Learning Curve

by Whiscash

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Pokémon. I'll let you know if that ever changes. I'm just borrowing the characters for a while for an entirely non-profit work of fiction.

Rating: PG.

Pairing: Maylene/Candice.

Warnings: None, really, except if you're sensitive to (very tame) female/female content.

Summary: Maylene never expected someone like Candice would understand.

Notes: I haven't seen any of the animé appearances of these two, so characterization's based off the games; hopefully I haven't got them too OOC.

"Well, you all know how it is, I'm sure. I know these kids are trying, but…sometimes you just want to be challenged. Don't you?"

As a general murmur of agreement ripples through the circle, Maylene nods and tries to look like she knows how it is. It's a few hours into the "informal gathering" of Sinnoh gym leaders, and most of them are standing by a buffet table, listening to Volkner, Sunyshore's leader, talking about how his job is just too easy.

This is only Maylene's third one of these, in the year since she became the Veilstone City gym leader, but she knows well enough how they tend to pan out. The other guys are always friendly, but sometimes she can't help wondering if they're all secretly judging her. Because the truth is, she doesn't know how it is; in fact, she has no idea how it must feel to effortlessly beat all your challengers.

As Volkner continues, she realizes the plate she's been holding for the last few minutes is still empty. None of the food looks appealing, but she probably ought to eat something anyway. She takes a burger.

"Sometimes you go a little easy on them, though, right?" says Gardenia, who's standing next to Maylene, tilting her head quizzically. "You get – I mean, most of them are pretty strong – but I had this kid the other day with a Bidoof…and nothing else…"

They all laugh at this, although Volkner frowns slightly afterwards.

"Maybe sometimes, but the rules do say –"

"'Scuse me." A flash of blue and white squeezes by Maylene's other side, leaning over to pick up a plate. It's a girl with two long plaits, flicking them both over her shoulder so they don't end up covered. Maylene recognizes her as Candice, the Snowpoint City leader. Straightening up with her plate full, she asks "What are we talking about?"

"Just about how hard it is being so obviously better than everyone else," Gardenia replies, rolling her eyes in Volkner's direction. He grins good-naturedly.

"I'm just saying…"

"I haven't missed much, then." Candice glances down at Maylene's plate, and a look of distaste flickers across her face. "Ew, are you going to eat that? I heard those are Miltank burgers."

There's a general groan of "Don't say that!", "I've just eaten", "They wouldn't do that", and so on, while Maylene looks dumbly down at her untouched burger.

"No, not if…is it really that bad?"

"Pretty bad." She grimaces. "But – okay – possibly not Miltank. I may have been exaggerating. Just a little." Then she grins, and Maylene finds herself smiling back.

"Maybe not, then." She puts her plate back down on the table edge. "I wasn't that hungry anyway."

"The food here's never been that great. But I'm guessing you know that by now. You'd think…" Candice breaks off. "Hey, you train Fighting types, right?"

Maylene nods cautiously. She's anticipating a comment about how she doesn't look like your usual Fighting gym leader, but it doesn't come.

She jerks her head towards the next room, reserved for practice battles. "You want to practice? Only I'm Ice, and I think it's good to go against your weaknesses, you know…"

Maylene wants to make an excuse – sure, she has the type advantage, but Candice is a lot of gyms ahead of her. But she can't come up with anything fast enough, and finds herself saying "Sure."

"Great. Guys –" She waves her hand in the air, presumably to attract the attention of the others. It largely fails – only Roark looks over at them curiously. "We're going to battle. Anyone want to watch?"

"Hmm?" Volkner raises his head, like he's just noticed Candice is there (although frankly, Maylene thinks, she is hard to miss). "Oh – no, you go ahead. I think we've all had our fill."

"Unless you wanted us to," Roark offers. "Cause I'd…"

Candice looks at Maylene. "Do we want an audience?"

She shrugs, suddenly uncomfortably aware everyone's looking at them.

"No, I think we're okay." Candice decides. She puts her arm through Maylene's, tugging her in the general direction of the door to the other room. "So let's do this!"

Battling, Maylene relaxes a little; it's only a practice, she tells herself, and no one's watching, so there's no pressure. They keep it simple, one-on-one. She goes with Meditite and Candice uses Sneasel.

