Twin Colors

by tremor3258

Generally getting cheat memories is supposed to be a *bonus*. OCs, Paldea, post-game.

4. Finally, some action

Twin Colors

By tremor3258

Chapter 4: Finally some action

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The champion and the home economics teacher's Poke balls cracked open in a flash of light. A quadrupedal Lycanroc howled in front of Nemona as a tiny Pachirisu did an introductory dance in front of Saguaro.

Up above on the first tier of steps, one of the three human figures watching pushed away from the railing and sighed. A Sprigatito watched with polite disdain while a Hydrapple was a peanuts' gallery on its own. The Fuecoco present whistled a question to the one shifting back in frustration.

"I don't know those," Mei explained. Her Pokedex was phone-bound and hovering over the wall to record the match. Her hands tensed as she weighed losing direct footage for knowledge now. Both apps couldn't use the camera at the same time.

"They're hard to make out, but I think I see electric sacks, and she's blue with a big tail, so that's a Pachirisu – electric squirrel Pokemon," Rose 'deduced'. Her attempted personality overwrite this morning had come from Sinnoh. She had the knowledge of their voltaic vermin at hand.

The two contestants were saying something to each other the three a tier above in the city couldn't pick up at this distance. The two Pokemon stared each other down in preparation to begin. Mei pointed at the Lycanroc.

"Is the other a ground or a normal type then? It's got that sort of color scheme," Mei asked. Rose shrugged, lost there.

"I've seen Nemona with him before, and we have a few in Kitakami. He's a Lycanroc, evolved from Rockruff. Different forms if they evolve at day or night; speed or defense. Nemona's the speedy one. They're pure rock types. You can't see it from here, but there are stone spikes in the fur ruffs on their necks," Kieran identified.

Mei opened her mouth to comment but a cheer from below indicated the two trainers had decided to start. With a blistering fast start, the Lycanroc howled and dashed along his side of the field parallel to the court-line. The Pachirisu dashed forward, but the wolf got his move off first. The spikes were visible now to the distant observers as they glowed white with energy. The spikes duplicated, 'falling' off the collar in a line of stone that, after bouncing on the tile, levitated. With a shimmer of light and air, the rocks disappeared into a distortion. Even for the trainers in the match, they were barely visible as they shifted around the field.

There was a quick flash of power, briefly visible to even the naked eye without Pokemon assistance. With the elemental attack finished forming, Lycanroc had transferred control of the Stealth Rock to his trainer. They'd last through the battle now.

Saguaro certainly had skills as well. His Pachirisu adroitly followed a meandering path towards the Lycanroc to avoid getting caught by the rocks' initial position. Her mighty molars gleamed as she jumped at the wolf Pokemon. Lycanroc was caught against the south side of the court to display the rocks as far as possible. The Pachirisu had an easy target as the crack of a Super Fang connecting was audible up to where the three were.

Mei covered her ears as the other two winced. Apparently, not all her overs-sensitivity had been dispelled by the nap. Meanwhile, the match continued.

Nemona flashed a grin that actually pinged in the afternoon sun as her Lycanroc began to spin. He blazed a line through the air, sending skittering sparks along the reinforced battle court tile before coming to a stop near Saguaro's trainer box.

The Pachirisu had been brought along for the ride and gotten the full impact of the Drill Run. She slumped off the wolf Pokemon, already fainted. Lycanroc howled triumph as he gave the Pachirisu a disdainful sniff.

The entire exchange between both Pokemon had been over in less than ten seconds.

The rock-type began to prance over to Nemona's side of the field again as Saguaro recalled his first Pokemon. Ivy let out a long yowl of surprise, forgetting about feigning sleep in his excitement. Pome sat down heavily on the railing, dizzy from trying to follow the action. Kieran shook his head and spoke as his Hydrapple hissed in appreciation.

"Saguaro was playing with a bad hand, but I don't think I'd have gone with Super Fang there," he stated.

"That is the fastest rock type I've ever seen," Mei said, wide-eyed. "The rock gym in Galar isn't always on the major circuit, but he usually goes for slow heavy hitters."

"Most Rock-types are slow heavy hitters. Dedicated Rock specialists tend to pick up a lot of heavy brawler techniques. Nemona prefers fast hits," Kieran answered.

"Why not Super Fang?" Rose asked.

"Couple reasons. First, rock and ground are closely related and most Pokemon of one type can easily use some of the other. Super Fang moved that Pachirisu into close combat so it was an easy target for a Bulldoze or a Drill Run follow-up," Kieran listed, and then held up two fingers.

"Second, Pachirisu has good speed, but even wild Lycanroc are some of the most maneuverable Pokemon and can finish generating moves incredibly quickly. Add training from a champion like Nemona, and he's going to be pretty much guaranteed to get the first hits in," Kieran said.

"The trade off is their stamina is average for Pokemon, and the midday form has poor defenses for a Rock-type. Super Fang's a nasty bite in the wild, but it interacts with the trainer stamina in a unique way. It 'bites' half of what's left," Kieran continued. Below, the fallen Pachirisu was being recalled.

"Lycanroc isn't a ground type at all, so Pachirisu probably could do more overall damage with her electric attacks. And if the professor had some luck with causing paralysis or stunning the Lycanroc somehow, maybe even a second attack. The Pachirisu is surprisingly sturdy for an electric mouse. Either case if she faints or not, Saguaro's second Pokemon would be in a better position," Kieran concluded.

"That's a lot to think about," Rose said quietly.

"You got all that so fast!" Mei marvelled.

"Nemona was almost guaranteed to set up stealth rock but from there it gets harder to predict," Kieran said, a trifle bashful at the praise.

"Can Pachirisu learn sucker punc – no, this is championship level play. Nemona probably has a focus sash for him. So, she's going to get the trap setup almost always, and at least until the second attack," Mei said, reconsidering as she spoke. Kieran nodded. Items designed to interact with Pokemon and their abilities were expensive for even semi-professionals, but this was a state of play far beyond that.

"I'd have it on a Pokemon whose job is to set up for the rest of the team," Kieran said.

Below Saguaro had made his decision and called a beautiful Alomomola out on the field, the fish Pokemon supporting herself on a column of water. The tiles under her glowed blue slightly, and she bobbed higher as water bubbled out of the tiles to join her column. The spray tossed rainbows around in the evening sun, and there was light applause.

The beautiful effect was diminished as the clear path of the throw meant Nemona drilled multiple stealth rocks into the Alomomola as she resolved from the Poke ball. Several small splintery explosions went off, but as they stopped, the Alomomola was resolute. Her fins glinted int the light and the water keeping her propped up remained.

"That is a really nice field, that evolved Luvdisc isn't devoting any energy to keeping herself off the ground," Rose said, once the blasts had stopped.

"An Alomomola, unrelated, but yeah. Common mistake," Kieran corrected, giving a smile for any sting. Rose held her hands open, waving off the thought there was any insult. Kieran's eyes widened as he processed the rest of Rose's statement.

"Wowsers, you noticed the-" Kieran started to say but a loud splash from below interrupted as the next round of the match started. Waves coalesced out of the air, splashing on the ground behind the Alomomola as energy shimmered around her. The water stilled briefly, caught in the Pokemon and her trainer's control, and spiraled up behind the Alomomola to launch herself in a high-speed aquatic attack.

Nemona had already started moving as well, though. The Lycanroc jumped so fast into the air he almost left an afterimage. The rock 'collar' glowed again. The time streams of rocks jetted behind the Lycanroc, launching him forward as well, almost as an earthy parody of the Alomomola's technique.

Nemona once again impacted first, into the jetting Alomomola's side. A flash of light brightened to almost the sun's intensity, but for a half second. The Caring Pokemon had too much stamina to be taken out as easily.

The Lycanroc wasn't there, having jumped into the air so fast he almost left an after image. The rock 'collar' glowed again, this time releasing a flare of rocks serving to jet the canid Pokemon into his opponent, almost a parody of Alomomola'stechnique. Lycanroc landed a good hit into the big fish's side, but the pink Caring Pokemon had too much stamina to be taken out so easily.

She barely flinched from the Accelerock gouging into her side, using the force to spin her out of the spiral of water. The water glowed brighter briefly, still under her direct control, directing the elemental stream into Lycanroc. He yelped briefly as he pushed clear, left dripping and soggy, but on his feet.

Nemona could be seen clapping appreciatively and saying something.

"Both high-speed moves?" Mei asked, quickly. The trainers weren't giving each other much time to think down there. That was going to be something to practice. Kieran, still distracted by Rose, nodded, and focused back on the match.

The big Alomomola quickly charged up another aqua jet. The Lycanroc seeing that, braced and his spikes visibly glowed again. Rose frowned but didn't have time to say something before the exchange.

Once again Lycanroc moved quickly to try and avoid the hit, this time running on the ground. With the 'assist' of the rock streams, his feet barely touched the ground. Saguaro's Alomomola twitched and her fins flailed as she struggled to spin on her water column to reaim.

Lycanroc got inside her turning circle to slam into the pink Pokemon's tail. Saguaro pointed quickly, and the Alomomola's eyes gleamed. The big water Pokemon used the direction to charge its aqua jet of water to slam into the court's tile. Once again they glowed blue, and the water splashed out in a pulse that caught the nearby Lycanroc as the water skittered along the court's surface. Unable to twist around in time, the pulse caught Nemona's Pokemon in the flank, finally knocking him out.

As the wave reached the edges of the field, the border screen briefly glowed into visibility, the wave flowing up the wall and turning to steam to dissipate rather than affect the crowd. It was a picturesque effect, and the three joined the crowd in clapping.

Nemona recalled the Pokemon and engaged in more dialog, gesturing wildly.

