I Will Touch the Skies - A Pokemon Fanfiction (OC)

[Chewy]

Something to add though. I am absolutely baffled with your consistency and dedication. To be able to churn out chapters daily with consistent improvement is something to be applauded. Seriously Bravo and Kudos. Gym battle with Maylene was worth the hype^^

 

[soulreaper22]

what a fun fight scene, it was well written and clear what each pokemon were doing

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 207

"That. Was. Awesome!" Denzel yelled as he clapped my shoulder. "You destroyed the hell out of her! I don't even care about the preventing her switch thing, the rest was just great."

Cecilia scoffed. "You were wonderful, but Maylene was quite rude to you—"

"She was a bitch, that's what she was," Pauline said. "Good job out there, gremlin."

"She was an asshole, that was for sure," Denzel nodded. "She said that Grace didn't work hard, I mean, are you joking?"

Stop it. Don't praise me, I thought. I knew I'd won, but they were all ganging up on the girl because I looked completely reasonable during the battle. And yes, I did expect it to happen, but I looked… squeaky clean. She was probably going to be under fire for a while for insulting a challenger.

The guilt was beginning to seep in, but it wasn't a debilitating affair. The damn goal had been to look good for my sponsor, not appear like a psychopath, and potentially make Maylene grow as a Gym Leader, and I had maybe achieved all of those. With the way my friends were reacting, I'd definitely achieved the second one.

"Grace?" Cecilia worriedly said. "Are you alright? Did the fight tire you?"

"Yeah, I'm good," I finally answered. "Just try to lay off Maylene for a bit. She was ruder than she should have been, but I'm no innocent angel either. We were, uh, we both kind of went overboard."

My girlfriend raised an eyebrow. "Did you?"

With one look at her face, I knew she'd figured something out. She knew me best, after all, and my tactic was relatively easy to spot with enough context. Cece could probably tell that I felt somewhat guilty and my confession only made it easier.

"All you did was fight a way she didn't like," Pauline said.

"Look, we can go back to the Center and I'll explain there. For now, just let the trash-talking go."

"You two spoke for a while down there," Cecilia noted.

"Yeah, I'll explain," I said. "For now, I've got to get my Pokemon healed."

The walk to the Center was a short and brisk one. Pauline couldn't stop telling me that people were being wildly toxic to Maylene on the forums. People were glad someone had finally knocked her down a peg and had stood up to her, which was fine, but the nasty comments and insults were not. I realized that thinking this made me somewhat of a hypocrite. After all, had it not been me who had planned to bring up her father? Who had subtly broken her down to the point of tears? The road to hell was paved with good intentions, and while yes, Maylene was probably going to grow from this, I could have been a lot more normal while still helping her.

That trick with Infernape, for one. I had taken it too far. Almost every Pokemon felt pain from battling, so one being hurt was nothing unusual, but drawing out the process had been needlessly cruel. The effect on Maylene probably would have been the same if I hadn't. There was an emotionless monster within me that I was not scared to embrace, but that had not been the time nor the place. There was a lesson to be learned here. While using every tool to win— including trainers and how they thought— was a valid strategy, there was a point where it stopped being appropriate for a Gym Battle, or any battle really.

So I wouldn't stop studying people, as well as their Pokemon whenever I had a tough battle ahead of me, but I would not go as far as I'd gone. Against people that wanted to hurt my friends or my family, however? No holds would be barred.

I handed all of my Pokemon except Jellicent to Nurse Joy and we made our way to my room. Thank goodness Mira was busy with other stuff. She was trying to code moves into her Porygon's brain to bypass how expensive TMs were, but she wasn't having a lot of luck so far. She probably would have chewed me out for this and figured it out right away.

Or maybe not. I didn't know if she'd care about my behavior if it wasn't related to Team Galactic.

"So? Spit it out?" Pauline demanded with her arms crossed. "Emi's sick and I need to take care of her. Denzel, you're coming with me right after this."

"Uh, okay?"

She did have a cold, which would probably delay their group's departure a little. She was really bummed out about it too. It seemed like so much time had passed, but our time in Veilstone was soon going to come to an end. So many things had happened, and yet we had spent less time here than we had in Hearthome.

"I played mind games with Maylene," I said. "I saw all of the pressure her duty brought her and I took advantage of her. Some of it was benign and valid strategy, like switching before she could get her revenge on one of my Pokemon, but the other stuff… it got pretty bad."

I was too much of a coward to tell them about Infernape.

"How bad are we talking?" Denzel asked. "I mean, it's not like you'd be the first to do this anyway. Gardenia does it all the time."

"Her crying, that was planned. Every word out of my mouth was planned too, it was all engineered to make myself look better and her look worse. I thought that the experience could change her for the better, but I wouldn't have stopped if it didn't and she completely gave up. I also… uh, kind of used her as a stepping stone for potential enemies. Real enemies."

"Yeah? Well, she deserves it," Pauline immediately said. "It's not up to the Challenger to care about a Gym Leader's mental state. They're supposed to run a damn city and you have to treat them with kid gloves?"

"I don't know…" Denzel muttered.

"I thought you looked off, but I figured that was just me. Your face was completely still. You have that stare you do when you're focused, but that went beyond that," Cecilia said.

"What do you think, then?"

"I think Pauline is right," she said.

"Even if I'm ninety percent sure that Maylene is only this way because her father is some kind of screwed up perfectionist that raised her to be a Gym Leader from birth and that she feels massive amounts of pressure because of it and I used that to my advantage?"

"Yes."

"Even if I'd planned to bring her father up to her before she cried to press her buttons?"

She hesitated this time. "...Yes. You know how I am with fathers," she said. "I'd be horrified if you used mine against me—"

"I would never—"

"I know you wouldn't," she smiled. "But you realize this was wrong. That's the difference between good and bad. You try to improve at all times, and you make the best of what you have."

"Thank you," I sighed in relief. She gently grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

Denzel finally broke his silence. "Yeah. It was arguably fucked up, but… y'know, it's kind of what I expected out of you. Wait, that sounds really wrong— I didn't mean it in a bad way. You idolize Gardenia, so I expected you to start using body language and stuff like that. I didn't know about mind games though. Just don't go that far against me, yeah?" He finished with a twinge of anxiety.

"I won't, I promise."

"And that doesn't absolve Maylene," Cecilia added. "She is horribly unprofessional, but I suppose that's what I should have expected from a person as young as her being shoved into her role. You say her father raised her for this?"

I nodded.

"I wonder if she even wants to be Gym Leader deep down," she pondered as she sat.

"I don't know, it was hard to tell."

"Can't she just designate a successor and quit?" Denzel asked.

"With Team Galactic running around?" Cecilia shook her head. "I don't think Cynthia would let go of an Aura user that she can order around that easily. You saw her during the battle, right? That thing she did with her eyes, it revealed Pokemons' weak points and it allowed her to see through the pillars."

"It's like Chase's Lucario," I said. "I don't think she sees them as much as senses them, along with moves. She's a prime military asset."

And Cece and I both knew Cynthia's more sinister leanings now. Denzel and Pauline, however, did not.

"And there's also the pressure her dad's probably putting on her," I quickly added. "It's hard to say no to your parents, especially when you lived your entire life for this purpose."

"Yeah… shit, I kind of feel bad for her now," Denzel scratched his head. "She was annoying to fight, and I got kind of heated when she started shit talking you. I guess no one came out of this the good guy."

"Eh. I still think it falls upon the Gym Leader not to have a crisis in the middle of battle," Pauline said.

"That's true, but I think I kind of lost sight of the fifteen-year-old girl too. She's not just a Gym Leader. She's a kid just like me— younger than me, even. I apologized down there when we were talking, but she hates my guts. I don't blame her," I said. "It was ugly, but I hope she'll change. Unfortunately now she's going to be flamed."

"She was already being flamed online before this, but it'll be intense for a while. I bet you that in one hour there'll be clickbait videos about her too."

"I thought the government copyrighted any of their footage?" I asked. "They're strict on that stuff."

"They are, but people find ways around all of those systems to make reaction videos. You can dim the footage, cut it, blur it. Some of it always slips past the Porygon."

I exhaled. "Nothing I can do about it now. I doubt any further apology would go well, and it'd be best to let her be. I hope she pulls through alright."

They didn't stick around that long after that, although Cecilia stayed. I placed Buddy inside a cold bath so he could get back on his feet quicker and remembered I did have to call Melody before hanging out with Cecilia, and discussing my contract was private. I was surprised she hadn't called me already. I had to call her four times for her to answer, which was very unusual. Melody was a punctual woman.

"Mel? Everything okay? Did the company see my battle?"

"Sorry, I felt the phone vibrating, but I couldn't answer. I was in a video call with the board of the sponsorship department. We were talking about you. Congratulations on your victory, by the way!"

I quivered in anticipation. "Thank you. So? What did they say?"

"Like I said, you're getting your raise. I only had the okay from one of them, but the full board has agreed," she said. "350,000 Pokedollars per month, effective in March. Unfortunately though, they didn't budge on moving your salary to the beginning of the month. I even tried to ask for a simple one time bonus like you got at Solaceon, but they weren't convinced. I'm sorry."

I clenched my bedsheets and bit my lip. "Did they say why?"

"Multiple reasons. One, they're just like me and terrible at battling. They don't even look at the battle, just the final result. That was why they were so pleased after your fight with Fantina. I know it's unfair, but it's how things work up there. They're in charge, but they're very disconnected from the entire thing. They have people that give them a rundown of how different battles went, and they're more qualified, but they really didn't like the score this time and there's also the fact that you stopped Maylene from recalling Infernape. Apparently people don't like that? Also, they're used to Craig, and he routinely pulls out 3-6 against most Gym Leaders, and you're supposed to replace him. It's tough, and it's not very fair, especially since you're just a first year, but that's how big companies work. To them, you're a name on a screen that generates revenue. They don't know you like I do."

"Damn it," I hissed. "I wanted a Shiny Stone so badly."

"You're still getting it next month, right? It's not the end of the world."

"I wanted to evolve Princess and get her started on flying and flying classes as soon as possible," I said. "An extra month screws me. I'm going to be very busy in a few months and I would have liked to knock the license thing out of the way."

And also, I was kind of envious that Denzel had already bought his. Not enough for it to affect our friendship, it was just me being stupid and immature. Knowing my luck, I'd get pulled into some grand conspiracy that'd stop me from going to classes, and unfortunately due to a lack of personnel, only people with a Pokemon capable of flight were allowed to sign up, even for the knowledge test.

"I'm sorry," Melody said. "There was another reason too, which is related to something important we have to talk about. Your contract's changed and I'm going to need you to come here to sign the new version. The government knocked on Poketch's door asking to alter your contract. Remember those five tournaments you had to be in? That's gone now. We'll still pay you the bonus for it, but you're no longer obligated to participate."

"What the hell?" I muttered.

I knew that Cynthia had told me about changing my deal with the Poketch Company. I had just expected her to tell me first. Had she actually screwed up Melody's pitch? The board was mad at me and it wasn't my fault at all. Yes, there was still the first point that Melody had brought up, but maybe— no, not even maybe, it would have made the board more amenable to my request.

"I'm not going to ask why the government cares about your time, but with how domineering they've been getting lately, it was out of the board's hands. It'd be preferable if you came to sign the new contract today. They've sent me a physical copy and I can send someone to pick you up."

"Fine. Send them now, please. And Mel?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you for trying. You're the best sponsorship liaison I could have asked for."

"Don't sweat it. I've got your back."

With my plans to maybe go to Unova this summer when all of this blew over, it'd be nice if Melody could come along— if she even wanted to. Someone would have to be there to represent me, after all. I hung up, told Buddy I was leaving for a bit and left my room. Slowking and the League Trainers shadowing us would be enough protection. Cece had been waiting in front of my door.

"You look angry," she noticed.

"I am angry. I'll tell you in the car."

"The car? I thought we were going to visit Emi."

"I'm going to the Poketch Building for stuff. It's urgent, but it shouldn't take long. Can you come with me, and we can hang out after? I need to destress."

"Of course. With how hard you were working, we didn't have much time to be together since our date. I was going to ask you out anyhow because I figured you'd need to relax."

"You know me so well," I smiled.

"By the way, Mira called me," Cecilia said. Her voice became a whisper, barely audible. "We got permission to go to Lake Valor today."

I restrained a scoff.

So Cynthia screwed me over, and then she did this? Did she think that would make me forgive her?

Complicated metaphor or not, Mira had been correct.

She really did think us to be characters in a damn dating sim. Even the Poketch Company, bar Melody, treated me like a pawn.

Hopefully when I grew further in strength and reputation, the company wouldthink twice about crossing me. As for Cynthia? Well, she knew damn well I wasn't going to do anything, not with Team Galactic there. Hell, I wasn't even sure if she realized I'd be pissed. I had told her that I lacked in time, and she might have thought she was doing me a favor, but Arceus, talk to me first.

All I could do for now was keep my head down, but this lack of agency was quickly getting on my nerves.

—

I had signed my new contract, and it was as Melody said. It had been written the exact same way, save for the five tournaments. Granted, them being out of the way certainly helped with my time crunch, but for Cynthia to do this without my input? I was pissed, damn it!

Cecilia took me to see some kind of tourist attraction in Veilstone's east. A set of huge craters from an ancient meteorite that had fallen there eons ago, and strangely enough, no vegetation had filled the deep gashes in the earth. Nature had not reclaimed its place, and all we were left with was an enormous quarry-like crater. The space rock had split while entering Earth's atmosphere and created the three craters, and a few chunks of the meteorite still remained deep in the hole. They were a dull grey and not very interesting, but the history of it was. Geological data suggested that a crater in the Sevii Islands in Hoenn had appeared at the exact same time, and there was some strange DNA on the rocks that scientists had never seen before, which was why going into the craters was prohibited. You could only stare from afar.

It was a nice date, and I promised I'd be the one to pick the location for the next one. Cecilia wasn't even surprised by Cynthia's decision due to how controlling the Champion was, but what truly baffled her was the fact that she hadn't even bothered to contact me. Either way, I'd make sure to speak my mind whenever I saw her again.

Even though my team was out of commission, I still found myself at home on route 214's mountainous slope. I spent hours there with Sunshine and Buddy, speaking about anything and everything. His experiences at the depth of the ocean, what school was like when I was a kid— and he even shot me a disappointed look when I explained the grading system to him and I told him I hadn't been great at it. He did strike me as someone who'd demand his kid had excellent grades. Even though he'd fainted to Maylene earlier, he was still well enough to speak and float around. Turtonator sometimes chimed in, and in his opinion, school seemed like a useless waste of time. Suddenly, Jellicent's eyes glinted with a sinister red, and I understood why soon enough. There were steps. Not unnatural, considering this was a route, but we'd never seen anyone come this high up in the mountain. It was where I'd trained the entire time against Maylene.

I slowed my breath, motioned downward with my fingers and Jellicent sank into the floor, ready to drown anyone with nefarious intentions. It was only a few seconds later when I realized that Lou probably would have intervened if this was a dangerous individual that I was about to call him back up, but Justin was the last person I would have expected to show up.

"I thought I'd meet you here," Justin said. "They say this is your favorite spot."

I recalled Turtonator before he could do anything rash.

"Justin! Are you alright?!" I asked. "I haven't seen you in forever. I… heard about you, though. And people know I come here?"

The pale boy dipped his head. His thin frame had changed and grown lean. He was nowhere as well-built as Chase, but it was easy to tell he'd been working out.

"They know, but they steer clear. I figured it'd be better to give my old teacher one last visit before I left," he said, his voice completely still.

"I thought you— wait, that might have been too harsh, let me rephrase. Did you want to see me?"

With his emotions all but gone, I would have thought Justin wouldn't have cared about seeing me or not. He hadn't even contacted us since the battle against Louis, and we'd tried to find him for hours to no avail.

"I wanted to test myself. You see, I won against Maylene around three days ago, and now I have my team back."

I froze. "How did you fight her?"

"Using the path of least resistance, of course. I hit her harder than she hit me, and she let me win rather easily," he shrugged. "When I saw that Pauline had also won, I went to go see her. It was around two hours ago or so. She told me that she'd accept when I got my head out of my ass."

"Did that… hurt you at all?"

"Hurt me? No. She was hurt, though. I could tell," he said. "Will you also deny me a battle?"

"Justin… I can't battle you," I sighed. "Most of my team is at the Pokemon Center, but even if they weren't, I can't reward you for this behavior."

I bit my lip and stopped. Was this hypocritical of me? Even I leaned into my fairy leanings at time. No, Justin was simply incapable of backing out. Of realizing what he was doing. Unlike me, he couldn't know when to back out.

"Listen, I'd like to see your Pokemon. I haven't talked to them in a while, and I heard you got two new—"

"Very well. I will be on my way, then. Apologies for bothering you."

"Wait! When you get to Sunyshore, talk to Louis. Battle him too, if you want. I'm sure he'd be willing to accept, and he'll give you a challenge this time. You want your team to grow to survive Victory Road, right? Tough battles will get them there."

Justin stared, his face unmoving. "Perhaps. If he performs better against Volkner than his disappointing showing against Maylene, then I will consider."

"Good," I sighed. "Good. And I'd like for you to speak to Mira's Alakazam too. He can figure something out and potentially get you out of this rut."

"Out? I feel fine as I am. I am progressing leaps and bounds and by next year, I will easily make it to the Conference. Then, my position as the future head of Pherzen will be secure."

"Come on, Justin. I know you know deep down that this isn't you. You just can't bring yourself to care. I just want you to take the first step. Help me help you. I'm your friend, and I… I've also been changed by Type Energy, only fairy instead of dark. Alakazam can figure something out, I'm sure of it."

His face didn't change, but he stared at me longer than was needed at that revelation. I thought that he'd changed his mind, and that me having gone through a similar event would help him talk to me, but he didn't stay for long.

"Farewell, Grace," he said, dipping his head. "We will probably meet again in Sunyshore."

Justin left the route, and I assumed he was on his way to Sunyshore. He'd probably make it in four to five days— possibly faster considering his one-track mind. If I could get one conversation in with his Pokemon… with Arcanine, his oldest companion, then I'd be able to make them stop this suicidal Victory Road idea. Was it pragmatic? Yes, and it made sense if he ignored the fact that he'd be risking his life every single day. Damn it.

"You can come out," I exhaled. "You didn't even have to hide anyway."

Jellicent slipped through the ground and emerged in front of me, right where Justin stood. The perfect position for Drown.

"He's not himself, but there's no need to be alert. He wouldn't hurt me."

Buddy had never particularly liked my friends. He even didn't care much for Denzel or Cecilia. He was a family Pokemon through and through, and he focused entirely on them. I couldn't fault him for that. They were my friends, not his. The water type clicked and said it was better safe than sorry.

"You're alright," I said, caressing his wet cheek. "It's okay to relax sometimes. You can't be on guard all the time. Anyway, we're going to be leaving soon… as soon as Chase wins his gym battle, really. Sunyshore's an electric type gym, so you'll be taking a step back for the battle, but think you can start working on Water Spout again?"

The water type nodded and began to float away.

"Not now," I chuckled. "You're on break. You were wonderful in that battle against Maylene, but it hasn't even been a day. After you master Water Spout, we'll start experimenting with your ghost side again."

It was a delicate thing to balance. Dual typed Pokemon could either lean into one side completely like Bella had or walk the tightrope. The benefits of ignoring one's type could bring fast progress with the other, but long term, I believed it to be better to not neglect either, which was why I'd started Princess on Air Cutter (beyond Maylene being a fighting type Gym Leader). It was trickier with Sweetheart. Her evolution would turn her into a rock and dark type, but Tyranitar were still as good as ground types at ground moves. Or at least that's what my minimal amount of research had told me. There weren't that many trainers with the species.

"Now, you wanted to tell me something?" I asked as I grabbed my physics textbook. My training against Maylene had made me put my studies aside for a while, and I also rereleased Sunshine, who huffed at the fact that I thought he'd randomly murder a trainer. I supposed he'd grown past that phase.

Buddy nodded as he settled next to me, his shape hugging the boulder I leaned against. He whispered something in my ear and I felt a chill. His breath was cold.

He wanted history textbooks.

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M

 

[Soussouni1]

A/N: This is two interludes in one chapter, so there is a very strong tonal shift in the middle that is very jarring. Unfortunately these weren't long enough to justify them being two chapters so it is what it is.

---

INTERLUDE - Maylene/Mirror

Like every single day, Maylene woke up at five in the morning.

Eat, work out with her Pokemon, spar with the first and second-badge Pokemon, shower, check the Gym's emails—

Hatred. She read out hate coming her way by anonymous users or simply trainers that looked to pile on. And that was just the email, which she was obligated to look at. That was procedure. She knew Candice and Volkner had Gym Trainers take care of it for them, but she couldn't be sloppy like them, lest she disappoint her father when he came back.

Step down. You're an embarrassment to Veilstone. You're pathetic. Grace Pastel didn't go far enough and should have beaten you into the dirt. Maylene blinked as she peered through every single message, and many were worse than those. A lot worse. She was used to hate, but it had intensified since her battle with Grace Pastel. That damn girl had walked all over her and made her look like the villain while escaping with her reputation nearly intact. Fucking psycho. The forums were worse, but at least that was moderated, so the most unhinged messages were deleted there.

Each message hurt. Like stacking weight on top of her stomach until she couldn't bear to breathe, but Maylene told herself she was fine. She slapped herself on the cheeks and smiled. It was eight in the morning.

Time to go to work.

Challengers filtered in and out, and Maylene slowly realized that she couldn't get in the zone. She noticed that multiple trainers were no longer battling like she liked, and instead tried to push her as Grace Pastel had. They probably expected her to break down and cry. Instead, she tried her best to provide a challenge— and she tried to work with them, not against them. It was easier said than done, of course. Many times, she lost her temper and shut them down like she was used to, and she often justified it to herself. That she deserved to let loose and that she was right and everyone else was in the wrong. The audience had grown so toxic that they started to boo her every time she stepped onto the field. When she asked them to stay silent for the battle, they clamored louder instead. She remembered Gardenia telling her about hecklers during the protests in her city.

Maylene was fine.

Lunch break. She quickly grabbed a sandwich that Lucario made for her. He'd been raised with her as a Riolu and they were the same age. She considered him a brother, but he liked to take a more subservient position because her father had asked him to. Demanded it, even.

Master Maylene, I sense you are anxious. You should take a break.

The deep voice rang into her mind like cold ice.

"I'm good. This is my break, I'm eating lunch," Maylene said. "I can't slack off! Who'll run the gym otherwise?"

You could close it down for a day. Or you could have one of your prestigious Gym Trainers take over for a little.

