The next four weeks passed in much the same way, but it would feel wrong to characterize those halcyon days as monotony. While the broad strokes of each passing afternoon and evening were the same, the delights were in the details.

  Getting to know my knights better, watching them grow stronger, seeing them go from exhausting themselves against a single Wiglett, to comfortably taking on two at a time, all in the space of a single month.

  And then there was me. I was getting into better and better shape as I trained with my knights. Some days, I’d even wake up earlier than them and get to be the one pulling pranks. At some point, I realized that I’d developed a brutal tan, one that left twin lines of paler skin from my tank top straps ingrained over my shoulders. While every day was broadly the same, training on the beach or in the nearby Iode Hills, there was so much joy in establishing a routine of what felt like improvement. To feel some sense of drive again.

  By mid-March, I was maybe almost sort of ready to face the future. I’d never be a Battle Trainer, and eventually, I could accept that. I wasn’t sure what would come next, but I knew that I’d have my partners by my side, and that made it okay.

  As it turns out, I was deluding myself, which came sharply into focus one afternoon when I was walking home from the bus stop. My partners and I had spent the day in the hills, hiking, training, and battling. Getting out there took a bit of effort, an hour on the bus and then another trekking out into the foothills, but the tougher Pokémon and the shady trees made it worth it on the days when the summer sun rendered it impossible to train on the beach without risking heat stroke and melted shoes.

  Fortunately for the environment and unfortunately for me, there was no invasive species plaguing the hills for my knights and I to capture, just normal, native species. The average Poochiyena or Meowth didn’t pose much challenge for tougher trainers, but they were stronger than Wigletts, and remained a decent opponent for my knights and I, even in-spite of the type advantage. It was another vigorous day spent doing a lot of exercise, and we were looking forward to getting home.

  Well, Tristan and I were. I think the rest of my knights were dreading it, since they knew today was bath day. Tragically for them, I no longer let them lick each other clean. Not ever since the one time I had picked up Galad and found my arms and shirt covered in sticky Falinks spit. Thrice weekly baths had been mandated, much to my partner’s chagrin. For his part, Tristan enjoyed getting scrubbed down, yet another thing that stood out as a difference between him and his brothers. The other five tolerated it. Barely. They liked it when I polished their armor afterwards though, so at least they had that to look forward to.

  Unfortunately, I had to return my knights to their ball to ride the bus, but that was probably for the best in all honesty. I wasn’t really sure that they’d be able to behave themselves on the moving vehicle, and while they weren’t that strong yet, any Pokémon with sufficient motivation could be alarmingly destructive. I did wish I could share the view with them, however. There was something entrancing about watching the tall, gray buildings of Techne City slowly begin to block the light as the afternoon sun set behind us.

  Eventually, our ride came to my stop, and I had to disembark. I didn’t release my knights right away, figuring I’d spare them the ten minute walk from the bus stop to our apartment. That turned out to be a mistake.

  I hadn’t made it much more than a few meters towards home before my progress was arrested by a set of faces both familiar and unwanted.

  “Well, well, well, look what we have here,” a snide voice called out from behind me. I couldn’t suppress a groan of irritation as I spun to confront its owner. He wasn’t alone, which shouldn't have surprised me. Obnoxious things often came in threes.

  Bert was a bully, plain and simple. Short, pimply, and ready to make his temper everyone else’s problem, he was by far my least favorite classmate. Or, former classmate, at this point.

  His general odiousness explained why I was always shocked to find Bert accompanied by anyone, but he did have two lackeys that shadowed him with alarming consistency. Will and Gretchen were a distant second and third place at the bottom of the former-classmate rankings since they weren’t all that bad on their own, but Bert brought out their worst traits, the three bouncing off each other in a constant feedback loop of petty cruelty.

  I’d never really been a target of the trio, being at the top of our class academically and the popularity that came with it rendered me effectively immune, but it was very possible that all bets were off after the revelation that happened at the end of the school year.

