tentatively, taking a deep breath. Time to see if Pokémon held grudges. Clicking the ball, he released the second member of his team onto the impromptu battlefield, light flashing and materializing on the dirt.

Rookidee looked pissed as it reentered the world. Though, perhaps that was just its natural countenance. As it fully came to form, it immediately eyed its surroundings, taking in the air and ground beneath it.

It turned to Cassius, and immediately became on guard. With a warble, it puffed its chest out. "Craaa..." Clearly, its last bout with him still lingered on the Pokémon's mind.

Before it got any ideas, however, the opponent's Zigzagoon snickered once again. "Geh heh heh..." Rookidee turned, eyeing the Pokémon and its respective trainer with a look.

It turned back to Cassius, seeming to connect the dots. That was good, at least. Cassius wouldn't need to explain anything. Attempting to come off as casual—and friendly with a Pokémon that should have appeared to obey him implicitly—Cassius offered a very weak smile. "A-alright, Rookidee. You ready to get some practice in?"

A brief moment passed before the Rookidee scoffed—scoffed!—and turned its back to Cassius. As temperamental as it looked, it was a far better outcome than having it attack him outright. They'd seem to come to a mutual understanding. Win now, deal with the rest later.

Cassius prepared to reengage in the battle, before he froze. He'd forgotten something very, very important. He didn't know any of Rookidee's moves. Or its ability.

He could use his Pokédex, but would that be cheating? Did his opponent care? He couldn't very well guess the Pokémon's moves. He'd try sneaking the scanner onto his Pokémon, to avoid detection from—

"Hey!" A voice rang out. Looking up, Cassius was met with the sounds of combat and surprise. His Rookidee had charged into the fray by itself, without command. Hopping around, rather than using its wings, the Pokémon peppered the Zigzagoon with sharp pecks, moving completely on its own.

Crap. He couldn't make it look like he wasn't in control. Cassius threw out an empty order. "Uh, yeah, that's it! Keep, uh, circling it and pecking! Just like how we practiced!"

The grunt growled in anger. "Unfair prick, sendin' out silent commands like that. Make some distance, Zigzagoon!"

The Zigzagoon fell back, but it wasn't of much help. Rookidee was relentless, this time taking to the skies to continue its assault. Barrages of pecks fell upon their opponent, giving them little room to counter.

"Keep using Peck!" Cassius called out helpfully. More to keep up the facade than anything. The Flying-type didn't even look to acknowledge him, taking a moment to breathe after one final peck.

Well, it was unorthodox, and probably cheating by some standard, but it was working. He was winning. All he had to do was end this battle, probably apologize profusely, and then get out of dodge.

The barrage had ended, and Rookidee created some distance to regain its energy. Cassius wanted to take the opportunity to finally think of something beyond yelling random moves—maybe now he could finally use the Pokédex—before a flash of light halted any planning on his end. The Zigzagoon was recalled to its capsule, and a very angry trainer stormed closer to him. "You! Fuck's your issue?"

The Unovan took a step back. Was the battle over? "Issue?"

"Damn prick, yes, issue! Think it's funny bein' a cheat?" His pudgy face was red with anger. "I dunno how they battle where you're from, but in Galar, we're proper enough to call out all of our attacks rather than sneak in secret orders!"

So he was upset about the whole attack thing, and he was very much on to him. "But I did call out all my—"

"Save it, you crook! That was so clearly a Fury Attack, but I didn't hear that command once, didn't I?" He was getting up in his face. "Uncivilized lout. Just 'cause you're some endorsed bigshot doesn't mean you've the right to bend the rules to your fancy!"

Another step back. There was a real chance this altercation got physical beyond Pokémon battling. "Look, I don't know—"

"Woah, now," Hop, timely as ever, quickly intervened. He looked about wrapped up on his end, Grookey none the worse for wear. The grunt he was fighting trudged back, looking more than a little humiliated. "What's got us so narked?"

"Your mate here wasn't callin' out his attacks, like a proper trainer should."

Hop gave Cassius a look. The latter figured that his own silence was telling. The former then noticed the Rookidee, who was observing the dispute with as much interest as one would expect from an uninvolved Pokémon watching a human argument. Hop almost gasped—when had Cassius let out the Rookidee?

No time to think about that. The grunt's eyes narrowed. "Are you purposefully that obtuse? Where is that they allow you to do something like that?" A notion seemed to pass through his head. "Unless... it wasn't silent commands, and your Rookidee ain't listenin' to you on purpose..."

There was a brief moment of pause, and Cassius felt a cold streak of nervous energy bolt through him. Before anything else could be said, Hop clapped his hands together in apology. "Ah! That whole thing. Cassius must not have told you about his extenuating circumstances regarding his Rookidee."

The Team Yell member looked very skeptical. "Extenuating circumstances?"

"Yes! You see, Cassius has owned this particular Rookidee for some time now. Since... oh gosh, how long was it Cassius? Since you were twelve?"