It's a close match. Candice, to Maylene's fascination, totally changes when she's battling. She's focused, determined, completely in tune with her Pokémon and its moves. Maylene's impressed; she'd always thought Candice seemed nice, but kind of ditzy. She knew she must be good – she's the second-highest ranking, after all, after Volkner - but she'd never been able to imagine her in battle.

Maylene, though, has never taken her training lightly. She and Meditite have been together a long time, and he's learned to anticipate her orders before she even gives them. Sneasel's fast and cunning, but she knows what they have to do to win. And – to her satisfaction – they do.

Maylene can see, as soon as she returns Sneasel to the Pokéball, that Candice is surprised; shocked, even. She'd been expecting to win, even with the type disadvantage. But if she's annoyed, she doesn't show it – she bursts into applause almost immediately. Maylene smiles awkwardly, looking down at the floor.

"That was a great match! You're good. You and Meditite, obviously."

"Thanks. I, um…I train a lot." Maylene hopes she's not coming off big-headed. "You are, too." She has to say it, of course, but she still means it. "You and Sneasel."

"Thanks. I had fun." Candice looks uncharacteristically embarrassed. "Could you, um…I mean, you seem to know a lot. About battling. Would you mind telling me what I did wrong?" She pauses. "Just so I know what to work on. Feedback's important, you know?"

"Oh, I…Sure, well, okay…You didn't do anything wrong exactly." Maylene flusters. She's not used to people looking at her the way Candice is now; intently, like she's trying to take in everything she says. She especially isn't used to giving advice to her "betters", as her dad used to call them. "Listen to other trainers", he'd say when she first started out. "They're your betters".

"It's just strategy really," she manages to say eventually. "Like just then – if you have the type disadvantage, you need to approach the battle differently. Because you can't just rely on your most powerful moves. So you have to work harder and try to… predict your opponent's moves. Think about what they're going to do and adapt to it. That kind of thing. It really varies with the opponent." Pause. "Well, that's one way, I mean, I don't know that much …"

Candice nods thoughtfully. "No, that's all great. I'll remember it." She digs in her shoulder bag and pulls out a little blue-cased Pokégear. "Have I got your number? We could swap tips. Train together sometimes. If you wanted to."

She really is serious about this, Maylene thinks, fumbling for her own Pokégear. "No, I don't have your number. Yes, training would be good. Let me just…" They swap Pokégears, entering their respective numbers.

"Awesome." Candice is smiling again as she hands Maylene's Pokégear back, looking more like Maylene remembers her. "So we should probably…"

A sudden loud knock on the door makes them both jump.

"Someone in there?" a voice calls. "Still battling? It's closing time."

"No," Candice calls back. "We're just leaving."

On her journey back to Veilstone, Maylene wonders if Candice really does want to train with her. She can't see it happening, since she lives all the way up in Snowpoint, and there are plenty of stronger people around.

But she still feels oddly honoured by the sentiment.

It turns out that Candice does call her. Kind of a lot, actually. Like, in the middle of a battle (and Maylene's sure she only lost that time because the sudden noise distracted Lucario for long enough for her opponent to get a sneak attack in) if she feels it's necessary.

But it's kind of nice, because Maylene's life, since she became a gym leader, has been pretty much the same every day. She battles challengers. She works out. She trains her Pokémon. She works out with her Pokémon. Sometimes it gets exhausting, and she likes an excuse to just sit down and not have to be moving for a while.

She likes talking to Candice, too. At first it's mostly just battle tips and stories about the weird challengers they've both had recently. Gym leader stuff, basically. But she figures out quickly that Candice just likes to talk, about pretty much everything. It's nice, she finds, not to have to be so serious all the time.

Gradually, they find out more about each other. Candice tells Maylene how she used to want to be a Pokémon coordinator, "because I always liked Pokémon from when I was little, and I liked pretty things, and I guess I liked the idea of dressing Pokémon up to look pretty and stuff." Pause. "That probably sounds dumb to you, huh?"

"No," Maylene protests, although she never really did "get" contests, herself. "I know what you mean."

"Snowpoint isn't a big contest city, anyway. But when I had Pokémon, battling started to make sense – it's a mutual thing, you know? You work and they work and it's about what you achieve together."