"That'll only spread more rumors about me quitting. They think I'm weak, but I'm not," Maylene spat. "I can do this. I was born and raised for this—"

It is okay to be weak at times, Master Maylene.

"What? No, that's not— you know Dad won't approve. I want this job, I just need to get more used to it. It's just been a hectic few months."

The world might have ended by then, she thought as a shiver ran down her spine. It'd be like a blip. One second she would be there, and the next, everything she'd known would be gone. Palkia and Dialga. Space and Time.

Maylene was fine.

The hour went by quickly. So quickly. Her next opponent was a kid with two badges, and Maylene grabbed at least twelve Pokemon to choose from during the battle. She walked through the locker room, placed a hand against the sliding door and—

Open. Open. Fucking open!

Her hand trembled against the glass. Glimpses of the arena were far ahead, and Maylene suddenly felt nauseous. She couldn't bring herself to open the door. Slide it open! Slide—

Aura burst from her skin, and the glass exploded. She was too tough to be cut, but she still flinched backwards, stumbled, and fell onto the floor. Maylene's throat felt so dry, and she'd just drank an entire bottle of water for lunch.

"I need a break," she realized. Lucario had been right.

A mountain lifted up from her shoulders, but with that freeing revelation came disappointment that seeped into every pore of her skin. She couldn't even bare to ask one of her Gym Trainers herself, so she had Lucario do it for her and her best Gym Trainer Garnt quickly took over her duties for the day. A one-day break was okay. It wasn't even a day, it was half a day. She locked herself in her room and slept for a good while. She didn't know how long. What time was it? The sun had set when she opened them again, but Lucario reassured her that the trainers had everything under control. Unfortunately, he also had to help around the Gym and couldn't really be here to keep her company.

The entire system was running smoothly without her. Smoother, even. She wasn't there to tell people to do things by the book every time they broke protocol, and yet, it seemed like they were working faster in spite of it.

What the hell was she here for, then?

After making rounds around the Gym, Maylene dragged herself back to her room and onto her desk. This wasn't the office, but she'd do her best to check her emails again. The girl squinted when she saw that Candice had written something to her. Gym Leaders weren't supposed to use that kind of channel to speak, and she had her number. The ice type Gym Leader was as sloppy as always. The email simply read: 'I know you're doomscrolling right now, but stop doing that and check your messages.'

"What?" Maylene muttered. She grabbed her phone and noticed an audio file that Candice had sent her. She clicked it and let it play.

"Hi Maymay! Am I allowed to call you Maymay yet, or is that only Gardenia's thing? Maymay, I saw what happened to you yesterday. I know Grace kind of well and it kind of feels bad that both of my friends are fighting, but I knew you'd be spiraling hard and that you'd need help, so Gardenia and I came up with something. Call her when you're done listening to this, by the way! She's been calling, but you're not answering. She has some good advice with the whole being a Gym Leader thing. Anyway… trrrrrrrrrrrr… was that a good drumroll? Yeah, I think that was pretty good. Here's my piece! Stop reading what they say about you online, but if you do, make a burner account and go ham on those little shitters. Call them every single name under the sun, just don't get caught because that'd be a huge scandal. It's incredibly cathartic, trust me on this. But! It's important to note that not every piece of criticism is wrong even if it hurts, and you've got to learn to parse through the garbage to find some gems! Anyway, I'm passing the phone to someone else— well, I'm not passing the phone, this is an edited audio file—"

Maylene ignored the fact that Grace Pastel was somehow friends with Candice and heard Roark's voice on the end of the line.

"Hi Maylene. I see the situation you've been put in, and I know you must be feeling the heat right now. I was in a similar situation when I was eighteen and I ascended to Oreburgh's gym when Byron went on and moved to Canalave, and uh, it wasn't pretty. I desperately wanted to be stronger than him and I took out my frustration on my challengers for a good year or two until Wake knocked some sense into me. He's going next, by the way. Wait, that was a spoiler, right? My bad. Anyway, the point I'm making is, if you want to quit, you should quit. We'll convince Cynthia to let you go, but if you want to push through this? I know you have what it takes. You've made mistakes, but I was a lot worse than you and I was four years older than you were when I first became a Gym Leader. Just keep your chin up, kid. You're family and I love you."

As Roark had said, Wake was up next.

"MAYLENE! I HEARD ABOUT—

She pulled the phone away from her ear with a trembling hand. She was already tearing up.

—about what happened to you. I can see why you'd disapprove of the way that kid battled, but I see no harm in it. To me, battling is just a show, but I know we see things a little differently, you and I. You take great pride in your position, and sometimes it can feel like you're sinking. We've all had bad days, or weeks, or months. But being a Gym Leader means that you don't let it slip through when you work. ANYWAY, Have you considered taking a little break? A mental health day, maybe! Y'see, Gym Leaders and even trainers often don't consider their mental health and think checking in with one of the Nurse Joys makes 'em weak. I actually still regularly see one of them. I have for the last twenty years. This job, it wears on you. It erodes you like the ocean does to cliffs— did you like that water comparison thing I did? Get it? Because I'm the water type Gym Leader?"

Maylene let out a wet chuckle and wiped away some of her tears.

"Just trying to make you laugh, kiddo. Hope that worked. Jean-Pierre says hi, and we'll cook you some wonderful seafood the next time you swing by Pastoria. How 'bout this summer? JP always says that there's more to life than seafood, but I'll tell ya, I'm gonna file for divorce if he keeps saying things like that about my cooking. That was a joke, by the way, please don't tell him I said this! See you later, kid. CRASHER WAKE, SIGNING OUUUUUUUT!"

Is this thing working? Volkner said. Okay, it is. Oh boy. I'm not really great at the sentimental thing, so I'll just give you a word of advice. Sorry about not visiting you more often, by the way. You've been asking for a while, and I feel like I could have been more helpful if I did. You see, battling those little pipsqueaks with one to four… maybe five— actually six badges. Battling them feels like a real drag for me. I don't have fun, I don't even feel like I'm doing anything substantial, really. I just turn my brain off and let it ride. So sometimes, I'll just let one of my Gym Trainers take over. Hell, I'll let them work for the entire day if I feel like not doing anything and only battle the people that really get my blood pumping. That's not to say you should only battle people that fight the way you like, but if you feel yourself slipping and start brutalizing a kid with two badges because his little Budew used Poison Powder, maybe take a breather for an hour or two. It won't make you any less of a Gym Leader. You work too hard, Maylene. You work harder than all of us. Relax, yeah?

"I will," she cried to no one in particular.

Fantina's voice came next. "Maylene. As you no doubt know, I hate the duties I have as a Gym Leader, and as it stands, I think I am a bad Gym Leader. Not a day goes by without my Gym Trainers hearing my complaints, so I figured I'd offer a different kind of advice. When you wake up in the morning, do you dread the day that is to come? When you go to sleep at night, do you wish morning would be delayed? When you battle, do you enjoy yourself? Depending on your answer to these questions, you should consider quitting. That is not me telling you to quit, of course. Just take it from an old lady, you do not want to be stuck doing a job you hate for decades. You do not want to look back upon your life when you are old like me and be filled with regret. People will say you can always quit, but we all know there are obligations. Training a successor, the loyalty to your city and region, and more personally, your father. As you no doubt know, I am well acquainted with Oscar, so if you ever feel the need to talk to him but are too scared to, I will relay your message. Good luck with whatever you decide. The next time we see each other, I'll take you to eat some poffins. You complain about it being unhealthy, but you've got to live a little!"

It was Byron's turn now. "Young Maylene. I assume my son has already given you advice on wanting to fill the shoes your parents left you, but I will go more in-depth with this. I know for sure that he skirted around the details. It took a while for my boy to understand this, but you do not owe your parents anything. You do not have to be greater than them in some arbitrary manner. Oscar was a titan. Even I look upon the man's spirit with envy. He never tired, always worked, but that is not sustainable for many, and I fear he might have thought you to be the same. He is also not without fault. He and I… we both made mistakes when we raised our children. My mistakes are reflected in Roark's behavior and his are reflected upon yours. We were too focused on what you could become— a perfect version of you we had inside our heads instead of realizing that you already were perfect just by being you. Children… they are complicated to raise, but you are also your own person. I apologize on Oscar's behalf, and I hope he will do the same when he calls next. If he doesn't, well, there's always my trusty shovel. One wack to the back of the head ought to set him straight."

Maylene was a sobbing mess and she could barely see straight. The world was marred by her tears and she struggled to take breaths without whimpering. She continued listening to the file, but Gardenia's audio only said one thing.

"You're done! I hope you liked it, it took the entire day putting this together with how busy everyone was. You should call me next, I'll talk to you. I hope Candice or Roark didn't ruin the surprise."

Maylene's trembling fingers scrolled through her contact list and clicked on Gardenia's name. She answered instantly.

"Maymay? Did you see the message?"

"I did," the girl cried. "I did. Thank you. I can't even— find the words."

"Just a little something to make you realize you're not alone," she said. "I love you, Maymay. We all love you, remember that. You're the kind of person that'd be too stubborn to ask for advice and to pretend everything was fine, and we believed that until yesterday. Sure, you ran your gym in an eccentric way, but we thought you were ignoring all the noise and that you'd grow and mature slowly but surely. I'm sorry we failed you. With all the Galactic stuff on our minds, we kind of put social interactions to the wayside."

"It's not your fault. I think I convinced myself that I was okay," she said. "I'm gonna take a break. I think a month-long break unless I need to battle someone six badges or up should be good. I'm gonna see about making some time to talk to a Nurse Joy."

"Perfect! The first step's always the hardest. Now, my advice! It's a shame what happened with Grace Pastel. Been looking at the kid a little, and while she did cross a few lines, if it hadn't been her, it would have been someone else that would have pushed you over the edge. You know how people hate fighting me, right? I get in their heads and stuff. I've seen my fair share of toxicity, but that's not the point. There are two fundamental ways to run a gym. One, you go hard against everyone. That's me, Fantina and Byron. Of course, that doesn't mean you go all out, but you do give them a harder time than what you could be doing because that's the point! Make your challengers step out of their comfort zone and confront situations they've never seen before. The other way is to go easier on people. That's Roark, Volkner, Wake and to a lesser extent, Candice. That doesn't make them worse Gym Leaders, mind you, they just have a different philosophy. Of course, all of that goes out the window when you're the gate between someone and their eighth badge, but you know that already. Do you follow?"

"Yes. I do."

"The problem with you, Maylene, is not that you shut down strategies that aren't straightforward. In fact, forcing trainers to approach battling a certain way can be excellent at teaching them to either adapt or push through. The problem is that there is no consistency in how you do things. One battle, you could let a kid have it easy because they fought how you liked, and in the other you up the ante and destroy someone's team. There's also the fact that you shouldn't let the way you like battling or your mood influence your decision-making at all, but you'll learn. All of this means that you don't come across as someone trying to teach, you just come across as a bitter bully, which means you aren't doing the job properly. Even after a loss, a challenger should feel like they've learned something, not that the battle was horribly unfair. You've got to choose, Maymay. Are you a Gym Leader that trainers will flock to for their first badge like Volkner and Roark, or are you someone who'll be just a little more demanding. Sinnoh needs both of these, and it doesn't matter which one you pick. The former comes with a higher workload because all the new trainers will swamp you every single year, and it can be extremely boring or easygoing depending on what you're like. The latter will bring hate your way, but you'll have less work and you might enjoy yourself a little more. So which one, Maylene?"

The girl stammered, "I— I have to pick now?"

"No. You can pick today, or you can pick a month from now after your break. Just look within yourself and pick one you know you'll be happy with. If trainers know what to expect when coming to your Gym, this entire thing will die down, I promise you."

"I'll think about it. Thank you so much, Gardenia."

"Anything for you. You're like a sister to me, Maymay. I'm Teleporting to your Gym tomorrow, and we'll have the whole day to ourselves. I've been wanting to catch up with you for so long!"

"What about your Gym?"

"Eterna City's Gym will be run by Roland tomorrow," she said. Maylene could hear her smirk. "And all battles above the sixth badge will be delayed. Volkner was thinking of doing the same next week, and Roark the next. We won't let you go through this alone, alright? And we've got plenty of tips to give you for running your Gym."

"Okay," she timidly nodded.

"Let's talk about something."

"What?"

"Anything! Just nothing related to your job."

"Well, if you're coming tomorrow, there's this really cool nail salon place that opened, and now that I'm on break I won't damage my nails all the time during training…"

Maylene was… on the road to being fine. Truly, this time.

—

Mars leaned against both of her palms as she kicked her legs up and down her couch. She'd let her hair grow longer and it wasn't gelled to its usual shape today, so it draped over her eyes. Mars puckered her lips and blew some air upward, lifting some of her red hair and then groaned.

"Booooooooooored. I'm so bored! Juju, entertain me!"

Jupiter smirked and freed one of her ears from her headphones. She was listening to the same cooking podcast she always had on. "Do you want some of Charon's crosswords? I've almost finished all of them."

Jupiter threw a basketball toward her large, lumbering Tangrowth in the corner of the room and the grass type let out some half, gurgling, vomiting sound as he caught it and began dribbling the ball on the floor with a vine. They'd been throwing it back and forth for the last thirty minutes.

"Juju, even as a joke, you're going too far," Mars rolled her eyes. "Crosswords? I'd rather die."

"Your loss," she shrugged. "You could always just watch cartoons."

"Cartoons suck. I haven't watched cartoons in six months, Juju! Don't treat me like a kid!"

Tangrowth threw the ball back at speeds high enough to break a nose, but Jupiter caught it with a single hand without even looking up from her screen. Mars let out a haughty huff and began to pout.

"What? Do you want to play too?" Jupiter playfully asked. She spun the ball on the tip of her finger for a few seconds.

Mars groaned. "Forget it."

The young woman lay there, splayed across the breakroom sofa that felt more like drywall than soft cushions. Team Galactic had been fun for her when she'd first joined, but these days, all she did was wait. Where was the fun, the adventure, the killing?! She wasn't even allowed to mess with the grunts anymore because she was holed up at their main Headquarters and everyone here was in the know. They'd all be joining Cyrus in his New World, and he had forbidden her from tormenting them. She couldn't even fool around a little bit.

Cyrus. Mars couldn't help but bite her bottom lip when she thought of her leader. He was the first man that had given her a home. The first person she'd known.

Mars' first memory was waking up in a dumpster in Jubilife two years ago now with her Pokeballs by her side with no idea of who she was, where she'd come from or what had happened to her. She'd been naked, her body pale as if it had never seen the sun and her skin as soft as a newborn's. She wandered the streets for a while, skulking away from view in the middle of the night, but a perverted man had noticed her, acted like he'd help and covered her with his jacket. He'd tried to force himself on her once he brought her to his apartment.

She'd been too terrified to even release one of her Pokemon, but the man had put them away anyway. She'd just been a girl and he could easily overpower her, so Mars had resigned herself to her fate.

Instead, his soul was swallowed whole by a ghost. Dusknoir. Mars remembered his pleading, him begging for his life as Dusky approached him inch by inch and feasted on his horror. Color, drained from the walls of his home. The television playing a deafening static. Screams. So many screams. He'd tried to run away, but Dusky had blocked every single escape, and the man shrieked and pleaded until his voice was gone and he resigned himself to his fate a broken husk. Mars remembered his body, dropping like a log with his face still covered in tears and snot. His last expression, a mix of confusion and dread, still anchored there. The smell of urine as his bladder emptied.

She thought it was beautiful. Nostalgic. Something about it reminded Mars of what she'd known, but the knowledge was out of reach. At the tip of her fingers.

From that day forth, she carried a knife she'd stolen from his home and she murdered more. And more. She killed eight people and fed Dusky seven more before Cyrus somehow found her and allowed her to pick her name. Mars. That was who she was now, and who she'd been for the past two years. She did not remember her previous name, and she did not care for it. She belonged by Cyrus' side. He was her knight in shining armor, her savior, her Messiah!

And she hadn't seen him in ages.

Mars sighed again before shooting up. "I'm gonna walk around. Stretch my legs and scare some people."

"That's bad for morale. The grunts haven't been a problem, but the scientists never were fully onboard with the whole cult thing," Jupiter said. "Charon's got a tight leash on them, but they're working slower than we need."

"Then maybe I should make an example out of one."

"No. Torture," Jupiter scolded. "I swear to Arceus, you're like a kid. I guess you technically are two years old."

"Two and a half, thank you very much!" Mars pouted. "I'm off, Juju! See you later!"

Mars quickly skipped across the Commanders' office and entered the brightly lit hallways of their base. The place was a true labyrinth that even she got lost in sometimes, and that was by design in case the League ever broke in. Research they had stolen from Valley Windworks had been used here to create artificial teleporters that made traveling within the base an annoying process. The floor was made of grey tiles so clean that Mars could see her reflection on them, and the walls were made of reinforced material that Pokemon Centers were built out of. Only the most powerful of Pokemon could break through those. Mars released Mr. Wiggly as she walked, and the grunts made wide berths around them to avoid ever bumping into Mars or looking at her wrong. The Wigglytuff smirked, basking in his superiority and the fear that exuded out of the grunts.

He loved tasting their fear. Oh, fairies weren't sustained by emotion, but they were very sensitive to them and Mars' fairies found fear tastier than others, which was something shared by Saturn's Grimmsnarl. Wigglytuff might have looked innocent, but he was truly wicked in a very enjoyable sense. They had a lot in common. All of them did.

All of her Pokemon except Dusky had lost their memories as well, and they shared her goal of trying to figure out what the hell had happened. Well, it wasn't really a goal. More like some side quest in a game. Now that she had Cyrus, she couldn't care less about her past life. She had lots of fun here, even if it was boring these days. She'd tried asking Dusky about her past life a little, but his mouth was sealed. Every time, he told her it was for her own good, and she believed it. For some reason, she could understand whatever he said, and only him. No other Pokemon shared their bond. Mr. Wiggly, for example, needed a psychic translator if he needed to tell her something complicated.

Oh! Back to Team Galactic!

Saturn was fun to tease, and he'd passed out when he heard the news about Abel nearly getting caught. The man had called, told them all of the information he had revealed to preserve his 'honor' and then disappeared into the wind. Mars hoped they'd see each other again, he was a lot of fun. Charon was a grumpy old man obsessed with bringing his sister back to life, and Mars couldn't care less about him. Juju? She was her best friend, and also an enigma.

Jupiter was fully aware of Cyrus' goal, and yet she was just a normal girl. Dangerously normal. She almost never got mad, although even Mars shook in her boots when she did. At first, she'd apparently joined Team Galactic for the money, but she was all in, now. Mars knew there must have been a deeper reason, but she had never revealed it to them. Only Cyrus knew. She knew it was a cult, she knew they wanted to end the world, but she treated this like a regular old 9 to 5, except she didn't get to go home by the end of her shift.

Cyrus… Mars wished she could see him, but he had holed up in his office for the past two weeks and asked not to be disturbed. Mars stepped on one of the yellow pads and was instantly whisked away to a lower level of the base, toward the scientists' quarters. Down there, gone were the large 'G' logos and the crowd of grunts. The clean floor had been replaced by some dreary beige. People that looked like they hadn't slept in weeks typed away on computers, experimented with substances Mars didn't understand and had their noses deep in ancient texts about Legendary Pokemon. They all flinched when they turned to look at her and Mr. Wiggly.

"Good evening!" Mars yelled. Her voice reverberated through the entire corridor. It only took thirty seconds for Charon to show up.

"Mars," the man said, walking with his usual limp and terrible posture. "Why have you come to bother me now?"

"I'm bored, so I came to see the progress on your toy."

"It is no toy," he spat. "It is a weapon. And I do not want you anywhere near the Chain Prototype."

"Aw. Can I see it, at least? From afar? I'm a Commander, so I deserve to see what you're working so hard on!" She said, puffing out her chest. "I wouldn't do anything to piss off Cyrus."

The old man pinched the bridge of his nose. "Do you promise to leave afterward? And not to come back down here for a week?"

"Pinky promise! Also, ew, when's the last time you showered?"

"That is not your concern."

He briskly motioned at her to follow, and she did, skipping across the floor as she did. Wigglytuf mimicked her, almost floating in the air with each jump. He could do a lot more when he put his mind and will to it. The closer they got to the chain room, the more strange machines sprung up. White cubes that created wooshing sounds anchored to the ground with tubes that went even deeper and topped by strange yellow towers with green lights. Then, blue machines— or vats with some Pokemon that looked like Ditto trapped inside a strange green liquid, begging to be let out as they slowly and forcefully changed into something else with restraints keeping them still and a dozen tubes penetrating their bodies. Mars stuck out her tongue at one and kept moving. The further she processed down the hall, the more the change had progressed. They'd been turned into a Pokemon Mars had never seen, but that she knew about.

"Replicas of one of the Lake Trio," Charon explained. "Mesprit, to be more precise. They are continuously fed and tranquilized to avoid any unfortunate accidents. They're nowhere close the amount of power Mesprit could wield, of course. Ditto do not become as powerful as the Pokemon they transform into. In fact, I'd argue their level of power does not change at all. They merely adapt to their model's way of living and battling."

"Then why do you need them if they aren't worth anything?" Mars asked. She was curious. After all, Charon was the brain behind this entire operation. She tapped on the transparent glass and the fake Mesprit flinched away.

"Stupid girl. They're worth more than you, I and all of Sinnoh combined will ever make. The only thing we're after," he said with a lazy smirk. "Is this."

He pointed to the top of his forehead, and Mars noticed the red gem embedded on each Pokemon's head. Some of them were missing and were in the process of regrowing.

"We need thousands of these to create the Red Chain. With the Red Chain, we will bring the trio under our control. It is made of the same DNA, after all. It should theoretically work on the real specimen."

"How'd you get their DNA? No one told me about this?! I'm a Commander! Does Cyrus think I'm useless?! Is that why he won't see me?!" Mars yelled. She felt Dusknoir's cold embrace around her and calmed down.

Charon ignored her outburst. "Cyrus came upon one of the lakes last summer, the one the League has called Lake Verity. An appropriate name for the being of Emotion," he rambled as he stroked his chin. "Afterward, we sent teams of divers and found an underwater cave with the remains of Mesprit's DNA. Only traces. Barely usable, but usable nonetheless. The Pokemon itself was nowhere to be seen, but almost all of our divers couldn't feel compelled to go back up and drowned in the process. The survivors say it was like the only thing in the world they wanted was to stay there because it was the most fulfilled they'd ever felt in their entire lives. Even now, they say their emotions are never as strong as what they felt in the cave. They'll live a muted life from now on."

"Yikes. You better not send me down there!"

"Even though it pains me to admit, you are too valuable. That is what grunts that aren't in on the plan are for, although we are starting to lack manpower in that regard."

