Tainted Glory
By Evan Drake

Chapter 15: The Next Move

Three months I spent battling at the Battle Chateau. Three months of battling day after day. Three months taking down anyone with the balls to challenge me which was everyone. Three months of matches that were beyond easy. Trainer elite my ass.

It seemed the key to getting into the Battle Chateau was knowing someone instead of actual battle records. Half my opponents went down in record time the other half surrendered once they saw how outmatched they were. Even with the easy wins, I refused to let up. I treated every opponent as if they were at or above my level and accepted every challenge that came my way. My Pokémon didn’t let their guards down until the ref announced the battle was done.

And I only made it to the rank of Duchess—still one rank below Grand Duchess. Three battles a day, sometimes more, and it still wasn’t good enough. I hadn’t set foot out of this place since I got here, and that was all I had to show for it. And I wasn’t leaving until I got what I came for. The Battle Chateau had everything I needed, a cafeteria to eat, an area to sleep in, and a Pokémon Center on the premises. Cassandra would bring me a change of clothes and kept me updated on the outside world.

            Wasn’t much to tell. The strange man who threatened me hadn’t shown his face, and even with Cassandra’s ability to talk to Pokémon, she had a hard time tracking him down. She kept her promise to keep me posted every day. If she didn’t show in person, she called on the holo caster. Taylor was still with my mom getting to know her family. Ian didn’t go to his family as I expected and instead went to Aquacorde. It was expected, so I didn’t make a big deal out of it.

            I stepped out of the showers feeling clean and restless. The two trainers I battled this morning were pathetic. Their Pokémon went down in a single hit and they forfeited immediately after. It pissed me off more than anything. They just decided right off they stood no chance meaning they had no faith in the Pokémon.

            As quickly as I had climbed the ranks, I hated it. I wasn’t doing anything more than stepping on rookies and showing off my shiny new badges to prove it. It was just like dealing with those high-strung, entitled, legacy bastards. They enjoyed challenging trainers who lacked the experience just to prove they knew more about Pokémon than someone else. I hated it, but not enough to stop. The problem was I couldn’t challenge anyone above my rank so the Dukes and Duchesses had to come to me. But they didn’t do that sort of thing. To them, challenging someone below their rank was beneath them. Of course, once I became a Duchess, all that changed. Everyone was all over me, trying to be the one who knocked me down. Snobby bastards.

            I decided to head to the cafeteria to grab something to eat and cool off before looking for someone to challenge. The moment I turned the corner, I almost walked into Genevieve.

            The woman didn’t seem the least bit surprised by avoiding a collision. Honestly, I hadn’t seen her show any real emotion since I got here. “There you are, Ms. Martin. I wish to inform you that thanks to your efforts you have achieved the rank of Grand Duchess.” She pulled a certificate with my name and new title written on it in bright gold letters. “Congratulations. You now stand at the pinnacle of even the trainer elite.”

            “Uh-huh.” I took the certificate and folded it up before tucking it in my back pocket. They didn’t have a big ceremony or whatever for these kinds of things, and that was a bit of a letdown. It took people weeks or even months to increase their rank, and all they got was an “attaboy” and a piece of paper. Then again, I wasn’t trying to get praised for easy wins.

            “You achieved our highest title. And in record time. You truly are a trainer worthy of the title,” Genevieve said. “Though there is nothing higher, I hope you continue to battle here. I wish you luck in your future endeavors.” She walked away with what looked like a small smile on her face. Good. It saved me from having to tell her I was leaving and never coming back. This place made me sick.

            Now that I thought about it, Genevieve was always the one handing me my certificates, and she always seemed to have that look on her face. Was she watching me? I didn’t think they played favorites. There was no reason to. It wasn’t like the rankings made a difference outside the Chateau and they didn’t share in the winnings. I didn’t get anything out of it except for being paid. As my rank increased, so did my pay for each victory. I’ve been saving some for myself and sending the rest to my mom.

            It was nice I didn’t need to fight in Under tourneys, but I didn’t care about the money. I was there for one thing, to make sure my family was safe. In the last 12 weeks, I’ve won every battle and I wasn’t slowing down.

            Before looking for my next opponent, I decided to go and get some water and fresh air, and let my team rest for a bit.

            I found one of the relaxation rooms empty, so I decided to take a break there. I let my whole team out of their balls and set out bowls of food and water. While they ate, I went over the battle roster for that week. Everyone was cycled to keep from being too worn out from the constant battling. I even had back up plans for in case someone was hurt, but that hadn’t been the case.