"Okay Saguaro got clever using the court's protection to redirect the move. Nemona nearly got away from that aqua jet," Kieran said approvingly, "It was the smart option for Saguaro too. Another drill run might have knocked out the Alomomola. That first exchange showed great recovery by the Pokemon and trainer control. I know a couple water specialists who couldn't redirect so quickly. Good plays all around, but that doesn't always work."

"Does Nemona like to bully her opponents or use them to show off?" Rose asked with a slight frown, puzzled.

Kieran spluttered a bit before he responded. "Wowsers, sorry? She's probably the best sport I know, even more than Florian. All she wants in life is a challenging match, win or lose. Maybe even losses more since it means she can work even harder. She's even usually willing to hold back even if she complains about it. What brought that on?"

"That Lycanroc was faster calling up energy than he is on his feet. That jump combo with the accelerock is the sort of thing in Galar you see gym leaders pull off. But she's always starting after Saguaro's Pokemon finish initial prep instead of full-bore. She probably could have gotten at least three hits in to two there, especially with that jet move. But she waited on the Professor to start and beat him to the punch," Rose explained. Rose propped her elbows up on the rail, looking down and resting her head to avoid seeing Kieran's reaction, and absently petted Ivy to keep her other hand from reaching for her necklace. That'd been a lot at once for her.

Mei shadowboxed a little as she thought back. "Huh, you're right – this isn't a strategy game with turns," she commented.

Kieran's jaw worked a little as he thought how to respond, feeling a bit of the old resentment for a moment. That wasn't a newbie observation, well not what he could do as a newbie.

Mei had been watching Kieran's face and said hastily, "We watch a lot of the Galar circuit. Mom did a lot of energy meditation training too." She touched Rose's shoulder, reassuringly, who shivered slightly at the touch. Mei sent a mental frown the dragons' direction.

Kieran winced and put his hands through his hair, now irritated at his irritation. He'd moved here to stay better about this.

"My team's fairly close to Nemona's, last time we had a match. I hadn't thought about it. That's a great point, but wowsers, I can't imagine she's doing it to intentionally look down at people. I can see how people would see it that way. Good critique, though," Kieran said apologetically. Rose nodded a little, watching the trainers deliberate below. Mei gave Rose a look Kieran couldn't decipher.

Before the conversation could continue, Nemona chose her next Pokemon and threw it down.

As the energy cleared, Mei announced, "Okay that one I do know – but I thought those were reserved to Kalos." A tall blue frog, large tongue extended from his mouth and wrapped around his neck, stood and posed. There was a brief round of applause as he briefly summoned water kunai to spin cheekily before settling into a fighting position.

"She caught it in Unova. Blueberry got special dispensation and is a private reserve – trainers brought in for special classes had capture rights," Kieran said, who'd faced the Greninja before.

The Alomomola had taken the break to float back to a neutral position, supported by her cushion of water. She showed the impact of several hits but still seemed raring to go. There was a lot of stamina in that fish.

"Alomomola's have tough scales, but Nemona's Greninja's mainly a special attacker, in trainer parlance," Kieran said. The twins nodded.

"I don't know what other moves Saguaro likes to bring, but Nemona certainly does since she does the Battle Brawl a lot. An aqua jet or two won't knock that frog out before Nemona can finish her off," Kieran said confidently.

Alomomola's water cushion flare and spun out, water catching in the air to glitter like a set of floating stars, and suddenly stay floating. Shimmering light started to fill in between them, but before the gaps could close, a shadowy wave of shuriken Nemona's Greninja had already finished summoning passed through the establishing barrier and impacted.

The Alomomola stared ahead and apparently saw… something, as the Caring Pokemon dropped her serene composure to shriek – audibly even up the stairs. The Light Screen fizzled, turning into a mere set of droplets that splattered against the ground. There was a brief moan from the audience. There was a stir in the audience and the action on the court paused.

Rose stood back up at the moan, hair sticking up on her neck. "That was Dark Pulse, wasn't it? I mean, customized but still? Did it hit the crowd?" she asked, worried. Ivy meowed.

"I haven't seen her use that style with Dark Pulse before. Usually, she just sends a few globes of ill intent. But I didn't see anything reach the court screen. I think they're reacting to Alomomola screaming during that flinch," Kieran said.

He was gripping an Ultra Ball in his hand as he surveyed. That'd been a nerve-jangling noise, and it took him a moment to realize his reflexes had triggered and put the ball away.

"No, I saw it even with the Light Screen collapsing. Not all the shurikens hit from that wave, but they all faded out once they were past Alomomola. Good control," Mei said.

Down below, the confusion was continuing and the PA came on. "Medical hold on the match – trainers, continue to hold."

After a moment, an elderly man wearing a Naranja backpack with an Indeedee stumbling by his side was led free of the press around the court to sit down in the shade on one of the benches.

Mei pointed to the movement. "They aren't very common in Galar but a lot of Gym Circuit trainers have them; they love to head into power spots, and there's always alerts. They're very empathic and easy to train."

"You think the Indeedee picked up whatever Alomomola saw?" Rose asked.

"And then passed it on to his trainer. Battle courts worry about keeping stuff from going out, not curious psychics looking in," Mei said.

Nemona and Saguaro were looking up at one of the buildings, and then suddenly braced back into fighting stances. Evidently they'd been flagged to continue. Water gathered behind Alomomola for a third time as Saguaro went for the aqua jet again. Though this time the spiral was much wider; trading some power to be ready to maneuver against the slippery frog.

Nemona apparently outthought the situation and instead of dodging, Greninja set his feet. Water gathered briefly in his palms, partially 'catching' the speeding fish and letting him absorb the impact better. The water rapidly blackened to Dark type energy as Greninja's actual move completed; the pulses at point black range not visible except in a series of thudding shadowed bursts.

The Alomomola had carried on through a lot, but this final assault was too much. The water cushion below her dissolved with an audible hiss into a puddle as the fish flopped sideways, though Saguaro was on point and recalled her before she could hit the ground.

Rose pointed. "Looks like a medic is checking over both our schoolmate and the Indeedee," she said.

Pome danced a little for a question. Mei answered, "Usually they're just round pulses. There's some training and practice you can do to set specific forms for these kind of ranged attacks, but I don't know why Nemona chose this one."

"It played to Greninja's aesthetic," Rose noted. Mei shrugged.

"You may be on to something, but less looks but to match the normal structure of Greninja's other moves. If they're all being used in the same way thematically, that could make training more efficient," Kieran said. His eyes narrowed a bit.

"Though she wasn't using it that way a month ago last time we matched," he continued, "Nemona's field of choice is the battle court so it may have been for tighter control in these smaller spaces. Dark pulse has an excellent reach naturally and she's saving energy. I actually wish she had at Blueberry so I could answer the question better. Blueberry we didn't train in adjusting moves besides their usual set forms, outside getting warned some trainers used them for unusual tactics."

"Is there an issue with training for that? It looked very smooth, and he shifted really quickly to offense with it as it formed up," Mei asked.

"I think Blueberry was against it because you need to have a strong bond with the Pokemon over the usual trainer connection to do that," Kieran admitted, "Blueberry always preferred good results today over excellent results next month."

Rose made a face, and Kieran laughed, nodding. "For what it's worth, I agree with you two. I wasn't getting a good training groove at Blueberry. It didn't click for me until a vacation back home, and once I did, I was challenging the school's best," he explained. His face flashed dark for a moment before he continued, "Everyone didn't know what to make of it there."

"Champion even for a day would be nice," Mei said wistfully, and patted Pome.

"I think the professor finally made his choice," Kieran said, directing their attention back.

An adorable ruby cream Alcremie appeared, in a spin of excess frosting and a bow to the crowd. A bit of polite applause floated up. The applause stopped with some gasps as the forgotten stealth rocks activated again, gouging the Alcremie.

"Oh! I know this one! The Fairy gym leader until a couple years ago had one as her ace!" Mei recognized.

"I saw them with – around at Blueberry. For Fairy-types, they're pretty much standard bearers for Fairy-types with trainers. No mischief problems or unusual habits. Which I guess is unusual for Fairy," Kieran said.

The little Alcremie bunched her tiny fists and glowed with a flare of rainbow light. Some of the light detached, sending a pulse of Fairy-type energy towards the Greninja.

Nemona was already recalling the ninja frog and threw out a Dusknoir who braced itself against the glow, singing its bandaged body.

"Hah!" Kieran exclaimed but didn't explain further as the action was continuing.

The Alcremie shrugged and launched another Dazzling Gleam, not seeing a need to maneuver yet against the bulky, slow ghost. Once again the Dusknoir's bandages crisped as the glem hit it, who was forced to endure it as it slowly drew back its fist

The Dusknoir punched the ground, sending a vibration through the battle plaza – the edges glowed white, cancelling the Earthquake. Nemona put a hand to her face, aback, as the light flashed brightly for a second, though the crowd protection didn't waver.

The Alcremie was launched in the air as the impact hit her and landed hard. She drew herself woozily to her feet, waving angrily at the Dusknoir even as she started to glow again.

"Leftovers," Rose said briefly, pointing at Dusknoir's side of the field. It was hastily munching on something, the singed bandages glowing black and reweaving themselves even as another Dazzling Gleam seared it.

It reared back again, its mighty Earthquake once again tossing the Alcremie in the air. The sides of the field crackled but held. Pome whistled in alarm until Mei picked him up and the glow died back down. The fire-type's training had apparently included basic matchups from Jacq, and he knew his chances if he was down there.

This time the Alcremie didn't land nearly as gracefully from being tossed and was breathing heavily as she stood back to her feet. She, determinedly, started to glow again before moving. She flinched slightly as several small shrapnel bursts went near her. Her not moving much Nemona was apparently taking some advantage of with the stealth rocks.

