Borne of Caution (Pokemon Isekai)

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"Thank you for your time, Professor. We know your work is important, so we'll let you get back to it."

Nigel doesn't let the relief show on his face. He can't until the meeting ends and the video feed to the Academic Board directors is cut. "No, thank you, gentlemen, for being so generous and accommodating," Nigel says, expertly keeping the poison he wants to add to each word in check. "I'm sure I can convince Brendan, Lee, and their pokemon to participate in advanced studies once their meteoric run in the Hoenn circuit comes to a close."

On Nigel's monitor, each one of the shadowy faces smiles, pleased as punch.

Two of the most prominent trainers in the hottest league year in recent memory representing the Lab, and thus the Academic Board? That's as good as an eight badge collection to the board directors, something ripe for misplaced bragging. No doubt each one of them is crowing about Lee and Brendan to their peers in other regions as if they personally mentored the pair.

With a final few traded platitudes and backpats, the old zubats on the board finally let the meeting come to a close. As the last video feed on his monitor blinks out, Nigel groans and leans back into his chair.

"No sneers, no upturned noses, barely even a frown the entire meeting, but I'm still exhausted." The professor wipes his brow despite the temperature outside barely cracking sixty-five fahrenheit. "Brendan and Lee are raking in so much cash for the lab, but if this keeps up, I'm going to need to hire a wrangler for them."

As if speaking the names triggers a spell, Nigel's computer bings with a new email, and he hesitates for a moment before looking at the top of his inbox.

New mail from: Lhenson@hoennpkmnlab.org
Subject: Logs and Research

"Please be mild…" Nigel prays before opening the email and looking inside, finding a few recordings and several zipped folders of documents.

Nigel clicks on one of the zip files, extracts the contents, and snorts when he sees the smorgasbord of research inside.

When he first started sending his logs and findings back, Lee started off with rather messy supporting documents in addition to his recordings, if he sent any at all. Over time, he got better and better about organizing things and making them neater, easier for Nigel to sort through and read.

Now? It's back to being a mess, and with a lot of file type variety and volume.

"We'll make a real professor out of you yet, Lee," Nigel smiles and opens the first recording.

"Log Twenty-eight, day one-hundred-seventy-nine."

"Some of the information in the following recordings might be sensitive, so I'm pausing for ten seconds to ensure you're alone, Nigel."

Nigel glances up at the closed door of his office, then turns the volume down on his computer for good measure.

As Lee said, the silence stretches for ten seconds, then he begins once more. "After much debate, the elders of the Draconid tribe decided to let us access a secret training ground of theirs for a few weeks. Zinnia said that with enough effort, it would let us condense months of training down into weeks. I admit, even with all the wild things I've experienced thus far in my short time as a trainer, this still had me skeptical. Now that I'm here?"

There is a pause, and the faint sound of Lee taking a deep breath.

"I understand."

Another beat of silence.

"According to Zinnia, this secret part of Meteor Falls, the 'Metronfall Krate', is teeming with Dragon Type Energy in the air, and I can feel it; we all can. My skin tingles, my mind turns, and my stomach flutters. It touches you in a primal place, and it's really kind of uncomfortable. I've nearly blurted out the first thing to come to mind several times today alone, and I'm keenly… aware of Zinnia and the few tribeswomen considered worthy enough to be down here. Ninetales is likewise having a few embarrassing thoughts, and I have to wonder if her connection to me is influencing that. Thankfully, the rest of my pokemon aren't bothered by much more than general restlessness. I've spoken to Brendan as well, just in case he needed help sorting himself out, but he's made of some stern stuff and takes his time before speaking and acting. I'm glad he's as mature as he is, because it would be hell if this nonsense forced some kind of awakening on him."

"I'm really wishing I had the equipment to better study the phenomenon. My theory is the ambient TE is radiating from the large meteor located in the central chamber, and is being carried along by the wall-penetrating crystal formations down here to permeate within the more remote parts of the chamber, but I'm not sure, and I have no idea if I'll be allowed down here again… Damn it!"

Nigel blinks and jumps slightly at the uncharacteristic outburst.

"Sorry. Like I said, everyone is on edge. Now, back to what I was saying."