"If you couldn't find Mesprit, how're you gonna grab them? You need all three for the big day, right?"

"We think we have a way of forcing them out of their… hibernating state when the time comes."

"I can't believe you've come so far already! Turning Ditto into these little boogers?! Charon, you're a genius!" She yelled.

The man groaned. "It was not just me. The entire Department of Sciences worked on this. It took many tries for the Ditto to take to the DNA without dying. Thousands of trial runs and wasted specimens, but now… here we are."

They reached a set of giant doors that looked more like the outside of a vault than anything else. Charon pushed a series of buttons, then placed his thumb on a scanner and showed his eye to a camera before the doors opened with a loud hiss. Mars' eyes widened at what she saw before her. The chain was red like the color of blood, but it was not really a chain. More like hundreds of stones linked together in a brilliant display of symmetry. Each gem was the same, and yet it was not. Mars almost felt herself get lost in the colors. She squinted and realized each gem was a never-ending pattern— a fractal. A strange, red glow surrounded the chain and it floated by itself without any device or Pokemon to carry it, as if it worked beyond the forces of gravity.

"Behold. The Red Chain," he said, extending an arm as he smiled no doubt for the first time in weeks. "It is currently around forty percent finished, which is why we need to buy time and you can't go gallivanting on one of your usual killing sprees. If we had obtained Uxie's or Azelf's DNA, the process would have gone faster, but the damn League got ahead of us at Valor and Craig Goodwill killed our first expedition at Acuity. A shame. It is funny, how even though the Legends are powerful beyond compare, their rules can still be broken."

"Can I touch it?!" Mars said, her voice laden with excitement.

"Wha— Absolutely not!" He screamed. "It is being assembled and moved around with specialized equipment. I had one of my test subjects touch the Chain and he was overtaken by a sorrow so great that he died."

"Died? How fun. What killed him?"

"Sorrow, you daft girl. He was a mess for weeks until he couldn't take it and took his own life. It could only affect him so because it is made of Mesprit's gem. We handle them all through tools, even when carrying a single one."

"I didn't know being sad could kill. I wonder what the real deal would be like if a fake's this powerful. Maybe the real Mesprit can make you so sad you kill yourself instantly! That'd be a lot more fun than the normal way of killing, like squishing your brain into mush or whatever."

"Of course you wouldn't get it," he said after a pause. "You've never felt sad a damn day in your life. And I don't mean the little outbursts you get into when Cyrus doesn't give you enough attention, I mean true sorrow."

"Don't get into some sappy story about your dead sister now," she chided. "I really couldn't care less. Hey, did you know your niece is in town? Abel told us she was trying to find you."

Mars leaned toward the older man until he backed off. She'd been probing for a reaction. Weakness. Something to exploit if she ever got too bored. Unfortunately, there was almost nothing. How unfun.

"Do not speak of my sister. As for my niece, I already know she would not be open to our plans, so there is no point in speaking to her. She is blinded by morals. Useless. If she truly cared for her mother she would have joined us by now."

Mars grinned. "So are you gonna kill her? Make it slow? Watch as she realizes her old uncle isn't coming back and the life slowly drains out of her eyes?"

"I do not care what happens," he shrugged. "With the birth of our New World, she can be brought back as she was before my sister's accident, and so can she."

"I'd call dibs, but she's all yours," Mars pouted. "Thank you for the tour, Charon. Mr. Wiggly loved it."

Wigglytuff spun around and happily squealed.

"I said I did not care what happened to her in this world, not that I would kill her. And I grow tired of your silly nicknames," he sighed. "Your Pokemon are all monsters as you are. They are not appropriate."

"I'm going to act like I didn't hear that," she said before slipping away. All of her Pokemon deserved cute names. Even Dusky.

Charon would probably stay there, mesmerized by his own creation. He always cursed how slow they were being. They were close, but the League was beginning to breathe down their neck. Mars had not known about the chain, but she'd known about the plan of action when everything was in place. She couldn't wait! There'd be so much carnage, and she was really pent-up. She returned and was pleased to see that Jupiter was still on her break. It wasn't like there was much for her to do in these boring and uninteresting times. Charon ran the scientists, Saturn ran the grunts and Jupiter ran their Finance Department, but they had stopped making much money these days because they'd been forced into hiding. Thankfully, they had a lot of cash stockpiled from their activities these last few years. As for Mars? She was muscle and made sure no one in Team Galactic's core (so the members that were going to the New World) ever got second thoughts about the plan. After all, anyone would rather die to League forces than have their soul wallow in agony for as long as Dusknoir wished, which would probably be… forever! Mars was muscle and a deterrent, and so she was the most powerful Commander. More powerful than Cyrus, even, but her love almost never used his Pokemon.

She was not only loyal to her leader because of love, although that was a huge part of it. The New World beyond this one would be a beautiful thing. Cyrus would become a God, and that meant that he'd be able to create as many people to torment as she wanted. Forever. There was nowhere else Mars would rather be.

"Mars, I found something you might find fun. That kid you're obsessed with… well, I don't want to be an enabler, but there's a battle you might like," Jupiter said.

"Oh? Now I'm interested!"

The break room's television was at least three decades old and the quality on it was garbage, but Jupiter still managed to get the battle to play. Grace Pastel against Maylene. At first, seeing that girl all stoic made Mars angry. Where was the little pipsqueak that had whimpered at her mere stare? Flinched away at her touch? That wasn't her, it was someone else. It made her want to break into her Pokemon Center and cut her open. A thousand tiny little cuts, going slowly deeper as she bled out, just like Mars loved… her knife suddenly felt heavier in her pocket. Unfortunately, with all of her guards, it was impossible even for her, and she wouldn't disobey Cyrus.

But slowly,

Gradually.

She realized something.

Mars began to giggle as Infernape slowly choked out behind a stone pillar and Maylene stared in utter despair. Her face twisted in horror at the fire type's little choked screams. She slowly approached the screen, crawling until she was less than an inch away, her eyes unblinking as she hugged the television. Every word, perfectly crafted to appear innocent, just as she'd done with the dozens of grunts she'd subtly broken these last two years, the gaslighting that made them look like kooks to the outside world and their peers. She knew, because she was the same. They were the same, but Mars embraced it while Grace pushed back. Even the nicknames…

She placed her forehead on the screen and beamed. "Oh, Grace, oh Grace."

Mars laughed until it felt like she'd asphyxiate. Until all the air was out of her lungs and her chest hurt. Until even Jupiter had to ask if she was alright and her Tangrowth nearly whipped her because he disliked the noise. Mars didn't answer and slowly watched the girl she'd wanted to kill dismantle a child in front of her as the spit she'd expelled from all that laughing slowly dripped down the TV. She hugged it tighter and pressed her cheek against the warm screen. Grace, her mirrored self, just a few precious pixels on the screen that she so desperately wanted to touch.

Mars nearly gasped and then broke into a sob. "She's just like me, Juju. She's just like me. We're like long lost twins…"

She felt Dusknoir's cold hand gently pat her shoulder.

"Your body's older. You can't be twins," the Commander deadpanned.

"Siblings then!" Mars sniffled. "And it was a manner of speaking! I don't want to kill her anymore."

"Good. I was scared you'd slip away at some point and ruin things—"

Mars didn't even hear the rest of what she said. Instead, her mind went racing. Mars wanted to keep Grace. They'd make a mean duo together! But there was no way she'd just become her friend. Unless. Everyone else around her was still fair game… maybe there was a way to break her until she joined her… and then it clicked. It'd be her most complicated game yet, but Mars was certain it would work now that her conversation with Charon had given her inspiration. Her face twisted into a grin as she wiped her tears of joy. Of ecstasy, even.

For now though? She was stuck here until the Red Chain reached its completion.

Mars watched the video over and over until the sun rose again.

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 208

"You look happy. Happier than you were yesterday."

I rolled toward Cecilia and wrapped my hands around her waist. Three days had passed since my battle with Maylene, and I'd slept in her room yesterday night, although I did allow Sunshine to stick in mine out of his Pokeball so he could dream. Slowking sat in one of the corners of the room— I was pretty sure this was the first time I actually saw him sit since he'd evolved, and he looked kind of funny. He had his last lesson on mental shields later today, and apparently he was on the cusp of mastering single-layer shields. I didn't really know how many layers you could get up to, but it'd no doubt come in handy.

"I am. I'm picking up my Pokemon today, remember?"

She caressed my cheek. "I'm glad you're alright. Are you sure you aren't letting the guilt eat you up?"

She left the context of the sentence unspoken, but Maylene had announced that she was going on a month-long break yesterday evening and many rumors were circulating. Some said that it was just her way of saving face for a while until she retired while others said the League was going to replace her soon. I didn't really care for those, but I had felt incredibly guilty about it for a while, to the point that I almost considered trying to get a meeting set up with her to apologize again. Of course, Denzel and Cece made me realize that was a terrible idea very quickly. As for Justin, I'd warned Louis about him and said he might be more willing to speak now, but that was it.

"Yeah, I can't do much about it. I just hope it isn't too bad," I said. "I can't wait to see my Pokemon again, though. They're gonna be so happy we won."

I technically could have brought Buddy here, but I was sure he was having a very fun time with Sunshine. I'd have to buy him some books today too. When I asked him the history of what region and what period, he told me to get everything I could get my hands on, and when I told him about the Canalave library, he suddenly got very excited about the city. Unfortunately, it'd have to wait a while, but the library there had many books that you couldn't find anywhere else, both in paperback or online.

"Zweilous nearly destroyed the entire room in excitement when I brought him back here, so I had to recall them immediately before they got someone killed," she said. "Winning a Gym Badge always gets their blood pumping."

"Thinking they'll evolve sooner rather than later?"

Her lips went flat for a second.

"What?" I said. "Oh shit, sorry. They'll go beserk, right? I shouldn't have brought it up. If you need any help to calm them down when the time comes—"

"No, I will handle it alone, just like my brother did. But it's not even that," she sighed. "The heads combine back into one. That means that Zerst and Sol will fuse again, and I don't know if I'll ever be ready for that."

"You were scared when Deino split into two as well."

"Strange, is it not? I'll have to learn to deal with it when the time comes. I was thinking of combining their names whenever they do evolve. And to answer your question, no, I don't think it's coming any time soon. Maybe in a few months. Golett, however? I think his time is soon."

"Can't wait to see the little guy fly around," I chuckled. "Say, when your brother's Zweilous evolved, you said he got sent to the hospital, right? It's a dark type, so psychic attacks and barriers won't work very well. I think—"

"You worry too much," she smiled. "What's with your fixation on Zweilous today?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Last night, I just thought… we're more than halfway there, you know? Halfway to the Conference. That made me think about which evolutions people had left, that's all. Then I remembered the whole ordeal with Hydreigon."

Cece wrapped her hands around me tighter. "It has been a journey, hasn't it? I'll tell you about Mark, then. His Zweilous evolved during his second year during his Gym Battle against Drayden, and he had to recall it because it kept going for the kill instead of battling normally."

"What's Drayden's type?"

"Dragon."

"Huh. Convenient."

"Yes. He gave my brother advice after the battle, but he wasn't cautious enough and he got wounded by a Dragon Pulse— not the full attack, of course. He wouldn't have survived otherwise. He told me to call him when the time came."

"Fine."

I hoped she wasn't doing this in hopes of impressing Azelf, but I had no right to complain about not asking for help. I'd done it many times, after all.

"You know, thinking about your brother," I started. "Before him, there was Iris. But before her, there was Alder. I remember the headlines— the youngest Champion in the world— or at least since… what's his name?"

"Since Blue and Red were Champion for a single day in Kanto. First Blue beats Lance, then the other guy beats him— Red— and he immediately gives the position back to Lance and disappears."

"Right, Blue and Red. Arceus, those are strange names. Anyway, those guys became the Champion when they were eleven because trainers in Kanto could become trainers when they were ten back then. Kind of an unhinged policy, if you ask me."

Cece scoffed. "Right? When I was ten, I could barely do anything, let alone travel in the wild, but their society used to be... pretty martial. Still is, even if the age was finally raised."

"Anyway, Iris was twelve, right? Or was it eleven?"

"She was also eleven, and she's thirteen today. She trained under Drayden and he offered to make her a trainer early, which she happily accepted, but as you know, Unova's routes are a lot safer than Kanto's for travel. And Iris wasn't Champion for long," she explained. "There was an entire political crisis because of how young she was. Even with the systems in place in case a child ever got the position of Champion, eleven was really pushing it."

"What happened to Alder?" I asked. "I can't imagine someone who'd been the Champion for that long losing to a little kid…"

Cecilia grimaced. "You don't know?"

"Well, I am asking."

"His Volcarona. His oldest partner died."

"D—Died? During the battle?"

"No, it had died of old age. Well, not exactly old age, more like it was so old its body couldn't fight off some kind of illness. Apparently it was already really old when Alder caught it, and on the tail end of its life. Even then, it was probably the most powerful trained Pokemon in existence."

"Stronger than Garchomp?"

"Well, it's hard to measure power at that scale, I'm just repeating what people said," she shrugged. "But Volcarona are incredibly rare, and we thought they were extinct before Alder went and caught his. Do you know what they called his Volcarona? The Sun God. And it wasn't even in its prime. They were revered in ancient times and one flutter of their wings could burn an entire village to smithereens. There's this story of an ancient catastrophe in Unova. A supervolcanic eruption that blotted out the skies for years, but that a Volcarona acted as a second sun for its inhabitants."

"Arceus."

"An exaggeration no doubt, but all stories have hints of truths to them. Alder was a rather unique Champion. His Pokemon were all strong, but he relied on Volcarona for everything, and it was miles ahead of the other members of his team. Combine that with his depression, and you get—"

"His crushing defeat to Iris," I nodded.

"And it was crushing. 2-6, if I remember correctly. These days, he aimlessly wanders around the region like a homeless man, and his reputation is in tatters. Iris follows him around sometimes when she isn't back at Drayden's. I think she's happier not being the Champion, and she hasn't tried to retake the position. Her battle with Mark was very close."

"That was depressing," I sighed.

"Sorry?"

"I did ask. Hey, gimmie a lil' smooch to make me feel better."

"How about a long one?" She smirked.

"I'll never say no to that."

—

"I'll see you later?"

I stood on my tiptoes and pecked Cecilia on the lips. "Yup. Gotta run. We can talk about when to leave later when Chase finally answers us."

His two weeks had run out by now, but he hadn't told us when his Gym Battle would be aside from the fact that he was pissed that he'd have to fight some Gym Trainer and not Maylene herself. I quickly swung by my room and interrupted Jellicent and Sunshine's talk of Johto and its history, but the dragon was horribly vague and inaccurate, or at least he was according to Buddy. He huffed and demanded to be placed back in his ball, and I acquiesed after making sure he wasn't actually angry. It was just another one of his unserious tantrum, and those ranged from the 'I'm going to kill you' to the more common 'Put me back in my ball so I can sleep with my volcanos.' Learning what the inside of a Pokeball was like had been a fascinating affair. Even though they were a part of our everyday lives, few trainers actually thought about how the device functioned.

"Hey, Bud," I said as we descended the stairs. People scraped the walls in order not to walk close to me. "What's the inside of your ball like?"

He let out a series of clicks and explained. To him, his Pokeball was the deepest part of the ocean where no light could reach. It was just him, the cold, and the occasional sunken ship with the bodies of dead sailors— dead sailors? I didn't say it out loud, but the water type could tell I was confused. He huffed and said that the most powerful Jellicent were capable of dragging huge ships to the bottom of the ocean and feasted on every sailor's lifespan. Supposedly, it wasn't something he wanted to do, which I was glad for, but it was there for flair.

Basically, he decorated his house with corpses. Fun.

I picked up the rest of my team and swung by a library before making my way toward good old route 214. Buddy wasn't actually allowed inside the building, but he told me to get anything I could on either Sinnoh or Johto, and I obliged him, picking up 'The Complete History of Johto' and 'From Hisui to Sinnoh - A History.' I was starting to think I'd need another bag soon somehow, but I managed to fit the two thick books inside my backpack. I wasn't very interested in history, but it was a hobby to share, and it wasn't like Buddy could hold the books himself without ruining them. It'd pass the time on the road or at night in the Centers whenever I slept alone. Once I made it to my usual spot, I released everyone and they were all as good as new.

"We won," I immediately said.

There were cheers, but they were less jubilant than my win against Fantina. Meanwhile Sunshine just snorted, but I ignored him. We'd expected a win, which was why there was a lot less surprise here. We had never worked as hard as we had for this Gym Battle, and everyone had been confident going in. Pupitar immediately started bragging about her part of the fight, and then they all started speaking about who did what. I let that go on for a while. It was true that while I saw everything that went on during a battle, they did not, and had no idea what their siblings had faced.

Electabuzz snorted and gave a thumbs up at Jellicent when the water type told him about how he'd finished off Lucario, and Angel was up in arms, telling everyone about how much fun he'd had fighting Conkeldurr. I sat next to Sunshine and poked him in the leg.

"You're smiling. You're proud of them, aren't you?"

The fire type immediately lost his little smirk and turned his head away from me.

"You don't have to hide it," I said. "It's okay to get closer to us. It's okay to be happy. You deserve it."

I stroked him on the arm, and his scales heated up a little. His smile returned soon after, and we listened to Princess brag about her pillars to try to upstage Sweetheart, and the two bickered for a while. Volkner was next, and that meant Buddy and Princess would take a backstage while the rest of the team came to the forefront. It'd be a perfect Gym for Sweetheart thanks to her ground typing, although I had no doubt Volkner had many counters for the type. Angel would resist electric attacks while Honey needed to be in top form as well.

"Hey,"

The dragon opened an eye and stared at me.

"Are you ready to play ball, you think? This is the sixth badge, so it'll be a decent challenge. I'm sure Volkner will go a little above that too. The next Gym is Crasher Wake, and his arena's full of water so you won't see much action. If you want to finish shaking off your rust, battling Volkner will be a good way to do it, and you'll be more prepared for Byron. If you say yes, of course. Don't feel forced to."

Turtonator sighed as he pondered his answer. I could see the gears move in his head as I stared into his eyes. I'd told him about Team Galactic. He knew a confrontation might be near, and I assumed that worried him a lot more than underperforming in Gyms did. After a few seconds, Sunshine nodded firmly.

"Then you'll see action," I smiled. "Let's start working on something right away. Remember that Turtonator you told me about? The one who could move himself through explosions?"

The fire type nodded. He'd tried before, of course, and the problem wasn't the power required. After all, he was stronger now than that Turtonator had been. No, the problem was the sheer amount of control required to make it work. He couldn't just explode his shell willy-nilly. He had to consider pitch, strength, tilt, his body weight, his shell's current condition, and a thousand other different things. Essentially, he needed to do what Sweetheart had done, but it'd be harder. Way harder. I didn't think he'd be done working on this by the time I battled Volkner.

"Your biggest weakness— don't look at me like that, I didn't say you were weak, I called it a weakness. It's your lack of mobility. Imagine a future where your opponent tries to keep you at bay like Zachary's Vespiquen, but you just fly up and land next to them. Then, you do what you do best. You burn, and they faint."

Sunshine's eyes glimmered in anticipation, but that light left soon after. He'd tried to learn this trick countless times with Oranguru, but to no avail.

"We can still try, right? Other than that, you're on Sunny Day duty. Angel can teach you the basics."

Turtonator's head turned toward the grass type, who was pushing himself up in the air with a dozen vines for fun, and then he stared back at me.

"Come on, you know he's smarter than he looks by now. Can you handle five different tasks at once? I don't think so, mister."

The dragon type groaned, but waved a hand dismissively. He'd get started on Sunny Day when we started training back up again. Volkner was going to be tricky, but I was already planning on a sun strategy. It wouldn't counter him explicitly, but it would turn Sunshine and Angel into monsters in their own rights, and I had a theory on something regarding Ancient Power. As for my other Pokemon, I was going to have Angel start work on Solar Beam. He needed to get better at fighting at a distance, and combined with the sun, it'd prove to be a devastating move. I'd already told Buddy to work on Water Spout. Electabuzz still needed to increase his electric potential as much as he could, and Thunder was still some weeks away. The good news was that his stamina problems were now gone, and he could fight for as long as was needed.

Princess was going to start working on Air Slash and conduct some… experiments with Ancient Power soon. If what I had in mind worked, then she'd actually be very useful for Volkner despite how vulnerable she'd be. Sweetheart, meanwhile, was going to finish working on Iron Head. The focused steel type energy would make her pack a meaner punch when she flew. Sunshine would also keep teaching her Dragon Pulse. Drawing on dragon type energy was difficult for her, but it was possible according to the Pokedex.

Training never stopped. It was only continuous, arduous improvement that would bring me to the top, and thinking the pillar strategy would work again was foolish, even though it'd be a nice trick to bring if I ever battled in tournaments. Stagnation was the last thing I wanted.

As for me? Well, I needed to learn what made people tick without enormous amounts of studying. I wouldn't have as much time to study opponents in the Conference as I did with Gym Leaders, and humans could be somewhat predictable. Behavioral sciences were a thing, after all.

Well, I wouldn't ruin the mood by announcing more training. It could always wait. Right now, my family was having a lot of fun.

—

I came back to Veilstone earlier than planned because I'd gotten a text from Chase asking to meet me, Mira and Cecilia in front of our Pokemon Center. I actually hadn't seen Mira in a while, and she had deep bags under her eyes. When I asked, she said she'd spent an all nighter trying to get her Porygon to learn Ice Beam, and she'd done it. She spoke about a bunch of coding stuff that went over my head, but long story short, she'd managed to essentially code the move into Porygon's head.

"The answers came to me if I dug deep enough," she said. "It feels like cheating, but I'm not going to complain. Ice Beam took me more than a week, so I'm going to try Thunderbolt next."

"Thunderbolt? When you're fighting Volkner?" I asked.

"I'm mostly thinking about Wake. Don't think Porgyon will see much fighting in Volkner's Gym, but we'll see. In other news, I need to find myself an Eevee—"

"You mean buy yourself an Eevee. You can't just stumble across an Eevee," Cecilia said.

"Denzel did it," I said.

"Okay, but he just got ridiculously lucky. Eevee are rare, you're most likely going to need to buy it. And the price of every Pokemon went up now that the Hunters went under."

"Damn it," Mira sighed. "Okay, maybe I put the Eevee idea on the backburner for a while."

Cece raised an eyebrow. "Which evolution did you even want?"

"Glaceon. Cynthia's wreaks havoc every time it fights, and it's perfect for a special attack specialist like me," she smugly said. "Plus, Candice is my last Gym… there's that huge Icy Rock up north that's known to evolve Eevee if they stay close to it for a day or two. Damn it, it was perfect."