  “Bert,” I nodded at the diminutive bully. “ Will, Gretchen,” I almost got Will to nod back, before he seemed to realize what he was doing and halted himself with a scowl. Not a good sign. “How’s your summer been?” I fell back on politeness, wearing my manners like a set armor to protect me through this encounter.

  “Better than yours, I bet!” Bert sneered. “Just got done at the Dojo, toughening up our partners.” I didn’t see any signs of said partners, but I wasn’t sure if they were in Poké Balls or if they were housed at the Dojo. I glanced over at the imposing building, just a block away from the bus stop.

  Its archaic, venerable facade belied its importance in modern society. The Techne Dojo was second only to Neos City’s hyper-modern Training Gym when it came to preparing competitors for the Ferrum League, and nowhere else in Techne City came close to matching the venerable facility’s pedigree.

  I hadn’t known Bert and his cronies were training at the Dojo, and the news drove a spike of irritation through my brain. “Good for you guys,” I told them, trying my damndest to keep my tone free of sarcasm. I almost succeeded. “Glad to hear you’re doing sooo well.”

  Bert’s smug grin gave way to a gloating laugh. “Yeah, things are pretty great. Nothing like connecting with your partner through an AR Visor. Not that you would ever know!” He let out another raucous, croaking cackle, and turned to high-five his lackeys.

  The provocation was so… petty. So juvenile. And I fell for it, hook, line, and all. “Shut the hell up Bert,” I growled out at the diminutive bully. “I feel bad for whatever Pokémon needs to experience your slimy brain.”

  That got a rise out of him, at least. “You shut the hell up! My Champ loves synergizing with me!” He punctuated his partner's name by grabbing a ball out of his pocket and tossing it onto the pavement. With a crackle, the Poké Ball snapped open, releasing a one-meter tall, gray humanoid. The revealed Machop struck a pose, and flexed in my general direction. I wasn’t excited about the escalation that releasing a Pokémon represented, but I couldn’t help myself from sniping at Bert again. Really, with an opening like that, my response was practically involuntary.

  “You named your Machop, Champ?” I asked him as I felt an eyebrow quirk.

  “Yeah, cuz he’s gonna be the best. You got a problem with that?” Bert growled at me, angry, but not embarrassed like I expected. Maybe he didn’t get it? I could tell from Will’s blank expression that he wasn’t following me either, but Gretchen had her face in one palm.

  I shrugged. I’d been saved from my own temper by Bert’s ignorance. “Nope, great name, Bert.” I mostly managed to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. Hopefully enough to keep the oblivious bully from picking up on it. “I wish you guys the best with it,” and so saying, I turned to leave, my good sense finally getting the better of my bad mood.

  “He’s definitely way better than whatever stupid Normal-type pet you’ve got crammed in that ball,” Bert called out to my retreating back with a nasty sneer.

  I knew better than to engage, I really did. If he’d insulted me, I could have just walked away. But I wasn’t going to let him get away with dissing my partners. And so I wheeled. “Screw you Bert. My knights aren’t any damn pet.” I plucked the Poké Ball from my belt, yanking it free of the magnetic clasp that kept it secure, and threw the object to the ground in front of me. With a burst of light and sound, I was surrounded by six bristling Falinks.

  Poké Balls don’t do a great job of blocking out sound, so I knew that they were already caught up on the brewing altercation, just as Champ had been. “Attention!” I drilled out, ordering my Falinks to straighten their formation and face down Bert and his cronies.

  They obliged, forming a straight line pointing at the other teens, Lance presumably glaring at them from the front while the other kept their eyes locked on his back, ready to follow his lead.

  The spiny formation seemed to take the bullies aback for a moment, but Bert was far from done. “Oh ew, even worse than a pet. A defective Pokémon to go with a defective human.” He sneered again. “A multi-mon? Really? I guess they suit you, just the sort of cowards that need to gang up to beat anything else.”