"The training chamber supposedly magnifies growth based on the desire of the pokemon training within due to the Dragon TE in the air. Much like Ghost or Fairy TE, Dragon TE responds to emotional states, and in this case, that state is the want for power. The exact method is lost to me, but I imagine the TE is interacting with the bodies of the pokemon directly. I'll be recording growth carefully, and I already know a calorie bump is due. Ninetales ate a full meal only a while ago and already I can feel her hunger."

"Huh, maybe that's a point in the 'Dragon TE interacts with the body' theory."

"I still haven't figured out how exactly pokemon can command their own TE, let alone background TE. Novel brainwaves, maybe? I know I've never felt anything like when Ninetales uses her moves."

"I'm getting off track. Arceus-damned dragon radiation scattering my thoughts."

There is a scratchy laugh in the background, one that sounds a bit like Ninetales.

"Hey, it's not the first time radiation has cooked my brain. Ha!"

…

"Ech, that one was bad…"

"Anyway, we're going to be putting our noses to the grindstone. I've still got new TMs to hand out, we've all got moves to work on, and new strats to hammer down. We should have four-to-six weeks down here before we're not tolerated any further, and we're going to make it count."

"On unrelated news, I also… told Brendan, Zinnia, and their teams about my origins."

Nigel inhales sharply. "Lee, you did what?" he hisses to himself.

"It was high-time I let them in on it. It felt good to finally get it off my chest, and with the secret out, I could finally give them all the warnings and preparations for the future I've been wanting to. I did my best to steer them before, but now that they know how I know what I do, there's no second-guessing or worrying about motives."

As quickly as it came, Nigel's anxiety drains, and he lets out a sigh. It's damn hard to argue with reasoning like that, even if his fatherly side doesn't want to listen to reason at all.

'Keeping Brendan in the dark would have only caused more harm than good. That boy wouldn't listen if I told him to come home and not get involved.' Nigel shakes his head, both proud and a touch frustrated.

"Sylveon, despite some firm requests from me to abstain, kept her ribbons on me, and thus her touch-based empathic powers were active, as I explained. The shock when I revealed that I died made her sick, so tonight is going to be occupied by keeping an eye on her, resting, and drawing up some plans. Rest first, I think. My nine-tailed pillow is making me sleepy."

"That's all for this one. Lee, out."

Once the recording ends, Nigel opens up the several files that share the date with the recording, finding Lee's plans for his team within. The companion docs contain both scans from Lee's notebook, and some miscellaneous transcribed notes. On the top is a rough outline.

General - Up food intake and monitor. Bump up Sitrus allotment. Add Sitrus fresh to meals for max benefit. Daily measuring and weighing. DONT SKIMP ON THIS OR ####

Whatever Lee wasn't supposed to skimp on is smudged and unreadable.

Ninetales:
- Work on control in general.
- Perfect Iron Tail + work on variants.
- Practice Fox Fire + add more clones + fix stamina drain
- Begin work on Forbidden Sun (Protect to help with shape manip?)
- Dig to clown on Houndoom guy
- Hyper Beam next? (How to unleash power faster)
- Edit Double Team clones (opening the path to general illusions?)
- Meditate + learn to pain filter

Thoughts: I forget if I mentioned it, but I can feel Ninetales' pain when she's hit in battle. I don't mind it now, but it's prob a good idea to learn how to filter it anyway.

Nigel sets his jaw when he reads that. Lee has been feeling everything that harms Ninetales? "I hope Anabel can fix that…" he murmurs before going back to reading.

Grovyle:
- Smooth out Drain Blade(name pending)
- Sword Style
- Stay mobile every day to keep scars pliant
- SYNTHESIS
- Protect

Thoughts: Grovyle has a good foundation, and to make it better, I've been helping him learn an established sword-fighting style to use with his Leaf Blade. His control is so fine that he can change the shape and length of his blade, so I had him bend it forward so he can grip it like a real sword, giving him a much more dexterous method of attacking. Once the drain blade is finished, he should be a menace.

A Grovyle using a sword style? Novel. Nigel keeps going.