“Hey, Aqua, since you finished your last battle in one hit, would you be up for taking on the next one?” I asked. Aqua lifted her head from her bowl and yipped happily. That would make life easy.

            My relaxation didn’t last long as Bella’s voice broke the silence. “Well, well, taking a break before your next conquest are we? I guess the rumors that you never sleep were a little exaggerated.”

            I sighed and avoided looking at her. It was bad enough I had to deal with her on a regular basis. Ever since she found out I joined the Battle Chateau she’s been “talking” to me at least once a week if talking meant a one-sided conversation of shit-talking and subtle insults. I still didn’t like her. Supposedly she was giving me advice on what to do. She obviously wanted something since she was the only person who spoke to me in this place that hadn’t challenged me to a battle.

            “Congratulations on your rank up to Grand Duchess by the way.”

            I turned to her. “How do you know about that?”

            “News travels fast. I think you would’ve learned that by now.”

            I didn’t answer. News traveled fast, but it didn’t travel that fast. Unless she passed Genevieve in the hall and was told, she knew about my rank increase before I did.

            Bella smiled and continued. “Anyway, I guess that means you’ll be moving on to greener pastures, won’t you? Or maybe you’ll finally take a much-needed rest. You’ve been pushing your Pokémon to the limit. Still undefeated even with battling three times a day. People are starting to call you Maya the Immortal.”

            “Like I care. And I can worry about my team myself.”

            Bella’s smile faded a little and she started walking around the room, looking at each of my Pokémon as if inspecting them. They looked up at her as she passed, not looking too happy to being inspected. “You should care. Your reputation is growing, and it’s making a lot of people antsy. It’s not every day a trainer becomes Champion and Grand Duchess.”

            I patted Dorian who was starting to growl to quiet him down. The rest of my team had noticed I was getting annoyed with this conversation and tensed. “Diantha did. And why do you care anyway?”

            Bella stopped and turned to me, her grin widening. “Because you’re family would be very worried to learn something happened to you after all you went through to protect them.”

            I felt like I had been punched in the gut. My team jumped up and surrounded her, growling the whole time.

            “Are you sure it’s a good idea to be threatening me?” Bella said calmly.

            “Everyone back off.” My team did as I said though they refused to look away from her.

            “That’s a good girl. You really aren’t as dumb as they say.”

            I wanted to smack that condescending smile off her face so badly. “What do you want?”

            “Relax. I’m just the messenger. Now that you made Grand Duchess, we have another task for you.”

            “What?! That’s not what we agreed!”

            “Not my problem,” Bella said shrugging. “For your next task, you have to defeat one of The Nine. From what I hear, there’s three of them right here in Kalos. Oh, and Cassandra Knowling is off-limits. We know she’s a friend of yours and can’t be too sure she won’t throw the match for you.”

            I was too stunned to speak. This couldn’t be happening. It was supposed to be over. Go the Battle Chateau, become a Grand Duchess, then get my life back. I didn’t even know who these assholes were or what they wanted from me.

            “I’ll take your silence to mean you understand. Anyway, you have until the end of the month to do it, so I suggest you get some rest then get the searching.” She headed for the door. “So don’t you lose, okay? I want to be the one to take your crown.”

            The moment she left, I screamed and kicked the closest thing to me which turned out to be Sunny’s empty food bowl. I should’ve known better, but it was obvious. Where the hell did these people come from and what did they want from me?

            I sighed and turned to my team. They looked scared, but I couldn’t bring myself to smile and try to cheer them up. They weren’t stupid anyway. They knew what time it was and that my family was being held hostage in some sick bastards’ game. “Why can’t people just leave me alone?” I said to no one.

            I fished my holo caster out of my bag then started dialing Cassandra’s number before stopping. These guys knew too much about me. That meant they knew about Cassandra, too. Whether or not they believe she can talk to Pokémon, they know about her. They probably expected me to contact her. And if her family wasn’t already on their radar, I wasn’t going to put them there. I was on my own. And that meant playing their game…for now. Just like in the wild, sometimes the best way to escape a predator was to make it think it had the upper hand. Wait until it was about to strike then make my move. Until then, I had to be their patsy.

            I wanted some time to myself, so I returned my team to their balls. Dust popped back out the moment I recalled him. He stared, his brown eyes full of determination, defiance, and worry. The message was clear, so I left him out. It was his family, too, these assholes were threatening. Whatever he needed, he would be there to have my back. Which was a good thing because I was certain I was gonna need to kill someone before they learned to leave me alone.

They wanted me to keep battling and become stronger? I would make sure they regretted that choice. My life was finally starting to turn around, and I wasn’t giving that up for anything.

