CHAPTER 334
"It's been so surprising to see you at all these public events—let alone an interview with SNN! People have long struggled to squint past your… elusiveness, but it really feels like you've begun to step into Craig Goodwill's shoes recently. What do you have to say to that?"
I stopped myself from noticing Mimi vibrating around my neck, and stopped myself from gulping too loud into the microphone as I brought it closer to my mouth. In front of was a live audience of around fifty or so who had paid Poketch and the Sinnohan News Network—a different news channel than the SGNC—to be here. From high-level trainers to regulars of the show who had money to spend to whoever would be interested in seeing talk on the Paloma Show live instead of on TV. In front of was the woman herself, Paloma Kier. Dark-skinned, long-legged, and short-haired, she was a young rising star in the news industry thanks to the long-form podcast-like interviews she did with any personalities she deed interesting. Tonight, that was .
"I owe a lot to Craig." There was a lot to keep track of. My face, if I was smiling enough, if I was smiling too hard, the pace of my breaths, the twitching of my hands around the mic—I had to be tailored for television but not seem too unnatural. I still had to be myself, to so degree. Worthy of the position, but still a person. It was a tricky line to walk. "He offered guidance when I was lost and just out of Mount Coronet, and he's been one of the trainers I admired the most, not only because of what he represented, but because I saw who the man was first-hand. His work ethic was second to none…" it felt good to finally be able to be real in this interview and talk about what I admired about my predecessor. There were only a few windows to say what I really thought here, like how I, for example, would have rather been doing literally anything else.
But at least one could say it was kind of acting practice, which I was trying to pack a lot of in my daily life these days.
Paloma bead at , waiting for the round of applause at Craig's accolades to diminish before she straightened her back on her comfortable couch. I tried not to wince at the loud feedback loop in my hearing aid, but I could tell from Paloma's apologetic stare that I failed. The studio was arranged sowhat like a lounge and a fireside chat in a cabin during winter, so it looked pretty cozy. It kept reminding of how tired I was. Being a Poketch mule was hard work; I could almost picture myself drifting off to sleep next to the fire…
"We've talked about your work within Poketch and the way you train, but let's talk about you," Paloma said, before turning toward the audience. "Do we have any Grace fans in here tonight?" Around eleven people raised their hands, which was more than I expected. "Excellent, excellent! Does anyone have a question for her?"
A few hands went down, then nearly all of them—were they nervous to speak to ? Two were left, and one of the crew mbers discreetly passed them a microphone from behind before the cara feed switched to a trainer in his early twenties. I figured he was a trainer because he just had the look about him.
"Uh." He cleared his throat; he was clearly nervous. "My na's Andrew. Been following your Circuit since you disappeared into Coronet and were presud dead and ca out with a Larvitar. I guess that's relevant to the previous question about Craig." Andrew anxiously chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "My question is—it's been a while since we've seen you battle. Seriously battle, not just train with your colleagues or fighting people in public arenas." That was true enough. There would always be a difference between training with no stakes and an actual Gym Battle or a fight to the death. "A lot of fans are nervous about your rematch with Byron, since it's going to be your last try. I guess I wanted to ask how ready do you feel?"
Oh.
That was tricky.
On one hand, the real answer was that I was utterly terrified because the consequences went beyond a badge and the Conference, beyond being demoted within the Poketch hierarchy. If I failed to reignite sothing here, if I scread out into the world and all I heard back was the faint echo of my own tired voice, then—
Then what else was left?
But I couldn't just say that, could I?
"Of course, I'm always going to be nervous with such high stakes in a single thirty-minute match," I replied with an honest smile. "I an, getting to the Conference in my first year's the kind of stuff dreams are made of; I'd love to make it a reality. I've been preparing as hard as I can in order not to disappoint myself and my fans."
I hated that answer. It was vapid and felt untrue to myself. I liked having fans, even if interacting with them wasn't my favorite thing to do nor my forte, and I didn't want them to think ill of , but they were not the reason I was worried here. They didn't even occupy one percent of my anxieties.
"But my first loss to Byron taught a lot of things," I added. "Hell, it basically saved my life—" I swallowed my next word when Mimi pricked in the neck. Crap, I was not supposed to say that. "Um, that was a figure of speech. I get really into battling, haha…"
That salvaged it a little. I could have spoken about Coronet—the official story the League had peddled anyway—but that was the last thing I wanted. I'd had enough of things reminding of that mountain; my only desire was to move past it.