  A resonant chorus of growls rose up from my knights, deep and threatening, completely unlike their regular energetic chirrups. I hadn’t ever heard them make that sound before, but it felt right. They were pissed, and so was I. “They’re linked just like a Magneton or a Wugtrio. They count as one Pokémon for all intents and purposes.”

  “Except for Ferrum Battles.” Bert replied, a smug grin plastered on his face. I could feel my knuckles itching. “They can’t do ‘em, same as you. Heh, I guess they are the perfect partner for a worthless defect like you.”

  My eyes were stinging, but I refused to wipe them. I wasn’t going to let this pathetic bully get to me. “There’s more to life than Ferrum Battles,” I ground out.

  I was going to keep going, more to say, but the little asshole hurried to cut me off. “Maybe for losers. But for winners like us,” he gestured down at Champ, “they’re the only thing. What else could matter?”

  I wanted to retort. To snap back with a strong answer. A good one. One that would shut up Bert and make him close his stupid face.

  But I couldn’t. Because I didn’t know. What else could matter?

  But I was still figuring it out! I didn’t know what there was past Ferrum Battles, past being the best Battle Trainer, but there had to be something. I just hadn’t figured it out yet.

  Bert wasn’t very interested in giving me time to arrive at my answer though. “That’s what I thought,” he said, smugly taking my silence as assent. “C’mon guys, these losers are bumming me out.” He looked to his cronies, who snickered obligingly. “We’re wasting time, can’t even battle with ‘em to prove my point. Let’s get out of here.”

  The trio plus Champ turned to go, leaving me quivering with rage, and my knights similarly agitated. “Wait,” I called out. They stopped, maybe hoping I’d say something to embarrass myself. “Sure, we can’t do a Ferrum Battle, but there’s nothing stopping us from having a back-alley.”

  Bert turned, incredulity coloring his expression. Similar looks of surprise were on Will and Gretchen’s faces. “You want to do a back-alley with us?” he asked. “Your pet against my dojo-trained battler?”

  “I told you, my knights aren’t anyone’s pet,” I growled out. “And we’re ready to prove it. Unless you’re going to Torchic out?”

  Bert’s eyes narrowed, and I knew I had him. “You’re gonna regret that,” he promised.

  -

  Technically, a back-alley battle didn’t actually need to take place in a back-alley. That was sort of the point, actually. A back-alley could happen anywhere, outside the bounds of a standard, sanctioned arena. No arena meant no barriers, which made it impossible to safely synergize with the battlers. Trainers needed to be ready to move, to follow their Pokémon wherever they went, and avoid errant attacks. Supposedly, a few decades ago, most battles had been back-alleys, with only the most prestigious trainers able to synergize with their partners. Nowadays though, the proliferation of battle gear allowed almost everyone to participate in proper Ferrum Battles. Everyone except for the poor humans afflicted with Synergy Sickness; like me, and Pokémon that couldn’t synergize at all; mind-linked species like my Falinks, and Normal-types.

  In a lot of ways, a back-alley was similar to battling a wild Pokémon. Too chaotic to risk synergizing, it fell to the trainer to order their Pokémon’s attacks using their voices, or other measures, instead of directly communicating mind-to-mind. And therein lay my advantage. I didn’t have any doubts that Bert’s dojo-trained Machop was more powerful than my knights. He’d been raised his whole life to battle with other Pokémon that would move faster, hit harder, and react quicker than my young partners. But, and this was quite the but, there was no way the little Fighting-type would be used to battling without his trainer interfacing directly with his mind. My knights had more than six weeks of experience in battles against wild Pokémon where I ordered them with practiced commands. And that difference in experience meant we could win this. I was sure of it.

  We found a small, empty lot to use, our Pokémon squaring off against one another in the patch of dirt-covered ground. No spectators, no supporters, no referees. A back-alley went until someone’s Pokémon was recalled.

  “Count us off,” Bert growled out to Will as he paced back and forth across their side of the lot, prowling like a caged Persian.