But first, I needed to get some answers. Genevieve knew something. She was the main person I interacted with so it had to be she who was feeding them information. “Come on, Dust, I need to get ahead of this.” I recalled him to his ball, cleaned up my stuff, and then let Dorian out. “Find Genevieve for me.”

He started walking, leading me down the hall, pausing only a few times to sniff at the air. The halls were empty which was not a good sign. The entire time I had been here, the halls were always packed unless it was late at night. The sun poured through the large windows.

Eventually, he stood in front of a closed door. I looked around to make sure no one was watching then went inside.

Genevieve and her Gothitelle, Ginny were standing on the far side of the room staring out the window, their backs to the door. “I take it you figured it out?” Genevieve said when I walked inside. She turned around and looked at me. “It took you longer than expected though I’m not surprised. My orders were quite clear that you were not to know anything until you became Grand Duchess.”

I walked half the distance and stopped. “Who are these people? And what the hell do they want with me?”

Genevieve pointed to a pair of chairs nearby then walked over and sat down. Ginny stood next to her. I remained where I was. “I don’t know their identities,” Genevieve said. “Only that they are very well-connected. They…insisted you be invited to join our ranks.”

Cassandra mentioned recommending me to them, but she couldn’t have known about this, right? I was glad I accepted their invitation. I hate to think of what they would’ve done if I took any longer. “So that’s why I suddenly got an invite?”

“On the contrary, we wanted to invite you sooner, but the Pokémon League forbade it.” Her voice and demeanor were still calm. I had to give this woman props; she had nerves of steel or a master of hiding her emotions. “We’re not connected to the league, but we do follow their rules.”

I raised a brow. What did the League care if I joined the Battle Chateau or not? They wouldn’t. There was no reason to. If it wasn’t illegal or hurt the League’s image, they let me operate however I wanted. If anything, they should have said something about joining the Under tourneys.

“Unsurprisingly, they were quite vague on the details,” Genevieve explained. “They said it was important that they keep your notoriety at a minimum to keep others from prying into your life.”

I thought back to my conversation with Gwendoline. So the League was keeping tabs on me as well. So much for being a nobody. They really wanted to keep that thing with the Sylveon under wraps.

“Forgive me, Miss Martin. But I was to keep them appraised of your progress and record all of your matches. I don’t know what they want from you, but you must be careful.”

“Come on, Dorian.” I patted my leg and headed for the door. This was a problem. That man at the Under, he knew too much. He was watching me for longer than I thought. But why now? What did they want? Who were these people and how long had they been watching me?

It couldn’t be for money. Sometimes the trainers hold bets on their matches. And sometimes people rigged the matches for the outcome they wanted. Was this because they wanted me to battle someone and lose? But this was too much work for a simple match. There had to be millions on the line for someone to go through this much work. Which again made me wonder why? Why me? There were tons of shady trainers who would love to be a part of this.

No, they wanted something else. All this cloak-and-dagger crap had to be for a bigger reason. I just wasn’t seeing the full picture.

My first task was to find one of The Nine and challenge them to a battle. Easier said than done, they were the strongest trainers in the world and didn’t exactly keep in touch. It didn’t matter. I would find them one way or another. And I knew exactly which one I wanted to find.

****

Neil fell to his knees, breathing heavily and sweat dripping with sweat. He looked over at Ember who lay on the ground next to him, panting just as hard. He fought to hide his displeasure as he stroked her neck. It wasn’t the Charizard he was upset with, but himself.

            Three months of training with his father and this was the best he had to show for it. He could create a bond transformation with Ember, but it only lasted three minutes. On top of that, he felt exhausted afterward and could barely stand. He had heard there were trainers who could perform this feat with all their Pokémon and it could last for hours on end. At this rate, it would take years before he could use it in battle. Three minutes could go a long way in a battle, but the timing would need to be crucial. The moment the transformation wore off, he was too tired to think straight. And there were still five more Pokémon to bond with.

            “Not bad, Neil,” Samuel said. He helped Neil stand then handed him an energy drink. “It takes most trainers years before they can use this.”

            Neil drained half the bottle in one gulp. “Not good enough, though. I’ve never felt this tired.” Ember warbled as if agreeing.

            “It does take a lot out of you. You’ll need time to get used to it.”

            Not too long I hope, Neil thought. He didn’t dare say out loud. For the last three months, his father had stressed the importance of pacing. If he pushed himself too far, it could cause any number of health issues.

            But Neil was certain he could take it. He had made a ton of progress in the last few months and surpassed even his father’s expectations. Obviously, his dad was playing it safe with his child, not that Neil could blame him. But if this kept up, he would need to practice on his own or find someone else to teach him.