"If you ever get one, just make sure it actually wants to evolve into that first," I warned.

"I will, I will, no need to preach at me. I'd take any Eeveelution, although Sylveon would be raining on Denzel's parade a little. I don't really care about trainer etiquette though."

It was well known that trainers traveling in a group often avoided getting the same Pokemon. It wasn't actively discouraged, but it was good manners. Of course, Mira didn't care for good manners.

"What about you, Cece? Narrowed your choices a little?" I asked.

"Hitmonlee's out," she declared. "Not flexible enough for what I want, and Tyrogue isn't even guaranteed to evolve into one."

"Fair enough. I'm sure you'll— ah, there he is."

Mira beamed at the sight of Chase and waved like an excited little girl. Sigilyph followed close behind him, although she made herself small behind her trainer when she noticed us. She was still as shy as always.

"Chasey!" She yelled.

"Hi."

She dashed toward him with her arms outstretched, but he easily sidestepped and ducked under her. She stood there for a few seconds, frozen with her arms in the same position while Chase pulled out two things from his pocket. One, his flying license. It was a shiny card with his name, picture, date of birth, and Trainer ID embedded on it. Two, a badge. Maylene's badge, to be quite exact.

"When?" I asked.

"Yesterday. I pick up my team tomorrow morning, and we then we can leave on this trip thing."

Mira finally unfroze and turned. "Aw, yeah! I'm so excited!" She beamed.

Sigilyph beeped at her, staring with her unblinking eye until Mira looked back and the psychic type screeched in fear.

"Stop scaring her," Chase said.

"I just looked at her."

"I said what I said. She's a soft one— but strong when it matters," he proudly said with a smile. He recalled the psychic into her ball and leaned against the Center's wall. "She pulled her weight during my Gym Battle. Had to beat down a Gym Trainer, so it didn't feel as good as it could have, but what's done is done. At least I'm not strapped for cash anymore."

"Tomorrow's so soon," I stammered. "I have to buy a bunch of stuff, talk to Denzel—"

"Okay, no worries," he raised his hands. "Just don't waste too much time. Don't forget, after this Sunyshore trip, I'm outta here."

"You said you'd think about Pastoria too," I said.

"Right. I did say that. Sorry, I forgot. We'll see."

"Well, I'm ready to go whenever," Cecilia announced. "I'll swing by and tell our friends goodbye. Mira?"

"Louis and Maeve are gone, so yeah. Just gonna tell the annoying love triangle adieu and then we can get going. Think they'll sort things out if they're traveling alone, or will they delay another month? Any bets?"

"I'm not betting anything. I don't even know what you're talking about," Chase said.

"Don't worry about it, Chase," Cecilia sighed. "Grace?"

"Yeah. I guess— I guess we can leave tomorrow."

This was really happening, huh? Our time in Veilstone was finally over, and a lot quicker than I'd thought. It wasn't like I had anything left to do here. Hell, I still disliked the city as a whole, but it was still kind of surreal to be leaving. I did get this feeling after every city, but it was more pronounced this time because of the sheer density of everything that had happened. There'd been event after event with very little time to rest.

"Yeah, I'm ready," I said, more steadfast. "Did you guys know I've actually been to Sunyshore once before? I was a kid though, so I don't remember much."

"You did tell me," Cece nodded. "I've also been there last summer."

I nodded, remembering that Sunyshore was where Cece had caught Talonflame.

"Anything interesting to do there?" Mira asked.

"It's really pretty. The walkways and the architecture make you feel like you're living in the future," I explained. "Compared to Veilstone, it's night and day. There's the beach, but it's still February. You can go see what the Lily of the Valley island looks like from an observation deck in a lighthouse… yeah, that's all I remember. Oh, and there's a Ferris Wheel!"

"There's a Ferris Wheel in Jubilife…" Mira muttered.

"But this one's bigger."

"None of those compare to Unova's, but it is what it is," my girlfriend mocked. "There's the Sunyshore Market open every Sunday where they sell a wide variety of goods, and the city's also the influencer center of Sinnoh. It used to be Hearthome, but Sunyshore's been growing extremely quickly since Volkner became Gym Leader and every young person wants to move there. Sunyshore University is also the most prestigious in Sinnoh, and of course as Grace said, it's a center of technology and innovation."

Sunyshore University… I remembered that was where Isaac studied. The man who'd dated Lisa Hunter and who had led us to uncover everything in Solaceon thanks to his very helpful phone call.

"Who cares? We're there to beat up Volkner, not to take pictures," Chase shrugged.

Cecilia groaned. "You don't know how to have fun, do you?"

"I do have plenty of fun, you just enjoy boring stuff too much. Anyway, if that's all, I'm gonna dip and practice flying some more outside the city. Let's meet at the gate to route 214 tomorrow at eight in the morning."

"That's so early," Mira grumbled.

"Yes. Exactly."

"I'll do it for you," she said, her eyes rapidly blinking.

He took a few steps back and grimaced. "Ew."

"Ew is better than what you used to say. That's progress!"

Chase kept walking away from her until he turned the corner. One thing was for sure, Sunyshore was going to be a lot more easygoing than Veilstone.

"Let's go out and eat, girls," Mira declared. "I'm starving. Here, take me to that high-end place you two went. The Elegant Carver."

"How do you even know that?" Cece scoffed. "And no, I am absolutely not taking you there. You won't be dressed appropriately, and I'd like for it to remain something between Grace and I."

"Come on. Pretty please? Do they do take-out?"

"They… they do," she relented.

We ended up eating some luxurious food on the sidewalk and split the bill three ways.

—

"Yo," Denzel waved. "Heard the news. You're leaving."

I'd knocked on his room and he even paused his stream to talk to me. Now, how had he done that, I didn't know, but—

"Blacked out the screen and muted the sound," he explained as if he'd read my mind. His Swablu sat on his head and preened herself constantly. She glared at me just for stepping inside of the room as if my mere presence was dirtying it. I could easily feel that she disliked me.

"Who preempted me and told you?" I asked.

"Chase did. He's not very discreet, and he's terrible at caring. He sent a message to the group chat asking for everyone to confirm that you were leaving at eight. I guess he kind of didn't care everyone else was in it."

"Ah. Sorry," I winced. "I came to tell you."

"Yeah, I figured."

An uneasy silence settled in as I leaned against the wall and shut the door.

"Good luck out there," he said. "With whatever it is you're going to do."

"Thanks. When are you guys leaving?"

"When Emi's better. Probably in three days or so. She's slowly improving, so that's good. Pauline won't leave her side and is asking me to stick close by constantly."

"You two are her favorite people in the world, so that makes sense."

"I wouldn't say that," he said, rubbing the back of his head.

"You know it already," I shrugged. "You're not dense, Denzel. I mean, I've known what's going on since Hearthome, and I'm the densest person on the planet. Everyone else also figured it out. You three are the only people ignoring it. Pauline likes you both."

"Look, it's better this way," he said. "This way, no one gets hurt."

I exhaled. "If you say so. Sooner or later, the lid's going to pop off, and I figure it might just happen while you're all traveling alone."

"It'll be fine."

"Okay."

"You didn't sound very convinced."

"That's because I'm not."

"Oh. Right."

There was another pause.

"Look at you," Denzel continued. "Now you're the one giving relationship advice. How times have changed."

I smirked. "I try my best. How'd it go when Pauline met Ashley?"

"She was nice, but she was doing that thing where she's just pretending. Like she did in Solaceon?" He said. "Creeped me out too, because she obviously hated her. Told me Ashley had a crush on me right after.

"Yeah, I remember. Did she say anything else?"

"No."

"Wow. She's grown. I thought she would have asked you to never meet her again."

"I did too, honestly. I can honestly tell she was trying to be nice, which was really endearing. Probably gonna see Ashley again in Sunyshore and see how she's doing. Anyway, you wanna join me for this stream? Since we're going our separate ways for a little bit, it'd mean a lot."

"Oh. Uh, what do you even do when you stream?"

"We were talking about Swablu, but the conversation will change since you're just going to pop up out of nowhere. Here, let's just talk about how we train Pokemon. I think people will enjoy hearing the differences and similarities."

"I think they'll enjoy me picking you apart," I teased.

He smiled. "Bring it on."

—

It was morning now. I'd stocked up on potions, told my team we were leaving early and bid my Center room goodbye after making sure I hadn't forgotten anything. Streaming was… an experience. It could maybe be fun once in a while, but it definitely wasn't for me, especially since the commenters kept asking about Maylene and I kept having to ignore them. Denzel had no moderators in his chat and it sometimes got quite toxic, but he was planning on making Lopunny one when she learned to read.

A Lopunny moderating a stream? Now that was something else. What was next, her browsing the forums? I liked it, though. He was saving to buy her a phone and he'd have enough money when he got to Sunyshore.

I met up with Cecilia and Mira in the Pokemon Center's lobby, and we quietly made out way toward route 214. Chase was already there when we arrived. The teenager greeted us with a curt nod. Everything was quiet. The rangers were tired and drinking their morning coffee and clearly didn't want to be disturbed.

"Wooooooo! Let's get this show on the road!" Mira screamed.

---

A/N: And that's the end of the Veilstone arc! Quite an abrupt one, you might say, but we did spend a long time here, although I'm too lazy to count the words. At some point, I actually worried I was going to make it too short, but I've been telling this to myself for every arc and every time it ends up longer. Like usual, I'm gonna take a one day break. Hopefully you enjoyed this arc (let me know what you liked/disliked) and thanks for sticking around as always. We're approaching 1 million words and when I started this I never would have thought I'd get this far. Planning is one thing, but actually putting it on paper is another, but I'm more motivated than ever. One thing you might have noticed during this is that important/long chapters (and these tend to coincide with one another) take two days instead of one. That's a scheduling change I'm looking to make, and sometimes important chapters might take even longer to get out. Anyway, before I leave, reminder to join my discord, thank youuuu. If you've ever wanted to discuss IWTTS with fellow readers or even just joined a wholesome little community (clearly an unbiased opinion), it's the place to be.

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 209

"Grace, how much longer are you gonna pet that thing?" Mira sighed.

"She's not a thing. Just a sec," I said as I grabbed an Oran Berry from my bag.

I rubbed the wild Girafarig's neck and handed her the berry. The psychic type neighed and gently bit into half of it, then asked for me to feed her tail. The mouth hungrily jumped at the food, and Cece and Honey jumped when she nearly snapped my finger off. She scarfed down the entire half of the berry and she barely chewed.

"I'll be leaving now, alright? Be safe."

The psychic type bowed her head in thanks, and I waved at both heads until we couldn't see them any longer. I hadn't really had a reason to feed Girafarig. We had encountered her a few minutes prior on the slopes of the mountain to route 214's east and I could tell she was hungry. Girafarig were grazers, and they usually stuck to the route's flat areas to the west with plenty of grass to eat.

It had been a few hours since we'd left Veilstone, and we'd decided to take the mountain path for a few reasons. One, Cecilia thought there was a chance she'd meet either a Mienfoo or a Croagunk there, although the latter were found in much greater numbers in the swamp next to Pastoria City. Two, I was a lot more familiar with the route, and three, there weren't a lot of trainers up here to bother us. Cecilia and Mira walked with me while Chase flew high overhead on his Sigilyph's back. I couldn't help but nervously glance at my friend every few seconds and feel my stomach sink. He flew without a saddle, which meant he was holding onto Sigilyph's wings for support. Apparently, Sigilyph were so rare they needed a custom-made saddle, and he didn't have enough money to afford it (and he of course refused any help) nor the time to waste waiting for it to be completed. He had passed his practical exam, so I trusted that he knew what he was doing.

Plus, Mira had her Gardevoir out in case he fell. The tall psychic didn't care much for anyone that wasn't her trainer, it seemed, and she kept glancing at her and raising her arm to her head before shyly pulling back. Sigilyph, meanwhile, had been extremely nervous about the whole ordeal. She was scared that she'd get Chase hurt somehow. Her way of flying was fascinating, though. She swayed back and forth in the wind, her wings barely moving.

"When he said he'd travel with us, I really thought he'd hang out," Mira sighed when she noticed I was looking.

"He'll come down eventually," I said.

"His arms are surely tired by now, it's been two hours…" Cecilia muttered.

"I think this is his way of working out," I said, shielding my eyes from the sun. "Wait, is he coming down?"

Sure enough, he was. Sigilyph slowly lowered her altitude over the next thirty seconds, but Chase jumped when she was fifteen feet off the ground.

"What's up?" Mira asked. "Come to speak to your pals?"

"No, I saw something behind us— far behind us. Some person on a Dragonite. It weirded me out, so I figured I'd walk."

"Isn't that just one of our guards?" I raised an eyebrow. "Actually, there was a woman with a Dragonite assigned to me. Guess she's not bothering to hide."

"They're coming with us on the routes too?!"

Cecilia chuckled. "Did you pay any attention to what Cynthia said?"

"No, I was busy demanding rights for my people, sorry," he said, not bothering to hide his sarcasm. "Anyway, guess I'm walking. My arms were getting tired anyway."

Mira poked him in the arm, and he jumped. "What? Chasey's getting tired? I never thought he'd admit that."

"It's a lot more tiring than it looks," he hurriedly exclaimed. "Some stick like you wouldn't get it."

"Maybe you can teach me. You can hold onto my waist and carry me into the sky."

"I don't even want to touch you, let alone teach you anything. Sigilyph isn't strong enough to carry two people and you'd die."

The psychic type let out a sad digital beep.

"Can't believe a trainer would hurt their own Pokemon like that," Mira said, feigning sadness.

"Don't put that fucked up shit in her head!"

They devolved into their usual bickering, which was occasionally assuaged by Cecilia or me. I squinted as I looked to the west, down the mountain's slopes. It was far, but I could see the occasional truck driving on the paved road going from Sunyshore to Veilstone or vice-versa, carrying all kinds of goods in containers. Trainers also dotted the route around the road, and I could even catch glimpses of moves, although it was too far to see exactly which Pokemon were battling. Off in the distance, Sunyshore was visible, but it was shifted blue by the Earth's atmosphere, or at least that's what Mira had told me.

They fight a lot, don't they, Slowking spoke into my— wait, he was speaking to Cecilia and Honey as well. I wish I could have some peace and quiet.

"Aren't you used to it?" I asked. "You have Sol, Zerst, Scyther…"

Sol and Zerst are just stupid most of the time. Scyther likes to keep to himself. It isn't that bad, especially with Talonflame here. Speaking of, I recommend you let her stretch her wings.

"I should, shouldn't I?" Cecilia said. She grabbed the fire type's Pokeball and released her high into the sky.

Talonflame let out a gentle song to announce her happiness and blurred forward with one flap of her wings. Cecilia couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"Makes me remember that time up north when she went to look for route 216 when we just got out of Mount Coronet," I said. "You were scared to let her go too far back then."

"I was, but what kind of trainer would keep a flying type caged up?" She said, still smiling. "She'll come back. She always does."

"Oh yeah! You guys should tell me about your time in Mount Coronet!" Mira exclaimed as she turned her head toward us. "I'm the only one who wasn't there!"

Chase clasped his hands together. "Finally some fucking peace and quiet."

"Slowking and you have that in common," I joked. The psychic type looked at me like I'd just stabbed him in the back.

"Did no one tell you about that?" Cece frowned. "I thought someone would have by now. Maybe Denzel."

"That boy only talks about work. Blergh," she grimaced. "Tell me about Mount Coronet!"

"Well, it's not as exciting as you'd think," Cecilia said. "It was mostly terrifying…"

—

Evening had come, and we decided to set up camp before the sun would set. We settled on a nice, flat surface large enough to accommodate our entire teams, and I was treated to a grand sight. Every single one of our Pokemon was out.

My team kept mostly to themselves in a corner, and I was surprised to see that Princess and Sunshine shared the same disdain for strangers. They glared at every single Pokemon, although Princess' was a haughty stare while Sunshine probably just hated the commotion. Honey was the only one trying to make friends, and he had chatted up Chase's Lucario until they began a spar, but he was on the backfoot since they weren't using powerful moves. Zangoose and Sigilyph were off in a corner somewhere, the former because she hated crowds and the latter because she considered the normal type her best friend. It was cute, how Chase dropped these adorable nuggets of information about his team like they were nothing.

Zweilous was chewing on a very confused Abomasnow's lumpy arm and slobbered all over the bark-like green arm, and Golett was busy… punching a boulder that Princess had raised for him over and over. Cece had told me it was his way of having fun. Slowking, Alakazam, and Gardevoir were the furthest away and were no doubt engaged in a conversation I'd understand very little of. Talonflame was still zipping around the sky like there was no tomorrow and raced Vikavolt for who was the fastest. The bug type couldn't keep up with her speed for long, but his occasional quick bursts of electric energy allowed him to sometimes catch up. Scyther had struck an unlikely friendship with Chase's Houndoom. They spoke mostly of loyalty and how Houndoom's feelings toward Chase differed greatly with what Scyther thought of Cece.

All of that to say.

Why the hell was my team so unsociable? Everybody else was mingling, but they just stuck to themselves! Was this my fault? Had I raised them like this?

"Okay, who's in charge of what tonight?" Mira asked. Porygon orbited around her head like a moon.

"I'm in charge of my own stuff," Chase said.

"I can handle the tents," Cecilia ignored him. "Mira?"

"I'll help out."

"I can cook!" I quickly said. "I've got some food, an electric stove, a pot and a skillet. Honey will help out."

"I didn't even know you two could cook," Cece said.

"Can you cook?" Chase asked with a judgy stare.

"Yes! And it beats whatever the hell you eat every day, trust me."

"I'm gonna need a calorie check."

"Just eat what I feed you, I swear it tastes good. My team can attest to it."

"Your team's biased," Mira teased with a smirk.

"No— well, yeah, but you can try it, right? I really want to cook for everyone. Please?"

They reluctantly agreed, and I shot Cece a betrayed look. The other two, I had expected to be reluctant, but her? She hadn't seen me cook yet. I was going to impress them all tonight and make them beg for me to feed them every day.

"Guess I'll get started on a fire," Chase said before sharply whistling to his Houndoom. "Let's go get wood. Zangoose, you come too."

Sigilyph ended up coming as well, but the rest of his Pokemon stuck around and Scyther actually joined Slowking and the rest of the psychics. Needless to say, they were wary of the bug type, but he mostly listened to whatever it was they were saying and from the looks of it he was getting lost pretty quickly. A conversation between psychics was mind numbingly quick. I walked up to Electabuzz and Ri's battle and the electric type actually started to fight harder when he saw that I was looking. I cheered for him, but he ended up giving up when Lucario locked his arm in a nasty armbar that reminded me of one of Maylene's techniques.

Honey shook his arm as he walked up to me, still reeling from the pain. He hid his disappointment well, but he was my kid and I could feel it emanating off of him.

"You fought well!" I said, clapping his back. I jumped when a small shock jolted my hand. He still had a little electricity stored in his fur. "For a hand-to-hand battle against a fighting type? You did amazing."

That, he did.

The cold voice enveloped my brain, as if someone was speaking everywhere around me at once. Ri bowed to Electabuzz, who awkwardly did the same.

He is a good fighter. Much better than when we last fought at the Café Cabin. If we had gone all out, he might have won. The little electricity he used was devastating and made my muscles spasm.

"Hear that?" I smugly said. "He's praising you too."

Honey thanked him and asked for a rematch tomorrow, which Lucario promptly accepted. Training outside of the usual group would do him some good. The fighting type joined Abomasnow and was taken aback by Zweilous' intellect, or lack thereof. He generated a bone and threw it off in the distance. The dragon let go of the ice type's arm and began to chase the damn bone. Once they reached it, they fought for it until they snapped it in half.

It wasn't like I could understand them well either. They only thought of food, fighting and having fun. Cece had told me Hydreigon weren't that smart, but they'd be leagues above Zweilous since their brains would join together again. I flinched when Mira's Haunter appeared in front of me and then cackled at my fear before slipping away. He'd been having fun scaring different Pokemon for the last twenty minutes. Magnezone let out an angry screech and chased after him, begging him to stop humiliating their team with his childish antics.

Honestly, I'd take ghostly pranks over murder like he used to do.

"Let's go talk to your siblings," I sighed. "Then, what do you say we cook that vegetable soup we were thinking of doing? Anything tastes better in a soup, right?"

The electric type let out a hearty laugh and said Princess would disagree.

"We'll get her to eat it," I said. "She's been progressing leaps and bounds on the culinary side of things."

He snorted, and so did I. Pasta, rice and most fruits she was alright with, but veggies were another ordeal altogether. I walked up to my team and greeted them with a heavy sigh.

"You guys don't feel like talking to the others? Not even you, Sweetie? Angel?"

Pupitar yelled and complained that I had singled her out. Angel essentially was only interested in befriending Sigilyph, which he had tried to approach once but to no avail. Maybe it was because she behaved like a kid? Buddy had the opposite problem and said that everyone but the psychic behaved like children, but he didn't think it'd be polite to intrude on their conversation. Once I pointed toward Scyther, the surprise made him nearly double in size and he quickly joined them. I told him we'd get starting on our readings later tonight.

Princess and Sunshine, I didn't need to know why they were being anti-social. They'd filled Sweetheart's head with so much trash talk that the rock type no longer felt like interacting with the others. I really didn't want to hear what they'd said.

"Listen up. You can stay alone in your own corner if you want, but talking behind the others' back is a no-go—"

Turtonator quickly snorted in protest, saying that he wasn't doing it behind their backs, but saying what he wanted loud and clear. Why was it that these two could bond over their dislike for strangers… I clenched my forehead.

"No. Badmouthing. Others. Keep it civil," I warned. "Sweetie, you should form an opinion for yourself. Go out and meet other people, I promise you it's a wonderful thing. And I also promise you that these two goofs make it sound a lot worse than it actually is."

Pupitar rumbled deep within her shell and crawled toward Lucario. She'd been interested in him ever since she saw him at the Café Cabin, and this evening was no different. The fighting type dipped his head at her and they began to speak, along with Abomasnow and Zweilous… who was just there. The first thing Sweetheart asked was if he was strong. Ri replied by saying 'I believe so,' and just like that, they were friends.

I turned back to Turtonator, who was watching with envy while Princess sat on his hat-like head and sighed.

"Don't throw a hissy fit, you're still her favorite," I said. "Let her spread her wings a little. She won't be a baby forever. Anyway, it's good that you two are growing so close—"

Princess fluttered her wings and instantly got off Sunshine's head while he let out a small puff of smoke in protest.

"Arceus. I want you two to start working on something tomorrow. For the Gym Battle with Volkner. Your strategy will be essential to winning."