Corviknight:
- Super solid foundation. Work on whatever seems weakest I guess?
- Re-learn Extreme Speed. (Large body + fast = missing feathers from uneven inertia negation.)
- Roost regrows feathers. Feather throwing knife move? Dagger Pinion? Name pending.
- Spars w/ Shinx and Nine to up resistances to only weaknesses.
- Light Screen practice. Most Elec and Fire moves are energy based so this will go a long way.

Thoughts: Corvi is hard to plan for. He's already so strong and well-balanced. Perhaps we'll focus on upping his strengths rather than cover his comparatively few weaknesses. I think a Giga Impact TM is in his future.

Gosh, Lee's Corviknight is a goliath. Giving that bird Giga Impact would be insanity…

Shinx:
- Spar spar spar
- Daily elec output measuring. Make new fusebox toy.
- Try not to cry at idea of baby fighting.

Thoughts: Grew up too fast

"Welcome to the club, Lee," the professor grins ruefully.

Octillery:
- More moves
- Phys conditioning
- Work on TK assisted movement
- Payback TM
- Up Gunk Shot potency
- Toxic?

Thoughts: Octillery is a regular bag of tricks. I wanted to learn around his low mobility, but I taught him Psychic and we workshopped a telekinetic air cushion he can ride on to move quickly on land, and now Octillery wants no part in being slow. Still going to work on low mobility strats as a backup. Physically, he's the weakest of the battle-ready bunch, so some physical conditioning is due. I don't think he'll ever hit the hardest, so Poison sounds like a good fallback.

Yeesh. That won't be popular…

Sylveon:
- Phys conditioning
- Basics of battling
- Fix malnutrition (in progress)
- Study fairy to better help
- Look up TMs to learn
- Study Pixilate
- Practice Wish in mean time.

Thoughts: Sylveon is going to be a tough one. I don't know a lot about Fairy Type and Fairy masters either get off on being cryptic or are just boldfaced in their refusal to give up their knowledge. I should be able to figure everything out, but it'll take time. While that is in progress, I'll study Sylveon's ability, Pixilate, to see how it changes Normal moves to Fairy and have Sylveon work on her healing abilities with Wish. I know there will be no shortage of injuries around here.

Closing the file, Nigel then opens up the more detailed documents for each pokemon, only to blanch at the nauseating amount of text now in his face.
Move-Specific Training - Ninetales:
-Iron Tail (and Variants):

Perfecting control phase: Balance flexion and TE distribution across tail spines for uniform reinforcement. To be measured using Mohs picks and backseat mental monitoring. Tip reinforcement already possible, and showing promise.

Experiment with partial-phase Iron Tail (plating only 3 or 4 tails instead of all 9, then move into plating different sections of tail) for faster initiation, flexible attack and formation vectors, and surprise feints.

Potential offshoot: Use hardened tails to anchor body and ground electrical attacks. See diagram in Appendix C.

Nigel has to actually flip seventeen pages down before he gets to the labeled Appendix C, where he finds a sketch of Ninetales raising a tail colored graphite gray to absorb a lightning bolt, then redirecting the electricity into the ground with another tail darkened by pencil lead.

Lee's notes were impressive before, but now they all go into deep, almost excessive detail, and Nigel simply doesn't have the time to read all of it now. Putting them aside and resolving to dive into them later, he opens the next recording.

"Log Twenty-nine, day one-hundred-ninety-four."

"Training with the team continues each day, with Sunday as a rest day, and even after only a few days, we're getting some incredible results. I knew I shouldn't have doubted Zinnia."

"I'll leave the training recap to my notes, as I'd like to take the time for this recording to get some thoughts down after my meeting with Anabel and Lucian, which I think will be just as, if not more interesting."

"Lucian?" Nigel blinks.

"That's right. Lucian of the Sinnoh Elite Four, Anabel's mentor. I guess human psychics are rare enough that they like to keep in contact with each other. Didn't expect to meet such a figure."

"Anyway, the meeting with Anabel began rather normally. We spoke, went over telepathic etiquette, I gave her the rundown on what Nine and I are. That's where things got a little… not scary, but… No, it's not unsettling, either. I don't really know what to feel, honestly."

