~No - I - stop, stop! Forfeit! We forfeit! Please!~

"Alright Sudy, you heard her," Mariano said.

The sudowoodo gave the pokemon a last contemptuous kick.

#

~We forfeit!~ the girl shouted as his machoke went in for the next blow. She was already moving onto the field.

"What are you doing, you idiot!" Elijah shouted, as his machoke redirected the punch at the last moment. "You never get in the middle of a pokemon battle!"

She wasn't even listening. She was standing next to the mawile. Small tears had welled up in its eyes. Good god, was he seriously seeing - "Hey, fake tears isn't supposed to work on the trainer, you know! How stupid are you?"

She looked to him and burst into tears. ~How can you say that?~

"I'm sorry!" he said immediately. "Forget it, we'll stop."

#

~Stop! Stop! I forfeit!~

Zack's bunary hesitated, glancing back at him. Not sure what to make of this, he shrugged back. "You know, you're not doing so - " But she'd already run into the middle of things like an idiot with a death wish, so there wasn't much point in saying they could've continued.

#

~I forfeit!~

Her flareon's jaws shut, cutting off the flames, and the pokemon took an uncertain step back. Sara's opponent ran onto the field, hovering anxiously over her seedot. After a second, the seedot burst into tears. ~ I'm sorry! I'm sorry! ~ She flipped her bag over her head - did she not even know how backpacks worked? - and started to rifle through the pockets.

"You know that's fake, right?" Sara cut in.

The girl looked between her and the seedot. Evidently not. "The tears. It's not really hurt."

The girl gestured at the seedot. ~He's burned.~

The seedot's exterior had changed from beige to marginally deeper beige. "That's ridiculous. You'd see a glow and smoke if it was smoldering. Believe me, I know what burns look like."

~That's being on fire!~ The girl's face was staying calm, but she sounded like she was seconds away from similar waterworks.

"Look, just - calm down. If you're worried, put it back in its pokeball. You can bring it to a pokecenter." And the people there can listen to you go on about how serious your pet's boo-boos are.

#

~Stop!~

There was an audible crunch as the clefairy was squeezed tighter.

~Stop! Forfeit, we're forfeiting, stop it!~

"What the hell," Huan said, watching the seviper uncoil and Dazzle crawl free. "What do you mean, forfeit? You think I'm that much of a weakling? Keep going!"

~I don't want,~ the girl said. ~We're just. Just this isn't right. I. We. We're stopping.~

"We are not! Dazzle, psychic! We're winning this!"

"Cle!" Dazzle shoved herself back to her feet and held out her hands. Swirling energy shot out, only to slam into a wall of light. Whoa. He hadn't realized seviper could do that.

That same seviper jumped through the wall, sinking its fangs into his clefairy's side. Then it smashed the smaller pokemon into the ground repeatedly, until it turned into red light.

The pokeball in the girl's hands shut. She turned and ran, disappearing behind a rock.

"Hey!" He chased after her, but as soon as he rounded the corner, there was no sign of her. "It's a good thing you're a fast runner!" he shouted at the emptiness. "Because you're never going to be able to fight off any wild pokemon around here! Go run back to the city and tell Mommy and Daddy fights are too scary!"

#

~I forfeit.~

#

~I forfeit.~

#

~I forfeit.~

#

"I can do it," Mouthless Mirror said, trying to sound confident. "I said I'd help you. It's scary, but it's not like I'm going to die. I trust you. Trust me. Let me see how far I can get the next time."