I did it, i finally beat Mela.
it kinda took 3 videos, the first time i realised i wasn't strong enough for the grunts, the second time i actually lost in combat, and this video where even after learning from my mistakes it was still a difficult fight. you can hear my emotions when i finally won.
It's a long video because i wandered around, levelling up, checking Tera Raid Battles, and catching new Pokémon. i ventured a bit further away than i had before and caught a handful of new Pokémon i had never seen before. i also spent a little time sorting out the moves of my Pokémon. But we saw that i had reached a level cap, i need the next badge to increase the level of Pokémon who will obey me. I had at least one battle where i used a Pokémon too high a level and they ignored me a bit.