  The taller boy nodded, walking out to the middle of our makeshift arena. He looked at my knights, then at Champ. Confirming both sides were ready, he raised a hand in the air with three fingers raised. “3, 2, 1!” he counted, finishing with a call to “Fight!”

  We shouted our orders out at the same time. “Tackle!” I commanded, driving my knights to charge forward, a trumpeting battle cry emerging from their little mouths.

  At the same time, Bert was urging his Machop to Leer, causing the short Fighting-type to narrow his eyes. White light flashed, briefly obscuring the Pokémon’s naturally red sclera. The move was probably meant to intimidate my knights more than anything. Bert clearly still wasn’t taking this very seriously. Unfortunately for him, my partners were made of stern stuff. Well, the brass was. The others couldn’t even see Champ’s leering eyes.

  Lance shrugged off the move’s effect without even breaking stride, plowing into the Machop, pointed horn first.

  The attack wasn’t strong enough to knock the tough Fighting-type back, but the little humanoid grunted in pain anyway, and then again, and again as the rest of the formation arrived, ramming into him one after another.

  Bert didn’t have his Machop just stand there and take it though. “C’mon Champ, Reversal!” Bers was the fifth in line to go in for a tackle, and the Machop ate the attack before retaliating with a brutal punch coated in orange energy. Bers went flying with a squeal that hurt my heart, but there was no time to waste on checking on him.

  Tristan rammed into the Machop with an indignant cry, completing the attack, which meant it was time for another. “Surround! Rock Smash!”

  My Knights followed orders faithfully, splitting up to encircle their opponent.

  Champ looked around, realizing how outnumbered he was, and while he was busy reorienting himself, one of my knights smashed into his back, glowing shield first. The Machop stumbled, which opened an opportunity for another of my knights to strike him, and then another.

  Bert growled from the sidelines. “This is Tauros-Shit! Champ, don’t just take it! Low sweep, hit ‘em all!” Champ looked at his trainer, and then went to complete the order, but the moment of hesitation cost the Fighting-type.

  My knights couldn’t avoid the attack by backing off. Falinks weren’t well suited for retreating, their stubby legs much faster at pushing forward than falling back, and I didn’t trust them to jump over the attack either, but that didn’t mean that we were out of options for dodging.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Stack!” I shouted out the name of another formation we’d been practicing.

  With their trademark coordination, my partners hopped and scrambled atop one another, forming a makeshift, wobbly tower. The general idea was to give my knights a surprise way of reaching Flying-types or the vulnerable areas on taller opponents. In this case, however, it gave us the upside of allowing only one knight to eat Champ’s Low Sweep.

  And what a Low Sweep it was. The Machop really threw his whole body into it, dropping to his back and using his arms to send his legs out in an arcing wave that would have hit the majority of my Falinks had they still been surrounding the fighting type. Instead, only one of them took the hit.

  There wasn’t actually enough time for my knights to complete the formation, but at least only one of them was fully on the ground when champ threw his attack. Galad went flying with a cry, probably out of the battle, but he’d done his part. The precarious tower made by the remaining four Falinks collapsed without their base, descending towards their prone opponent.

  “Tackle!” I shouted at their falling forms.

  Tristan and Percy couldn’t complete the order from their place lower down, but Lance and Kay were well capable of turning their fall into a makeshift charge, crashing towards Champ like slow little comets, leaving trails of white energy behind them as they descended. Both Falinks smashed into the Machop as he tried to pick himself up off the ground, sending all three Pokémon sprawling into the dirt. Lance and Kay went rolling away, flailing their little legs in an attempt to arrest their momentum, but the others were capable of following up, if I could get them to move without their brass there to lead them.

  “Tristan, Percy, Rock Smash! Don't let up!” Percy hesitated, looking towards Lance, who was still rolling away in spite of his best efforts, but Tristan followed my order unerringly, rushing at the downed Machop and wailing on him with his shields while Champ tried to stand again.

