A Tale of Two Rivals

Soledad Talks About the Path Forward

Soledad just continued to watch me as I spoke to her, asking what she thought I was missing in both my life and in my contest routine. As I had said before, my view was painfully focused the entire time she had talked on the mug in my hand. Honestly speaking, I was really just trying to distract myself from exactly what I had continued to hear from Soledad about the girl in the red bandana. I never liked admitting to having been wrong, and I suppose that she was trying to get me to understand the situation this time around. She probably thought it would wind up benefitting me in the end.

Soledad: I think that you're not admitting to having found a rival in May to yourself.

Soledad actually beamed an extremely winning smile at me like I had made some kind of gigantic stride forward in my life and in my coordinating career. She even had the nerve to look at me like she was proud of me for it. I admit that I could only scoff at what Soledad had said about the girl in the red bandana that time. I just felt very somber about it.

Yours Truly: A rival is only the same as an equal.

Just when I thought I had finally won an argument against her, Soledad had actually managed a counterargument against me this time, too.

Soledad: That's not necessarily true. A rival is also someone who inspires you to do better than you'd always felt like you could. They're good at surprising you with new ideas and out of nowhere victories, and they're always pushing you to do better and try to remain one step ahead of they, themselves. They'll also help you out surprisingly by your own actions in giving them some advice from time to time. May has done all these things for you already, and I doubt I'd be surprised to discover that you just might have done a lot of the same things for her in return along the way.

I had furrowed my eyebrows within a highly concentrated expression on my face. I had decided to think a little about it for a second or two with my pursed lips. I started to recite what Soledad had told me about it in my head.

Soledad's voice (from inside my head): A rival is also someone who inspires you to do better than you'd always felt like you could.

I finally realized that that much was certainly true, especially in regards to my own Masquerain which I had caught not long after the Slateport Contest purely for the sake of outdoing the girl in the red bandana and her Beautifly merely by creating a better and brighter Silver Wind than they had ever done.

Soledad's voice (from inside my head, continued): They're good at surprising you with new ideas and out of nowhere victories, and they're always pushing you to do better and try to remain one step ahead of they, themselves.

I suppose that that much was just as true as the other bit of trivia that Soledad had given me about her. The girl in the red bandana had come out and surprised me with her victory that day. She'd been the complete opposite of the girl I had seen in the Slateport City pokémon contest. She'd managed to demonstrate concentration and calmness, she had been such a fierce yet tactical battler. Definitely different from what she had displayed herself as in the Slateport contest.

Then there was the part about the girl in the red bandana having pushed me to do better than normal. Yes, that third sentiment was just as true as the other two. I did show off my prior ribbons to the girl in the red bandana. I had deliberately wanted that May girl to ask me how many ribbons I had obtained prior to the Fallarbor contest. I did it all solely for the sake of drinking in her reaction of shock and just revel in it like she was my favorite coffee drink. Yes, her reaction to my contest ribbons had been that addictive and tempting towards my senses, even before then. I guess I simply did not realize how much I had longed for her reaction to my ribbons.

Soledad's voice (from inside my head, continued): They'll also help you out surprisingly by your own actions in giving them some advice from time to time.