Maylene is nodding, even though Candice can't see her – because that's exactly it, and it's what makes all her hard work – most of the time – worth it, and she never expected someone like Candice to understand. Hearing her say it like that makes a huge, stupid grin start to spread across her face.

"Hello? May? You still there?" Oh, right, she hasn't said anything yet.

"Sorry, I'm here. That's – yeah, I think you're right." And she tells Candice about how she started out, how her parents were always serious about Pokémon, like they were a career choice, and they expected her to be the same. How she always felt this connection with Fighting Pokémon, because they had such strength of mind as well as physical power, and she admired that.

"When I met Meditite, I could tell that he hated to lose as much as I did," she explains. "So then it was like…a pact we had. To work hard and be stronger – both of us." She's not just talking about battling, either.

"That's so sweet," Candice says, and Maylene frowns for a second, wondering if she detects a mocking tone. But no, she thinks, she does mean it as a compliment. "Sweet" isn't a word Maylene's been taught should be associated with Fighting type trainers, but she doesn't think she minds too much. "Oh, hey – sorry, I really have to go. I've kept this guy waiting for forever. I think one of the trainers told him I was out to lunch."

Maylene glances at her watch. "It's nearly three o'clock."

"It was a very long lunch." Candice giggles, and Maylene does too. "Talk to you soon. Good luck with all the training and stuff." A beep, and she clicks off.

Maylene puts her Pokégear away, feeling vaguely guilty about all the time she's wasted. Lucario has been standing there the whole time, and is now looking at her curiously.

"Come on," she tells him, getting to her feet. "Back to work."

Maylene wonders if it's her, or if the challengers lately are getting tougher. She's always wondered – no one ever really talks about it, maybe it's a code of honour among gym leaders or something – just how easily she's expected to win.

She thinks back to Volkner at the last meeting: "Give me a challenge!" Maylene seems to get plenty of challenges. When she's giving out more than three badges a day, she starts to wonder if she's just not good enough. Or training hard enough. But she doesn't see how that's possible – when she's not battling, she's training. She couldn't work harder.

She tries not to let it get to her – she doesn't want her Pokémon to feel bad, for one, and it's instilled in her not to dwell on these things, only to focus on being better, working harder, proving yourself…

One day, though, it's too much. It's an unexpectedly busy day – she has no time for training, challengers come one after another. After she loses to the first trainer (a young boy who can't have been training that long, but still gives Meditite a match with his Staravia), she just can't focus like normal. She hands out badge after badge, forcing herself to smile and tell the challenger they did a great job and they earned it, when all she wants to do is give up and just go and lie down somewhere.

When it's finally closing time, she goes down to the Pokémon Centre to rest an exhausted Lucario. Maylene has the horrible feeling that she's let him down – let all of her Pokémon down, for that matter.

"You were really great today," she tells him, stroking the top of his head. "I know I work you hard sometimes, and I –" She can't quite bring herself to say "sorry", because she's scared of getting too emotional in public. This isn't what gym leaders are supposed to do. "Today wasn't your fault. We had an off-day. But we'll do better next time."

Lucario just nods, but Maylene knows he understands.

Her Pokégear bleeps, and after a disapproving look from the nurse behind the counter, Maylene returns Lucario to his Pokéball and goes outside to answer it.

It's Candice, full of stories she's heard about changes in the gym leaders' union, or whatever it's called, Maylene can't really concentrate.

"…which would totally ruin everything. I mean, uniform? What do they think we are?" Candice stops to draw breath. "Sorry, I'm rambling. So how are you – everything going okay?"

"I guess," Maylene mumbles, unconvincingly. Then she blurts out, without thinking about it, "Candice, when – you don't have to tell me if you don't want to but – when did you last lose?"

There's a pause, and Maylene's dreading the answer – so long ago she can't even remember? – or that she might have broken the unspoken code. But then it comes: "Um, yesterday? No – the day before that. This guy, he had a Camerupt – totally wiped us out."

"Oh." Maylene considers this.

"Did you have a rough day?" The concern in her voice is almost too much – Maylene, to her horror, feels tears prick her eyes. She squeezes them shut, telling herself, you will not let this make you cry.

"Sort of. I lost…I just feel bad. Like I've let my Pokémon down, and…sometimes I just think, maybe I shouldn't be doing this…" She takes a deep breath, trying to compose herself.