The Dusknoir didn't rear back a hand to punch this time. Instead, the bandages on its arms unraveled, letting two spools of shadow race across the field as the Alcremie watched them from where she was charging. They flowed around her and knocked the Alcremie forward as the dark shadows welled up behind her, suddenly being very physical. She didn't stand back up, the rainbow glow fading around her.

The Dusknoir rose a triumphant fist in the air, but continued munching with its other hand, the bandages continuing to regenerate. Crowd response to the Gripper Pokemon's triumph was muted. Saguaro recalled his Pokemon and rose a hand to stroke his mustache, thinking.

"These ranged exchanges just aren't quite as dynamic as a close-up match, are they? Dusknoir did a good job minimizing the damage as they traded," Kieran commented.

"What were you celebrating?" Mei asked.

"Oh, I thought Nemona was using choice items on Greninja last time we had a match. He already was a bad match-up, but even those custom shuriken wouldn't do much if he was stuck on them. He'd be a cream-basted frog pretty quickly. Florian mentioned Nemona shifts tactics gradually, so I bet I can bait her if Greninja has to lock in," Kieran said.

"That Dusknoir is a monster!" Mei commented. "The field boundary was struggling and it absolutely dominated that Alcremie."

"I haven't seen that on a proper field before. I hope it's an effect Mesagoza uses. Nemona doesn't miss a chance to battle, but if the field needed maintenance she'd postpone the Brawl over risking spectators or trainers," Kieran said.

"Galar's stadiums use Galar particle screens and the crowds are set way back for high-level matches," Mei said.

"If I wasn't seeing the court in use this match, I'd assume this was for pet matches. You'd never have people that close to this kind of battle," Rose admitted.

"Florian and Nemona said the state of play in Paldea isn't…. high, on average," Kieran said, "Though I haven't been here for more than a couple days. I can't say."

"You said Blueberry was all doubles?" Mei asked. Kieran nodded.

"I'd think that level of training, people would have highly coordinated teams compared to people with a couple of work or companion Pokemon. Only," she emphasized with pride, "Hammerlocke's leader is a double expert on the Gym circuit there."

"People come from all over for Galar's championship circuit," Rose said patriotically.

"Actually, Nemona and Florian, and one of his other friends, are all from Galar. It came up once," Kieran remarked.

"So, some of the best student battlers at the Academy aren't from Paldea? That must sting regional pride," Rose said dryly. Kieran snorted.

"Let's make it five top-level Glaraians as soon as we can!" Mei said. She was back to shadowboxing.

Rose felt a surge of delight that she stuffed down. Ivy meowed apologetically at Rose still locked open on getting her Pokemon's natural competitiveness. Out loud, she asked, with a smile, "Starting to feel better?"

"This match has my pulse going. I'd love to get this good," Mei admitted, "Pome keeps wanting to bleed battle lust up the link, happy little guy. I'm not that raw a trainer though." Rose turned away and winced.

"Nemona and Florian are the most recent Champion certifications, too in Paldea. But, Arwen, another of his friends, is probably going to finish collecting badges this year and take the certification. He had a sick Pokemon to tend and got behind on homework, but he's really good. And he is Paldean, I think," Kieran said.

"You're not going to have much trouble against the gyms, either, if you do that for the Hunt," Mei said.

"Probably. Still it's the best way to see the Paldean battle styles. Trying to decide what else to do on my Treasure Hunt still," Kieran admitted.

"You're not the only one having trouble deciding – is there a time limit on the Brawl?" Rose asked, pointing down to the court. The teacher had both hands out, each holding a Poke ball he was apparently weighing.

The crowd was also starting to mutter, losing interest in the long delay. Nemona had switched to a loose stance in her trainer box, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she waited.

"I don't think so. I don't know the professor yet. With Alomomola already down, Dusknoir may be tough to find an answer for if he doesn't have something that can hit ghosts physically," Kieran said.

"He's just giving time for those leftovers to keep working at this point," Mei said. The Dusknoir's previous damage was nearly gone. While Nemona bounced, Dusknoir was tidying itself up, dusting off its arms and tightening its bandages.

"We may be in the sweep phase for Nemona. Dusknoir can learn moves in a lot of useful types. She may be loaded for everything left without needing her other three, especially since Dusknoir regenerated," Kieran said.

"We saw good old reliable Earthquake, and shadow sneak to make up for its low speed. What would you put for the last two?" Mei asked.

Kieran opened his mouth, but then closed it as he thought for a bit before answering.

"Nemona likes fighting types and she's using Greninja, so anti-fairy would be my first choice to fill, but Dusknoir isn't the Pokemon for that. Dusknoir are mainly good at elemental and ghost powers, so no strong steel or poison moves. Given ground for steel types, the rule of thumb for coverage would be ice and electric punches. It can hit just about everything without type resistance getting in the way at that point. That was my snap answer, but I'm sticking with it," Kieran said.

Saguaro finally made his decision, the light expanded up and up compared to his last three short Pokemon as the ball opened. A dripping Goodra, in good health, waved to the crowd cheerfully. Even as the stealth rocks jabbed into her and exploded, she didn't seem phased.

Rose was impressed. Even with the originating Pokemon back in his ball and resting from a knockout, Nemona was doing a great job hammering away with those. It was really adding up over the match.

"Oh, wow, dragon," Mei said breathlessly, as the Goodra breathed a line of deep purple flame into Dusknoir. Its bandages flapped but it strode forward resolutely and slowly. Its left arm glowing white-blue as it closed the distance and delivered a devastating ice-charged uppercut, launching the slug-dragon into the air even as the Goodra still breathed dragon-tinted flame.

Saguaro gesticulated frantically, and Goodra somersaulted in the air, bringing her flight under control. Her horns glowed green and extended into grass whips, snapping in the air as they headed towards Dusknoir.

Dusknoir's face (both of them) didn't allow a lot of expression, but it didn't seem bothered. Both its arms started to glow white, as it gathered up power for the attack. It held its fists over its head, sweeping the air and plodding forward resolutely still. Where those fists touched Power Whip, it froze and broke off. The ghost was unscathed as it arrived where Goodra's momentum would land it shortly, even calculating for the extra force from the Whip. Dusknoir's fists continued to glow brighter and brighter white, little bits of frost forming in the air around them, as it clapsed its fists together and reared back.

Saguro's Goodra flailed in mid-air, starting to panic as she arced in the air towards her doom. Technically, she avoided hitting the ground on the predicted spot, but only because a double-handed hammer blow lifted her back in the air with a shriek. Ice coated most of her abdomen, sparkling in the afternoon sun. Her head lolled back, fainted. Saguaro stopped her impacting the ground unconscious with a well-aimed recall. He spent several long seconds staring at the Poke ball.

"Good thought with the Power Whip, but Nemona completely read it. That charging up as a defense I've not really seen her use before and that's twice now," Kieran said, a bit eager at getting a hint at one of Paldea's toughest opponennts.

"She's been working on her flexibility – her style's pretty aggressive so it's a good addition. Most of her Pokemon can take some partial hits and she has power to burn," Kieran finished, a tad grudgingly.

"And just to be clear, this isn't Nemona's ace?" Mei asked. This Dusknoir was 2 and 0, and the second victory was over one of the prides of the Dragon Clan.

"Wowsers, I wish. She's been using a Skeledirge a lot lately as her last. But that Goodra wasn't in an easy match-up either. She seemed easy-going and probably was trained for ranged over close combat. That didn't help the Power Whip try to break the block. If the dragonbreath had gotten lucky and paralyzed Dusknoir, the follow-up would have been pretty effective, though," Kieran answered

His Hydrapple protested a little. "No, Power Whip's a perfectly strong move. It's just that Pokemon's training doesn't take full advantage of it. If I read how it moved right," Kieran replied.

"Hammerlocke's gym leader has one he saves for the final championship tournament. I've never seen her go down so quickly," Rose remarked.

"Goodras are really strong naturally, and Saguaro's strategy wasn't bad. I'm not saying the Goodra wasn't well-trained, just not trained or this. He's had bad luck too with that flinch stopping him from setting up any defenses to try and get momentum back," Kieran analyzed.

"He's completely overwhelmed?" Rose said.

"Naranja's teachers are strong, and he's a really good example. He's stronger than most trainers, maybe near gym leaders at full power. Nemona's… Nemona though. I don't think he can turn this around," Kieran answered.

Saguaro's next to last choice was a Vespiquen, and the crowd watching groaned a little as the stealth rocks absolutely pummeled her. She remained upright, though. The big bug Pokemon's wings buzzed, glowing slightly as a series of air distortions were launched at the approaching Dusknoir.

The sonic projectiles finally put the ghost on the defense, startling it backwards in a stumble as its bandages loosened. The battered Vespiquen pumped her fist in excitement, launching another series of air slashes into the Dusknoir. She used the momentum to open up the distance farther, floating backwards and higher.

The ghost tried to plod forward again, but again the crack-snap of the air slashes broke its concentration. The crowd noise picked up in volume as the formerly implacable ghost stopped in its tracks twice. The damage, even with leftovers still boosting its stamina recovery, was starting to tell as well. The Dusknoir was looking downright baggy as its lowered stamina made it harder to hold itself together.

Saguaro's good luck couldn't last, however. And in a battle court there wasn't that much room for Vespiquen to stay away from the Gripper Pokemon. Finally backed into the corner, a one-two jab of thunder punches put the Beehive Pokemon down, but she determinedly kept wave after wave of Air Slashes cutting into Dusknoir even as she collapsed.