Princess tilted her head, asking me how I knew that even if I hadn't studied him yet. I rubbed her head and smiled.

"That's good, you're learning! You're right, I can't really know that, but it'd be very useful regardless. I want to test if Ancient Power works on molten rock. You know what that means, right?"

First, Sunshine would have to go ham and melt the floor. He'd shown he was capable of this in Mount Coronet when I had caught him, but doing it on the scale I was planning would no doubt tire him out, even with how strong he was. This wouldn't just be where he stepped. It would be as far as his stamina and power would allow. Next, I'd have Princess lug that magma at our opponents. Brutal, but effective, just how I liked things.

Needless to say, that meant they'd need to go last in the battle. Sweetheart was protected by her cocoon, but even that wasn't strong enough to protect her from literal magma, and Honey and Angel would just burn up before they could do anything. That meant I'd have to figure out another way for them three to work in tandem and alter the field.

Two field alterations in one battle? That number or even higher was routine in high-level battles, but for me, it'd be an incredible bar to clear, especially when Volkner himself specialized in field alteration. He'd fight way harder than Maylene to get his slice of the pie.

"Think on it, yeah?" I finished. "I'll see you guys later. I want everyone at the reading, alright? You can skip if you want, Sunshine. You already know how to read."

The dragon lazily waved a hand and told me he'd be there. I didn't just want Buddy to learn how to read, I wanted everyone to. They knew letters and some numbers thanks to how the battle with Maylene had gone, but words were an entire different ordeal.

Electabuzz searched through my bag and pulled out everything we needed to cook while I observed Mira and Cecilia set up their second tent. The pot was… kind of small, but we took anything that'd fit.

"Let's cut these up, yeah?" I smiled as I grabbed a carrot. "I'll dice this— never mind that I've never diced anything before. I'm sure it's easy!"

He stared at me like I was stupid, but didn't say anything.

"I saw that look. You dice the celery. There's a first time for everything!"

—

It was beautiful. The vegetables spun around the brown-orange broth as Honey twirled the wooden spatula inside of the pot. The electric type gave it a taste and beamed.

"Is it good?! Give me some!" I yelled. I hurriedly grabbed the spatula and nearly spat everything out when the contents hit my mouth. "Iz hot!"

I couldn't feel my tongue. I coughed a few times but managed to swallow.

"Holy shit. It's hot, but it's good. Right?"

He agreed with the widest smile I'd seen out of him, but it quickly faded when he looked around camp. Chase had come back with enough wood for a fire. Never mind that it wasn't old enough to burn properly, that wasn't an issue when we had Houndoom here. We turned to each other, then looked at the small pot we had.

Yeah, there was no way we were feeding enough Pokemon with this, even if we cooked the same dish multiple times. Not only that, but we didn't have enough bowls for everyone.

"Okay, Sigilyph, Buddy, Haunter, Magnezone, and Golett won't eat—"

Honey interrupted and reminded me about Porygon.

"Right. Porygon. I doubt Chase is going to let us feed his Pokemon since he used Maylene's prize money to put them on this weird diet. That's… something."

But still not enough, he reminded me. Some of them would have to go without my wonderful soup and eat the usual kibble, it seemed.

"Let's do this the easy way, then. We'll form a line!" I said with my hands on my hips. I inhaled and yelled. "Dinner's ready! It's first come first serve!"

There were… less people than I thought. I had imagined a mad rush for my cooking, people pushing and fighting to eat first, but it was a pretty small and orderly line. Chase had been first somehow.

"I'm starving. Gimmie soup."

"Mind your manners."

"Gimmie soup. Please," he groaned.

"There you go," I smiled. Electabuzz poured him the liquid and he began to drink it without a care in the world, swallowing the bits of veggies without savoring anything. "Wait! How is it?"

"Decent. That's a B minus."

I scoffed. "You didn't even taste it, dude."

"I eat to sustain myself, not to taste. That's weak shit."

"Whatever. Go away."

I served an array of Pokemon next. Slowking, who couldn't help but occasionally look back at Sunshine looming behind him. The two seemed to like it, although I could tell Sunshine liked it a lot better because he was used to our cooking. Alakazam came as well, and I nearly fell over when he teleported the soup directly into his stomach. Everything from the diced vegetables to the broth.

Eating wastes time. Thank you for the nutrition, he said.

"If I knew you would do that, I wouldn't even have bothered," I sighed.

Yes, which is why I didn't tell you.

I clicked my tongue. "Psychics. You're just like Chase, you know that?"

Please do not compare me to that unthinking child.

"I don't lie. Now, off you go— ah, Cece. Here you go."

My girlfriend nodded and grabbed the bowl. At least Alakazam doing this meant I could hand a bowl over to another person.

"Thanks," she said. "I'd stay and talk, but I don't want to hold up the line. I'll see you soon."

I grabbed onto her sleeve as soon as she started walking away and stared into her eyes.

For five seconds.

Until she understood and tasted my soup.

"So?!"

"It's great."

I deflated. "That sounded very half-hearted."

"Okay, the truth is, it's alright. But I really appreciate you making it for us!" She quickly added. "I'd love for you two to cook more dishes, truly!"

I smiled. "Thanks. I'll make some tomorrow too."

Luckily, Sunyshore was only five to seven days away, and I had enough ingredients for homemade stuff for four of those days. Angel was next, and he dragged the bowl into his body and then spat it out a few seconds later as usual. It had been licked completely clean.

"Call your sisters over for me," I said.

Angel nodded and patted my head with a vine until he jerked forward and nearly knocked the entire stove over. I was surprised to see Zweilous behind him. The dragon type had followed the smell of food all the way over here. Cecilia noticed and sharply snapped her fingers, and Zweilous came to an immediate stop.

"Hello, you two. Do you want some— well, of course you want some soup. Here."

Honey quickly snatched the bowl out of my hands and said he didn't want one of the heads to accidentally bite my hand off. He was vindicated when Zerst knocked the entire plastic bowl over and started to lick the soup and inhale the chunks of vegetables off the floor.

"Yeah, you enjoy that…" I muttered. "Where's Mira? Mira!"

"I'm eating some food I nabbed before we left Veilstone!" She yelled with a wave. "These are some fantastic quesadillas!"

"Are you sure you don't want to try my soup?!"

"With all due respect, I'll take these over vegetable soup any day!"

I threw my hands up in the air and groaned. I'd expected her to at least taste it, but it was fine since we were running low anyway. Electabuzz started to cut up some vegetables again as Angel dragged Princess toward us and Sweetheart followed closely behind. Princess looked like she'd been condemned to death as soon as she eyed the soup.

"Don't make a fuss. Here."

I pushed the bowl toward her and nudged it into her chest. She forewent the bowl entirely and levitated the entire soup, drawing it into her mouth like she was sucking through a straw. She winced at the first taste, but soon enough, she was eating heartily.

"See? It's always the same with you," I chuckled. "You think you're going to hate something, but you end up liking it anyway."

She huffed, saying that Oran Berries were still better but that she'd make an effort and force herself to eat this because Honey and I had cooked it. The electric type teased her and pointed out that she had the widest smile on her face while eating, but that only got him a pebble to the head.

"Don't do that, he's just playing around," I said. "Plus, he was right."

For Sweetheart, she rolled over onto her back and I poured the rest of the pot's content into her mouth. It wouldn't be enough to feed her, of course, but even though we had run out of premium soil, there were plenty of rocks and dirt to be had up here. She excitedly told me about Lucario and Abomasnow while we cooked enough for ourselves, and I nodded along to the stories she told.

I was pretty sure Abomasnow had lied to her about what he could do. Freezing an entire ocean? Growing an entire forest and coating it in snow and hail for fun? Yeah, he was boasting. At least Ri kept his achievements accurate. He'd never been one to boast. Once we were done eating, I told Honey to go hang out with whomever he wished while I cleaned up, and then I finally joined the others around the fire. Many Pokemon stuck close by. Houndoom was next to Chase, who lazily scruffed his neck. Princess was on my lap, and Gardevoir, who looked to be over the moon, had Mira on her lap. Talonflame and Slowking flanked Cecilia while Zweilous was slumped over close to the fire. Zerst was sleeping while Sol was wide awake. The rest of the Pokemon were scattered around camp. It was pitch black, now, but we could still see the light poles shining like beacons down the mountain and the occasional headlights from a truck. We continued the story of Mount Coronet, but by now we were at the part with Savika's cabin.

I wondered how she was doing. Had she used the Pokeball I had left her? The League had probably overturned her home by now. I didn't know what they had meant by fortress, but we'd get a good look at one soon when we reached Lake Valor the day after tomorrow.

"When you visit the Acuity, will you ask for Savika?" I asked.

"Sure thing," she nodded. "She'll probably hate me. I make a terrible first impression on anyone I meet."

"I liked you when I met you," Cece said.

"So you hate me now?" She smirked before chuckling. "Just pulling your leg. Thank you though, I mean that. And thanks for the food, Grace, even if I didn't eat any. You went into your mom mode today."

"Mom mode?"

"It's what I call you when you act like a mom."

"Wait, since when was this a thing?"

"She made it up today," Cecilia said. "When we were pulling up the tents."

"Aw man, this could have been a really good bit! We could have convinced her I created it months ago!"

"I don't think you know what a good bit is," Chase snarked.

"I actually agree," I shrugged.

Mira's mouth gaped. "What the hell? You're ganging up on me now."

"Hey, you've never made me laugh," Chase said. "I'm just stating the facts."

Cecilia eyed Zerst nervously. "Please don't talk too loudly, you'll wake up—"

The head snapped up and roared at nothing in particular. Houndoom growled at him, and all of our Pokemons' heads turned toward the dragon, save for Haunter who I hadn't seen in an hour and Sunshine, whose time with us had taught him to sleep through anything. Princess, for her part, had been discreet with her reaction, but I could feel the ground under my feet shake a little. I kissed the back of her head and hugged her tightly.

"Yeah, we should have expected that," I sighed.

Cece soothed the head, calmly scratching his scales until Zerst also demanded some scratches of his own. The conversation resumed and soon enough they were both asleep. I didn't miss Gardevoir's disdain for the dragon type, and her eyes met Princess'.

They both smirked at each other.

Maybe she'd befriend someone after all, but it'd be another fairy. Sylvy, Bella and now Gardevoir? She was only keeping to one type, and that was a problem. I wanted her to broaden her horizon and most of all, she needed to stop hating on poor dragons. It wasn't even mutual this time. I wasn't even sure if Zweilous had thought of her in the last day… or weeks or months.

"Oh, right!" Mira said. "It's you two's birthday soon, right? What was the date again?"

"February 27th and March 4th," Cece said, her fingers fidgeting nervously.

"Aw, we won't be at Sunyshore by the 27th," Mira said.

"We were planning on doing a joint party anyway," I said. "We can wait until Denzel, Pauline and Emi get there too."

Cecilia nodded. "I think that's a good idea. Emi would never forgive us if we partied without her. Chase, will you come?"

"Sure."

We all gasped.

"What?" I exhaled. "Really?"

"Yeah. Why're you looking at me like I'm some kind of alien? It's my friends' birthdays, I'm not going to miss it. Arceus. I might leave early though."

"Yeah, that's completely fine," Cecilia smiled. "Thank you for agreeing."

"You both missed my birthday, by the way. This shrimp was the only one to send me a message."

"Wait, when was it?" I asked.

"When I was traveling to Celestic. I actually celebrated it with my grandparents…"

Chase launched into his birthday story, which ended up with him just talking about his grandpa and grandma. He was very cute when sharing about his family, and he even showed us a letter they'd sent him while he'd been in Veilstone. It was true that Cece was going to turn sixteen on the route, which was a shame. I already had both her gifts planned. I'd bought the first one days ago in the city and it was tucked away safely at the bottom of my bag. The second was that video montage idea I'd given Emilia. Only she, Denzel and I had recorded our parts so far, and it was a well-kept secret. From the way she fidgeted, she probably had something for me as well already.

We continued speaking deep into the night, and I was the first one to retire from the fire. I kissed Cece goodnight since I wasn't going to sleep with her tonight and Mira stupidly acted like she swooned and asked Chase to do the same to her. Needless to say, he ignored her. After brushing my teeth, I gathered my team, dug through my bag for a flashlight, and grabbed my Sinnohan history book. Sunshine had said he'd come, but he immediately began to snore and fell asleep.

Honey held the flashlight up to the book while Jellicent shivered in anticipation. Sweetheart and Princess seemed somewhat intrigued, although the latter was just happy for me to read stories to her like I used to do when she was a Togepi, and Angel was just happy to be here.

"This isn't just story time," I said, "Pay attention to the words when I read, and what they sound like, okay? This is going to take a while, but I'd like for all of you to learn how to read."

Pupitar was the first to grumble.

"It's a very useful skill, Sweetie. For example, if you get lost one day and you need to find me, you can read out my trainer card ID to a Ranger's psychic. Plus, girls who can read are very strong. The strongest, in fact."

The rock type's eyes glimmered in anticipation, and from that point on, she was on board.

"Chapter 1: Hisui's colonization and settlement. Before being renamed to Sinnoh, this land was called Hisui by the first natives. The origin of the word Sinnoh is still heavily debated to this day, but most historians believe it to be the name of an ancient God. Around 10,000 years ago, the first human settlers arrived in small numbers, and they were mostly from Johto, our neighbor to the south. However, it is not until 2,500 years ago that we get a clearer picture of history with ancient cave art. Drawings that still remain to this day in Celestic's caves of Mesprit, Azelf and Uxie (which have never been proven to exist, but this is not the first time humans have drawn or talked of fictional Pokemon), but also drawings of an enormous distortion appearing above Mount Coronet's summit. These drawings are preserved all over the region and differ greatly from more ancient cave art mostly found in Paldea due to their complexity that rivals today's best painters, but they lead all historians to one conclusion: around 2,500 years ago, a great calamity befell Hisui, and with it began Sinnoh's recorded history…"

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 210

Sinnoh's history was actually quite interesting, even if it didn't captivate me like it did Buddy. We had only read for two hours and were still at the 'squabbling city states' era, and from what I remembered from school, it would be another few centuries until the Lily of the Valley island was settled, and from there, trainers would take over the entire region and unite it under one banner. Supposedly, Jubilife City had been the first permanent settlement on the region, but other cities soon followed and clashed over resources and territory often. Back then, Snowpoint hadn't been founded yet, but there were even cities I didn't recognize that had been lost to times or wiped out by war, disease, or Pokemon attacks. For example, there used to be a settlement nestled south of Eterna Forest where the outpost was, but historians theorized that it had gotten destroyed by two things: a war with Floaroma and a series of attacks coming from the deadly forest. Pokeballs hadn't been mass-produced back then, although there were Apricorn-based Pokeballs, so most trainers just let their Pokemon go wherever they wanted.

There was also the fact that the first pages of the book spent paragraph after paragraph 'debunking' Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie's existence. How ironic. The author agreed with the calamity bit of the story, but did not go into it at all aside from that. Maybe that was why it had still been present in the bookstore.

Anyway, I was done with history until tonight. Jellicent was picking up words very quickly, but the others were a lot slower. They'd definitely take at least a few months to grasp the language, but that was fine.

There wasn't a single dull moment while we traveled. In fact, we talked so much that Chase got tired of it and began to fly on Sigilyph's back again. We had a lot more of our Pokemon out today as well, although not our entire teams. Buddy was high up in the sky and occasionally spoke to Vikavolt and Talonflame when the two slowed down enough to talk. They had struck a friendship yesterday and loved to race, even if the flying type won nine times out of ten. Mira had her psychic types out and Porygon was playing some mobile game inside her phone. Route 214's mountain had three slopes that extended far beyond the mountain, and right now we were on the second one, which was the largest and highest in altitude. Walking on tilted ground was kind of annoying, but we'd grown used to it by now. We'd even met a few trainers a few hours back, but we didn't stay long.

"How about we take a break," Mira huffed. "I'm exhausted."

"Already?" Cece said. "My, my, how weak."

"I'm the brains, not the brawn like you Willpower lot. I just need to sit for twenty minutes or so," she exhaled. "I can't move another inch."

"That makes no sense and you know it," Cecilia said. "Grace has no trouble keeping up. Why don't you have Chase help you with fitness?"

"That'd be a way to get closer to him," I acknowledged. "Even with you, he wouldn't be able to refuse taking someone under his wing."

She needs to get further away, not closer, Gardevoir spoke into my mind. Just like Bellatrix, and Lucario, her voice showcased her emotions very well.

Not like I couldn't feel it anyway. She was jealous. Gardevoir got extremely attached to their trainers, and she was no exception.

"Don't say 'even with me' like I'm a chore," she sighed. "On a serious note, I like it though, speak your mind. Anyway, I'm fucking done."

She plopped herself on the dirty floor and cursed when a sharp rock poked her in the leg. Alakazam and Gardevoir were immediately beside themselves and swarmed her like two parents watching their kid fall over for the first time. Cecilia cupped her mouth with her hands and yelled for Chase to come back down. The teenager stared at Mira with a mixture of disappointment and disdain.

"Don't be a pussy and walk."

"No, I don't think I will. Twenty minutes."

"We might as well take the hour off," Cecilia said. "Gives us enough time to recuperate."

"Don't tell me you're tired too, Obel—"

"Cecilia," Cece interrupted.

He frowned. "What?"

"Cecilia will do. Or Cece. Your pick."

Chase suddenly took a step back and scratched the back of his head. "I'll give it a try."

"Thank you. And no, I'm not tired. In fact, I feel reinvigorated. I haven't had this much fun traveling ever."

"That's because you never traveled with me," Mira smiled. "I keep the morale up, just ask Louis and Maeve when we get to Sunyshore."

"I'm gonna use the break we have to train, alright?" I said. "I have a few things to test out."

My girlfriend nodded. "Sure. I'll do the same, actually. I've been trying to teach Zweilous Dark Pulse and to work on Scyther's Night Slash, and I'd like to make some progress."

"You're leaving me with Compton?" Chase asked.

"You could always go off and train. Or… you could stick around," Mira said in a really weird… sultry tone.

"W—what the hell was that voice?" Chase stammered.

"I dunno, I'm in love with you and nothing is working, so I was trying something new."

"Never do that again."

I left them to their devices and scampered off a few hundred feet away after whistling for Buddy and found an area that was as flat as possible. The ghost type gently floated downward and rumbled at my touch.

"Having fun up there?" I smiled. "I only need you for a few things, so you'll be able to go back soon."

I released the rest of my team after that, but I'd only need Sunshine and Princess at first. It was time to put that Ancient Power theory to the test, but that wasn't the only thing I wanted to do.

"Sunshine! I need you to do something for me," I said, clapping my hands. "I need you to go… uh, a hundred feet away and burn as hot as you can, and as quickly as you can to see if you could turn the floor into molten rock."

Turtunator snorted and said it'd be an easy feat, but I wasn't so sure. Still, I'd let him be confident for now.

"After that, Princess, you're going to try to control the magma with Ancient Power, but first you're going to flatten the area a bit. Buddy, I'm gonna need you to float and the sky and ward off any trainer or wild Pokemon that wanders too close, and I'll also need you to cool the entire place down after we're done— or in case of an emergency. The last thing we want is for the magma to spill down the mountain and hurt people. Angel, I'm going to have to lug some magma around too—"

The grass type silently jumped up and down and moved his vines around excitedly.

"It's probably harder than you think! And you won't be doing it during the Gym Battle, it's just to have a frame of reference. Honey and Sweetheart, feel free to watch from afar. Sweetie, I know you're a rock type, but you're no Tyranitar yet. Magma will hurt you if you stick too close."

Pupitar grumbled, saying she'd totally be able to handle some stupid magma, but Honey told her she wouldn't right to her face. Needless to say, she called him a bunch of names until I stopped her. After Princess raised the earth and flattened the area, I pulled out my laptop, opened my notes app and told Sunshine he could get started.

Turtonator yawned as he lazily strode away from us until he was a safe distance, and Buddy floated into the sky once more, on the lookout for any passersby. The fire type began to heat up, slowly but surely until the air around him became sweltering and he looked like a mirage. I could barely see his form, and he was only a mishmash of red, beige and yellow. Soon enough, the ground under his feet began to glow red and then turn into a viscous state. I typed away on my keyboard as I observed the dragon in his natural habitat.

Two assessments. One, he was too slow. It had taken three minutes for him to turn stone into magma, and three minutes were everything in a battle. I didn't know if a Pokemon fighting back would slow him down or not, but that was also a possibility. I wanted to bring that time down to at least a minute and a half— or one minute if possible, and Sunny Day would no doubt help with that. Two, Gym arenas were big. I hadn't expected him to turn the entire field into a fiery mess, but we needed more than this to make things work. Actually, a more accurate statement was…

"The further away the rocks are, the slower they burn," I declared, biting the inside of my mouth. "Okay. I can work with this. Princess, you're up. Don't get too close, or you'll burn."

The fairy type nodded as she let out a firm chirp. She slowly approached the field of magma— or was a more accurate term lava? It wasn't underground, after all. I slowly replaced all the mentions of 'magma' with 'lava' as Princess reached as far as she could go. The air was so hot that I could feel it from here, a hundred feet away, and it created a massive updraft that carried ash and fiery particles. Forget the heat, just being near that would suffocate me.

That was another assessment, then. Princess would fight above the lava, but she'd struggle to breathe the hot and toxic gasses. There was the option that she'd outlast her opponents, but I sure as hell didn't want to risk this entire battle on a maybe. Honey's evolution rode on this, and he deserved perfection. I would rather crawl over a field of molten glass than ask Cynthia for more help. She'd hold that favor over me like a damn guillotine.

Princess grunted, and I let out a jubilant scream when she raised a piece of Lava off the ground. It was small, and she looked to be barely able to control it. The red substance flowed in front of her like jelly until she brought it too close and she hurriedly threw it away. Even when I had warned her, she'd underestimated how hot lava was. I shot up and nearly ran over there, but Honey stopped me with a clasp of my shoulder and Pupitar called out to her sister.

When Princess turned around, her entire facade was covered in ash and slightly burned. I quickly scrambled for a potion and a burn heal while she floated over, and Electabuzz screamed, telling Jellicent he could finally stop the lava. None of it had flowed down the mountain thanks to Princess' help, and it was still self-contained here. Sunshine stopped heating up the air and walked away from the hell he'd created and Buddy started spraying the lava with the biggest Brines and Hydro Pumps he could muster. Needless to say, it would take a while to turn back to normal rock. It was so hot he was evaporating a little, and so did the majority of his moves before they could even reach the ground. Thankfully, it was having an effect. Before too much of the molten rock cooled down, I had Angel try to control the lava as well and was surprised to see he could only do it barely. It seemed like moving lava was a lot harder than rock. I also had Sweetheart try a move like Rock Slide on the lava, but it had no effect. Only Ancient Power worked enough to move the viscous rock.