"See, it has to do with the nature of gestalts and how no one can really agree on what a gestalt is. Like I said previously, Ninetales and I are already a gestalt by the standards of some definitions, while others have deeper requirements. Anabel and her Espeon expressed some surprise with the clarity and speed at which Nine and I could communicate, and we asked some questions about the dangers of prolonged telepathic contact. Naturally, our pointed inquiries caused some considerable worry, and Anabel asked to inspect the connection between us. When they did, they were stumped."

"I can only liken it to a string with a color gradient on it. On one end is blue, and on the other, red. In the middle, there is a section of perfect purple, where it's neither red nor blue. Anabel and Espeon had no idea what was going on in our purple zone. Trying to peer into it produced a nonsensical, deafening psychic overload that neither could stand. They then turned their attention to the sides they could make sense of, those being the blue and red that make up me and Nine as individuals. They poked, prodded, pulled, and everything in between before deciding that the connection was firm and permanent. That's when Anabel called in Lucian for a second opinion, and he confirmed what Anabel said. They called the phenomenon the "holy grail" of telepathy, a "Concordant Singularity". Personally, I think the name sucks. Since Nine and I are the first functional example, I'm going to push to rename it."

"You know, before my time as a pokemon trainer, the idea of someone being able to hear my thoughts and see all my private moments all the time would have been horrifying. Now the thought of being alone is even worse. It's a huge weight off both of our chests that we're stable. Going back to being alone would be… unthinkable. I don't want to sound melodramatic, Nigel, but we think we'd rather risk de-… you know…"

A chill crawls down Professor Birch's spine, a sensation that is becoming way too common with Lee's recordings.

"It's an odd thing, to see into someone else just as much as they see into you, until it's suddenly not odd anymore and becomes everyday. You'd think the human brain would melt out the nose from the constant barrage of thoughts and sensations from another sentient mind, especially one so different. Or are we really that different after all? I asked myself that question a lot during my time with my zoo, about my animals. There are the obvious ones, like our bodies, but the mental parts should be more profound, right? Well, yes and no."

"I've always found that understanding animals, and pokemon, to a lesser extent, is like looking into a book with ninety percent of the words changed to another language, and trying to read it. Some of the books are also damaged, or have errors, or the grammar has unspoken rules to trip you up even further. It's difficult, and tilting your head pretending to do something only makes you feel better in the short term. The common words, like "Food", "Rest", "Safety", these make sense across the language barrier, but they only provide the barest context clues for the other words around them, and most of the book is still gibberish. Of course, you can sound out the words you don't know, emulate them, and roughly figure out the meaning when you talk to a native speaker and see their reaction, but you can never know the real meaning. Not for certain, at least. Now, imagine having one such book for every person you ever meet, and some of them are radically different from the others. Such is the life of an animal handler, and I took great pains to clear out the library."

"But with Nine? It's like… someone took that one book and reprinted it in plain Galarian with no errors, no metaphors, all in sharp and neat lettering. I can read it all day without tripping up and without straining my eyes. Everything is easy and makes sense, and frustration I didn't even know I had is washed away. Not only that, but now everyone else's books are less mysterious, because I have the clearest one possible chock full of clues to reference whenever I want. I've found myself understanding my pokemon more, both their words and them as people, as time goes on. Sometimes I even imagine voices when they talk, which is probably a side effect of having Nine's voice in my head all the time. All the prepwork beforehand with my animals has only made the process faster."

"There was never anything so terribly different between us, I think, other than what script we used in our books."

"Enough on that philosophical stuff for now. What Nine and I have is unique, and as such, we've asked if we could have Mable, the therapist you hired, sit in on the other meetings. She's insightful and good at what she does, and I want her input on how Nine and I should manage our relationship. Anabel agreed, so Mable will join as a third when she can."

"That's about all we had time for. I've sent the notes and… I'll have sent an email regarding my other encounter today long before you hear this."

"...Even hours later, Archie's words are still bothering me. Why do animals persist in the world when pokemon should have out-competed them? I don't want to entertain the notion that he's onto something, that the unexplainable presence of non-pokemon is an indicator of something divine gone wrong, as there are a lot of mysteries out there, but…"

"That's all for this one. Lee, out."

