"You should… Take some rest. Spend some time thinking about the situation. Let Bertha take charge for now." You said slowly and deliberately, trying to not make it sound bad.
"You want me to give up too…" She said almost in a whisper feeling slightly betrayed by her best friend. You quickly shook your head.
"No, no Maylene. That's not the point at all!" You quickly said, maybe raising your voice a bit too much. Serious talk was starting so Lycium walked away to leave the two of you some privacy. The sun was already almost set and darkness started to take its place. Stars were starting to be visible alongside a full moon.
"Not the point? Leaving the leader position is giving up. Is admiting I can't do it!" She said taking a step in your direction. She asked for help but still was set on wanting to show everyone that she was good enough. "Do you think I'm not good enough to be a gym leader?!" She asked a bit more aggressive. It's not often that you see like this… All this situation is getting to her more than you thought.
"Do you?" You simply asked trying to look calm, your pulse accelerating. You really wanted to help your best friend and you hoped this worked. You just needed to confirm your suspicions. "Do you think you are good enough?" You clarified. She stopped and took a step back. This was something that… No one asked her before. Not directly. She was always fighting for the chance to show she was worth the title… But was she? She didn't want to answer that so she kept silent, not looking at your eyes. You took that as an invitation to keep talking. "Do you think I'm good enough to be the next champion?"
She wanted to reflexively answer. To encourage her friend and say yes instantly… But then thought about it for a second. After watching him train… He wasn't ready, not yet. "Maybe…" She started to say. "Maybe if you train enough…? Maybe if… If we get strong enough…" She murmured the last part, still not easy to admit what she implied.
"I don't think this is about strength…" You took a step in her direction, closing the distance. She didn't move, she didn't look at you. "Even if we managed to get the strongest pokemon in the world this instant… I don't think I would be a good champion. I don't think you would be ready to be the gym leader." She looked down and closed her eyes hard. Your words hurt. Hurt because she knew how accurate they were. You sighed, now having to admit yourself something you didn't want to say. "I… Don't even know if I want to be the champion… I mean, everyone wants the title but why? Why do I want it? Because that's what I should want as a trainer? That… Doesn't feel right." A weight is lifted from your shoulders. This is… the first time you tell this to someone out loud. Akahime managed to deduce it but you never admitted it… Maylene seems surprised by your words but doesn't know what to say. She looks at you, her eyes slightly red, holding back tears.
"I… Don't know if I want to be a gym leader either…" She whispered, hoping you would not hear it, hoping you would just forget she said it. She knew it was too late to go back, to try to keep looking like she was sure of her own abilities. "I wasn't even supposed to be the leader… I always wanted the position but I knew it wouldn't happen in a long time. I just wanted to be like my master… I wanted to help people and give good advice and help other girls that never see their parents…" Her shoulders started to tremble. You got closer. She was looking at the ground. "I trained a lot and went I felt ready I started my pokemon journey with a friend… But then the best student left and the master had a heart attack and I had to return and help and… The tradition says that the best student has to be the next leader and now that was me. I had plans… I wanted to keep training, to travel with you when you finished studying, to do a lot of things… But now everyone relies on me and people are getting hurt and I don't know what to do!" She was openly crying now. It's been years since you've seen her like this. She's been fighting with her own feeling for some time now and this is probably the first time she truly says what she thinks.
You don't doubt for a second. You finish closing the distance and warp your arms around the lithe body. It wasn't the first time you had to calm down a crying Maylene. She seemed surprised by the sudden contact but the years spent together quickly rushed to her mind and she hugged you closer. Her tears on your chest as she grabbed your clothes with some strength.
"M-my master told me… That a gym leader should know what to do… T-that I was ready enough to know what to do… But I don't!" She said while trying to fight back sobs.
You moved one of your hands to start lightly caressing her head, thinking about what she just said and the situation. "Maybe…? What would he say to you if you didn't know what to do?" You asked. She was starting to calm down, at least enough to talk more normally… She still wasn't letting go of you.
"I… He would tell me to take a step back… To look at the situation and try something else…" She said starting to talk more slowly, realizing something. You smiled.
"I think you already knew what to do. You just were too focused on the wrong thing." She moves her head backwards to look at you, sniffling. Her eyes and nose red, a look of realization on her face.
"I… Need to take a rest and discover why and how I want to be a gym leader…" She said, releasing you. A slight smile on her tear-stained face. "Seems like the kind of cryptic bullshit test my master would do to make me realize stuff on my own." She laughed or tried but it was a soft one, unlike her usual energetic laughs. Still recovering from all the emotions raging inside her.
You two heard something behind you. You were so distracted with the conversation that you didn't realize Nalle arriving and listening to the whole thing. He now was openly crying with a handkerchief covering his nose and mouth, cleaning them. He seems to be crying much harder than Maylene did. He always was pretty emotional.
"I'M SORRY LITTLE ONES! YOUR UNCLE FAILED YOU!" He shouted before groveling in front of you too. You and Maylene tried to stop him as he firmly planted his forehead on the ground. Last time you've seen him this emotional… Was when Maylene called him «Uncle Nalle» and he took it way too seriously.
"W-wait, Nalle…" You started to say, the pressure you and Maylene felt was slowly dissipating as the situation became less heavy for both of you.
"I'M NOT GOOD TO LEAD AND MASTER TOLD ME TO TAKE CARE OF THE CHILDREN BUT I'M NOT GOOD AT THAT EITHEEER!" He kept… saying in a really loud voice. He then used his handkerchief to blow his nose making even more noise. This time Maylene was the one to talk. She quickly used her arm to get rid of most of her tears.
"Nalle, don't worry. You did your best and now I know what to do!" She said trying to sound more cheerful. At least having to cheer someone else up always helped forget about your problems.
Nalle then stood up. The giant of a man looked more determined than you've ever seen him. "I will not fail you again. I will make sure everything goes okay while you learn to be great leader!" He said in a more manageable volume. You then realized that he had a huge bandage over his chest. Maylene seemed to wince for a moment when she looked at it but Nalle refused to let that occupy your minds. "Oh, this? This is only war wound! Wife hits harder than Scythers!" He shouted before starting to pose to show it didn't hurt at all. Something he CLEARLY wasn't supposed to do.
Before you could stop him, he was already dragging both of you into the gym's living space saying something about dinner and food making everyone happier. You had to call your sister to tell her you would spend the night at the gym, even if her teasing was too much.
Maylene still liked to use videogames to decompress, so you weren't just going to go home and not kick her ass until you both fell asleep.
Turns out that she was much better a videogames than when you were children.
⁂
The next day it was training time. You don't understand how Maylene can be up at six in the morning after playing until late at night. Probably an aura thing.
She wanted to use as much time as possible to train, so she dragged you out of bed, got breakfast for you and your pokemon and then dragged you to the training room.
She had two options knowing you still wanted to get Belle into your team. After last night admitting that you were still kind of weak she thought that it was as much of a good idea as actually focusing on training, so she would help you.
[] Focus on training Maelstrom and Fang. You will still interact and train with Belle but it will not be the focus for the rest of the week.
[] Focus on team-building exercises with Belle. You will still train your pokemon and make them stronger but the main focus will be getting Belle to trust you.
Maylene relationship +1