"Well, you called it on the Dusknoir's moves," Mei said, impressed. Kieran looked down, bashful, saying nothing.

"Vespiquen showed real determination. I can see bandages floating away from Dusknoir's body from here," Rose said, shading her eyes.

"It's not over until stamina is drained. Always a good point to give new trainers. That was some bad luck for Nemona, finally. She held out too and was the one left standing. Depending on what Saguaro's last Pokemon is, maybe he can finish off Dusknoir and have some better luck with the rest of the team," Kieran said.

With no decisions left and the clock running on Dusknoir's recovery, Saguaro recentered from the KO to throw out his next Pokemon quickly. Kieran's Hydrapple hissed as all the syrpents rose out protectively, fanning in front of Kieran. Rose and Mei reflexively grabbed their Pokemon and ducked behind the railing as they saw it. Hatterne was one of those Pokemon Galarian basic primary schools had to warn about.

The schools showed videos, too.

"She's under control," Kieran said, though unsurprised at their reaction.

Says the person with a Poke ball in his hand and on the balls of his feet, Rose thought to herself as she stood up, dusting herself off, and looked down at the court.

"She's ignoring the crowd completely. They must have a very strong bond," Rose said impressed. Mei leaned over to peer at Rose's face for a few seconds before turning to look. Rose's eyes were clear

"What?" Rose asked, perturbed.

"Ssh," Mei replied. The action was back on.

The Hatterene cupper her hands within her protective cocoon of hair. A dark ball gathered there in between them. The hair had a few gashes in it – Nemona had apparently started in with the stealth rocks while the twins were ducking. The Dusknoir set its head and started forward, rearing back its fists.

At the same time, a gleaming light outshone the sun in Saguaro's hands. He struggled to hold it for a few seconds, then tossed it underhand at his start Pokemon. The court's tiles gleamed with light momentarily before blocks of crystal rose around Hattrene. They exploded after a moment, Hattrene shining like glass in the afternoon sun; though still dimmer than what Saguaro had used. A winged heart of crystal rose above her head.

The Dusknoir's inexorable fists continued their downward momentum, slamming into the ground with a devastating Earthquake. The Hattrene bobbed and flexed with her hair to ride it out, chittering disdainfully as she finished setting her own move. The court's protections protested but held, with not a shiver of dust rising from the stones out of the court proper.

The Shadow Ball was launched, the deep pit of shadow barely visible with Hattrene's sudden luminescence. Dusknoir got his arms up in time to block, but the ball flowed like water over the bandaged arms, reforming into a ball in time to strike with a spiritual howl against the Dusknoir's core.

Below, Dusknoir's belly mouth roared defiance, but the Gripper Pokemon was visibly deflating within its bandages. Nemona called it back. It was certainly a knock-out, or would be judged as one. A series of cheers rang out, a few shouting out Dusknoir's name, and the twins added their own. Taking out three Pokemon had been a spectacular showing from Dusknoir, even with Nemona's edge in trained might.

The cheers trailed off, with a quiet clap chant for Hattrene starting instead. Nemona visibly started, looking around.

"Nicely timed critical hit – Saguaro's got Dusknoir's blocking pattern," Kieran said confidently.

Nemona, while surprised, had already been grabbing her next Poke ball and rallied back to the match with a side toss. What came out was a tiny adorable yellow bipedal dog, who did a quick round of shadow boxing before taking a ready stance. The twins didn't recognize him.

"He's got your style," Rose teased Mei quietly. Her sister shoved at Rose briefly, amused.

"Nemona's moving fast," Kieran began, but got cut off as the little Pokemon made his move, rushing forward with his paws behind himself, teal light trailing behind him from his palms. On his right hand, yellow energy started to gather into a perfectly smooth sphere of lightning.

The Hattrene, gesticulated in a panic, but she wasn't very maneuverable in a shell of telekinetically-manipulated hair. The little canid Pokemon didn't need to approach all the way. He slid to a stop, nails scraping on the tiled court, and hurled his arms forward. The golden light left his hand, but sparks continued to connect to his body as the sphere moved – more electricity was charging the move even as the sphere flew at his opponent.

Nemona's fists tightened and the little Pokemon was bracing against some sort of tremendous recoil – the two were clearly putting a lot into this. Hattrene continued to wave wildly as the sphere slammed into her.

Everyone, even at the tier of stairs the three were at, had to cover their ears at the tremendous crack of thunder splitting the air, despite the court's dampening effects. The impact site was briefly whited out.

After a moment, blinking through dazed and star-filled eyes, the trio could see Hattrene had gone down from the one tremendous attack, stray bits of electricity sparking off her to hit the ground still. Saguaro had his hands on his knees, bent over and huffing, but managed to hold out through the risk of black out.

The little Pokemon huffed and puffed where it stood, the teal light dying in his palms with a final sputter of electricity, but he managed a thumbs up, heading over to check the Hattrene was all right. He stopped, suddenly, stricken, and the three were as well as their eyes followed the path he'd have taken.

Kieran audibly gasped and cursed under his breath. Mei's jaw hung loosely as Rose clutched her trio necklace. All three Pokemon, regardless of their power gap, exclaimed in astonishment.

From this height, it was visible that the court tiles had erupted underneath where Hattrene had been hit by the attack, a clot torn free with a jagged hole into bare earth visible. Hattrene had been pushed backwards from the attack, but any injuries after her stamina gave out weren't visible.

Nemona ceased jumping for joy at her victory and suddenly put her hands to her mouth in shock. Evidently the Pokemon had relayed something; it wasn't as visible at ground level. She ran out of the trainer box onto the field, pulling a Revive crystal from her pocket as Saguaro staggered out as well. Her Pokemon backflipped into a retrieval beam as Nemona held up a Poke ball, being recalled out of the way.

"Pawmot – the Hands On Pokemon," Kieran said listlessly, "Currently the only known Pokemon with Double Shock – putting its entire store of electricity into a single. Devastating. Attack." He ran his hands through his hair, astonished.

"They were still in battle when the attack went off – Hattrene should have been shielded from most of it. It was a match still, right?" Mei said, unsure. That had been a tremendous blast, there were limits to what trainer and Pokemon could do for each other.

"It doesn't look like her hair's sizzled," Rose said.

Kieran put his hands down, glanced to double check, and sighed in relief. "If she'd been back to background physics before she'd been blown clear, she'd certainly have burns. You're right," he said.

The tile itself stopped glowing quickly where it'd been thrown – not very far but there were scorch marks on the richly painted surface. Between the two Pokemon's effects on the environment, most of the blast had gone sideways.

Saguaro, despite being a big man, was lifting his Hattrene partner with surprising delicacy, visible from on high. The Hattrene herself was obscured from view by his face as Nemona arrived. What happened after wasn't visible, but there was applause and a few whistles.

Kneeling carefully, Saguaro set the Hattrene down, who stood unsteadily, but was on her 'feet'. The Revive had done its job. She held a small hand for Saguaro and the two walked away carefully from the blast site, Nemona orbiting them.

Rose sighed in relief. Theoretically and optimally, trainer matches were pure contests of endurance for each other, even if it was expressed physically or with a Thunderbolt. Accidents could happen, even without a power mismatch as that attack held.

Mei twisted her braid and said, "I know accidents happen, but, wow."

"No Pokemon Academy's going to stay open if their top trainers were maiming each other," Rose said coolly. Mei gave her a side-eye. There was a bit more experience than Rose had actual age in that sentence. Rose looked down apologetically.

The announcer PA crackled, "Winner – uh, Nemona, the President of the Naranja Student Council. Give her a hand!" Applause clapped, slow and desultory. Nemona waved to the crowd anyway. Saguaro sat down and examined his Hattrene as Nemona stayed nearby.

"There's going to be a break while officials look at the field, folks. We'll send an update on the school news feed when it's ready," the PA promised.

The crowd started to break up. Kieran brushed his hands off and recalled his Hydrapple, then ran his hands through his hair again.

"Want to meet her?" Kieran offered. "I don't think the rest of the Brawl will be held tonight."

"Really?" Mei said, delighted. What trainer could refuse? "Yes! Yes, thank you!"

"It's been nice having someone other than Mei to discuss battles with. I'd be honored to meet two masters in one day," Rose said, smiling with a bow.

She couldn't help giving Mei some brief side-eye as she stood up. Where was that enthusiasm for a match with her? Ivy pawed at the railing, ready to go, and Rose forced herself back down. Mei would never let her forget if she messed up this opportunity cause she was selfish and childish.

Rose forced a smile back on her face whatever her self-pity. I'm the trainer, I make the choices, she thought at herself fiercely. This whole day was just pushing her around at this point.

"It was," Kieran said, and Rose jolted as she realized she was talking to him. "This was a lot more pleasant than battle post-analysis class at Blueberry, to just chat on the match. Wowsers, what a finish. I'm wondering what Nemona's take is."

Rose put Ivy carefully on the ground, who meowed some (slightly irritated, he wanted a match) thanks, as Mei picked up Pome.

"If I can ask on the way – how did that shadow ball move like that?" Mei asked.

"Well this is going to be technical, but you two seem to have read up on that sort of detail already-" Kieran began.

---

The crowd had thankfully dispersed quickly, driven to cafes or drink stands by the heat. The noise level was down to tolerable. Professor Saguaro and Nemona were standing on the field near what – from the cheap suits – were probably city or League officials, along with a few other presumed students. Almost everyone was taking advantage of the uniforms not being technically mandatory till tomorrow during the week, and the partners out walking were a varied lot.

Mei stopped briefly to look over the court as they reached the edge of the plaza. "This morning I couldn't be bothered to look it over while Miriam was taking us to Narnaja. This looks… normal, under the decorations?"

"What were you expecting?" Rose asked.