Nigel frowns, looking at the "archived" folder of his email inbox, where Lee's report of his encounter with Aqua's deranged leader sits. Animals and their frequently discovered holdouts are a mystery, but why would Archie obsess over it?

There is also the other email Lee sent shortly after that one. One with the supposed Draconid prophecy, and how disaster will strike on the summer solstice. Seems like superstitious hokey on the surface, but if Lee felt it dire enough that he reached out to Champion Stone like the email said, then Nigel won't totally disregard it.

Things are heating up in the wider world, and the professor makes a mental note to get his team back together, just in case.

Putting the grim thoughts aside, Nigel checks Lee's notes, and sure enough, it's a huge wall of speculative text and research that dead ends as Lee doesn't have the equipment or time to test his theories.

'I need to make a folder just for all of Lee's theories and the supporting docs. A lot of these alone would probably be interesting to the Academic Board.'

After saving the files, the next recording is up next. Opening it, Nigel folds his hands and leans back.

"Log Thirty, day one-hundred-ninety-eight."

"I've been meaning to make logs once a week, but things have been moving fast. I'll do my best to summarize, as most of the meat is in my notes.

"Starting with my pokemon, progress is astronomical. If the Ninetales of today fought the Ninetales of a month ago, it would be a steamroll. Her power is still her best attribute, but all her other skills are growing with giant leaps."

"Firstly, I wanted her to get her TE control to an expert level so she can modulate her output and make good use of her stamina. The power modulation was the biggest concern, as she was, and still kind of is, a bit unsafe to send out against weaker pokemon. For example, Ninetales' Confuse Ray, one of our favorite moves. Normally, Confuse Ray scrambles motor functions and impairs the formation and recall of memories for a short time. Nothing serious. The average pokemon can shake off a Confuse Ray from a similarly leveled foe in under ten seconds. Nine's is so potent that lesser pokemon go into violent seizures when hit. Even her teammates, Brendan's pokemon, and Zinnia's pokemon can't recover right away. Nine's Hex can and will shatter bones, her Baby-Doll Eyes drops foes flat on their faces, and her Imprison runs the risk of impeding breathing or even stopping hearts."

"Of course, I can always help from the back-seat and make sure she doesn't get too excited, but it's best if she can keep her control steady on her own, which she's been doing fantastically at. Her telekinesis in particular is becoming quite fine. So fine that she's taken up calligraphy. We've had a basic calligraphy set for a while now after she expressed an interest in learning, but her TK control wasn't quite fine enough. Now she's becoming quite the artist."

"This new control has also opened doors to other abilities. We've been trying to refine the fire clone move, Fox Fire, and one method of doing so is using Double Team as training wheels. The method of delivery is similar, a shell of coherent TE that acts as a proxy, but Fox Fire is much more charged and solid, more akin to Substitute, really. As of this recording, the Fox Fire clones still need manual guidance, but we're not giving up on the idea of making them autonomous. In the meantime, we're practicing manual control, and we can have two clones active at once, one for me and one for Nine, while still being combat capable. Both of us already have our focus split two ways all the time anyway, so adding a third is a manageable hurdle. The stamina drain is still considerable, so don't expect to see the clones spammed. A handful per match is the best we can manage."

"I got off track there, sorry. Like I was saying, Double Team lets us practice for Fox Fire quite well. A regular Double Team doppelganger is a loose shell of Normal TE, and thanks to the flexible nature of Normal TE, it can be set to absorb different wavelengths of light, making the body double color-correct and fairly convincing. Some masters of the technique can even give the clone a basic diaphragm to make sounds with. Fox Fire is much the same, just with Fire TE concentrated until it takes on a solid shape. Not an easy feat, considering Fire TE is reluctant to be transmuted into matter. We even took the diaphragm idea, giving the clones a 'stomach' filled with raw Fire TE to fuel them. This reservoir is also used for Ember, as well as Self-Destruct."