  “Can she really tell them apart?” some unfocused part of me heard Gretchen asking Will from the sidelines, but I put the distraction out of my mind as Bert continued shouting orders.

  “Champ, it’s just one of the little fuckers! Get up and use Revenge!”

  “Tristan, watch out!” I cried out as the Machop got his feet under himself. My little knight was too into his assault though, screaming a battle cry as he repeatedly hit Machop with his underpowered Rock Smashes. Without his brothers to capitalize and multiply the power of his hits, Champ was easily able to weather the blows, before retaliating with a brutal uppercut that sent my poor partner sprawling.

  “Knights, get in there!” I shouted, hints of panic creeping into my voice.

  Lance and Kay had finally recovered, just in time to watch Tristan get laid out. With twin howls of rage, both rushed at Machop from behind. Percy charged as well, finally getting the orders he needed from Lance. The trio smashed into Champ, all three Tackles landing at the same time.

  The Machop let out a cry and fell to one knee, but a shout from Bert galvanized him into standing again and throwing out a brutal kick that almost sent Lance sprawling.

  My remaining knights retaliated, no longer needing direction as the battle devolved into a brawl.

  I shouted instructions as best I could, trying to keep my partners from taking any more decisive blows, while Bert called out move after move, trying to convince Champ to muster up the energy for another big hit.

  Both of our Pokémon were running on fumes though, unable to conjure the energy for real attacks, and instead just hitting each other with the meager power of their muscles alone. The tide finally turned when Bers recovered from the Revenge he’d taken earlier, joining the fray and providing too many targets for the beleaguered Machop to keep track of.

  The punches and body-slams from my knights drove Champ to his knees again, and then the poor Machop gave up on offense entirely, in spite of his trainer’s increasingly angry demand. He opted instead to cover his head with its arms and protect himself as best he could, his whole body heaving with exhaustion.

  The fight was over, in spite of Bert’s unwillingness to recall his partner, and I could tell the little Fighting-type had lost the will to fight, even if my Falinks couldn’t strike a decisive enough blow to knock him out in their exhausted state. “Knights, enough!” I called out. It took a few moments, but they stopped, to my relief. I wasn’t sure how much they had been listening to me at this point, but to my immense gratification, they heeded the command, backing away from the cowering Machop and assuming their standard formation, two members depleted.

  Bert was apoplectic, his face swollen and red with rage as he shouted at his Pokémon, but Champ refused to get up, kneeling on the dirt and breathing heavily through his mouth.

  “He’s done, Bert. Don’t drag this out, you’re embarrassing yourself.” I didn’t mean it as a snipe this time, I was speaking earnestly, but Bert didn’t take it that way. Not that I would have blamed him if I’d taken a moment to think about my phrasing.

  “Like hell! That battle was Tauros-Shit. Your stupid Falinks ganged up on Champ! That wasn’t a fair fight at all!” He looked at his cronies for support, and after a moment they both chimed in, voicing their agreement. He turned back to us, a dark expression sweeping over his face “You know what? Let’s see how you like it! Guys, send out your partners. Let’s show this bitch not to mess with us!”

  Suddenly, I very much was not liking where this was going. Will and Gretchen both released their Pokémon, materializing a sneering Sneasel and a worked up Weedle. Neither looked nearly as strong as Champ, but my knights were too exhausted to even get out a real move, while these two newcomers were both fresh. There was no way my knights could take the pair on.

  “Now you’re just being a sore loser Bert. We won fair and square, and you try to pull this?” I tried to reason with him, even as I slowly began backing away from the encroaching Pokémon.

  The bully's expression was ugly. “We didn’t lose, Champ’s not down, so the battle’s not over. We’re just evening out the battlefield.”

  I looked at the other two. “And you’re just going to go along with this? C’mon, you know how ridiculous this is.”

  I saw no sympathy in the eyes of Bert’s lackeys. A sort of resignation, maybe, but no resistance to what they were about to do.