Water vapor rose high into the air until the warped air returned to normal.

I was honestly starting to think that putting the lava on Pokemon could be lethal, which was a big problem.

I sprayed Princess with a burn heal and then with a potion, and I told Sunshine to stay away until Buddy could cool him down as well. With every breath, hot smoke came out of his snout. He wasn't winded at all as I'd feared, but that might have been because he'd been too slow. Once Buddy came back and sprayed Sunshine with water (much to his audible displeasure, I had to stop him from swearing multiple times because I didn't want the kids learning that vocabulary), I clapped my hands once and grinned.

"Good job everyone! That was a great first attempt, but there were a few issues. One, Sunshine, do you think you could heat things up faster than this?"

The dragon mused to himself for a few seconds, and then nodded, but he explained it would take a lot of work. Long story short, he could easily raise his body heat enough to melt rock, but it was like an engine. It took time to get going at that level of power, and he'd even tried to speed up the process by using multiple Flamethrowers, which I hadn't seen due to the distorted air and massive amounts of smoke and dust.

"We'll have to work on speeding up that engine, then."

Doubt began to creep and infest the back of my mind. Did I need to scale things down? Was this too powerful?

I was beginning to think so.

"Okay," I exhaled. I erased everything about the area being too small or not spreading enough and began to type a new plan.

We'd only turn a part of the arena— preferably the middle of it— into lava instead of aiming for its entirety. That way, maybe Angel could use it as well, my other Pokemon would have a place to stand and I wouldn't accidentally get one of Volkner's Pokemon killed or have him straight up cancel the match because they wouldn't be able to stand or walk without choking or burning to death. I'd still need to find a way to alter the field further, possibly in a way that'd bring out all of Honey's strengths. Instead of lugging the lava at the opponents, I'd have Princess get it close to them. Molten rock had been hot enough to burn her from afar, so keeping it close to one of Volkner's Pokemon ought to be enough to put them down if Princess managed to move the lava as quickly as she did her spears and drills. I'd keep the burying someone in lava idea for Team Galactic.

I supposed the strategy was out for my battle against Denzel as well, then. It was strange, to reach a point where my Pokemon were getting so powerful I actively had to hold myself back. Granted, a huge part of this was thanks to Sunshine, but there was also Pupitar with her flying and Iron Defense, Jellicent with Drown… being a top-level trainer was probably awesome, but it'd probably have its drawbacks too. Awesome strategies you came up with that took full advantage of your Pokemon's powers weren't always usable in their original forms or usable at all because they'd be too dangerous.

"Okay," I repeated. "You guys did well. Thank you for preventing an environmental disaster, Bud."

Cheers ran through the family, although Sweetheart did want in on the action somehow.

"Let's give it another try. We have a while longer," I said. "Princess, watch the burns. Keep it away from you and for now, don't go above it. We'll figure out a way to shield you from the smoke and the heat."

And that would be with psychic barriers. For the smoke, that was a given, but the heat? Sunshine had told me about how Oranguru had been able to create psychic barriers to protect his old team from the elements, and I knew it to be possible, but what was the difference between Princess' barriers and his? Years of experience, no doubt, but there was something we weren't seeing.

Who better to ask than psychic types themselves?

—

In the end, we ran the experiment another two times before Sunshine tired out. He'd asked for— demanded another go, even, but I didn't want to exhaust him and Mira was done with her break anyway, so we were back on the road again. While Cece spoke to Chase about how to better teach Zweilous Dark Pulse and of ways he'd found to alter the field to his advantage, I waved to Alakazam and Gardevoir who flanked Mira as always, with Princess in tow.

"Hi guys. I've got something to ask you regarding psychic barriers and how the hell they even work."

"You could have asked me, you know," Mira said with a half-hearted pout.

Forgive her, sister. She loves explaining things to people in extremely condescending ways. She gets that from Alakazam, Gardevoir gently spoke into my mind.

Alakazam grunted and then spoke. Do not spread lies!

"She isn't lying, she can't," I smiled. "That's what you get for not savoring my soup."

The psychic type sighed. I would rather have the company of Haunter than the two of you. Ask away, Grace Pastel.

"Hey! Haunty's nice these days!" Mira yelled.

"I was wondering about how to progress Princess' psychic barriers to their next stage. Right now, they only protect against attacks, but things like heat and cold can still slip through. That's an issue for… undisclosed reasons."

"Ah, let me explain— hmm!"

Gardevoir placed a hand on Mira's mouth and spoke. Silence, dear. Mastering the art of shielding is no easy feat for a psychic, let alone a non-psychic type.

But it isn't impossible, Alakazam mused as he twirled his mustache. What is psychic type energy to you, Grace Pastel?

I frowned. "Dark was absence or neutrality… uh, I don't know what fairy is, funnily enough. Psychic? If I had to guess, it'd be…"

"Control!" Mira yelled, finally freed from Gardevoir's hold. "Not knowledge or intelligence, but control. Sorry, I couldn't help myself."

Alakazam shot her a disappointed look. He enjoyed these little lessons, and she'd just essentially robbed him.

"I wouldn't have gotten it, so you're good," I said.

It is indeed control, he said, raising a pebble from the floor. Psychic energy, at its core, is made to reshape and command the world around itself. At the highest levels, there is nothing a psychic type cannot do.

"Hold off on the bias here, buddy," Mira said.

The psychic type rolled his eyes. Every kind of Type Energy has a concept it answers to. I know of many, but unfortunately for you that knowledge is sealed.

Gardevoir smirked. That is quite fairy-like of you, Alakazam.

Togetic snickered, and Gardevoir caressed her on the head.

Alakazam groaned. Never say that to me again.

I nodded, absorbing every word coming out of his mouth, and so did Princess. Well, not his mouth, but his… psychic waves.

A psychic barrier is essentially a wave of force applied all around the Pokemon. If the force pushing against the barrier is more powerful than the barrier itself, well…

Alakazam pushed the pebble forward like a bullet and it shattered against an invisible wall that he'd just created.

Your barrier is no more, he continued. That is what a classic barrier is, but if you wish to improve your craft, a barrier needs to be continuously replenished and added onto. You are essentially continuously pushing outward against your shield.

"Continuously pushing… wouldn't that make the barrier swell or explode? These things are unstable as hell," I muttered.

Yes. Which is why it takes training and focus, Alakazam said as he glanced toward Princess. Apply too much force, and like you said, it could break. Not enough, and it could damage the barrier's structural integrity until it collapses. You need to strike the right balance, and you need to continuously apply that force when you have the barrier raised.

"Basically, Princess over here will have to do some insane multitasking, which psychic types have the advantage on," Mira said. "That's why non-psychic types often can't raise proper barriers and there will be a cap that she'll hit at some point regarding her psychic abilities while psychic types can just keep going."

"And it'll protect against temperature?"

Against hot temperatures, Alakazam nodded. Temperature is just a word for the movement of molecules, so cold is another undertaking altogether.

Ordinarily, these will just slip by an inactive barrier, Gardevoir explained. But by pushing outward, you slow their kinetic energy until the temperature becomes bearable. For this, you will need a thicker shield, sister.

"Or multiple layers," Mira added. "They do it for mental barriers, why not in battle?"

You and your layer theory, Alakazam said, waving one of his spoons in annoyance. You thicken your shield, you do not do layers. Layers are an advanced concept even we haven't started, and this little fledgling psychic is a beginner.

Togetic let out a haughty huff and told him to still his tongue.

I will do no such thing, Alakazam said. Either way, psychic Type Energy yearns for control to such an extent that it can be wielded to alter the movement of molecules through intent! Hah! Isn't that a wonderful thing?

I nodded absent-mindedly. If top-level psychics— and I was thinking of Elite Four and above like Lucian— could move molecules directly, then… yeah.

That was fucking insane.

"Don't dream too big," Mira said. "Even at the Elite Four, that kind of stuff isn't used much. That sleeping woman in Unova specialized in other things, so Lucian's the best at it in the entire world, and he's a psychic type specialist, so he can do a lot of batshit insane things— most of which would be lethal. Ever wondered what would happen if his Alakazam set his eyes on you? He could shake up the molecules inside of your body until you boiled to death or freeze them in place until, well, you froze. Have you seen his Mr. Mime? That fucker can put your Pokemon in an invisible box and disappear all of the oxygen in there."

"That's terrifying, and I want to do the same," I hungrily said.

"Easy there. Don't forget that you can sprinkle a bit of dark TE and be completely immune or close to it. Same for the barriers. One Dark Pulse just breaks through. There are ways around it, but they're really out there. For all of the psychic type's strengths, they're hard countered by pretty much any dark type of a similar level."

"Right, right," I nodded. "Speaking of oxygen. If I thicken the barrier like you said and do the pushing thing—"

By the Legendaries, do not call it the pushing thing! Alakazam said. His voice was smooth, but I could tell he'd been internally yelling. You apply the right amount of psychic force outward!

"Okay, if I do that, then say Princess was standing on top of a raging forest fire. She wouldn't choke on the smoke, then?"

Correct, Gardevoir nodded.

I grinned. "Can you start showing Princess the ropes tonight? We've been working on something that'll require taking her barriers to the next level. Plus, it'll be good until I get my hands on a psychic type."

Sure. I am always willing to help fellow sisters, Gardevoir nodded, patting me on the shoulder.

"Oh? Missus Grace Pastel wants to get her own psychic, huh?" Mira probed. "Which one? You could have caught that Girafarig yesterday."

"I'm picky," I shrugged. "Plus, couldn't you tell? The reason she was all the way up here is because the easier part of the route is swarmed with trainers and she doesn't want to get caught."

"Oh. Yeah, that makes sense."

"Anyway, Claydol's the goal. I have an inkling of where there might be one, and I fell in love with the idea after watching Steven's fights."

"Ohhhh, Claydol?! I don't know much about them, but I hear they can mess with gravity."

"Yes, yes, that's part of why I'd want one," I smiled. "Anyway, that's in the long term. I'm sure Princess will succeed with her shield lessons."

The flying type heartily nodded and asked to begin at once, but unfortunately for her, that'd have to wait until tonight. We spent the rest of the day walking, and even I was wiped by the end of it. Like yesterday, I cooked for everyone and we shared stories by a fire until I retired to read my history books.

Just like that, two days passed, and we had made it past the first part of route 214. Pupitar had finally managed to get a proto-Dragon Pulse going thanks to Sunshine's guidance, Princess was struggling with her lessons, and Angel was having a grand time learning Solar Beam and teaching Sunshine Sunny Day.

The Grand Hotel Lake was a day out. A luxurious complex of hotels run by Luca Antonovich's family. I nearly froze when I thought of his name. I hadn't known him well, but even now, I hadn't properly processed his death. If there was one thing he would have wished for, it would be not to be forgotten.

And according to what Cynthia had told Mira, Lake Valor was only a few hours away.

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 211

"Are you certain she told you it was around here?" Cecilia sighed as she stared into the sky. Talonflame was high up and shaking her head, letting us know that she'd found nothing. "We've been looking for nearly an hour."

"Yes, it has to be somewhere here. She said it was off-route to the east, but we might not have gone far enough."

"Any further and we'll get to that hotel swarming with rich people, so no thank you," Chase said before turning to Cecilia. "No offense."

"None taken. I know what you mean. Our behavior does make me groan sometimes."

"All the time, actually," he corrected. "I can send Vikavolt out. He's the second fastest, and he can help clear more ground."

We all agreed and Chase released the electric type, telling him what we were looking for. As it turned out, Lake Valor was incredibly difficult to find, which made sense. If a bunch of children with a few flying Pokemon could find it, it would have been found a long time ago. I stretched my arms above my head and reflexively sat down, and Angel already had a layer of vine ready for me. While Mira furiously texted Cynthia and Chase occasionally spoke up to add things for her to send— mostly insults, which they strangely laughed about? Cece asked if she could sit next to me. I of course obliged her, and Angel was happy to have someone else sitting on him. He pushed us both closer to each other and petted our heads.

"Thank you, Angel," Cecilia chuckled. "I'm okay."

The grass type shivered and swayed back and forth with glee.

"We're almost there," I spoke. "Don't worry too much, we'll find it."

"I know, I'm not that worried," she said. "I'm feeling anticipation, mostly. Either way, do you think we should stay at the hotel for a little? A few days, to see if Luca's family— if they know that he's dead?"

I bit my lip. "Yeah. Yeah, I wanted to tell them about it. And tell them about how he was during his last days. He helped uncover this entire Solaceon thing, and his name was swept under the rug. That's not fair."

"I'm glad we're on the same page. We'll probably have to convince Chase, though. He doesn't even know Luca exists, and even if he did I doubt he'd want to stay at that kind of place."

"Have you been there before?" I asked.

"The hotels? No, actually," she shrugged. "Clarence always preferred his homes or hotels in the city. It was easier to do business that way."

"Hm," I hummed. We'd be going in blind, then. We stayed in silence for a few dozen seconds with Luca's death heavy on our minds.

"Hey, by the way, you won't believe what happened to me this morning," Cecilia said with a slight smile.

"What?"

"I'm pretty sure Slowking tried to tell me a joke."

I scoffed. "What?! Spill, right now!"

She looked away. "I don't know, he was very embarrassed about it after the fact—"

"You can't just put it out there and not tell me! Come on!" I laughed. "C'mon…"

"Don't make those eyes…"

I stared at her and grabbed her hand. "Please?"

"Okay, okay, he launched into this really long-winded rant about how Zweilous kept snoring too loudly at night—"

"Wait, rant? I'd pay to hear Slowking ranting."

"Yes, rant. His evolution didn't make him lose his love for sleep. Then he must have seen how apologetic I looked because he made this horrible pun about Zweilous' snoring never dragon… on for too long."

"What? I don't get it," I frowned.

"Dragon. Drags on. I had to do a double take, It's so bad it's good—"

"Hey, you two," Chase interrupted. "We have company."

He pointed at the sky and the silhouette of a Pokemon was barely visible. When it got closer, I realized it was the same Dragonite Chase had spoken to us about a few days ago. I shot up from Angel's vines and Cecilia followed suit. The enormous dragon landed next to us with unforeseen grace, barely generating any force. Each one of his scales looked tougher than steel and shone with a bright golden yellow. His antennae twitched as he stared at each of us and he nodded after each look. We all nodded back— even Chase. It was hard not to be impressed when a 9'5 Dragonite stared you down. I didn't crane my neck, but I could see hints of a saddle under the dragon type's emerald wings.

A relatively short woman with unkempt brown hair and donning an orange-brown League Uniform climbed off the dragon's back. She looked around to make sure no one was around, but since we were at the edge of the route, we were alone.

"Good afternoon," she smiled. "I'm—"

"Ariel. I recognize you," I said. "You were there when that Abra attacked me."

The woman nodded. "Yes, that's me, I'm surprised you remember my name. I have been one of the ACE trainers observing you during your travels. It has come to my attention that you won't be able to find Lake Valor alone."

"Big surprise there," Chase said. "Couldn't you have come earlier? We've been looking for an hour."

"The Champion asked me to observe and see if you were capable of doing it alone. She said it would be good to see if you," she pointed and Chase, "and Ms. Obel were drawn to Lake Valor in any capacity. That does not appear to be the case."

"Still, an hour?" Mira grumbled. "Talk about ruthless."

"We wanted to be thorough. Forgive us," Ariel said. "I know the way. Follow me. Nini, you fly over and get their Pokemon back. Talonflame and Vikavolt."

The Dragonite nodded and hurriedly dashed into the skies at incredible speeds. After five minutes, they were all back and Chase and Cece recalled them. Ariel and the so-called Nini led us through the familiar tree line that signaled we were stepping off the route, but no wild Pokemon was stupid enough to attack a Pokemon that threatening. Angel occasionally pulled away at branches and leaves so we had an easier time walking through while Dragonite walked through the unmaintained forest like it was cardboard. Mira tried chatting up Ariel, but when she realized she wasn't answering, she stopped and just walked in silence. She hadn't shown it, but even though this wasn't 'her' lake, she was clearly nervous, and Mira's way to assuage anxiety was to just run her mouth.

Today, though? She was quiet.

It took nearly another two hours to get to our destination, and some of the time it felt like we'd been going in circle. We passed many patrolling League Trainers on the way there with all kinds of Pokemon, and they were most likely there to turn any trainer braving the land beyond the route away. Finally, after an exhausting trek, we arrived. As if I had passed through a seamless mirage, the trees in front of me transformed into Lake Valor. The other lakes hadn't had this, so I assumed it was a security measure by the League. What I first saw wasn't the lake.

It was the walls.

Massive concrete walls stretched at nearly 100 feet up and wrapped around the entire lake with tiny holes laid out throughout the entire structure. No… upon closer look, it wasn't concrete. It was too shiny for that. The material reminded me of the outer layer of Pokemon Centers. Trenches had been dug around the walls with ground types constantly patrolling the rifts. Flying types flew throughout the compound and those that reached us watched us like a Talonflame stalking its prey. Ariel brought us to a bridge that led to a gate that was reminiscent of medieval castles. Of course, this place was far from medieval. After telling us to recall our Pokemon, the League Trainer showed her League card to a camera and then there was a crackling sound on the intercom that I hadn't even noticed until now.

"This is Fortress Valor Control. ACE Ariel Goransson, state your purpose for entry."

"The children of the lakes are here, as should have been expected," she said. "I am their guide."

"Roger that. Please await verification."

The intercom clicked, and we all nervously shuffled aside from Ariel, who looked in her element. I jumped when a Gardevoir Teleported to the gate and held out a hand toward us. She closed her eyes and after a few seconds, she disappeared back into the fortress.

"You are clear for entry. Outer gate A will now open. Proceed with caution."

"Thank you," she nodded before gesturing at us to follow.

Beyond the wall was a second and third wall, and then there was a city. There was no other word for it. League Trainers filtered in and out of dull, concrete barracks that reminded me of Snowpoint's architecture, but there were also paved roads with huge jeeps driving around. League Trainers, Pokemon, and different officials milled around, some clearly working while others just spoke and laughed together. We passed an open-air training arena where multiple fights were taking place, and there was even a store where people could buy everything they needed. This place was a true labyrinth, and we weren't even that deep in yet.

Coming into this, I had just expected a building or two with a few guards, but this?

I couldn't even imagine how to begin invading this place, let alone reaching the lake itself. As we walked deeper, I found myself filled with a strange feeling. It was like a warm embrace that told me things were going to be okay— so long as I fought. Fought against what? I didn't know. I wasn't even thinking of Team Galactic. My Shiny Stone, my battles with Denzel and Volkner, the Conference, my ambitions. The lake wasn't telling me that these were going to go in my favor, and they weren't making my doubts disappear. In fact, my doubt had been brought to the forefront of my mind and I felt weaker than I'd ever been.

And yet, I smiled.

I knew it would be okay, because I would give it my damnedest. With one look, I could tell my friends were going through the same process. For Cecilia and I, it wasn't the first time a lake had influenced us. In fact, it was my third time while it was her second, but Mira and Chase? It was like they were high. Mira kept giggling over and over while Chase couldn't help but grin and look like a little kid.

"So everyone on the… base feels like this?" Mira asked with a grin.

"Yes, but you get used to it after a few days. It will still be there, but faded," Ariel explained.

"Holy shit, this is like a drug," she muttered. "The fading is gonna suck."

"Addiction is bad, Mira," I chided.

With Verity came soothing and clarity.

With Acuity came learning and innovation.

With Valor came courage and dreams.

"Cynthia wants you to stay here for a night, at the very least," Ariel continued. "In case there are any dreams or visions that reach you during your sleep. This is where you'll be staying. They built it for you in the last few days. For now, we'll keep going."

Chase groaned at the single house because he understood that meant he'd have to stay with us. It was concrete, like the rest of the buildings inside the walls. I didn't know what the hell Pokemon Centers were made of, but they hadn't had enough material to make the entire base out of it, and our temporary home was no different. I would have preferred to stay with Cecilia alone, but they were running out of space to build anything in the base, so I couldn't exactly blame them. We kept following Ariel and she finally led us to the lake itself. It was actually smaller than Acuity, which was the largest one while Verity was in between the two. We all stared at the water in awe. Just like the other lakes, it was completely still and undisturbed by the wind, and it was so clear it felt more like a mirror than water.

"Do you feel anything?" I whispered to Cecilia and Chase.

"Nothin'," he shrugged.

"Me neither," she shook her head. "Beyond the usual effects of the lake, there's nothing different."

"I'll leave you to it," Aerial said. "If you need me, I will be at Headquarters, and report any effect the lake has on you. Ask for me at the entrance. Also, do not speak of any confidential information while you are out of the house. ACE trainers will keep it insulated."

"Wait, people here don't know…?" Cecilia trailed off.

"No, they do not. If you must mingle, speak to them as you would speak to a civilian or a fellow trainer. They are not high up enough in the chain of command to know."

She hopped on her Dragonite and flew off. We stayed around for a few minutes, but Cece and Chase started to feel this… this attraction to the lake. Like they were being pulled inward. Cecilia likened it to the phenomenon people named the 'call of the void', which Mira then explained to me and Chase was when people felt the urge to jump when they looked down from a high place. After a while though, we decided to go back to our makeshift home. They could always come back tomorrow and we hadn't eaten lunch.

There were thankfully two bedrooms inside the small house with two beds each, but there was only one bathroom, so thank Arceus we were only staying one day. The living room was spacious enough, but not for our entire teams, so some of them would have to stay outside or inside of their Pokeballs.

"Chase," Mira said. "Do you want me to leave you in your room? I can sleep with the other two, they'll share a bed anyway."

The teenager raised an eyebrow. "I thought you'd make some flirty joke about fucking."

"What? I mean, I thought about it, but I wouldn't go that far. Seriously though, it's up to you," she said with a salute.

"You're chill, just don't sneak into my bed in the middle of the night or some fucked up shit like that."

"I won't. Even I have boundaries," she shook her head as she sat on the couch. She bounced up and down a few times. "Holy shit, these are terrible."

I pressed down on the sofa and nodded. "Yep, bad. Doesn't matter, we're only staying a day. Hey, do you know what wouldn't have terrible couches? The hotel south of here."

Chase tilted his head and frowned for a few seconds and then scoffed. "Don't tell me—"

"We were thinking of staying there a little," Cecilia said. "We had an acquaintance in Solaceon whose parents run the place, and he… well, he helped us solve the mystery there, but he got killed."

And tortured too, I thought to myself. Harry Rodriguez had told me he never talked, and that little Abra they used to Teleport around hadn't been powerful enough to rip his memories. I didn't want them to know about it. It wasn't right.