The next question followed, this ti from a chubby teenage girl. She was even wearing my rch.
"Is—is it okay to ask personal questions?" she asked, not introducing herself.
I resisted the urge to make eyes that may or may have not have had fighting intent at her and kept up my not-too-forced smile. There was no lody with to tell yes or no to this, but I'd been vetted before this interview to take these whenever possible. Poketch was done coddling , and Craig had taken a million questions about his life, even if he ended up dodging a good majority of them. With a restrained sigh that thankfully didn't make it through the microphone, I nodded.
"I think I spear for a lot of us when I ask: what exactly is going on with you and Maylene?" Her voice went quiet by the end of that sentence. She wanted to go on, but this had taken all of her courage.
Unfortunately, I was no Craig, able to dodge and weave in between questions that I didn't like all while satisfying my inquirer. I stayed silent for a mont, freezing while I recalled what Poketch had coached to say.
"I've had a rocky relationship with Maylene in the past." Because of my own mistakes, which I wasn't allowed to say. They shouldn't have—shouldn't have been looking at like we were sohow equally at fault. I swallowed the bile at the back of my throat. "Obviously people aren't blind," I forced myself to laugh. "We've gotten closer recently, but I'd like to keep that private."
The girl looked a little unsatisfied with that answer, but she sat back down after thanking for my ti. The interview continued in earnest for another fifteen minutes until I was finally freed, and I t lody and the rest of my crew out of the SNN's Jubilife studio lobby. It wasn't as expansive as the SGNC's, especially when Jubilife was a lot more expensive. The SNN lobby was smaller and more straightforward, with clean lines, glass walls, and a few plants for decoration. It felt efficient but a little cramped—nothing like the wide halls and Magikarp pond of the SGNC in Veilstone. From her slightly crooked smile and quiet cheers from her colleagues, I knew I had done okay. It wasn't until we got back in one of the cars that lody found it fit to speak to in detail.
"You did a good job out there. So hiccups, especially near the end, but overall it was a great interview. Paloma will be pleased, I bet." lody looked in the rearview mirror directly at . "Grace. Sit up and put your seatbelt on."
Maybe I'd lied down in the back of the car and curled up to ready myself to go to sleep. Just maybe.
"If there's a car accident, Buddy will keep alive. Uh, I an us alive. Probably," I quietly spoke with a sigh. I felt the water type rumble against my skin, telling to put the damn seatbelt on. "Fine. But you're like a warm blanket, so you really aren't helping."
"Don't make him get out in the car!" lody nearly shrieked.
"I won't! Arceus, relax."
Sitting up was tougher than I'd expected. I had to push slowly myself off the seat and blink away the tiredness. The mont my head hit a pillow, I'd be out like a light. My teeth chattered a little bit—that was a really bad expression for to use these days.
"I can't believe you had your Jellicent there during the interview," lody exhaled, her hand tapping the steering wheel. She was a little like my dad when she drived. "Well—I can believe it. As long as he's well hidden, I guess it's fine."
One of my fingers tapped my necklace, and Mimi dripped down, pooling onto my lap. I gave the steel type a gentle smile. "Thanks for helping out there."
Their eye turned into a smug 'U' and they chid.
"I don't have any snacks on . Wait until we get ho—I'll get you the rusted scrap you like." They didn't really like the taste as much as they liked purifying the tal and cleansing the rust.
"You had your tetanus shot, right?" lody asked with a hint of worry.
"Yeah. I an, it's in the vaccines they make you take when you sign up to be a trainer." I'd heard Unova had more on the list I would need to get. Back in the day, that would have terrified , but today it was just a needle.
lody continued speaking about the areas I could improve in while I distracted myself with my phone. There were texts from Denzel and Pauline—I had a pretty long conversation with the forr about interviews and how he'd bring on one of his streams again when I felt ready. He even made fun of how stiff I was for the first few minutes of the show. It was… good that he was comfortable enough to go back to that. There was also Jess and Marley, my parents, Bobby and Ramon—hell, even Jasmine, though her text was less about the interview and more about the stuff I had sent her about acting. As it turned out, that was out of her area of expertise, but she was interested in what I had prepared.
She said she might be able to make ti for one training session for to prepare against Byron. Normally, I would have been against this, wanting to do everything myself, but the stakes were just too high for to refuse.
As I'd said before, it wasn't just about a badge.
Maymay
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