  “Well fuck you guys then, we don’t need to sit here and take this. I raised my knights’ Poké Ball to return them, but while I’d been focused on Will, Gretchen, and their Pokémon, Bert had crept over to me. He grabbed the Poké Ball, wrenching it out of my hand with one hand and shoving me to the ground with the other.

  “No, you don’t get to run away. Just sit there while we teach you and your stupid Pokémon a lesson.” He snarled at me as I looked up at him, flabbergasted.

  He’d fucking stolen my knight’s ball, and pushed me! “Bert, what the fuck? You’ll get kicked out of the Dojo over this!” I warned the boy, disbelief coloring my tone. I always knew Bert had anger problems, but this was ridiculous. Didn’t he realize how much trouble he and his cronies could get into?

  “Fuck you, no I won’t.” He replied, his face twisted up in a sneer. “No one cares what a filthy defect has to say. So if you know what’s good for you, you’ll shut the fuck up about this!”

  I heard a cry from behind the bully, and past his obscuring bulk, I could make out Gretchen and Will’s Pokémon begin to attack my knights. I didn’t hesitate, and I didn’t say anything. Clearly the time for talking was over. I needed to get my Knights’ Poké Ball back. I surged to my feet, grabbing for the device, using my longer arms to try to snatch it away from Bert, but the bully didn’t give me a chance, lashing out with a frantic fist that took me in the gut.

  There was no technique behind it, but the sucker punch still bowled me over. While the impact didn’t register all that much, Bert hadn’t hit me nearly hard enough to get through my syn, the sheer surprise of his attack was enough to knock the wind out of me.

  I stood there, folded over and gasping for a few moments, and then I heard another aggrieved cry from my knights. The sound galvanized me, helped me shake off the blow, and with a roar, I rushed at the bully again.

  He tried to lash out, but this punch was just as clumsy as his last, and this time I was expecting it. I took it in the shoulder, and then drove into him, sending us both sprawling to the ground. I made another grab for the Poké Ball as it rolled out of Bert’s grasp, but he clasped my arm, stopping me.

  With a growl, the bully yanked me over, pushing me up and around, and rolling me onto my back. I felt a knee dig into my gut, and I let out an involuntary grunt as the fleshy protrusion dug into my stomach.

  I saw the short boy looming over me, fist raised over his head, and I raised my arms to cover my face as he smashed down. I could feel the impact, more this time than the last as my syn depleted further. I worked frantically to buck the bully off, but Bert had a surprising amount of weight, considering his height, and my efforts were to little avail.

  I saw the bully raising his arm again, and I braced myself for impact, but he was interrupted by a commanding shout. “Pikachu, Thundershock!”

  With a deafening crackle, a bolt of yellow electricity smashed into the ground near the trio of battling Pokémon, splitting my knights away from their assailants.

  I looked over to the source of the disturbance, finding a prowling Pikachu pushing into the alley, followed by their presumed trainer, a face that I knew was familiar to all the humans present. “Alyssa!” I couldn’t help my surprised exclamation.

  The tall girl looked over the scuffle, her sea-green eyes noting each detail in turn, narrowed with obvious displeasure. “Bert, get off of her,” she demanded, voice deathly calm.

  The boy looked like he was about to argue, but after a moment, he apparently thought better of it, because he took his knee off of my gut without further comment and stood up. Without his limb digging into my stomach, I was able to reach for my knights’ ball, recovering it and then staggering to my feet. I had to take a few gasping breaths to get the air back in me.

  “Recall your partners, all of you,” Alyssa ordered in a tone that brooked no argument. Everyone acquiesced, me because I needed to get my knights out of here, and the bullies because their kind always turned into cowards when faced with those they perceived as strong. We all stood there awkwardly for a few moments, no one willing to break the silence, before Alyssa finally let out a beleaguered groan. “Bert, Will, Gretchen, get out of here.”

  “Hold on, I nee-” Bert started saying something, but Alyssa cut him off remorselessly.