But his parents? Well, they deserved to know. Everything.

"Well, shit," Chase sighed. "I can tell this is important with how morbid Grace looks. I'll, uh, I'll try. I might go on a few rants about how everyone there's a parasite."

Cece nodded. "I know. Probably to their face too."

"Don't associate me with that, I really can't afford negative publicity. I wouldn't care that much, but I'm extremely close to a Shiny Stone and who knows how Poketch could screw me over."

"Tch. Fine, I'll hold back. You owe me for this shit."

"Thank you. I mean it. Now, let's look at this kitchen," I smiled.

The League had brought us… pre-heated meals, which sucked all of my excitement to cook in an actual kitchen instead of using an electric stove.

"I guess there's the microwave," I sighed, putting my hands up. "Guys, come and check what food you want there's a ton of stuff here, I'll heat it up for you— not you, Chase. You want chicken and rice, I already know."

A few hours passed, and I realized the League was being a lot more hands-off about this than I thought they'd be.

I did appreciate it, but it was surprising. This was essentially a military base, so I'd thought there would be tons of guidelines to follow, people telling us where to go and where not to go, but they pretty much left us to our own devices here. Mira stayed inside the house with a lot of our Pokemon while she worked on Porygon, but the rest of us went outside. Chase had decided to see how he measured up to some League Trainers that were training in the arena while Cece and I watched. Lucario was currently getting manhandled by a Cacturne. The grass type kept turning the ground into a void-infested quagmire that sapped Lucario of his will to fight and kept hitting him with Bullet Seed, slowly but surely taking him down. Lucario would occasionally fight back as best he could, but his motivation was completely gone.

"Isn't he doing… too well?" I asked.

"He'd be angry if I told him you said that."

"Which is why you won't. Right?" I said with a coy smirk. "But seriously, I thought we'd get crushed."

"League Trainers are good, but they aren't… amazing like you think they are," Cece whispered. She didn't want to offend anyone. "Trainers in ACE are different, but these are just common soldiers. The lowest of them can be at the six-badge level, even."

"Ah. I assume that's where this Cacturne is, then."

"Hm… I'd say it's in between six and seven, yes," my girlfriend nodded. "It's—"

"He. Sorry, it's just better that way, I can't help it."

"No, it's my fault," she said. "He's still an excellent battler, don't get me wrong, but the League would never be able to fill its ranks if it was too harsh with its recruitment standards. Plus, they can only go up. The classes and the training afforded to League Trainers is second to none."

"I figured."

We both winced when grass sprouted out of the darkened floor and wrapped around Lucario's ankles. The fighting type face-planted, much to Cacturne's amusement and more dark-infused plants wrapped around his entire body until he was completely unable to move. Chase uttered a few curses and recalled Lucario after forfeiting and asked for a rematch, this time using Abomasnow. His opponent approved.

"Do you want to battle one of them? I'm sure they'd be willing to give it a try," Cecilia asked.

"Yeah, why not," I shrugged. "Sunshine could— actually, I'm going to use Honey for this."

She kissed me on the cheek. "Good luck. I'm going to look around as well."

I walked around the newly-commenced battle and onto another arena. I didn't really know who to ask about this, so I just spoke to the first person I saw, which was a tall woman— almost as tall as Cynthia. She looked to be in her early twenties, was quite well-built and intimidating, but I wouldn't let that stop me.

"Good afternoon. Care for a small spar?" I asked.

She squinted at me and leaned forward. "You're one of the little pipsqueaks that my bosses can't stop talking about?"

Why else would I be here? I sighed. She knew the answer, but she probably was being more aggressive because she didn't want anything to do with me—

"I'll battle you," she declared. "One-on-one until someone forfeits. Darmanitan needs to stretch his arms."

"I'm guessing you're annoyed that you've been cooped up in here?"

Her eyes widened slightly. "Yes. I always take my leave around this time. It's my little brother's birthday in a week, but I'm stuck guarding some lake I don't give a fuck about and no one will tell me why aside from the fact that Team Galactic's interested in it."

I swallowed.

"The fucked up part is, I know you know, pipsqueak," she said. "And that pisses me off."

"Don't take out your frustration on me," I said. "What's your name?"

"Huh?"

"Your name."

She frowned. "Alexis."

"Well, Alexis. Why don't we battle— a nice, friendly battle, mind you, and then we can speak some more about your worries."

"My worries? What are you, my fucking therapist?"

"I think you're interesting," I smiled. I stared into her eyes until she averted them. "So what do you say, Alexis?"

"Uh, yes," she said. "Which one are you? Mira? Cecilia? Grace?"

"Oh, me? Just a pipsqueak," I smiled.

Alexis pursed her lips. "Jamie! Psychic barrier over here!"

——

Honey roared, flexing his muscles as he punched Darmanitan in the ribcage. Since this was a spar, the fire type hadn't made himself unbearable to approach, but he was still an incredible wall. Around Sunshine's strength, if I had to guess. Darmanitan grunted and slammed the ground where Honey had just been moments earlier, but the electric type blurred away, leaving only a trail of electricity behind him. Darmanitan slowly raised his fist from the ground and slammed his chest. He was just as aggressive and physically inclined as Candice's Galarian Darmanitan had been, just incredibly more powerful.

"Keep running circles around him," I said. "You've got this."

Electabuzz nodded and dashed forward, electricity crackling behind him. He pulled his shoulder back and clenched a fist clad in thunder, but Alexis raised an arm.

"Extrasensory!"

I clicked my tongue as Darmanitan's eyes shone pink. It was a crude version of the attack at best, not even powerful enough to stop Honey fully, but the psychic-infused patch of air had slowed him. Darmanitan grinned and a massive, fiery fist hit Honey's nose at full force. The electric type flew backward and tumbled on the arena. Multiple groans rang out from the spectators— other League Trainers who were so unused to seeing non-military people that they'd placed bets on the battle.

"Can you get up?" I asked.

Honey wiped the blood off his nose and flashed his fangs. I smiled back.

I'd been trying to improve his reflexes from up close, and he'd actually been keeping up with Darmanitan in that department. Unfortunately, he was lacking compared to the fire type in everything else.

"Thunderbolt!" I yelled, pointing forward.

Honey spun his arms, and in a fraction of a second, a massive bolt of electricity sprung forth. It was so large it grazed the ground, creating a rift as it hit Darmanitan right in the chest. So much progress had been made and we were this close to a weak version of Thunder. The fire type reeled from the attack and convulsed as he took a few steps back, which Honey used to launch another Thunderbolt.

"So much for a spar!" Alexis grinned. "Flare Blitz! Low-powered!"

Flames swallowed Darmanitan and the fire type bellowed as he broke into a trot. Then a run. Then a sprint that left everything in his wake burned. The electricity hurt him, but it didn't stop his charge.

"Protect!"

The fire type slammed against the green barrier and Electabuzz's knees buckled, but he held. I yelled out for an immediate Discharge, but Darmanitan's fist was through as soon as the Protect lifted. Electricity exploded outward, but another Fire Punch hit Honey and sent him flying again. This time, he could barely get up.

"I think that's enough," Alexis said.

"Yeah, that's fair," I nodded. "Great job, Hon."

He could only muster a thumbs-up before I recalled him. He'd need a good day of rest and potions after this.

But Darmanitan had not gotten out of this unscathed. A Pokemon of Sunshine's level.

It was not that long ago that I needed my entire team to take those down. Now? Darmanitan's breaths were heavy and some of his fur was darkened by the electric beatdown he'd suffered. Thunder was at our fingertips, but even then, our work wouldn't be over. A single one would wipe Honey out in his current state, and I wanted him to at least be able to pull three in a battle. Of course, once he'd at least learned the move, we'd finally move onto something new. I could tell he was getting bored of working on the same thing over and over again like he had since we'd left the Solaceon tournament.

Right now, I was thinking Screech and Low Kick. Two easy and quick moves to add to his arsenal that would improve his close-range combat by miles.

"Not bad, pipsqueak," Alexis said as she watched the betters collect or lose their money.

"I can't believe people actually bet on me. Not a lot, but still."

"They're fucking idiots," she waved a hand. "But they're my fellow soldiers. We're thicker than blood."

"I can see that. Any funny stories you have? Actually, tell me about your little brother first. How old is he turning?"

"His name's Aiden. He's going to turn sixteen and, well, he's my whole world. I've been sending away half my pay to send him to Sunyshore University…"

Alexis spoke of her life, her family, her work, the League… everything. She even went into how the illusion around the lake worked and how they could create an anti-teleportation field in the case of an attack.

And I listened the entire way through. People always wanted people to talk to, even if they pretended to be tough on the outside. Maybe I'd never meet her again after tomorrow, but there was no harm in knowing people.

——

Cecilia Obel hugged her girlfriend tighter as they slept. It was deep into the night, and actually, saying that she'd been sleeping would be a lie. She was too excited to fall asleep. She was expecting something. A dream, a vision, anything. Her heart thumped against her chest and she could feel the blood in her veins.

"Can't sleep?"

Her heart jumped. "Grace. Did I wake you up?"

"Kind of. I was just thinking about lava anyway…"

Thinking about what? Cecilia didn't understand, but she attributed it to some half-awake rambling and let it go.

"Go back to sleep, love," she said. "I've been tossing and turning too much, I'll go on the other bed."

"No."

"No?"

"No," she repeated.

Grace turned and wrapped her hands around her neck.

"Okay," Cecilia said. "I'll just drink some water and go for a walk, then. I'll be back soon," she said.

"If you're lying, I won't forgive you."

Cecilia didn't know if her words were serious or a joke, but she preferred to err on the side of safety. Plus, she'd really been planning on coming back anyway.

She softly stroked Grace's hair. "Sleep. I'll come back."

"Okay. The pillow smells good. It smells like you."

The girl blushed, but quickly left the bedroom. The living room was full of sleeping, and non-sleeping Pokemon. Jellicent, for one, was doing this terrifying thing were he was just a shapeless moving blob clinging to the ceiling, and two small red dots stared right into Cecilia's soul. If she hadn't been used to all those nights in Grace's Pokemon Center room, she would have jumped out of her skin. Sigilyph floated in the corner of the room, but upon closer look, she was sleeping. The problem was that her eye didn't close, so it looked like she was awake. Cecilia tip-toed to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water before grabbing whatever proper clothes she had that weren't pajamas and exited their home.

She was surprised to see Chase leaning against the concrete wall and staring at the moon.

"Chase? Did Mira annoy you?" Cecilia asked.

The teenager jumped and nearly squealed.

"Arceus, fuck. Do not scare me like that," he exhaled. "Uh, I wasn't scared, it was a matter of speaking. Anyway, no, she was on her best behavior tonight. Didn't even attempt to flirt."

"I hope you're actually taking it in jest, by the way."

"In jest? What the hell does that even mean?"

Cecilia clenched the bridge of her nose. "I hope you know she's just fooling around. I mean, she does like you, but it's just banter. If it makes you uncomfortable—"

"I know, I'm not ten. If I hated it, I'd tell her to fuck off like I already do when people cross a line. S'alright, it's all in good fun."

"Okay, I was just making sure," she shrugged. "What brings you out here?"

"The same as you. I can't sleep."

"Excited?"

"Well, I wouldn't call it excitement. More like—"

"Anticipation?" She asked. "Wondering what will happen?"

"Or if it'll happen at all," he shrugged. "What was that thing you said? Call of the void?"

Cecilia glanced toward the lake's general direction. "We never did actually touch the lake, did we? Do you feel the pull?"

"I've been feeling it all day. I tried to resist because I hate the idea of some prick fucking with my head, but at this point I just want to get it over with. Wanna come with?"

"I wouldn't see why not. Just let me… let me warn Grace first. I might take a while longer and I don't want her to worry."

"Go ahead," he motioned.

Cecilia quickly ran into the house and whispered into Grace's ear. Once she uttered Azelf's name, she was wide awake.

"Shit. Do you want me to come? What if you drown or something?"

"Drown? Why would I drown?"

"I don't know, maybe the lake will pull you in? This is uncharted territory—"

"Chase will be there. I'll bring Slowking with me so he can monitor the situation."

"Bring Buddy with you too. And tell him to come back and warn me if anything happens."

"Okay, that's fine," she nodded. "I'll see you later."

Grace kissed her, and it lingered for a second.

"It'll be fine," Cecilia reassured. "I promise."

"Don't make a promise you can't keep," Grace said.

"I'll try my best to keep it, then. And I will crawl over a field of broken glass before I break it."

Grace smirked. "Fine. If you really want to do this alone, then go ahead. Just be careful. Legendaries aren't something to be messed with."

Cecilia knew that already, of course, but Grace was just worried. She whispered to Jellicent, who seemed reluctant to follow her but did it anyway, and she woke up Slowking with a soft shake. The water type despised being woken up early, but he straightened up when Cecilia told him what was happening. Soon enough, they were on the way toward Lake Valor.

The pull was stronger than ever. Even as Cecilia stood upon the shores of the lake, it felt like something was pushing her forward, but keeping her from falling, as if she was just leaning above the lake. She crouched and placed a steady hand above the water. Chase did the same.

"Let's do this shit," he declared.

"Adequately said," Cecilia smiled. She plunged the hand into the water and found that it was warm. Hot even. This was the middle of winter, and yet it was as if she was in a jacuzzi—

And then she fell for maybe around twenty seconds. The world around her was completely dark, and yet she could see her skin and her clothes. The ground felt wet as if she was standing in a puddle. Chase was nowhere to be seen. She could barely understand what had just happened. Cecilia looked around and saw something ahead of her.

It was small. So small, and yet she felt a crushing pressure as soon as she laid her eyes on the Pokemon. She averted her eyes and could finally breathe again, but every time they even drifted on its form, Cecilia felt like there was a suffocating weight on her chest. The little glances she did steal painted a blurry picture. Different shades of blue with piercing yellow eyes and some kind of red gem atop its forehead.

"Welcome, Cecilia Obel. Champion by happenstance."

The words— the words, the words, the fucking words! They were terrifying. Unwordly, inhuman, impossible! And yet, it was also childlike, innocent, and pure all in one. It was beautiful. The Pokemon spoke into her head like a thousand choirs, and the voice reverberated across this place until the inside of her body felt like mush.

This was them while they were asleep? How would Team Galactic even hope to—

"Bow before Willpower."

The girl coughed as her legs buckled and she bowed. Not listening hadn't even crossed her mind. It was impossible. Like the sky not being blue, like an hour not consisting of sixty minutes, like two plus two equalling five instead of four.

Azelf's will would be done.

——

Chase fell headfirst into some kind of puddle, and yet it did not hurt him. He even touched his nose to make sure it wasn't broken and the adrenaline wasn't masking the pain. He stood up and called out to someone. Anyone. Nobody answered. It was completely dark

"Where the hell am I?"

He stared at his hands and touched his chest to ground himself and make sure he was actually there and not dreaming, but it was only a few seconds later that he noticed a Pokemon floating ahead of him. It was blinding, so blinding. Looking at it was like looking at the sun— it was impossible to stare for too long. He gasped for air and took a step back. It was some kind of fucking blue freak. It couldn't have been more than a single foot tall, and yet it exuded power.

"W—what the fuck are you?" Chase stammered.

"Welcome, Chase Karlson. Champion by happenstance."

Flashes in his mind at every word. Victory and defeat all at once, horrors beyond his comprehension, fear. Each one of them more terrifying than the last. They were vivid, so vivid, in a way that was impossible to explain. Like every word he had spoken and heard before tonight was fake. People playing pretend. And these were the only true words he had ever heard and ever would hear.

He took another step back. "Azel—"

The words died in his mouth and his throat lit on fire. He coughed until he could finally breathe again.

"Before you even hope to utter my name in my presence, human, you shall bow before Willpower."

Chase would usually have protested before such an order, but those were nowhere to be seen. The thought of disobeying this being was so utterly alien that it hadn't even crossed his mind. He lowered his head and got on a knee.

Azelf's will would be done.

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri

 

[Chewy]

Well thats not ominous at all, no siree

 

[Soussouni1]

Chapter 212 - Willpower

Breathe. Breathe. In and out.

Cecilia gasped for air as a God carefully observed her. It had been at least a full minute since it had told her to bow— maybe more, she couldn't tell. The effect of being completely impossible to disobey had passed, and now she could only feel a mix of anger and fear. This was not the benevolent being that Cynthia had told her about. This was something else entirely. She inhaled sharply and slowly stood, almost falling in the process because of how shaky her legs were.

"Did I permit you to stand?"

Again, each word felt like someone had been beating her head with a stick, but she bore with it as best she could.

"No," she whispered with a half hiss.

"And yet, you did so anyway. Champion by happenstance you may be, but you truly are a Shard."

After the pain passed, her eyes widened, and she began to realize what an opportunity this was. A Legend stood in front of her, and she would be a fool not to take advantage of it. Questions! Ask questions! She internally screamed. Making her mouth move to push out to words took every ounce of her will.

"I have questions," she said. "If I am your Champion as you say, then you will answer. The stories say we must stop a calamity, and you must want it stopped as well if I'm here."

"If I deem it appropriate. Ask away, Shard of meager Will."

The girl clenched a fist. Anything to ground herself here.

"You say we are Champion by happenstance. I was not chosen, then? Neither was Chase or any of the others?"

The Legend stayed silent for a few seconds, and then it began to laugh. Laugh. Like some kind of maniacal child. Cecilia did not dare to glance at it for more than a second at a time, but she could see it bounce up and down in the air and clench at its stomach in the corner of her vision.

"Humans!" It cackled. "Thousands of years come and go in a flash, but you never change. One taste of Will, and you became self-centered, egotistical, and gained delusions of grandeur despite your weakness. Chosen? You are worth less than a speck of dust to me. Once this is over, I will blink and five generations will have passed away. You are nothing."

"And yet, here we are," Cecilia hissed as she clenched at her head.

"Eons ago, I gave your people a will," it said. "But you never did fully realize your potential. Worthless, every single one of you. No human would be worthy of being chosen."

"But it couldn't have been completely random. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been contained to my group—"

"I grow tired of this question. My gift was given to you, but you were not chosen. Move on."

"This is important—"

"Important? Nothing about you, nor any thought you could muster would ever be important. You are not special. I told you to move on, and you will."

Like when the Legend had told her to kneel, something changed in Cecilia's brain. She would listen, and any thoughts of not listening vanished in an instant. She opened her mouth to speak, desperate to attempt to break the spell, but she couldn't speak. Its voice had been so nonchalant, and yet it carried the weight of an indescribable magnitude. Champion or not, there was no way a pale imitation could stand up to Willpower itself.

Azelf's will would be done.

"If I must," she said through clenched teeth. Now she knew what she would have tasted had Malamar gotten her hands on her, but she contained her anger as best she could. She would be a fool to be rude here. "Where is Chase?"

"Nowhere. Everywhere."

"What does that mean?"

"Will you really spend your time here worrying about other humans? Think for yourself. Seize the desire that lies within your heart and soul, Shard."

"Very well, then," she exhaled. "Why are there two Champions of Willpower and how do I win?"

"Well done. You were the original gift-bearer, but your actions were not appropriate for a Shard of Willpower. Instead of fighting, you ran from every problem, as minuscule and irrelevant as they were. Even though you had my gift's backing and your Voice could potentially carry you far. There was a modicum of potential within you both. You represent the calm, focused facet of Willpower, the long-term thinking to reach a goal while the other human embraces the rash and raw desire to seize whatever it wants right now. I went against my siblings and decided to split it in two."

Against its siblings… that meant Uxie and Mesprit.

"And you still need time to decide?" Cecilia asked. "Why this doubt?"

"Time to decide? Doubt?" The small Legendary giggled. "I am Willpower, girl. I do what I desire whenever I want to. I adhere to no rules. I break them and make my own."

"So? Are we stuck like this, then?"

"Unless you want to fight to the death and claim his Shard for your own. Be my guest. It would certainly make things interesting for a speck of time."

Cecilia's shaking legs froze. She started at the God despite the horrible weight pressing down her chest. Ever since Cynthia had revealed this story to her, she'd wanted to seize Willpower for herself and defeat Chase. She did not let it come in between them. She was not a jealous person, and she had assured herself she would win.

But to kill a friend?

"I will never."

Her voice came out ragged and barely coherent. She witnessed the Pokemon tilt his head with a look that could only be described as confusion.

"You did not even consider it? You'd keep it your entire life. With that amount of power, you could seize control of the entire world. Make people do your bidding with a thought and create a dynasty that would last generations. That would make your life actually matter. What a waste. I will never understand mortals."

"You don't need to," she hissed. "And I will not stoop to brainwashing. Ever."

"You have come close to it multiple times, but If that is your Will, Shard, then so be it."

"When you call me Shard, what does it mean?"

"Your gift. It is a Shard of the concept of Willpower, transferred from me to you. Small, no doubt, but enough to stand atop your species."

"Enough. I have no dreams of conquest."

"Lies. You wish to sit on Unova's throne and to reform it in your image. That is conquest, even though you believe it would be bloodless."

The girl flinched.

"I see it all. Your deepest desires, all in one. Large, and yet so mundane. Freedom stands on top of the pile, but it is surrounded by many more. Strength, change, a lasting relationship, safety for you and your loved ones… you are laid bare before me. I could pluck them out of you if I so wished. You'd be left an empty shell, unable to even move. Like a puppet without strings—"

"Enough!" Cecilia yelled.

Her voice was amplified. Powerful like never before. She had spoken without worry about what the repercussions would be. All she had wanted was for the being in front of her to stop talking.

"You had it in you after all, Shard. Beware of using it too many times outside of this realm. More than one time in a day will exhaust you enough to make you lose consciousness, and since you only have half a Shard, the Voice will not carry your orders for a long time. Team Galactic is coming, and you will need this power to save Creation from its clutches."

"They want a calamity," Cecilia nodded. "Cynthia told us that they had a way to control you somehow."

"It is not just a calamity they want. My siblings and I could render Palkia and Dialgia completely subservient. The fate of Creation hangs in the balance."

—

"Why the hell don't you do it yourself?" Chase demanded. "You're just being a lazy ass!"

"I am Willpower, but there is only one entity I listen to. The Creator. I am not allowed to go beyond this Lake even if I awoke. This is where I belong and where I always will be until His Creation ends."

"Then fucking contact the creator or whatever and tell him to let you leave," he hissed. "Hell, even if they do somehow make it through the League and get to you, just kill them!"

He'd been terrified, and he still was, but Chase was hitting his stride. The idea of an all-powerful being sitting on their asses and asking for help made him fume, especially when they'd clearly be able to wipe Team Galactic in an afternoon.

"The Red Chain's mere presence will be enough to stop me and my siblings. Things are not as simple as you think them to be, Shard."