"We're below what I still hope to find out was a gym dating to the pre-Apricorn era. I wasn't expecting… normal. Like smaller than the Kanto Standard, or that weird mix of golem-builder engravings you see on Wielder-era structures. Shamans hadn't really standardized yet and thought a lot of the graffiti was necessary," Mei said.

"It's probably been rebuilt to modern international spec. We covered a little of it in Blueberry to understand how battling was different on them. Fields this grade take a lot of maintenance," Kieran said.

He pointed farther down the edge of the field, to a few tiles that were brighter than their surroundings. "Those look new, for instance." The three started walking forward across the court again.

"There were a few specials on the Battle Tower in Galar when it opened. A court's hard enough. The whole interior was reinforced against Pokemon using like, four separate methodologies. I think there's still a shareholder lawsuit against the energy company that built it. The old crazy chairman had done it on the sly before he tried to kill everyone by having the gym Power Spots go wild," Mei said.

"I remember the flashy one, that the League put on!" Rose commented, "There was a lot of stuff peeling back under the painted lines. I remember as future Grass-type, there's some small region near Kanto that built their gaming arena into a big tree. Keeping the energies balanced to not give flower-tenders an edge was a pain, even if the organic materials were much cheaper to use."

The three got into ear shot of the Narnaja cluster, even if they would still be normally far way, voices were raised. "Look, I checked – the city reinforced the battle court over the summer," Nemona practically yelled at the suits, if politely.

"No one's placing you at fault, Miss Nemona, but we still need to close the court for inspection and repairs," one was saying. As they got closer, Rose spotted the Paldean League's compass symbol on a breast pocket.

"The people's safety comes first and this court is compromised, If the central part of the city can only have low-grade matches on the local courts, it's acceptable to the League. Especially while we make sure it doesn't happen again," the other said.

Nemona made a complicated sound of frustration, and opened her mouth to retort.

"Ah, new students!" Professor Saguaro said, in an apparent effort to distract her. The man's wild hair and precisely trimmed mustache were brown. Mei felt a weird sense of relief when she got a bit closer and saw pink irises.

"Kieran! Help me talk to these people! It was an excellent Mochi Match but they want to cancel the rest of the Academy Ace Tournament. And I haven't gotten to match Florian in weeks with all his travelling!" Nemona shouted, while waving excitedly to them.

"I was up top with these two new students, and we could see the damage from up there," Kieran said, gesturing at the twins. Rose bowed shyly as Mei said hello and waved.

"Oh, are you starting over at the Academy?" Nemona asked, but before they could answer, continued. "I know they need to fix it but inspecting a court this grade will take ages without battles on it!"

"Probably a week," one of the League officials corrected.

"Ages!" Nemona insisted, "It burst through the sublayer – you're going to have to pull the tiles to the foundation layer at the corner points and around the blast to check the main guards. The foundation probably will need to be resmoothed on this side once a professional looks at it, and that's all the tile up on this half! And the city budget for repairs doesn't allot enough per-hour to get master engravers so you're going to have to redraw the damaged glyphs on the under-layer, not just repair them, when you reset the hole!"

The League official rocked back a bit, clearly surprised the student council president knew this end of the business so well.

Rose set Ivy down and let her sniff the tile as the two bickered. There was a lot of energy going on over there, and Rose wouldn't want to get in the middle of it on a normal day. She'd probably challenge someone as an act of self-defense if she got too into the noise.

The top layer of the court was gorgeously lacquered tile, but Rose had paid enough attention to the rest of the TV special to vaguely know most of the action was under the decoration. A lot of the key features were a meter or farther down to let you throw Earthquakes and Ice Beams safely in the densest populated part of Paldea.

Kieran and Mei continued over to the epicenter. Kieran made calming gestures and Mei was sizing up Nemona, circling her, while she was distracted. Rose bit her lip as she looked over at the movement. Hurry up and say you're fine! She thought selfishly at her sister and tried to focus back on the tile.

She'd dabbled at best in photography, and didn't have any real study on ceramics. There was some sort of hard-wear gloss over the paint on the tiles. They had some subtle indentations so Pokemon of any size would find footing. There was a lot of work even for the aesthetics parts going on here.

She glanced at Ivy, who nodded back, and she hesitantly put a hand on his back. This… wasn't anything complicated or trying to 'cut ahead' with the Ranger's knowledge, and it shouldn't be a strain. Ivy meowed impatiently and she fed power briefly on the link. Not anywhere on battle control or a lot, but enough for Ivy to play with. Not that she could give him much more than his own reserves yet.

The little Sprigatito's ruff glowed briefly, a few leaves swirling around him. Amused, Ivy batted at his own generated leaves and reared, breaking the link. Rose had gotten a feel for the tiny splash of Grass she'd had Ivy draw up and send skittering along the court. There was a zest to it, handing herself out to her partner had felt good, and that was just a taste. She reached a hand out to reestablish, sending another little pulse. Ivy jumped out of range to bat at the leaves, and Rose shook herself out of her near-trance, realizing she was looking for someone to go to battle-sync against.

Ivy stopped, picking up the disquiet, and she waved him on to play. She focused on the mechanics of the court instead. It was probably the best court Rose had seen in either her or the interloping Ranger's memories.

It was a completely neutral playing field, to any sort of Pokemon energy. She figured even with barely knowing what she was doing, she could have a Pokemon Dig in and out of the tiles without leaving a permanent hole. It was a fantastic piece of craftsmanship, and probably cost as much as Hammerlocke Stadium itself to construct.

"Interested in Pokemon engineering?" came a loud voice beside her, completely unexpected. Rose tensed but didn't jump, but Ivy hissed in surprise. She wondered if Paldea had ninja clans, as quietly as the big man had moved. Neither she nor her partner had sensed any presence until he let himself be known.

His Hattrene was next to him, smiling in that vague Fairy way and looking much less ruffled after some care. She nodded briefly to Rose, who felt a chill go down her spine at that.

It was humbling and a bit appalling. She'd thought she'd worked up to a high level of awareness as one of the things she could prepare for the Circuit with Mei without Pokemon, but apparently, she had a long way to go. The Ranger's experience was flat out saying if she couldn't spot a teacher walking up to her, being in tall grass, forget the woods, was dangerous.

Saguaro smiled disarmingly, realizing he'd given a start. "Sorry, I got in a habit of moving around town discretely; I used to be a bit embarrassed in indulging my sweet tooth. It's a habit that dies hard," he said.

"I didn't think I was that focused with Ivy," Rose said. "I'm sure you meant no harm."

Saguaro's Hattrene giggled, and Saguaro turned towards it. She shrugged in response.

"I think I may have had a small bit of help there, but she knows better to harm with her play. If anything, it means she likes you," Saguaro said. Rose gave a tight, polite smile to the Hattrene at that.

"But I think we are getting somewhat off the conversational mix I was hoping for, and apologize, you are one of the new students? Interested in Pokemon engineering?" Saguaro pressed lightly.

Rose stood up and bowed, then again carefully to the Hattrene. "I've only been interested in how it affects battles, personally. My sister likes buildings more. I do admire the effort that went into this," she said, stamping her foot lightly on the tile for emphasis.

"I'm joining the general track and look forward to your classes. It was wonderful seeing your match, Professor. I was watching with Kieran and my sister from above. Where it was quieter. But we could see the action; as energetic as any I saw in Galar!" Rose finished.

"Ah so you're either Rose or Mei then, in my introductory home economics classes this term," Saguaro said, evidently having memorized the incoming student list.

"Rose, sir," she said gently.

"The files mentioned the recipe of your genetics had left your sister and yourself with some type specialty. You've focused in on the bond quickly with those little pulses I felt to your Sprigatito. But, are you all right?" Saguaro asked, more quietly.

His Hattrene nodded gently for emphasis. Ivy hissed in response until the Hattrene glared at him, making him jump backwards then pretend to ignore her.

"Am I that obvious?" Rose asked, dismayed and equally quiet.

"No. A lot of new trainers mixed into a challenge lock have the shakes from the adrenaline. There was a bit of a cling to the Sprigatito, and then you wrenched back suddenly when you realized, as if scared of your own reactions. It's something I try to keep an eye for in new trainers as it is quite easy to do when you're on this side with Pokemon. Your self-control is admirable, but perhaps misplaced given the number of new trainers," Saguaro said gently.

"My sister and I get sensory overload easily, and she had trainer shock on top of it. She's been picturing this first match in her head for years, and I don't want to disappoint her by fighting someone at random because I couldn't keep control," Rose said miserably.

"Your desire to have your sister be happy is noble, but there is such a thing as too much self-sacrifice. Your sister is suffering from a medical condition at the moment, though it appears to be well on the mend. You, however, are also suffering one in your pride – an area I know can lead to misery," Saguaro consoled.

"I've spent years trying to prepare for the Circuit," Rose mumbled, "And I made the most basic mistake a trainer can and let the Pokemon's wishes get into me." Ivy meowed inquisitively, wondering if this meant they could finally battle. Azucena's ball rattled slightly.

"Who did you get challenged by?" Saguaro asked.

"Pro – Miriam, she asked to be called, was looking around for us when we reached Mesagoza and our eyes met," Rose said, looking down at the ground. Ivy walked over to start rubbing her leg, and she knealt down to pet him. The Hatterene made understanding low songs, and Saguaro nodded.

"Interesting. Miriam's control is usually vise-tight, but if she was searching at the same time you happened to probe, I can see it happening. Given the force of her personality, it's not surprising your Pokemon took it as a grand challenge. They aren't nearly as astute as trainers are at judging trainer's relative ability. Useful when seeking to catch Pokemon, but sometimes the tart center to a sweet. And it is, after all, the natural state of a trainer to seek matches and challenges," Saguaro said.