  I felt a spike of vindication as she ran over him like he’d done to me earlier. “I don’t care, Bert. I’ll take care of it, Just go.”

  The bully looked like he was going to argue for a few moments, but then his eyes darted down to the rather irate-looking PIkachu standing between him and Alyssa, and he seemed to think better of it. He stashed Champ’s ball, and departed with his cronies, sending one last parting sneer in my direction as the trio walked out of the alley

  My face twisted up in an ugly scowl to match as I watched them go, but the expression faded as I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Fe,” was all Alyssa said, her eyes finding mine.

  I couldn’t hold the taller girl's gaze for more than a few seconds, letting my eyes drift over her shoulder without actually looking away. “Alyssa,” I replied, finally, after a few uncomfortable seconds.

  We stood there awkwardly for what felt like a minute at least, neither of us willing to bridge the chasm of words unsaid between us. Finally, my best friend levered a hefty sigh. “Fe, what were you doing? Getting into a back-alley with Bert and his cronies, of all people?”

  I shrugged with pretend nonchalance. “He insulted my partners Alyssa. I wasn’t going to let that go.”

  “His words are dirt Fe. Less than.” And she meant it, too. I don’t think Alyssa had ever let a single thing anyone else said ever bother her. Would that I was as strong. “This isn’t like you. Getting into random fights with idiots like Bert? What happened Fe?”

  “You fucking know what happened,” I bit out, her pity dredging the vitriol out of my gut like bile. “It’s not like I had anything to lose.”

  “Your life!?” Alyssa shot back instantly, just as heated. “Your partners!?”

  I scoffed. “Bert wouldn’t have killed me, Legendaries Alyssa, it was just a back-alley. Worst he and his goons would do is rough us up a bit, I doubt he’d even have exhausted my syn.”

  “Are you sure?” Alyssa asked, her tone obviously implying that I was incorrect, “because I don’t think you understand what really happened here.”

  “It’s pretty straightforward Alyssa,” I frowned. “My partners beat Bert’s and he threw a tantrum about it. What’s not to understand?

  The taller girl shook her head, exasperated. “Right. So you, a non-battler with no training,” she emphasized, “beat a dojo-trainee with almost two months of experience under his belt.”

  That seemed like a decent summary, so I shrugged, and nodded. “Yes. And?”

  “And you don’t get how that’s a problem?” The other girl asked, apparently incredulous. “Fe, you might not feel like you had anything on the line, but Bert definitely did. If his dojo finds out that he lost in a back-alley like this, he could lose his apprenticeship. He couldn’t let you tell anyone about the battle.”

  Realization dawned on me like a Sunny Day. “Oh. Oh shit.”

  “Yeah, oh shit,” Alyssa snarled, the uncharacteristic curse coming out of her mouth with a vehemence I only rarely heard from her. “I don’t think he had it in him to kill you, but he definitely would have beaten you and your Pokémon up enough to try to scare you out of talking about today.”

  It probably would have worked too, I thought with a shudder. It wasn’t like I was going to brag about the battle or anything, but I definitely wouldn’t have talked about it if it ended with my ass getting beat. “That asshole,” I growled.

  “He’s the worst,” Alyssa agreed without missing a beat, “but you know he’s the worst. Why would you get into a fight with him?”

  I felt my face heat up, and I hoped that my dark complexion and the late evening kept Alyssa from noticing the flush. “I got baited, okay? Like I said, he insulted my partners. I couldn’t let that stand. Even from an asshole like Bert.”

  I felt Alysss’s eyes on me, even as I continued staring past her shoulder. She held the stare for a silent moment, and then two, before breaking off with a hefty sigh. “Look, I get it, Fe, really I do, but your partners need you to look after their safety more than their pride.”

  That earned a snort. “Clearly you don’t know many Fighting-types, Alyssa.”