"May, you should be doing this," Candice interrupts. "Believe me. We all lose – it happens – but you haven't let anyone down. Look on it like, at least you made people happy by giving them the badge."

Maylene has tried this, but it didn't, in truth, make her feel a whole lot better. "I guess…"

"My first week? We actually ran out of badges, I was giving them away so fast. One guy offered to tutor me!"

Maylene manages a laugh. "Really?"

"Oh yeah. And anyway – you probably don't need me to tell you this – but you're good. Not just strong – although you are, obviously – but the way you battle is..." Candice stops suddenly. "Wow, I sound like the head of your fanclub or something."

Maylene smiles, properly this time. "Fanclub? I wish – but you can start one if you want. And – for what it's worth – you don't need tutoring either."

"Right? That's what I told him," she huffs, and Maylene realizes she's feeling better, a little bit lighter than before. "But yeah – don't let this stuff get you down. Win, lose, it's all part of the learning curve. Right?"

Maylene nods, before remembering Candice can't see her and echoing "Right."

"Okay, pep talk over. The other thing I heard…"

They talk a while longer. Maylene's grateful for the distraction, but she doesn't feel quite so bad any more. She lost, but she'll do better tomorrow. That's always the plan.

She empathizes with Candice about how it would suck if they have to wear "official gym leader uniforms", and promises she'll say something to Volkner if she sees him (even though she never sees him and probably wouldn't dare to anyway. Still, Candice seems convinced he's the one who can do something about it and Maylene doesn't want to discourage her), and eventually they say goodbye.

Maylene heads home, shivering against the cold, but feeling a new sense of resolve.

Things carry on in Veilstone City much the same way they always have. Maylene keeps working hard, always working hard, and she doesn't have another full day of losses. She loses a few times, of course, and never completely gets used to it, but she tries to take it in her stride. Challengers come and go. She talks to Candice most days, and some days it's the only thing keeping her going.

It's a freezing February morning, too early for any challengers, and Maylene's in the back of the gym doing weights with Meditite. Well, that's the idea, but in reality they're both struggling with it.

"Tite," Meditite complains eventually, rubbing his arm.

"Okay, good work, you can take a break for now." Maylene tells him. She casts a restless eye around the gym, wondering what to do next. There are the punching bags, or maybe she should go outside, or…

Suddenly there's a loud knock on the door. "Maylene!" It's Jim, who guards the entrance to make sure everyone coming in is an officially sanctioned trainer – he hadn't been here when Maylene had arrived. "Someone here for you."

"Coming," she calls back, thinking, already? You did get the odd trainer who was eager – so eager, in some cases, they would turn up outside your actual house on a holiday. But she'd banked on having a bit more time to prepare today.

She returns Meditite to his Pokéball and heads to the front of the gym. Instead of a badge-hungry trainer, though, she's greeted by a familiar voice

"I think it's great, what you've done in here. A gym should look like its type, you know what I mean?"

"Well, it wasn't really my job to…" Jim starts, but then shrugs and says "Nothing but the best. So, Snowpoint City – you must have come a long way?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess. But it wasn't so…" Candice spots Maylene, and waves her over. "Hey! I knew you'd be here already. You probably didn't expect me, did you?"

"Um, no, I didn't," Maylene agrees. But she doesn't feel as irritated as she normally would be at having her routine interrupted, somehow. "Do you want to come to the back? It's where I do all my training."

Candice follows her through to the back room, positioning herself on a rowing machine. Maylene doesn't have the heart to tell her it's not really meant for sitting on. "So…you look well."

"Thanks – you too," Maylene replies. She's sure she doesn't look well – her face is flushed and her hair is everywhere from her workout. Candice, of course, looks perfect. "Did your journey go okay?"

"Fine. Well – it takes a while. But it's worth it when you get here." She pauses, and for a second Maylene thinks – though it could be her imagination – she sees a faint blush on Candice's cheeks. Just slightly. "Um, you know – cause Veilstone is such a beautiful city."

Maylene nods, and then her brain automatically seems to snap back into training mode – there's no time for small talk. "Sorry – did you want to battle? Or we could train, or…" She gestures vaguely at the various exercise options, although the slightly alarmed look on Candice's face indicates neither she nor her Pokémon would be game for a session with the punching bag.