He paused, and glanced over where Nemona was talking in more moderate tones. "Though perhaps in some people it is an altogether domination force," he acknowledged.

"All I have to do is hold this out until she's ready," Rose said stubbornly, "I'm handling it fine." Ivy looked straight at Saguaro and meowed commentary. "Traitor," Rose said without malice. Ivy lifted his tail and snootily padded in a circle before lying down.

"You know it's going to get worse, especially if you sleep on it," Saguaro said, not as a question. Rose tapped her trio necklace and nodded.

"You were wise to look at the failings as well as the success of training, as every great recipe has disasters on the way. If I may offer personal experience?" Saguaro asked. Rose nodded.

"One can get too caught up in upholding an image that exists only in their mind, thinking they are maintaining it for others. As one of your educators, my advice is to talk to her. If she's medically unfit to battle, then you should not ruin yourself waiting and amplify the damage. It will only cause her a great deal of guilt. And as a fellow trainer, you can battle in a few days at most. There will be many opportunities in the future," Saguaro advised.

"But it won't be the big first battle between rivals," Rose stated, then hung her head and sighed.

"Yes, we have those movies here too in Paldea," Saguaro said, chuckling and stroked his mustace.

"I apologize, Professor-" Rose began.

"Please call me Saguaro," he insisted.

"I'm sorry, Saguaro, but it has been a day. We had been sketching out our Pokemon plans for this whole year and it's already in trouble. But, I promise, if she's not ready by the floor meeting this evening, there should be someone in my range there I can match rather than sleep on this. Ugh, I'm such a child."

"In many ways, still, yes," Saguaro said without malice. After several seconds, Rose hesitantly nodded.

"I did not come over intending to confront you on this, however. I noticed you stopping from the group and being interested in court. If the composition itself did not interest you, what did you think of the field?"

"The gyms in Galar use stadiums for public showings. They have crews to repair the field and the screens are generated instead of relying on the Pokemon and trainer like these standard courts. But the feel of the setup was much dimmer than this. This is so smooth – if I could make energy flow with my team half this well, I'd challenge the League right now," Rose said confidently.

"Ah, someone who appreciates the synergy of building blocks. I do look forward to having you in my class," Saguaro said. Rose looked back blankly, not following.

"One can have a good sense of taste, or smell. A natural eye for patterns. But it takes experience, and yes, training for those things to come together. Especially if one wishes to deliver consistently good results. It is my field, and I see Pokemon training in much a similar way. It is great effort to reach higher and higher plateaus. But one who starts aware of the mountain and still wishes to climb it often sees greater success."

"I appreciate the compliment. I hope to do very well for my team. I have a lot to do to start," Rose said, smiling a bit. Rose glanced over at Nemona and dropped her eyes. The president had said 'starting over' not 'start'. She was very astute, if very loud, to have spotted the disconnect. Saguaro and Miriam hadn't, though Rose wasn't going to ask them to look for it. The home ec teacher was already looking through her more than she was used to.

Saguaro spotted her glance, "Nemona has worked very, very hard indeed, to the point she makes it look easy. She's quite strong and adept at her studies. She did have a natural talent that attracted her to the field, though she prefers not to focus on that. Her dedication to the battling profession within the larger scope of Pokemon is without equal in Naranja, or even all Paldea."

Rose saw a chance to move the conversation away from her, rookie mistakes, and what could be dangerous ground about her. She grabbed it with both hands.

"Inside the barrier and as a participant, even a master like Nemona shouldn't have been able to crack the court easily. Even if she'd attacked it directly," Rose said, looking back at Saguaro. As she said it, she grasped her necklace. Now that she said it out loud, it sounded disturbing. Something was off here.

Saguaro frowned. "No," he agreed.

---

Rose was over on one of her tangents, poking at the tiles. Mei knew from long association (usually friendly, a couple times bitter) that if Rose was working on something, she'd announce it when she was done or hit an obstacle she couldn't see a way around. Rose enjoyed playing up the blithe Aroma Girl free spirit archetype. Well, played up somewhat. Mei's sister gave weird vibes sometimes.

At least she'd spotted something to keep her interested instead of hovering over Mei. Her sister had been all smiles today for Mei's sake, but she was under a lot of strain herself. Mei felt a stab of guilt at that everything she'd been through, Rose had been, and Rose had still been taking care of her.

Mei decided to stick close to Kieran for the moment. It was someone to keep an eye on her Rose could count on. And seeing two actual masters, nearly their age, interact in the flesh was an amazing chance. It wasn't Leon and Gloria giving a dual interview, but probably the closest thing you could find in reality. She found herself unable to not orbit Nemona to study her as she and Kieran exchanged pleasantries.

It didn't hurt to see two people only a little older than her. The Knight had all sorts of confidence and Mei had known they had latent ability, but here were people who had turned that into actual skill. By her rough estimate, neither was more than five years older than her.

Nemona had probed her well enough to detect the odd severing sensation from Pokemon she'd never had or would have. Mei hadn't even felt her gaze on her. The young woman was astonishingly good. And Mei puffed herself up, but this was a whole different step beyond what she'd imagined herself being.

Remember: you're not a Champion yet, even if you've got some lucid dreams as one, she reminded herself for the twelfth or twentieth time today. Whatever was blocking a panic attack on that was working overtime. Or any panic attacks, with how entering Mesagoza had gone.

The League officials walked off after one more round of assuring Nemona that they understood she had followed proper procedures and weren't blaming her. With them out of the way, Nemona spun and put the full force of her personality towards Kieran. He rocked back on his heels reflexively. Mei paused to watch the byplay.

"Did you have a good break in between schools, Kieran?" Nemona asked brightly. "I was really surprised you decided to transfer. You were scoring really well at Blueberry now! I'm happy you came this term, though. There's a lot more styles I want to try!"

"I saw you were doing something new along your Greninja," Kieran said. Nemona nodded confirmation, pleased.

"I'm happy you or Florian didn't switch to Blueberry over vacation. That'd be… awkward," Kieran continued.

Nemona waved dismissively. "Oh they made an offer, but if I were a battle teacher at Blueberry I'd have to hold back all the time, wouldn't I?" she explained.

"I guess that is a problem," Kieran said, lightly amused.

"And the League Club was interesting, but most of the students didn't seem to be having a lot of fun. It's a school where you battle! All! The! Time! But they seemed more worn down by it. If a battling school you went to for battling can't make battling fun, I have real doubts about their curriculum. You know?" Nemona mused.

Kieran's mouth thinned, but he didn't say except, quietly, "Yeah."

After several seconds, Mei coughed, uncomfortable. Kieran shook himself.

"Oh, like you saw, this is one of the other incoming students, Mei. Rose is over there talking to your opponent," Kieran introduced.

"Unlike Kieran, I'm genuinely a rookie," Mei said, "That was an amazing win."

Nemona looked slightly doubtful but didn't disagree. "So this is your Pokemon now? From the Academy?" she asked politely, bending down to look. Unsurprisingly, with a slight gesture form an ace trainer, Pome immediately went to get scratched. Nemona obliged him as she looked him over.

"Jacq did a good job again," she decided after a moment.

"My mother caught a Bounsweet, Terpsi. She's resting in her ball right now," Mei said.

"Grass focus. Something else around, like fog. Maybe just development potential," Nemona said as a statement, and looked over where Rose and Saguaro were walking over, "Your sister too, but she's really diffuse. I don't know many trainers like that. Those are going to be some good Mochi Matches!"

Mei blinked at that. "Like the chewy snack at festivals? Mom got us to pound some out one year. It's a lot of work," she stated.

"Oh, is it? I… don't remember really what it tasted like. It was a whole thing," Nemona said. Briefly, she looked tired, but perked back up looking around. "It was a nice vacation, all in all. Big incoming class, this year, and all the Team Star training stuff to setup. Now this too."

"There was a Pokemon causing trouble when we did a trip to my hometown early this summer," Kieran said. He looked at Mei's expression and said awkwardly, "My family's really well off."

"The company my mom works for transferred us to Paldea so we could go to Naranja. I've got no right to complain," Mei assured. Kieran nodded thanks at that.

"Your mother changed regions just to make it easier for you two to go to school?" Nemona asked. Mei nodded. "What's that like, having a mom pay so much attention?" Nemona asked innocently.

Compared to her sister heading off to the woods every chance she got, Mei liked to think she was adept socially. Even if she preferred smaller groups in short bursts. Here, words failed her. Nemona looked with open eyes wanting to understand and it was like a chasm growing before Mei, when thinking about how to respond to that appropriately. She glanced at Kieran who shook his head subtly, no help there.

She didn't want to linger with it for long, So she told the truth, "Well she can be overbearing but she's really all the family we have. We moved to Galar, to Hammerlocke if you know the region, when we were little from Sinnoh. My grandparents died before I was born. Mom was born kind of late and Gabriel. Uh, our father, left. We have some people we call relatives in Solaceon, in Sinnoh, but they're family friends, technically. Mom's done a lot for us. We both owe her tons."

"Both sets of grandparents? That's unlucky," Nemona said sympathetically.

"Oh, Gabriel's parents may be alive. I've never met them," Mei stated flatly.

"That's too bad," Nemona said , also sympathetically. Mei blinked a few times.

Kieran coughed lightly and reentered the conversation to steer it, being somewhat familiar with Nemona.

"Nemona did you get a chance to look at the field before the League came? Wowsers, you've had some big hits but that last one left a crater!" Kieran exclaimed.