He had no idea where Hop was going with this, but he wasn't going to ruin it. "Uh, yeah. Just about."

"Yup, that long. So you see, they've been together since childhood. Cassius can command Rookidee without even issuing verbal commands—they've got that kind of wavelength going." Hop nodded his head in assurance. "So, Cassius is so used to not having to call out attacks for his Rookidee, that he's actually actively training to get back into doing so for the challenge. Suppose that's what he was using this battle for."

He still looked pretty unconvinced. "And you know this how?"

"'Cause he told me. Duh."

"Feels like a plot," the grunt pointed a finger at Cassius. "If you're so chummy with your Rookidee, why haven't you evolved it yet? Wagerin' you're eighteen, you've had it for six years. Plenty of time to evolve it into a Corvisquire."

Cassius didn't even know what that was. Still, he couldn't admit as much. "Because... Rookidee is very shy."

"It's shy?"

"That's what I said," Cassius doubled down. He felt like his lie wasn't nearly as good as Hop's. "Still pretty young, and it doesn't want to evolve yet. Wants to wait until the time is right."

The Team Yell group leader shot a glance at the shy Pokémon in question. Rookidee gave the man a very obvious look upon realizing it was being watched, before sniffing and angling its head away, unimpressed. It hopped some short distance back to rub the point in.

The grunt looked back to Cassius, who simply shrugged. "Like I said, shy. Isn't very good with strangers."

Clearly not the slightest bit convinced or pleased, the punk-looking man scoffed, eyeing his Poké Ball that was housing a very tired Zigzagoon. One that would probably need a good healing at the nearby Pokémon Center. "Whatever. Waste of time is what this was. I hope you and that stupid bird of yours get trampled at Turffield." Whistling loudly, he got the attention of his fellow members, and they all reconvened and started walking away from the battlefield, seemingly done.

"So that's it?" Hop called out. "We're done? You're not gonna bother us anymore?"

"Drop dead for all I care! I don't battle with cheats." With that final parting word, they disappeared back into Motostoke.

Gloria ambled over, Scorbunny atop her shoulder. "Fuck'd I miss?"

"Much," Hop sighed, letting his cheery facade drop. He motioned over to a further isolated area behind a particularly large rock. "Alright, emergency team meeting. We need to talk."

Cassius gulped. "About what?"

Hop didn't seem upset, but he damn sure wasn't pleased. "About that awful excuse for a battle you just had."

A sigh. "You know there isn't much we wouldn't do for ya, Marn. But I ain't never doin' that nonsense again."

They were out of general sight, huddled beside a pillar near Motostoke's West exit. The three Team Yell grunts looked to be in varying stages of agitation, the largest one by far the most vexed. "What was even the point of us doin' all that anyway? You could've asked us for anythin', and you chose that?"

A fourth figure stood casually, eyeing the three with a blank expression. She looked considerably less imposing, but that was only from a physical point of view. Her arms were crossed, and her eyes were slightly glazed, as if she was lost in thought.

The head grunt thought to break her from herself. "Marnie?"

She returned. "Oh. Yeah, thanks for that, boys. 'Preciate it."

"So what, did you just want a peek at the champion's trainers that bad?"

Marnie Rosemary paused again for a moment, before settling on an answer. "Sure. Part of it, anyway."

Mysterious as she was alluring. Still, the head grunt scoffed angrily. "Yeah, well, I'm glad someone got somethin' outta all that. What a shite battle. A shy Rookidee that operates on silent orders... what bollocks."

Marnie's eyes lingered still on the three trainers near the makeshift battleground. They'd been hidden away nicely, but the grunt supposed that her vantage had given her a clear view of everything. She'd clearly seen the whole thing, judging by how she was still thinking about it.

He figured he'd ask about it, if only as a courtesy. Marnie wasn't one to reveal a whole lot, even to then. "Somethin' up?"

Sure enough, she quickly dismissed them. "You can go on home now. Figure Piers has somethin' or other for you to do. Tell 'im that I'm fine once you see 'im." Not ones to disobey their boss' sister, the three grunts gave each other a strange look, before walking away further into the city, their task accomplished.

Marnie remained, returning her eyes to where the battle had taken place. The champion's little brother had, predictably, crushed his opponent. The one named Gloria had done the same, in even less time. Even the Unovan had won, technically. Going purely on results alone, there hadn't been much to observe from the battles.

Still, Marnie kept her eyes on the three trainers, watching as they disappeared behind a rather large rock. Likely healing, or talking about something or other. Maybe even talking about how one of them had performed nearly the opposite of what one would expect from a trainer endorsed by the champion.

The Deino had been soundly defeated. The Rookidee had fought on its own. Marnie's eyes narrowed, and her grip on Morpeko's Poké Ball tightened.

"Cassius Hargreaves..."

Shorter chapter this time, apologies.

I cobbled together a cover image for the story, for the brand. Does anyone even look at those things? I don't.

~Slalem