  “I’m at a dojo ten hours a day, six days a week,” the brunette shot back instantly. “It’s because I know Fighting-types that I’m telling you this. They’ll have a hard time keeping their priorities straight, so you need to do it for them.”

  She was right, of course. Alyssa was always right. Best and worst thing about her. But I wasn’t in the sort of place I needed to be to acknowledge the wisdom in her words. Especially when that wisdom was coming from someone six months younger than me. The best she got was a grumpy huff and obstinately crossed arms.

  “Fe.” The other girl’s tone was aggrieved, and I felt a spike of guilt run through me that I crushed ruthlessly.”

  “Look, I get it Alyssa. Thanks for the assist, but I don’t need the lecture to go with it,” I ground out.

  Another thing about Alyssa. The worst thing about her. She knew exactly how right she always was, and she hated when someone was too obstinate or too stupid to agree with her. “Clearly you do, if you’re going to act like this.,” she warned me, her tone rising.

  It was the reaction I had been hoping for. Guilt was easy to smother with righteous indignation. “Who cares how I act? It’s not like I need to impress anyone. No one will ever respect me anyway.” I meant for the words to be flippant, but I couldn’t keep the deep bitterness out of them, and I also couldn’t miss the flash of pity that passed through Alyssa’s eyes, smothering the embers of her temper.

  “Your life’s not over, Fe. There’s plenty of things you can do outside of battling, and getting into stupid fights might jeopardize some of those paths.”

  The fact that I’d been trying to tell myself much the same thing over the last couple of weeks didn’t make it any easier to swallow coming from my former rival. “Easy for you to say. It’s so straightforward. Attend a dojo during your Battle Break. Win some junior fights. Tier up. Break into the Primary Leagues. Become a League Master. Use that to launch a career, do whatever the hell you want.” It was a path I was intimately familiar with. One that I’d charted for myself, before finding out that I was among the unlucky few. “I’ll never even be Green. How can I get any respect?”

  The brunette suppressed a grimace. “You know it’s not that simple,” she said it quietly. She tried to mean it, but we both saw the lie for what it was.

  “It will be for you. It would have been for me.” I replied, my voice just as low. And I meant it. Alyssa and I were talented. Maybe it was hubris, but I had fully believed we were both capable of making it to the top.

  Alyssa had been just as sure. Judging by her tone, she still was. About one of us.

  “And now… nothing,” I bit out, as a bitter pit filled in my chest. “Just a blank where the future should be.”

  “Can’t that be a good thing.” Alyssa begged, tone rising. “You can be anything Fe! Anything at all!”

  “Except for the only thing that matters!” I shouted back, my volume rising above hers. “Except for the only thing I’ve always wanted to be.” I felt my eyes stinging, but I refused to wipe them. My vision of Alyssa blurred, but ironically, that only made it easier to face her.

  This time, she was the one who looked away. “I know Fe. I’m… I’m sorry,” her voice was low, and she didn’t continue. Really, there wasn’t anything else to say. She could have given me platitudes, said things she didn’t mean, but Alyssa was never a very good liar. She could never sell something unless she really believed in it.

  I regretted my next words before they even came out of my mouth. It would have been better off another thing left unsaid between us, but my traitorous lips bore the venom out into the world anyway. “Why be sorry? First place is out of the way. Who’s going to stop you now? You should be celebrating.” I felt like an observer in my own body, like some malevolent thing had taken me over. “It must be nice, to not have to chase my back anymore. To never need to find out how much better I am.”

  She looked stricken, her face ashen. I had expected indignation at my dire accusation, maybe anger that I’d expected so little of her, or disappointment that I would stoop so low. Instead, all I saw on her waxy face was twisted guilt. I felt my face warp into an ugly sneer, an expression Bert would have been proud of. “Good luck Alyssa. You’ll be at the top someday. We both know it.” I turned away, and started walking out of the alley, leaving my former rival and her partner behind me. “I hope it’s lonely up there.”

  Getting in the last word never felt worse. At least now I knew who’s words could cause Alyssa to crack.