"Oh? Oh! You should go see it too. Has a Mochi Match like this happened at Blueberry? I know Pawmot and I are pretty good together, but this doesn't make sense to me. I'm really happy Saguaro's Hatterene wasn't injured by the shrapnel. Super lucky! Come on! Come see!" Nemona enthuse, and started walking to the taped off small crater in the tile.

Kieran fell into step beside Mei and Pome and said under his breath, "Nemona means super well. She's very kind, but she's not great at reading a room."

"I think I see that," Mei said, "There's a lot of her, and it's a little tiring to take in. Rose really read it wrong, she's not cruel at all. No, that's being unfair. She asked, didn't state." Mei glanced over where Rose was sitting shyly near Professor Saguaro, gripping her necklace.

"Rose is under a lot of stress today too, with the move. Rose does the repetition thing but physically, when it's bad for her. She's been falling into using her tic a lot," Mei said.

"Well she has a release – I get quiet until I explode," Kieran offered as they reached the cordon.

"Oh I'm no better, I get tired and cranky and then quiet," Mei admitted.

"I get loud. Louder, really!" Nemona said cheerfully, popping back beside them.

"Sorry, if-" Kieran began.

"Oh, you looked like you were trying to explain me, right? Where I couldn't confirm I could hear you so it wouldn't be bad? The 'talk behind the back' stuff, right? I know what that looks like. If people mean bad, they scowl. You weren't doing that," Nemona said with a smile. She grabbed Mei's hand, who found herself smiling alongside. The student council president had tremendous energy.

"Talking with Florian and everyone helped a little – people seem to do better if they know more about me and be less surprised! I'm glad you weren't scared. Some people leave," Nemona said matter-of-factly.

"I'm sorry," Mei said.

"Oh, I'm meeting more people who don't mind being around me after Florian, don't worry. And a best rival and more matches I can stretch in! I had trouble finding people for even friendly matches where I was holding back, but it's a lot better this year!" Nemona said cheerfully.

At this point Mei found a vague urge she was fighting to hug this girl and take her somewhere she could feed her.

"You're really very strong. I'd like to say have a match with me, but I know I have a lot of work to do before you could go anywhere near all out and it be a close one," Mei complimented.

"See? You want both sides to have fun! My friends get that, and I have good matches with a lot of them. But before everyone wanted to handicap over holding back because I'd spent a lot of time working with my partners and going around teaching moves and finding the right combinations. There's other Champions in Paldea but even they weren't usually interested. And the gym leaders and League staff are too busy with their work to battle much outside it," Nemona explained.

Nemona pointed at the hole they'd arrived at, with an inner lair of cordon tape so no one stepped in accidentally. "This bothers me so! Much! If we all hold back for the Ace Tournament, that'll be less fun! And I have an eternal rival for this whole year to look forward to! And Kieran! And Arwen even sometimes don't mind some Mochi Matches. And what happened doesn't make sense," Nemona complained.

Mei crouched down by the last of the cordon tape. Everything had cooled to (hot) local temperature, and the edges of the tile that were still in place were softened by some heat. Mei was careful not to reach into the hole; glass and ceramics could have a serious edge, from some past experience.

She held a hand up so Pome wouldn't waddle into the cordon and took her sunglasses off. From up close, the hole was deeper than she thought.

"Did this hit water lines? A steam explosion?" she asked.

"No, the city's careful not to run anything right under the plaza. It probably saved Hatterne surgery there was no metal to splinter," Nemona said grimly.

"Wowsers something exploded in there, though," Kieran said. "It almost looks like an Earth Power in open ground went off."

Mei leaned forward, and her eyes gleamed with excitement. "Rotom phone, can you go down and take some shots? It burst through all the layers. You never get to see this!" Mei said.

She cupped her hands and shouted, "Rose, get over here! You never get to see this!"

---

"Did you see a wild Pokemon?" Rose asked after obligingly coming over at a jog. Most Pokemon in the city had owners, but sparring with a wild one would be a match without giving up being Mei's first trainer battle.

Unfortunately, Mei was just pointing at a hole. "Decent theory for what happened, but no! Look! It's all the layers of a high-grade battle court! All the material and energy conductive layers. They never have to shift all this. Don't get too close, everything by the hole is sharp," Mei warned.

Rose kept the disappointment off her face. Her sister was so excited. She walked around the crater obligingly.

"You mean the colored lines, right? On the layers? They're made of Pokemon materials?" she asked, obligingly.

"In Paldea, normally yes. It's standard to dye them to the associated color for the type, as there's other materials as well. There's plenty of wild Pokemon so it's much cheaper than synthetics here, and worth the installation costs to avoid having to keep priests or shamans on call to purify," Saguaro said.

That put the riot of colors into a frame of reference. Green lay near blue near red on one side – on the other it was different. It was a weave, Rose sort of recalled, using the Type advantages to help cancel and balance what was being pulled into and used on the court to make it as even a playing field.

"The bottom of the hole's scorched, and that looks like concrete to smooth out a stone layer. As old as this city is and as thin the soil can get, that could be right over bedrock. But it looks like it's been cooked," Mei explained. Pome sniffed deeply, then stumbled backwards, waving his claws by his nostrils. Mei turned and picked him up to comfort him, flapping a hand to improve airflow. Human senses said the smoke was clear, but something was still present.

Rose was admiring the color pattern still, and as an experiment, called Ivy over. The cat presented himself, ready to play again. She did another light pulse, though prepared this time she cut it off right away before she could get entranced into it. A few fitful green sparks spat in the crater, even through the sun.

Ivy, now prepped, had generated a couple leaves and started pawing them away from the hole, somersaulting after them.

Rose checked her hand for shakes, then stood up. Technically, she'd held control.

"So that's what it looks like on that side," Rose remarked.

"Most Paldean courts require more distance than this one to dampen out spillover. This one's built for heavy-duty close crowds. The best match spot in the city!" Nemona said.

"It's bad practice to rely on the court for spectator's safety. The better you can aim and focus, the less energy you and your partner are wasting during the match," Kieran declared. Nemona nodded agreement.

"Rose, whatever that was – I wasn't watching – can you do it on the other side?" Mei asked suddenly.

Ivy looked up from his dissipating energy leaves, and Rose looked over at her cat. "I don't think Ivy and I can do it from his tail. Maybe in battle sync, but I'd need an opponent to do that," Rose reminded Mei.

"Oh, sorry, I meant the other side of the hole," Mei apologized.

I swear the universe is teasing us, Rose thought at Ivy as she stood up. Ivy yowled agreement as he bounded over, letting the leaves fade, to be picked up. He was ready to go. Silly humans.

Rose walked around, shrugged and sat down and tapped into Ivy again. He commenced butt-wiggling to go after the leaves, but they dissipated too quickly. Rose looked up from the hole.

"I didn't see any green that time," she observed. The others shook their heads. Mei, standing closer to the hole, waved her and pointed at the side they were on.

Rose looked and did a double-take. "Is that moss?" she asked, hugging Ivy. That was kind of impressive even if bizarre.

"It sprouted on the side, the energy just pooled and a sudden bout of plant life," Saguaro said.

Nemona protested, "See, I told the League officials I'd done all the forms and paperwork to get the court upgraded properly! But there's a circuit disconnect here and it ground out!"

"You already spotted this?" Saguaro asked.

Nemona nodded and looked around. "You guys didn't?" she asked, surprised.

"Did you just tell the League the forms were done?" Saguaro asked, a bit more fiercely.

Nemona nodded again. "Yeah, I had to pull the blueprints for the Pokemon League headquarters to use as a model and get it all laid out to upgrade to the court. And the budget requests from the student council funds, and a cost-benefit analysis, and the materials-"

Saguaro waved a hand, cutting her off, "But you just mentioned you'd done your due diligence to the officials. You didn't bring up that the energy was shorting out at this point in the grid instead of dissipating?"

"Well it's obvious, now that it blew up, right?" Nemona said, "This is an explosion of heat, so that meant Pawmot's energy was already dumped out of the move and under background physics. If it was just electricity instead of Pokemon electricity, there's got to be a break in the circuit here. The substructure's sheared on this side and by the moss you can see it melted."

Everyone looked over again. Then walked over around the hole and knelt to look at the damaged section more closely. "Well," Mei said after a while, "And I thought I was being clever on that little experiment but the Champion already spotted it." She scuffed a shoe on the tiles, depressed.

Rose didn't want to risk any shakes and was still sitting down while the others looked. "You have good eyes," she complimented Nemona.

"I just knew where to look. My parents have me through a double set of full courses, but it does mean more Treasure Hunts! Yours was clever too!" Nemona said to Mei hastily.

Saguaro pulled out his Rotom phone. "Excuse me, I must make sure they follow-up on this. Properly," he excused himself, walking away from the group.

The students watched him go for a few seconds.

"Why did it go wrong, though?" Nemona asked. Mei shrugged.

"Maybe they messed something up when they were putting the tile back in place?" Mei theorized, "Is there any way you can let me know when they go look? I'd love to see the other end of the mystery." Mei snapped an imaginary salute with a sword.

"I don't know when, but I'll try!" Nemona said cheerfully. Mei nodded.

Outwardly, Rose was the picture of passivity. The sturdy oak in the breeze, undisturbed with the motions around her. Inside she was a swirl of dandelion seeds in a hurricane. Ivy's ego didn't care about who knew when he was frightened. He flattened his ears and hissed. Rose's fingers clutched him to shush.

Mei usually shadow-boxed if she was super into something. The Ranger, however, had seen the Knight make that move to open a match.

Mei looked over in surprise at her sister after that reaction and shrugged. "I'm not going to try and take credit. I'm just curious," she said defensively. Pome was in a defensive posture, his little 'hair' flaring at Ivy. With a gesture, Mei made him stand down.