            “All right, I think that’s enough for today,” Samuel said. “Get some rest and we can try again tomorrow.”

            Neil nodded and recalled Ember to her ball. She deserved a treat, but she didn’t have the energy to even chew it now. He made a mental note to slip her something special later as he dragged his exhausted body into the house.

            Claire sat in the living room with Pyrus in her lap, the pair watching a cop show on TV. The Flareon took notice of him before she did.

            “Hey, Neil.” She frowned at him. “Wow, you look like shit.”

            “I feel like shit.” He dropped onto the sofa next to her. Pyrus walked over and licked his trainer’s face, his tongue hot and rough. Neil didn’t have the energy to push the Flareon away. “Training’s rough. I still can’t maintain the form for longer than three minutes.”

            “It looks pretty tough. I wish I could join you, but I don’t think I’m ready for bond transformations. Just a gut feeling, y’know?”

            “Right now, in my gut, I’m starting to feel like I wasn’t ready either.”

            Claire chuckled a little. “Do you want anything?”

            “A hot bath and a massage would be nice.”

“Sounds like a plan. You could definitely use a bath.”

“Hey, I’m not that dirty, am I?”

“Why do you think Pyrus hasn’t stopped licking your face?”

The Flareon was still slapping Neil’s face with his tongue. He had long since stopped being gentle and was assaulting him with hard, forceful licks. Unfortunately for Neil, now that he had sat down on the soft cushions he no longer had the strength to repel his Pokémon.

Claire chuckled and pulled Pyrus off much to Neil’s relief. “You stay here, and I’ll go get that bath started.”

She got up and left, leaving Pyrus on the sofa, but he took the hint and got back to trying to clean Neil himself. Neil forced his arm up and moved to stroke his back, but only managed to drop his arm onto the fluffy Flareon instead. Pyrus didn’t seem to mind and curled up under Neil’s arm.

He watched TV until Claire came back downstairs telling him his bath was ready. The short break gave him somewhat of a second wind and he was able to get upstairs on his own. Getting undressed was a slow process, but he insisted on doing it himself although she remained to supervise in case something went wrong. The moment he dropped his pants, Claire plucked his Poké Balls off his belt.

“Why you get cleaned up, I’ll feed your team for you and give Ember a bath,” she said. “I figure she could use one, too.”

“Claire, you don’t need to do that.”

“You’re way too tired to take care of it yourself. Now get in the tub and relax. I’ll be back to check on you.” Before leaving the bathroom, she looked over her shoulder and added. “And if you don’t take it easy, I’ll tell your mom, got it?”

Neil stiffened and quickly nodded. Claire smiled and left him with Pyrus, closing the door behind her.

Neil finished stripping down then climbed into the tub, letting out a long sigh of relief as the warm water soaked into his tired muscles.  He lay there with his eyes closed, letting his thoughts run, constantly changing ideas like flicking channels. Pyrus curled up by the side of the tub and stayed there until Neil washed up and left the bathroom.

Clean and relaxed, he felt like a new person as he descended the stairs. His father had gotten dinner set up, but neither his mom nor Claire was there.

“Your mother went to see Jocelyne, and Claire’s outside feeding the Pokémon,” Samuel explained. “Actually, I’m glad it’s just the two of here. I’ve been meaning to speak to you about something.”

Neil sat on one of the stools by the counter. It was never a good sign when his father used “I want to talk to you” or its variants in a sentence. Bur for the life of him, he had no idea what his dad wanted to talk about. “What’s up?”

To his horror, his father placed a small bottle filled with a dark liquid on the countertop. It was the enhancer he had been asked to use before.

“How long have you been using enhancers on your Pokémon?”

“I haven’t,” Neil said quickly. “Look, you can see I haven’t used any of it.”

“Yet. Neil, you know the rules of this family: We don’t take shortcuts. I get that competition is rough out there, but if you feel you aren’t strong enough, you train yourself and our Pokémon to make up the difference. You don’t take a hit and expect an instant power-up.”

Neil lowered his head and nodded. Arguing any further was pointless. His parents were adamant against the use of enhancers, even the ones approved by the League. He had no intention of using enhancers himself. Once this favor was done he wasn’t going to make it a habit.

“I’ll throw it out,” Neil said, grabbing the bottle off the countertop and tossing it in the trash.

“Don’t let the pressure get to you,” Samuel said.

Once Claire came back inside, they ate dinner. Neil half-expected the bottle to be brought up again, but it wasn’t. It still didn’t stop him from thinking about it. .Sure the competition was tough, and the use of enhancers was seen as cheating by many, but Neil also knew it was a tool and a real trainer used every tool available to them. His parents taught him that. If it wasn’t harming the Pokémon, was it really that bad?