"Double Team also opened the door to the nebulous world of illusions, a handy trick for any jerk caster type. I was surprised to find that there are two main types of illusion, with Double Team's 'make a fake light-bending prop in the real world' type being the more common of the two. The second, the type Zoroark is known for, is directly manipulating the senses of enemy pokemon. Much harder to dispel, much more useful. Not to say that Double Team isn't useful. Nine has already figured out how to turn her illusions into other pokemon, simple objects, and even people. It'll be some time before she can bewitch the senses like a real kitsune, but we'll get there."

"Her other moves were much more straightforward. Iron Tail is becoming a staple, especially after we discovered a method of lengthening Nine's tails via Fairy TE. I'll go more into Fairies and their mind bending bullshit later in my notes. Hyper Beam was easy enough to learn, and Nine can fire off a handful before she's totally spent. The destructive output is on-par with her first custom move, Convergence, which is nuts, considering Convergence is a fire-type move and gets an inherent boost from Nine's typing."

Nigel realizes he hasn't actually seen Lee's Ninetales use that move, Convergence, since she evolved. 'Oh no. How strong is it now?'

"Dig was likewise easy, but figuring out Ground TE is going to be a chore, since it conflicts with Fire, I can already tell. Protect and Energy Ball helped us finish up another custom move: Forbidden Sun. Turns out Nine just needed a template for spherical TE shape transformation."

"Grovyle has been… Tougher. The newly dubbed Siphon Blade is in working order. Puzzling out the method of Absorb's… absorption took time, but with Nine's insight, we found that Absorb works via low-charge Grass TE binding to what seems to be Infinity Energy before magnetizing back to its initial emission point, where an isolating siphon of TE pulls the energy into the body. Fascinating stuff. I do wonder why Siphon Blade works on inanimate objects, like wood. It's not enough to replace the energy expended by the attack, but I noticed that logs we practiced on ended up desiccated. Is IE present in inert materials? Questions for later."

"Grovyle has also taken to his sword forms with zeal. The one we found is an old form from feudal Kanto, intended for one-handed odachi use. The style goes into detail on how best to utilize a long blade for fast, powerful slashes and using the rest of the body as a counterbalance to the weapon. We got it working with minimal adaptation, and his instinctual, near-constant use of Quick Attack makes him a menace in melee. Like Nine, he's also taken well to the TMs I've given him."

Nigel takes a moment to pause and look at the rest of the playtime on the recording, seeing that he's only half way in. "The meat of this update is in notes? Jeez, Lee. Taking up book writing?" he asks himself before resuming the playback.

"When it comes to Corvi, we're just improving what he's already best at: taking hits and hitting back. I've been researching how best to care for his Steel side, and I've already taken up waxing his armor, adding iron supplements to his food, and sharpening dull feathers. I've got quite a collection of worn-down feathers now, and I've done some testing every time I get a new one. I'm pleased and astounded to see that Corvi's armor is as durable as it is. I had to throw out my old sharpener after Corvi dulled it and get a boron nitride whetstone to be of any help. Heck, I might have a field knife made out of one of these feathers. The ongoing project to get Corvi a Ground move to trump Fire and Electric is still, well, ongoing. It's on the backburner, since he's already so stacked defensively."

"Octillery… What a voracious little guy. He wants more TMs, more moves, more options, and I'm giving him all I can. He takes to new moves like a Ducklett… or an octopus to water. His telekinesis is even more advanced than Ninetales', and I've had to dream up new challenges, ones unreasonable or flat-out impossible to anyone who doesn't have his brainpower, to keep him stimulated. It's culminating into his first custom move, which we've named Ink Spear. Octozooka plus telekinetic guidance. Simple in theory, but in Octillery's tentacles, it's a big problem. No one expects a supersonic projectile to suddenly turn ninety degrees, bend itself into their blindspot, and drill them where it hurts most. His movement with telekinesis is also improving rapidly. With his psychic cushion and some precision TK to augment his strength, he can slide, leap, and is never directly in front of an enemy pokemon unless he wants to be."

"Now, Shinx…"

Lee makes a sound. An exhale that sounds both tired and awed.