Everyone focused fully on Rose, and she found her mouth dry. "Not that," she said, raspy. She swallowed several times and finally went into her day pack for her tea thermos. After drinking a pull and making a face (it was still the batch from before dinner), she could finally talk.

"Ice," Rose said, then rolled her eyes and continued in Paldean, "Are you okay? You usually think going all historical knights is pretentious," she said with some extra emphasis.

Mei paled and looked at her hands. It was just looking at some old architecture, but then it was a big mystery to affect people. Caught up in glee, she'd been someone else when doing something she thought could affect a lot of people. Mei quickly put her hands behind her.

"I think I was thinking too heavily on legends and got… showy," she said quietly.

Kieran and Nemona looked at Rose in surprise at the sudden change in mood. No gracious way of explaining this came to mind.

Mei thankfully added, "I had a bit of a collapse earlier. Rose is being careful." Rose gave briefly one of their more grateful hand signs.

"Trainer shock?" Nemona asked. Mei nodded, both to her and her sister.

"Oh, so that's why you two were following the battle so closely? You haven't had any yet?" Nemona asked.

"The battle was amazing. You had so much power to the moves! I'd love to watch it again! We'll have ours later," Mei insisted.

I really don't want to those two scheduling MY match, Rose thought.

Rose decided, since everyone probably thought she was rude anyway, to ask the question she had earlier, "Your cadence was a little odd during it. It looked like you were waiting to react. Was Professor Saguaro setting a trap?"

Nemona rubbed the back of her head, a bit abashed. "Everyone always wanted me to hold back. Florian calls it a bad habit that I let them set the pace. Power I can bring up and down, but speed's tricky. And a lot of trainers I could take take them down before they could react still, and then people get angry. So I have time to my opponent."

"She actually spotted you were reacting," Kieran praised Rose. Rose looked down again, pleased they didn't seem mad at him.

"You both were able to follow the battle?" Nemona asked. Mei and Rose nodded.

"In Galar you watch a lot of battles on TV. The distance from the stairs helped for keeping track. We recorded it for later if you want a copy," Mei offered.

"Oh, I should be in the school directory. Yes! Please! A lot of new trainers can't follow the Academy Ace tournament well. You two did a lot of work. Then there's Florian, who's a great battler but can assess people or follow other battles practically at all. It'll be great to see where you two end up at the end of the year, and maybe even see you in the Tournament in a few. You're both in battle class?" Nemona said.

"Absolutely," Mei said with a nod.

"Florian surprised everyone but me how fast he was, so I'm due to be surprised! I think! He's from Wyndon. We get a lot of Galarians and a lot are good but not that good. I mean, I was born in Galar and it took years of Treasure Hunts and free time to get my Champion certification!" Nemona said.

"Really? Your Paldean is perfect," Mei said.

"My Galarian's probably bad. I was seven when we moved. I think about all I have left is I can do Paldean in a Galar accent. 'Buenas tardes!'," Nemona said with a laugh. "That's right, you said Solaceon earlier. I thought you sounded a little like Kieran," she noted.

"Your geography's really good. Solaceon's not very big in Sinnoh," Rose said.

"Professor Raifort made her class do a big report on ruins a few years ago. Solaceon was a pouplar subject," Nemona explained. Rose nodded at that.

"But talent's only so far. Florian did lots and lots of work too! Battle your rival to check your progress and see how to get better!" Nemona finished with an encouraging cheer.

Mei looked at Rose and smiled hesitantly. "Well, we did want to get our first match against each other. I am feeling a lot more energetic, and doing something to, uh, make sure that's all moving and not frozen sounds like a good idea. There's still an hour and a half before the floor meeting. Maybe a school court's free?" she proposed.

Rose's breath came quick at that, but no one noticed due to larger issues.

Mei had activated the Nemona.

"You're ready for battle?" she said with glee, clasping Mei's hands. "It's your first match! Trainers have battles to sharpen their skills and Pokemon! You should get started, but you should have style! 'Elegancia!' Here!" Nemona said, releasing Mei who stumbled backwards as Nemona grabbed her phone to look. Pome whistled a question.

"The Academy Ace tournament usually has people who are interested in battles watching instead of going to the courts. There's probably a big one free. I have every one in South Province bookmarked," Nemona answered as she tapped away.

"Ooh! The east main court is clear! We can have it in ten minutes!" Nemona enthused.

"Is that at the gate?" Mei asked. Nemona nodded, then waggled a hand.

"More or less. It's really closer to the Pokemon center than the gate," Nemona answered.

"I think even if we had bicycles, I couldn't make it halfway through the city in ten minutes after today," Mei said bluntly. "Maybe something closer?"

Nemona threw a great ball and deployed a Paldean Tauros; combat breed. It stamped the ground and huffed, excited to be out for a run, and was equipped with a saddle and reins.

Rose started forward then stopped, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. I'm the trainer, it's my judgement with my partners than makes us a strong team. Make sure Nemona isn't pushing her. She opened her eyes.

"Kieran said Florian was coming to battle in the second round. I don't want you to miss your friend. It sounds like he's busy," Rose said.

"But this is a battle! And won't take long. Florian can't go too far with school tomorrow. Kieran! Take care of Florian! I'll take them back to the Academy to drop off, and we can pick up everyone and have a late dinner to catch up!" Nemona ordered.

Mei looked at Rose and nodded. "We really should get this done. This weird mystery's got my energy up now. See what we can do," she said, getting enthused. Rose nodded, careful to look at the ground. An eye match now might do her in.

"Don't take too long, or I may end up battling Florian," Kieran lightly teased. Nemona feigned shock, then smiled.

"He'll be nice and warmed up then!" Nemona said, and she patted the flank of the Tauros affectionately.

"I've been breeding Tauros this summer! He's the toughest of the lot but isn't up to taking full power yet. He's already a great Ride Pokemon! Very smooth!"

Rose stood up and studied the big Wild Bull Pokemon as she circled it from behind. Even if Nemona didn't think he was ready, he outclassed her mother's Burndozer. She approached carefully to make sure he saw her. Then she stood still and she let her sniff him before rubbing his nose.

He huffed again in pleasure. They were built a little differently than the ones she remembered two times over, but apparently the basics held.

"Oh, our mom is a big fan of Tauros. She owned a ranch and we used to be around them a bunch when we were small. Smaller," Mei assured, walking up towards the side from the back. Nemona gave a small gesture and the Tauros stayed still, as Mei recalled Pome and approached to climb up.

"Other leg," Rose murmured as Mei put one in the stirrup. Mei gave a quick glare at Rose who did her best to not meet Mei's eyes. It was close, it was close, it was pounding in her ears that the battle was finally here. If their eyes met right now, Rose would probably demand a fight on Tauros back.

She was really going to have a talk with Azucena to make sure they avoided this in the future. After her two partners got the chance to test themselves they were wanting all day.

Mei finally got up, and Rose easily pulled herself up the stirrups to get behind her. Probably too easily. She recalled Ivy and patted the Poke balls she was carrying, feeling a reassuring pulse from them. They were indeed lending her a hand physically.

She was a Pokemon trainer now, if a baby one at her first day. It was a different world from yesterday in so many way. There was weight and responsibilities to the benefits. Even before getting a face full (she grasped her necklace, thinking irritated thoughts at gods) of what that could mean in the worst-case scenario.

Even with the extra competitive edge of a trainer if her Pokemon hadn't backfed her into a challenge lock – objectively, she was looking forward to this first time out. Mei had been sketching it out for years, to reach the excitement of the Galar circuit. Hannah had told of her own battle experiences fondly.

Now a Champion-grade trainer was offering to spectate that first match. It'd hurt and twisted in her guts but holding onto it, and now she and her best friend were going to have the first match they'd long spoken of.

She carefully gripped her sister to help hang on and gripped the Tauros's back with her knees. The circuit seemed exciting but wasn't quite where Rose saw herself. It probably wasn't surprising the Ranger had decided to dig into her head. The forest had whispered and called to her for years. Being the best self she could be with the gifts it provided was what she wanted, the idea of a beautiful synergy with partners. To survive as that meant professional training, and that meant battling careers here or Galar. She'd been prepared to try for years since Mei had gotten her to watch those first matches.

Nemona leapt up easily with a trainer's grace of her own to land behind the head of the Tauros. She pulled a couple spare helmets out of her bag and handed them over. Mesagoza had strong helmet laws. "All set?" she asked cheerfully after they buckled on. Mei nodded carefully, while Rose bobbed her head once. Nemona waved to Kieran who waved back, amused.

"Tell me how it went tomorrow!" he asked, and Rose bowed as best she could in a saddle, Mei doing the same.

"We'll see you tomorrow in homeroom!" Mei called back.

"Thank you," Rose said simply.

"Okay you two on good and tight?" Nemona asked. Mei bobbed her head for both of them after Rose squeezed affirmation.

"Great!" Nemona said, looking forward and leaning down, "Because this is the fun part. Hyah!" she called, and the Tauros shot off the battle court with a clatter of hooves, plunging into afternoon traffic without hesitation.

They were off, they had Pokemon, they'd seen the future… now it was their present.

---

Author's note: I now hate spelling Alomomola. Maybe the worst Pokemon name. Seriously. Get a different water type, Saguaro!

This one took a while partially because (all of these so far are actually rewrites of stuff that amounts to moving several weeks ahead of content) I've gotten in the habit of writing the next one, then going back to edit the one ready to post.

I have some side content to post, probably at archiveofourown as is being irritable still.

Nemona is fun to write. Enthusiastic, battle-mad, doesn't quite think like most people even by the standards of a career-path that involves spending most of the time in the wild with powerfulk, intelligent creatures who can't talk looking for more of the same.