He kept his thoughts to himself since it would only start an argument. What his parents didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them, right? Besides, he needed Noxis to get caught up to the rest of his team before his match against Sharon. He would need every advantage possible to take down her Espeon.

Later that night, Neil crept downstairs and dug the bottle out of the trash. He stood in the semi-darkness, twirling the bottle in his fingers. Even as thought about using enhancers, this particular one was illegal and that went against everything he stood for. No matter how noble the intention, he was cheating if he used it. And his investigation was nearly over. One more check-up and the Abuse Division would be out of his life. Was he willing to risk all of it over something so trivial?

I say that, but here I am with the bottle in my hand.

Clutching the bottle tightly, he snuck back upstairs to his room. Claire was still asleep which made it much easier. He crept over to his bag and dug out an open bottle of Full Restore. He then opened it and poured the serum inside. Using a marker, he drew a little dot on the underside of the bottle to distinguish it from the others.

Once his investigation was over, then he would test it. Until then, he would keep his head down.

He grabbed Ember’s Poké Ball and snuck downstairs. There wasn’t much time left before he had to challenge Sharon. He needed to master bond transformation with at least one of his Pokémon before then and the current training regime was taking too long.

The chilly night air was a shock to his system as he went outside. Summer was all but over now, so it would get colder as the days went on. He almost went back inside to get a jacket, but knowing he soon wouldn’t need it made him gut it out for now.

Ember was not pleased to be woken up for more training, but she reluctantly agreed. They trained until they were too exhausted to move anymore. Laying panting on the grass until sunrise.

For the next several days, this cycle continued. Practicing under Samuels’ guidance by day then sneaking out at night to put it to practice. It reminded him of when he was a child and he snuck out to practice for the licensing exam. Neil even took the time to start practicing bond transformations with his other Pokémon.

Neil felt they had made some good progress. He learned the exhaustion effects weren’t nearly as tiring so long as he kept himself and Ember fed. Eventually, he could now trigger the transformation consistently though he could still only hold it for three minutes. The plan was to practice with the other Pokémon once he achieved five minutes of transformation time. That way, it would be more reliable.

He lay on the grass after another training session when he heard slow clapping behind him. He spun around to see Madeline standing in the yard, leaning against the fence. Standing next to her was her Lopunny Holl.

“What are you doing here?”

Madeline shrugged. “I always jog early in the morning. I’m surprised you were up this early training. Not many trainers around here show that kind of drive anymore. Also don’t see many people practicing bond transformations.”

“You know about those?”

“Of course. Not many trainers bother because it’s damn difficult. Easier to just mega evolve.”

Neil frowned at that. Not every Pokémon was capable of mega evolution. He would rather put in the extra work.

Madeline walked closer. “So why are you out here training so early in the morning?”

“Why are you?”

She smiled. “You got me there. I do it because I need to stay in shape, and to keep a promise I made.”

“Promise?”

Her gaze hardened. Holl’s ears fell and he moved closer to his trainer. “Here’s the short version: When I was young I was pretty stupid. Now I’m trying to make up for it by helping a friend achieve their dream.” She scratched Holl behind the ears and her gaze brightened. “So I gave you my reason. What’s yours?”

Neil turned to Ember. The Charizard tilted her head and warbled inquisitively. He rubbed her snout and turned back to Madeline. “I want to keep a promise I made to a friend and fix a mistake.”

“Fair enough. But I should warn you, fixing a mistake is a pretty dangerous motivator. Just remember not to cross any lines.”

“Thanks, Madeline, but why do you care?”

Her expression turned serious again. “Because I know that look in your eyes. That driven look of someone who has a goal in mind and doesn’t care what they gotta do to make it happen.”

Neil didn’t respond. He had no intention of doing anything that would put his Pokémon, his girlfriend, or his family in danger. Unlike a certain someone he didn’t want to think about, he knew exactly where the line was.

Madeline gave a short laugh. “Anyway, take my advice or leave it. I’m not one to talk really. Good luck with your training.” She jogged off, her Lopunny by her side.

Neil continued to stand there. He suddenly had a lot to think about. The yard wasn’t visible from the front of the house. Madeline showing up wasn’t by chance. Was she sent by the Abuse Division or was she genuinely worried about him? Madeline had known him since he was a child and was as much of an older sister to him as Cassandra was.

Well, she’s got nothing to worry about. I’m no the one who lost their way. He turned back to Ember. “Everyone will be getting up soon, so we should head inside.”