"Well…sure, that's oneoption." Candice says, carefully, so obviously unenthusiastic it makes Maylene smile. "Or, here's an idea – since I came such a long way – we should go and look around town instead?"

"I shouldn't really leave the gym…" Maylene starts, half-heartedly, but Candice is already shaking her head and standing up.

"May, you work too hard. Believe me, this will be good for you. And me. And probably all of your challengers too."

So Maylene lets Candice drag her out, protesting every so often but actually kind of enjoying it. Candice tells Jim they're going to do "important gym leader stuff" and to put challengers on hold til tomorrow, and – for the first time in a very long time - she leaves the gym behind. It feels like she's doing something she shouldn't, but also gives her a weird sense of…freedom.

Shopping isn't really Maylene's thing, except when it's for stuff she strictly needs. The first time she'd told Candice this, she'd reacted as if Maylene had said she wasn't big on breathing. But Candice is eager to see the department store, and it turns out her enthusiasm is infectious.

"Oooh, look at this…and that…and these! Okay, that's totally unnecessary…but this!" Candice picks up a pink polka-dotted bow. "Isn't this perfect?"

"Why, though?" Maylene can't help asking, and Candice rolls her eyes.

"I don't know, because some of us like our Pokémon to look nice? Or even…" She holds the bow up against Maylene's head. "There – doesn't that look cute?"

"They're for Pokémon," Maylene laughs, batting it away. "Do I look like a Pokémon to you?"

"Nothing in the rules that says people can't wear them too." She holds it against one of her own plaits, considering. "It's good to mix it up, you know."

"And some of us don't have time for these things because we're seriousgym leaders…" Maylene starts, shaking her head mock-despairingly, and giggles when Candice throws the bow at her in retaliation. "Hey, I don't think you're supposed to do that…"

"Maybe not – but you're only saying that cause you know I'd beat you in an accessory-fight," Candice bends down to pick up the offending item, and grins when she catches Maylene's eye. "Anyway, I'm buying this. Then maybe we can go find something more to your taste."

They do, as it happens, find lots of things to Candice's taste and even some to Maylene's. Despite Candice's attempts to convince Maylene she should be "trying something different – not that what you're wearing now doesn't look great – but you don't have to dress for the gym all the time, you know?" Maylene realizes she's actually having fun. She barely even feels guilty about leaving the gym.

They cover most of the shops in Veilstone – Candice seems to know the area better than Maylene does, and she's lived here her whole life – but still end up back at the department store. Candice eventually reluctantly agrees that maybe Maylene's right and they should do something at least vaguely training-related.

While Maylene looks at all the fancy new training items on offer (she's not fully convinced that a lot of these "training aids" aren't just dressed-up drugs for Pokémon), Candice wanders off.

Maylene's debating the pros and cons of a muscle belt – it says it's designed for Machoke, but she thinks maybe it could help Meditite with some of the harder moves – when she sees Candice talking to one of the guys behind the counter.

As they talk, he slips something across the counter – Maylene can't see what it is. Candice leans over, laughing at something he's saying, and Maylene realizes she's staring.

She looks away, focusing her attention on the bottle of Protein she hadn't realized she'd been holding and wondering why there's a funny feeling in her stomach. She hasn't eaten for a while, maybe that's it. She'll suggest to Candice they get something to eat in a minute. If she can drag herself away.

She reappears a moment later, and Maylene puts the Protein back on the shelf. She feels the need to explain herself, "I don't realize. I was just…curious."

"Me neither. But I've heard things…about certain people, naming no names." Candice widens her eyes meaningfully. "You didn't hear it from me, though, right?"

"I won't say anything if you won't. So anyway…" Maylene tries to keep her voice casual (even though there's no reason why it shouldn'tbe casual), "what were you talking to that guy about?"

"Hmm? Oh – he was just trying to sell me TMs." They're walking back to the elevator by this time. Candice puts on a fake deep voice. ""You may not need any help Attracting people, miss, but maybe your Pokémon could…" – seriously, what a line. And –" She waits until they're in the elevator and the doors are closed. "Did you see him? I think I'd rather date my Pokémon, to be honest."

Maylene giggles guiltily, and says "Harsh", but part of her is inexplicably pleased. She's not quite sure what to think about this, so she ignores it. "Are you hungry?"

