In which Brassius and Hassel act like children.

Geeta healed Juliana's Pokémon and led the group to the outskirts of Medali, where the battle was expected to begin. Juliana, not knowing what Pokémon Nemona would throw at her, wished she'd gotten a chance to adjust her team before the battle.

Luckily, Nemona opened with her Midday Lycanroc, so Juliana felt confident bringing out Dachsbun first. Lycanroc fell to the second Play Rough.

The Goomy was next, which temporarily distracted Juliana with its cute face and led to Dachsbun being defeated with Water Pulse. Tinkaton came out next, and took out Goomy with a single Play Rough.

The Pawmo was a challenge. Tinkaton took neutral damage, but the Fighting-type attacks were too much for her, and she fainted before she could recover from using Gigaton Hammer. Juliana retaliated with her own Pawmo, who barely won the round.

She called him back when Nemona sent out Skeledirge. She had a counter for that one.

Two Terastallizations, a Torch Song and Aqua Step later, Juliana won the match.

The girls shook hands, showing no hard feelings. They didn't need to, of course, but it was nice to follow procedure while the Top Champion was watching. Geeta was applauding, and Florian had long since slipped away to continue his Titan training. No one noticed his absence.

"Excellent, ladies," said Geeta, her clapping coming to a stop. "It seems Juliana has the potential to become a Champion after all."

"Thanks," Juliana chirped. "I wanted to focus on my art, but battles are fun!"

"Have you challenged Brassius yet? Perhaps he can help."

"I have challenged Brassius. And I talked to him about a project I was working on, but he said it 'cut down on the avant-garde,' and that confused me a little."

"Did he say that?" Geeta smiled again. It was almost like she knew a secret. "Well. His studio is the second floor of the Gym building. Show him more art, and tell him that I sent you."

There was some ulterior motive behind that. Juliana wasn't observant, but even she could tell that much. But all she could say was, "Um...ok."

"And if you see Hassel, tell him to get back to work."

"Wow, Brassie," said Hassel, looking at the half-finished sculpture. The shape of a woman's torso, made entirely out of soup ladles, was beginning to take shape. "I know it's been years since you've had a girlfriend, but to make your own..."

"Shut up, Hass," Brassius said at once, to Hassel's laughter.

"Hey, I'm not judging." Hassel forced himself to stop laughing, eyeing the sculpture again. "I know how lonely it gets, being locked in your studio for days at a time, emerging only to battle. It's only natural that you'd want some company."

"Hass, please! You can love your art, but there's only so far you can take it!" Brassius picked up a discarded sketch from the floor, crumpled it up, and threw it at Hassel. Hassel, laughing once again, threw it back. Brassius retaliated with three paper balls in a row, leading to an all-out war.

Brassius was smiling by the time Juliana entered, led by the Gym employee that had signed her up for the test. Dodging one of the projectiles, Juliana distracted the grown men from their boyish fun with, "Am I interrupting something?"

Brassius and Hassel both turned to the voice. "Miss Juliana!" Hassel said, at once putting on his teacher persona. "I wasn't aware that you were coming."

"She wasn't invited." Brassius glared at the employee. "Why did you let a child in here?"

The employee shrunk back. "She said that she had a message for Hassel."

"If I'm interrupting, I can leave," Juliana started, but Brassius lowered his guard.

"If the somebody sent you, there must be a reason. What did they want?"

Juliana opened her mouth, then closed it. "I forgot the message she had for you, Brassius," she admitted. "But I remember her telling me that if I saw Mr. Hassel here, I should tell him to get back to work. Not sure if it was at the school or the League, but..."

She trailed off at the sight of the sculpture. Hassel laughed once again.

"Well, I'd better be going. Be nice, Brassie." Brassius grunted in response. Hassel ignored it and turned to his student. "Show him what I taught you, kid."

Juliana saluted and crossed her eyes.

"Good enough," said Hassel, and waved as he left.

Brassius had declared the rainbow patterned Starmobile sketch to be "avant-garde." Juliana didn't understand why. Now they were talking about sculpting like she didn't show up uninvited to his studio to tell Hassel to go back to work.

Juliana looked away from the mess on the floor, much more than just the crumpled balls of failed sketches. "I've never been in a real art studio before," she said, and Brassius, though surprised at the suddenness of it, said nothing. "Unless you count my mom's garage. It looks like my bedroom at my dad's house."

Rather than tell her to clean up, as her parents tended to do, Brassius merely nodded. "Creative people can be messy people. I make it a point to clean up between projects."

"But it's so boring!" Juliana whined, as if she was talking to her parents instead of a fellow artist. "I can't clean no matter how hard I try. It's...it's like there's this big block on even starting, and once I do get started it looks so much worse after I've been at it for hours!"

She flopped down on the floor. Brassius knelt down next to her.

"Juliana. Surely you can have your Pokémon help you clean?"

Juliana stopped her moping. "Is that...what you do?"

Brassius nodded. "How else do you think I get things done? Hassel?"

"Good point," Juliana agreed. "You two didn't seem to be peak role models when I came in."

"I rarely am," Brassius admitted easily. He looked back at the sculpture. "But I suppose I should get back to work myself. I believe you have another Gym to train for?"

"It's more fun talking about art."

"And it's even more fun doing art. Get out of my studio."

Juliana's irritation spiked. "Am I allowed to pester you about art when Mr. Hassel is busy with League business?"

"Can't you pester your mother?"

"She's an interior designer with an avant-garde taste in furniture projects." Juliana rolled her eyes at the term, but Brassius almost smiled. "You're a professional artist and battler. I think my love of art has more in common with yours."

Brassius considered. He didn't like responsibility. But he did like Juliana, as irritating as her intrusions were. Could he be responsible for her when Hassel and her parents were unavailable?

"I suppose you can," he decided. "As long as you stay in one corner and work on your homework."

"What if I want to do art instead?"

"That wouldn't be my problem, would it? Just stay away from mine."

He grabbed some glue and returned to work. Juliana closed the door behind her as she walked out.

Juliana and Brassius have reached support level B, she thought, and the suddenness of the thought made her giggle.