"My baby is a shining example of youthful neuroplasticity. We've been including her in more serious spars, and she's picking things up like a savant, just like the cognitive tests I gave her suggested she would. Positioning, attack angles, stances, never does she make the same mistake twice, and it's getting on the team's nerves in a good way. They can't outfox her, so they can only overpower her, or outspeed her, which isn't hard at this stage, but Shinx is shooting up like a weed and gets tougher by the day. She's firmly in her species' healthy weight and size range now, thank goodness, so I don't feel too bad about letting her fight. She's learning moves faster than even Octillery, and her electrical output is 'grab a powerline' levels of pain. If possible, I'd like to raise her up to the point that she can participate in the Gym fights against Winona and Wallace. I know it's asking a lot of my girl, but I think she can do it."

"Finally, Sylveon. Oh man, fuckin' fairies. I've had to redraw my plans with her a few times, but I think I'm on the right track now. She's on the home stretch to recovery regarding her malnutrition. Did I mention that Fairy bodies don't give a damn about the nutrition in their food, only the taste? As in, junk they enjoy nourishes them more than the most healthy spread anyone can make? I think I did, but everything to do with Fairies makes me feel like I'm losing my mind, so I'm saying it again."

"I've also noticed Sylveon responds quite well to praise and affection, as one would expect for her species. A hug, pat, or pet perks her up and even seems to physically rejuvenate her. I've made her promise to come to me with her problems, concerns, or even if she just wants a hug for its own sake, and she's taken that promise seriously. I'm glad I did, because it's doing her well. I was worried that the Dragon TE of the crater was going to negatively affect her, but where she looked half dead a few weeks ago, she's glowing by comparison now."

"When it comes to her training, Sylveon is lagging a tiny bit behind the others. It's no big deal, really. She wasn't a pushover when I got her, even if she wasn't a career fighter, and she's shaking her rust off and starting to accelerate. She's not the fastest on the team, nor the strongest. Her energy attacks hit pretty hard owing to her typing and Pixilate, but the real danger is her ribbons. They've got insane tensile strength, can stretch without an upper limit, and can squeeze with an eye-popping five-thousand kilos of force. At least I think that's the limit. My grip tester, made for Fighting-types, maxed out and broke. She started out just shy of two-thousand kilos, so, big improvement. If she keeps this up, Sylveon will be able to casually tear steel by the time we leave. We've been training her ribbons since, and the results are fantastic. I'm pretty sure this is being helped along by Sylveon's own desire to learn to fight this way."

"That's it for the pokemon."

Nigel sighs and smiles. 'Lee really can't be normal, can he?'

"Back with Anabel, I've gone to visit her once a week since our first meeting, with Mable joining us. Not much has happened thus far, with Anabel and Espeon observing mine and Nine's connection. They've been documenting things while Mable and Xatu pick Anabel's brain. Nine and I have mostly been sitting quietly and doing exercises with Anabel and Espeon as Mable gets her side together. During the last meeting, we tried shutting our connection down to almost nothing, then 'trading' pokemon for the day. Espeon was an interesting conversationalist. Pretty insightful, really, despite some issues we had at first. It's like her mental voice was thickly accented, the 'words' all being pronounced funny. Took some time to get used to it, but we managed. I could only feel the barest hint of her emotions, and her senses were blocked off despite her saying she'd lowered all her mental shielding. Same story with Anabel and Ninetales. Mable said she'll have more to contribute in the following weeks as she consults her peers, but encouraged Nine and I to keep our "no judgment" approach to each other."

"Then the final thing tonight… The Oracle of the Draconid tribe came to visit."

The professor leans forward, frowning. He can hear just how pensive Lee is.

"There were the expected cryptic questions, warnings, and all that. She then… had another vision? One about us, maybe. It went like this…"

Nigel hastily grabs a scrap of paper from his desk, an old plumbing bill, and a pen, holding both ready.

"O, Lonely Outsider… O, Hero Yet Realized… O, Lorekeeper… One who is two and two yet to know, all shall learn and shine blindingly in joy. We unfortunates stand in awe of the unity."

The words are scribbled down with a frown.

"I can guess who the Lonely Outsider, Hero Yet Realized, and Lorekeeper are, but the rest could mean anything. What sort of significance it has, I have no idea. Then she did something truly insane. The Oracle handed us Mega Keystones. One for me, Brendan, and Zinnia."