They both are, luckily, so Maylene takes Candice to one of her favourite cafés in the city. It's a pretty small place, down a side street, and not too crowded at this time of day.

Sitting down and dropping her bag, Maylene says "I can't believe you made me buy a top hat for Lucario."

"Hey," Candice raises her arms, feigning innocence. "I didn't make you buy anything. I only said I thought it would look good…"

"Yes, but…a top hat!" Maylene repeats, incredulously, but she can't help smiling. "I wouldn't have bought it before – it's all your fault."

Candice shrugs, examining the menu. "What can I say? I'm a bad influence. So, anyway, what's good here?"

They end up sharing a huge plate of nachos, something else Maylene doesn't think she should be doing, but luckily is hungry enough not to care. They eat mostly in silence.

After a while, Candice says "Maylene?"

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?" It's the most serious Maylene's ever heard her sound, and something about it unnerves her. Candice plays with her hair, looking…well, shy, as hard as it is to believe.

"Sure," Maylene replies tentatively, wondering what could possibly be so important, and thinking that good news is rarely prefaced by those words.

"Do you always have to wear that plaster?" Instinctively, Maylene reaches up to touch the plaster on her nose. "Cause I think you've had it on every time I've ever seen you, and I just wondered…It's not, like, a medical condition or something, is it? Cause just – ignore me, if it is, I'm sorry."

"No, Candice – it's fine, seriously," Maylene interrupts, feeling both relieved and oddly touched Candice should be so apparently concerned for her feelings. "What it is – when I first started using punching bags, I was always getting smacked in the face. So I started just putting the plaster on before I did anything, just for protection. I guess it just became part of my routine, I do it pretty much every day now."

"Right." Candice takes a sip of her drink, apparently thinking. "So you don't have to wear it, then?"

Maylene shakes her head, thinking she might have more of an idea of what's coming now. She might have known it'd be some kind of fashion agenda.

"Can I…?" Candice shifts her seat closer, hesitantly, awkwardly. Maylene shrugs, as if acknowledging that resistance is futile, and leans forward to let her take the plaster off.

She's not prepared for how she feels when Candice leans over, steadying one hand on Maylene's shoulder, and carefully peeling the plaster off with the other. Their faces are barely an inch apart, and Maylene feels…hot, suddenly, even though it's the middle of winter and not particularly warm in here. There's a strange, tight feeling in her chest. When Candice's thumb briefly brushes across her nose, there's a jolt of electricity so strong it almost makes her jump.

Maylene's not sure if Candice notices, but she sits back almost immediately, removing her hands from Maylene's face like she's just been burned. "So, um…"

"Yeah, that's…"

They exchange slightly awkward smiles, and Maylene touches where her plaster used to be. "How is that?"

Candice looks her up and down, as though appraising her work. "Yeah, that looks great. Although you kind of worked the look before, actually – it looked cute. But this is better."

Maylene rubs at her nose self-consciously – her skin's still sticky. "You think?"

"Definitely." Candice confirms, smiling satisfactorily, and Maylene – what is this? – finds herself blushing again.

She eats another nacho to distract herself, and Candice seems preoccupied with turning the remains of Maylene's plaster into a ball, then flicking it away.

Unfortunately, it hits one of the only other people in the café – a serious-looking guy in a suit a few tables away. He brushes it off his shoulder (of all things, it had to be her plaster) and glares over at them.

"Oops. Sorry!" Candice calls over, widening her eyes apologetically, but when she catches Maylene's eye they both dissolve into giggles. That's probably their cue to leave.

They head back to the gym, even though it's really too late for any challengers now. But Maylene figures she should spend some time in there.

"Today was fun," Candice says. "I know there was no training, but…"

"No, it was – really fun." Maylene agrees. "We can train some other time."

Candice widens her eyes in mock amazement. "Did youreally just say that? Wow." Then she grins, pulling Maylene into a hug she's not quite expecting. "So I'll see you. Call me. Or I'll call you. Or whatever."

Watching her leave, Maylene reflects that it really has been the most fun she's had in a long time.

And also that she's sort of wishing Candice could stay longer, even though by all logical accounts she should be feeling bad about neglecting her training and making all sorts of plans for how she can make up for it tomorrow.

She really is a bad influence.

Thanks for reading, reviews always appreciated! =)