Nigel slaps a hand down on his keyboard, halting the recording for a moment. He leans forward, takes his head in his hands, and sucks in a deep breath. "Arceus damn-it."

Mega Evolution. One of the most well-kept secrets in the world, and his son, his researcher, and their dragon tamer friend all have Keystones. Already, Nigel is dreading the next and final recording. If they have Keystones and anyone finds out, the trio will have targets painted on their backs for certain.

Nigel turns to his other monitor and opens up both Brendan and Lee's threads on Battlenet, having bookmarked both. At the moment, the threads are relatively quiet, with only a spike of activity a few days ago when they landed in Petalburg. Lee apparently made a fuss in a battleground recently, demolishing a number of trainers, then refusing to take ante money. Some saw the gesture as kind, while some rabble-rousers tried to twist it into a condescending gesture.

…It looks like there is going to be a blowup in Brendan's thread soon. Someone posted a few grainy shots of Brendan and his Latias together. He forwards the post to Monty and the PR team and turns back to Lee's recording, starting it once more.

"We were also warned that the Draconid elders have some sort of trial planned for us in a few weeks, and if I was a betting man, then I'd say the prize is Mega Stones. I already know how you feel, Nigel. I wish I had a stiff drink to skull."

"That's all for this one. Lee, out."

Resigning himself, Nigel opens the last log.

"Log Thirty-one, day two-hundred-twenty-nine."

Lee sounds exhausted, and Nigel can make out the sound of quiet snoring in the background.

"Late again. Sorry. Lots to cover, but my thoughts are a bit scattered. Our training down here is complete, and the results will speak more than I could ever say once we rejoin civilization. Regardless, though, my notes have everything except how proud I am of my team. That can't be put into words. Magma, Aqua, your days are numbered."

"I was right. About the trial. Zinnia argued that we needed an edge for the stuff to come in the form of Mega Evolution from the beginning, but the elders didn't want to give anything to outsiders, thus, the trial I mentioned. We passed."

"Grovyle and Zinnia's Shelgon evolved during the trial, which was a three-on-one battle with the previous Draconid Lorekeeper's Salamence. He was a titan of a pokemon, fighting like a demon despite standing guard over his trainer's grave for years without moving. If not for Grovyle's timely evolution, it would have been game over."

"Grovyle… Sceptile needed this, needed this big win and the payoff of it. His evolution cleared his scarring, leaving just a few pale scales as a reminder. His physical attributes have jumped to incredible new highs, and now he's back in the running for strongest of the team. I'm so damn happy, you have no idea. I knew he was a living legend in the making, but this goes so far beyond my expectations. Seeing him is like watching a samurai movie in real life. There one second, on the other side of the room the next, sword drawn."

"Haa… Okay, back on topic. The stones. One for Sceptile, Zinnia's Salamence, and Brendan's eventual Swampert, even though Marshtomp was knocked out and didn't evolve. I thought they would have given Brendan one for Latias, but that's honestly a pipe dream now that I think about it. No one would ever part with a mega stone for a legendary pokemon."

"I already know the mechanics behind the stones, so once we set out for Petalburg in the morning, I'll look into finding a place for Sceptile to train his Mega form. The… 'lore' of Mega pokemon was changed a few times, some saying it's painful and unnatural, turning pokemon into feral killers, and others saying it's the truest form of a pokemon-trainer bond. We'll be ready. Once Zinnia and Brendan decide to take the step, I'll help them."

A bed creaks in the background as Lee stops, apparently thinking.

"Nine and I… also discovered some things about ourselves, and how we… how we met. I'm still processing everything. Not sure what to say. But Nigel? Please, never speak the name of Arceus or Giratina in vain. I'm serious."

The recording abruptly ends without Lee's usual sign off, and leaves a deep, unsettled frown on the professor's face.

Standing and stretching, Nigel turns and peers out his office window, watching the pokemon of the lab ranch lounge outside as he thinks over what Lee said. The man never seemed to be the most religious sort, so why tell Nigel to not use Arceus' name in vain?

…And why Giratina as well?

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