"Damn it," Chase cursed under his breath. "So what? You goad me into doing that weird ass voice so I know how to do it against Team Galactic, and then what?"

"Humans are an unreliable sort, so I do not expect this so-called League to hold out. As a Shard, you stand slightly above them. When we are under their control, you will need to enter our minds and pull us away from the influence of the Red Chain. It will be an environment not unlike this one."

"Any fucking secret code to snap you out of it?"

"No. It will be a long and arduous process."

Chase scoffed. "Funny how you're telling me that everything is going to go to shit and you're not going to do anything about it. You know, I haven't known about Legends for long, but you seem like a fucking awful sort. Sitting high and mighty on your throne, calling humanity useless while you ask us who go in the fucking sewers to do your dirty work—"

"Silence."

It was not a scream. Hell, it didn't even raise its voice, but Chase's mouth screwed shut against his will, and his teeth began to chatter. In his hubris, he had forgotten what it was he was speaking to.

Azelf's will would be done.

He was so small.

"Okay," he exhaled. "Tell me more about this Red Chain thing, then. How the hell does it work?"

"It is made of the gems atop our foreheads. Emotion beckons to me and Knowledge. Team Galactic got a hold of their Gem. They can feel it. It is not complete yet, but it is being built."

Emotion? Chase knew that was Verity, so Mesprit. "You talk to each other, even when asleep?"

"I am talking to you right now, am I not? We are not asleep. Simply dormant. We speak, we observe, we feel the world around us."

"Okay. You said you split Willpower into two, right? What's going to happen? Is this some kind of fucked up competition?"

"I did. You will be weaker than you would be if you were one. You could kill the girl and claim the remainder of the Shard as your own. Do you not see? Your desire to save the Iron Islands could be done by your Will in an instant. You could rule this Region, or simply tell your so-called Champion to do so herself."

His anger overtook his fear, and Chase flipped the Legend off. "Fuck you."

"How peculiar. Tell me, Shard. What is Willpower?"

"I don't have a poetic ass answer for you. Willpower is whatever pushes me to finish my last rep. Whatever makes me wake up in the morning. Whatever makes me work hard and keep pushing forward. It depends on what I want that day."

The Legend paused.

"Adequately said."

—

Cecilia could barely stand up straight. Revelations of Palkia and Dialga shook her to her core. Space and Time. This was no calamity. The world could end. Had Cynthia known this? Her mind raced, but she did not let panic take a hold of her. She would be okay. With a clenched fist and renewed determination, she spoke up again.

"Here is what I would like to know," Cecilia said. "You hate humans—"

"It is not hate. Hate would imply you matter enough to elicit a strong feeling out of me. Shard or not, you do not matter."

Cecilia bit her lip. She did not care if she stepped on an ant when she walked, did she? But she wouldn't care what happened to the ants as a whole either. It was indifference, then.

"If you feel that way about humanity, then why? Why even care about Dialga and Palkia? Is it to save your own life?"

"My life has no value when compared to Creation. Every human could die tomorrow and I would not care, but He would. Every living being is His child, and you are among the oldest. The mountains, the waters, the forests, firmament, more than you could ever imagine. Losing it all would be a tragedy."

"So it is duty, then?"

"Duty? One does not need to be forced to see the beauty of Creation needs to be protected. Alone, you are worthless. Together, you form a mosaic that shapes the world in every era. Creation is an ever-shifting painting, and it must be preserved."

"The stories… the stories don't depict you like this. In them, you are a benevolent Pokemon that gifted humans with the ability to want. I think it is a shame," Cecilia sighed. "I thought you would be more."

"You cannot even begin to fathom what more is. I did gift humans a will. It was my purpose. Willpower is not a benevolent concept, girl, it just is. I am no mere Pokemon. I am Willpower, the good, and the bad. The other Shards will find my siblings to be the same, even if one of them is more soft-hearted than I am while the other is more ruthless. When we are done, send the other Shards to visit their respective Lakes."

More ruthless than this? She couldn't even imagine it.

"That was already the plan."

"Good. I have a question for you, Shard. What is Willpower?"

The question Cecilia had mulled over for so long. It had kept her up at night, tossing and turning, but she had never come up with an answer. Not until she saw what Azelf was like. Now, she knew the answer. There was no doubt in her mind as she opened her mouth.

"Willpower is whatever I want it to be."

"Adequately said. We are done here, then."

The change in topic was so abrupt that Cecilia had to do a double-take. "Wait! I have so much more to ask! How does this power even work, what about the layers of mental barriers—"

She blinked, and she was no longer in the dark. Her entire arm was wet after a few seconds, she realized she was back at the shores of the lakes, and Chase was having the same realization. Slowking tapped her on the shoulder while Jellicent rumbled and she took a deep breath.

"How much time has passed?" She asked.

Time? You just put your hand in the water, my lady, Slowking spoke into her mind. Compared to the thousand choirs of Azelf, his was soothing in comparison.

Cecilia frowned and clenched a fist around the hot water. No time had passed then.

"Did you see it?" Chase asked.

Cecilia looked into his eyes.

Remnants of yellow particles swam in his eyes. Fading slowly, but they would still be there for a few minutes.

"I did. We spoke for… I don't even remember how long."

"Me too. Oh, and by the way, what the fuck happened to your eyes?"

Cecilia didn't answer, for she did not know. She stared at the lake and realized the pull she'd felt before plunging her hand was gone. She tried again, for good measure, but there was nothing besides the warmth of the water. Azelf did not want to be disturbed any further.

Legends were not benevolent, nor malevolent.

They worked beyond human concepts.

They just were.

—

I'd been pacing around the bedroom for the last ten minutes, and the last thing I'd expected was for them to be back so soon. I heard the door gently open and they were still speaking when they entered the house flanked by Jellicent and Slowking.

"...Red Chain, it's this entire thing to control them. Cynthia was right on that front, there is a way for Team Galactic to— ah, Grace," Chase stopped as he stared at me.

"What happened?" I asked. "Did you see anything?"

"We did," Chase said. "Let's go wake up Mira."

After we scanned every corner of the house for cameras or microphones, with Porygon's help, we recalled all of our Pokemon (we would tell them about everything later), what followed was an incredible amount of information that mostly terrified me. Very little of what Azelf had actually said was good news, but what disturbed me the most was the fact that Dialga and Palkia were real and the Lake Trio was a way to control them. Not only that, but Azelf, Uxie and Mesprit seemed to be a lot more powerful than the League and we originally believed. These weren't like the Legendary Bird's avatars. These were beyond that, and there was the possibility of Team Galactic being able to use them to fight.

But that was the least of our problems.

"Dialga represents time and Palkia space. There's a— a statue of them in Eterna City that I never visited, but I always thought they were fiction. I mean, they're definitely represented wrong, but that's besides the point," Mira rambled with a frown. "This is bad."

"No shit," Chase snapped. "This is fucking terrible!"

"Calm down. First, we need to warn the League about the Red Chain, and that the world is in danger," Cecilia said. "Then, the plan doesn't change. The League isn't asleep at the wheel. This will be contained."

"I hope so," I muttered. "This is… I mean, yeah. Fuck. This is basically the worst-case scenario."

Could I focus on my journey with this knowledge? This hanging axe around my neck? All of our necks?

"We'll be okay," Cecilia assured, placing a hand on mine.

Chase clenched at his forehead. "Looking at it objectively… Team Galactic can't afford another failure. Even if the League doesn't sniff out their base in time, the odds are still in our favor. They'd have to break through all of this. The walls, the League Trainers—"

"And the Elite Four and Gym Leaders, probably," Mira added.

I sighed. "I hope so. We need to go see Ariel to tell her about all of this."

"But this does confirm what I said," Mira raised a finger. "The League kept us in the dark about this. They knew that this was no mere calamity. That's why they had their Porygon keep the stories away from us. I was right."

"You think they knew?" Chase frowned.

"Of course they knew," she said. "But controlling information is how they do things. And we're supposed to tell them everything? Fuck them."

Cece scoffed. "I hope you aren't suggesting staying silent, because that would be horribly foolish."

"No, I'm not. I'm just saying I fucking hate the fact that they're hiding things from us while we have to scramble in the dark for information."

"It's not fair, but it has to be done," I firmly said. "When this is all over, we can give them the finger and stop working for them."

"Working for them?" Chase asked. "I sure as hell am not."

"Stop talking for a second and listen to me," I hissed. "Az— the Legendary said that we'd keep the… Shards until we died. That means that we'll still be able to have these powers when Team Galactic is dealt with."

I omitted the fact that we might fail to stop them in order to keep our spirits up.

"Chase and Cece, you have this Voice thing now that you can use once per day. You can essentially make someone do whatever you want—"

"We haven't tested that yet," Mira said. "There must be limits."

"I will not test it," Cecilia crossed her arms. "Absolutely not."

"We can figure all of that later. We're military assets. We're willing right now, but we might get pressured into joining."

"They won't force us," Cecilia shook her head. "This isn't Kanto-Johto. Even if democracy has backslid slightly, we still have rights."

"That's… fair," I said. "I just can't help but feel paranoid, especially for Chase and Mira. If everything goes according to plan, we're leaving this summer for Unova, but they're staying here. I don't think we should tell Ariel we're keeping the powers."

"They'll figure it out eventually anyway," Mira shook her head. "I agree in principle, but it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things."

"I don't like it, but fine. For now, we don't have to tell them, though. We can just omit it. It wouldn't be a lie. There's also something else. The last thing we want is for them to know that one dying would strengthen their Shard."

"Think they'd assassinate one of 'em?" Mira asked. "Did the blue guy tell you that you needed to kill each other or that dying was enough?"

"It said kill," Chase firmly said.

"Whatever, better safe than sorry, so I'm okay with omitting that and the fact," she said, snapping her fingers. "But I still think we should test this Voice thing. How long it works, how far you can go with it… it'd be harmless. Just tell me to stand up for five seconds or something."

"Look, push comes to shove, I'll do it," Chase said. "Cecilia obviously has some qualms about mind control—"

"Which shouldn't matter when the world might end. With you, we get one try per day. With her, we get two. That's double, and we need more data."

"I won't budge on my morals," Cecilia said. "Against Team Galactic, it's another story, but I will not subject people to mind control, even as a test."

They glared at each other for a few seconds until Mira huffed and averted her eyes.

"Next topic," I said. "You said we weren't chosen. We can scratch that off the list."

I'd never been a supporter of the theory anyway, and I was glad to have that pressure off. I was not special, and that was fine. But Azelf had still picked Cecilia; and Chase after being disappointed in her.

"But it was not random either," Cecilia added. "I don't know how that makes any sense."

"And yet it does," I said. "Somehow."

"Think the old grouch lied?" Mira asked.

"Absolutely not," Cece instantly said.

"It wouldn't lie," Chase added. "It doesn't care enough to lie."

"Okay, well hopefully the other two will be more amenable," Mira sighed. "We need more information, and we'll probably come out of the Lake with a little boost like you two."

"They said that one sibling was more ruthless while the other was more kind-hearted," Cece explained. "I wasn't sure which was which."

Mira clicked her tongue. "Fuck."

"Knowledge is most likely worse," I nodded. "But we'll still get our questions answered. Our plan doesn't change. Let's just… tell Ariel"

We walked to Headquarters, which was easy to find. Even at night, it was shone brightly in the sky, and it was the tallest building here. Ariel greeted us outside, and after telling her that Chase and Cecilia saw Azelf, we were immediately let in. They were questioned and no doubt told them almost everything, and they stayed so long that Mira and I ended up sleeping on a bench. The next morning, they still weren't there after we ate breakfast, and I was starting to grow anxious, but they were finally let go right before noon. They both looked exhausted, but fine. As soon as we reached the makeshift home again, they spoke.

"They just went in a lot of detail," Cecilia explained. "Asked for every question under the sun. They even asked me if I could convince the Legend to wake up and fight, so you can probably guess some of the questions were really stupid."

"They probably had to cover their bases," I said. "Everything went well, though?"

"Oh, yes, they were very pleased with the development. Apparently some of the higher-ups worried that the Lake Trio would be a lot more… well, evil wouldn't really fit, but I can't find a better word. Less cooperative?"

Chase yawned and leaned against a wall. "Same thing happened to me. Damn, this ruined my sleep schedule."

"We could stay one more day," Mira said.

"No. We leave," Chase said. "I'm done with this concrete hell. Walking will wake me up, and I'll use the opportunity to jog."

We agreed to leave after that, and soon, we were walking through one of the fortress' gates. Ariel accompanied us back to the route and flew off, and we were on our way toward the Grand Hotel Lake. It would take us a day to reach it from here.

Despite the looming danger, I could only keep looking forward. Cecilia told me I shouldn't let this get in the way of my goals. There was nothing I could do except hope the League would save the day, so there was no use worrying about what I couldn't affect. Still, this knowledge would become a permanent knot in my stomach. It wasn't only us that was in danger. The entire world was.

But for now? I would do my best to focus on the Circuit, at least until I flew to Lake Verity.

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 213

The Hotel Grand Lake sat atop a hill, and the stories of how luxurious it was never prepared me for how beautiful it would be. Trainers didn't actually have to go through it to get to Sunyshore since there was an alternate route around the resort, but we'd forgone it since we would be staying at the hotel for at least a day.

The road was a vibrant grey laid in a criss-cross pattern and demarcated by a row of white bricks laid onto the ground while the edges were made out of the same color, although in a different square-like pattern that was almost hypnotic. Cecilia gasped next to me at how amazing it all looked as we stepped up the first step of stairs.

Calling the place a hotel would have been disingenuous. It was a massive complex the size of a small town with dozens of homes, restaurants, and stores sprouting up from the floor. The buildings' exteriors were all so white they were like snow reflecting sunlight, but some of them had more color thrown in. Turquoise and azure bricks that shone like marble, acting as their support, and there were also resplendent blue windows, doors, and rooves. Everything here shared that color scheme, and they bled together in a beautiful mix that I couldn't help but admire. Since it was winter, there weren't that many people in the resort, but it still felt alive, and both they and small Pokemon walked to and fro. There were also guards here, which made sense. No luxurious complex was going to keep its guests unprotected, and they were probably getting paid a lot of money. Retired trainers no doubt.

"Woah, look over here!" Mira exclaimed.

My eyes drifted across the white and blue canvas that was the Hotel Grand Lake, and I saw the enormous lake that the place was named after. The resort had been built around the lake, but there was a small quay there with jet skis and even a small boat. The water wasn't only confined to the lake, of course. There were plenty of pools and even some kind of winding, snaky pool that wrapped around the entire property. Cecilia called it a 'lazy river.'

Chase didn't hide his displeasure as we entered the largest, central building, where we'd be able to register in and rent a place. The inside was a lot more modern than the outside and was what I'd expect from a hotel, but bigger and more extravagant. There was an indoor garden with blue and white parasols to protect guests from the sun with blue flowers and trees with their leaves dyed blue. Inside of it sat a lake with a few Magikarp, and children swarmed around the Pokemon and tried to touch their scales. The water types felt happy enough, although they were annoyed at the attention and just wanted to be left alone.

"Welcome to the Hotel Grand Lake! How may I help you?"

The receptionist behind the counter— one of dozens— snapped me back to reality. Chase muttered something under his breath that I couldn't hear and Mira started to giggle, but Cece took the reigns of the conversation.

"We'd like one home for four," she said. "Can we look at our options?"

What followed was a list of different homes for very exorbitant prices that Cecilia paid for, but that I promised to pay back. The most expensive suites with their own private pools cost up to 80,000 Pokedollars per night, but she thankfully opted for the 30,000 per night option, which wasn't the smallest place we could buy, but definitely more affordable than the more extravagant options.

That was one battle with Maylene per night. Arceus. And to think some people stayed here all summer long. This was a very trendy spot that tourists loved to stay at before and after the Conference. Sinnoh's international tourism industry was small when compared to other regions overseas, but the Hotel Grand Lake was where a lot of the money was made. In addition to this fee, we had to get our Pokemon approved for release, but since we were relatively well-known trainers, the process went pretty quickly and we were given a pass. Ordinary people would have to get their Pokemon individually assessed if they wanted to keep them out in public.

I released Princess as soon as we were out, and Chase did so with Zangoose while Cecilia released Scyther. Mira had already kind of been cheating with Porygon, since she never stayed in her Pokeball anyway, but she released both of her psychics so they could take in the place in case she ever wanted to Teleport here. There were designated Teleportation pads for people to appear on, however, and appearing randomly throughout the resort would be breaking the rules.

I grabbed Princess in my arms as I took in the sights again.

All of this belonged to the Antonovich family. One of the richest in Sinnoh (although not as rich as the Bianchis had been before who stayed here all year long. Their home hadn't been hard to spot. It was the largest one and stood at the highest point on the hill.

"So? What's the plan? In and out, you deliver the news and we leave tomorrow?" Chase asked.

"I guess," I shrugged. "Think I can just knock on their door?"

"No way in hell," Mira shook her head. "But if you tell them… I don't know how many guards here that you knew their son, maybe they'll let you in. I don't really know why Luca would leave this place, honestly. Seems like he had his entire life set up for him."

"Sometimes, it's about freedom," Cecilia said. "The silver spoon is nice and all, but you can want more in life. Independence is a great feeling."

Scyther strode up ahead, unwilling to walk too close to her, but still slowed down whenever he got too far. People weren't really enamored with his demeanor and flinched or recoiled whenever he got too close. Mira's psychics told him to relax, and he did… slightly. We passed an open air arena where children that were definitely younger than fifteen were battling using a Yamper and an Azurill. The electric type clumsily ran forward, barely able to generate any electricity while Azurill sprung on her tail and jumped above him to dodge.

"Huh," I muttered. "Interesting."

"Interesting to see them breaking the law with no consequences 'cause they're loaded," Chase grumbled.

"Don't be a hardass. We all know people ignore it anyway," Mira said. "Cynthia started training when she was six. This is no different."

While owning Pokemon before you were fifteen was allowed and encouraged— after all, I'd owned Princess— battling beforehand was technically illegal, but it wasn't enforced whatsoever.

"The laws are a lot more harsh in Galar and Unova," Cece explained as we walked up the winding streets. "Unless you get an exception from a Gym Leader or someone in a position of authority, you won't be battling until you're fifteen, so people come here and like to let loose and get their children started early on battling. Any advantage is sought after, especially with the amount of money to be made as a top-level trainer."

"You're telling me that these are all Galarians? And Unovans?" Chase asked.

"Not all, but the majority, yes. Affluent people speak of Sinnoh as a dangerous region, and they'll try to impress their friends by spending a few months here in the so-called 'trenches.' Oh, I've heard plenty of stories about acquaintances coming back 'scarred.' They'll make a whole show out of it too."

"When in reality, they're just staying in a luxurious resort," I smirked. "I don't mind the kids battling. If they're having fun, so be it."

"Unova's starting to sound more like a prison than a region," Mira joked.

Cece rolled her eyes. "I don't think you know what prison is, Mira. The more Pokemon battling is regulated, the fewer accidents there can be. Don't take Sinnoh's laxness as the standard, otherwise we might as well be Kanto and turn it into survival of the fittest."

"Yeah, yeah. By the way, can we go to that lazy river thing later? Doesn't it look fun?"

"I'll die before I go into that," Chase shook his head.

The pink-haired girl gently clapped his back. "You'll come."

"I wouldn't be opposed to it," I said. "But first, we deal with this."

The path widened and we reached an enormous gate with a few chatting guards who turned toward us. Persian, Boldore, Solrock. We weren't looking for a fight, but I couldn't help but attempt to assess their Pokemon's strength, which I found was more complicated than I thought.

"Good morning," I greeted them with a gentle smile. "We'd like to have a word to… uh, the Antonovich family," I slowly said, realizing I didn't even know their names. "It's about their son."

"Mr. and Ms. Antonovich are away on business today. If you want to meet them, you'll have to set up an appointment at reception."

Well, honestly, that had gone better than expected. I thought they'd be a lot more confrontational, but then again, business would probably suffer if the personnel were rude, and the keycards around our necks showed that we'd paid for a room and to have our Pokemon out. People that had paid here were treated like royalty.

"Do you know when they're coming back?" I asked.

"That information is private, miss. If you want to meet Sergei, the process is the same. Make an appointment."

"We apologize for the inconvenience," another guard said. "Now if you'll please turn back."

I opened my mouth, and then closed it again.

Sergei? Who the hell was Sergei?

—

Mira giggled like a little kid as we opened the door to our temporary home. The interior somehow looked crowded and spacious at the same time. I ran my hand on the rugged white walls and peered into the tiny kitchen. This time, I could buy things to cook. The living room had a small coffee table along with creamy beige couches, and the windows let ample amounts of sunlight in. There was a TV and free WiFi, so that was neat. Mira dashed in every single room and then we heard her jump on one of the beds.

"Aw man, this feels so good! Guys, come feel the mattress, it feels like I'm floating!"

I'll go take care of her, Gardevoir spoke.

There was a staircase that led to the roof of the building, where we had a fantastic view of the entire Hotel Grand Lake, Veilstone to the north, the beaches near Pastoria to the south and Sunyshore to the east. It wasn't often that a view made us realize the scale of the distance we traveled. It was quite windy up there, so we didn't spend long, but Scyther decided to stay and Chase left Zangoose and Sigilyph with him.

When we went back downstairs, Mira had been dragged out of the bed by Gardevoir because she hadn't showered yet after traveling for days. I sat on the oversized couch and my friends followed suit. Some battle from a Galarian channel was playing on television, and I almost gasped at how huge their stadiums were. This was some random tournament, and it was almost as large as our Conference stadium at the Lily of the Valley island. They didn't lie when they said it was among the wealthiest regions. People in Sinnoh would riot if they saw the government spending that much money on stadiums.

"So. Sergei," Cecilia whispered. "I had no idea Luca had a brother."

We had looked up Sergei Antonovich as soon as we left the gates of their homes, and as it turned out, he was Luca's younger brother. He hadn't been hard to find, especially when his family ran the most successful resort in Sinnoh. He was only fourteen and looked almost exactly like Luca.

"I mean, you barely knew the guy," Chase shrugged. "He wasn't about to spill his entire life story. So, what's the plan?"

"Meet him and tell him instead," I said. "We have no idea when the parents will be back, and there's no point staying here long when Cece's burning cash."

"I wouldn't call it burning," Cecilia said. "This place is nice."

"It better be, with how expensive it is," Mira said with a nervous laugh. "So we go to reception, then? Tell these guys we want to meet this Sergei fellow and call it a day?"

I nodded. "I doubt he'll refuse, especially if we talk about his brother. We owe it to Luca. I feel like… like we could have been great friends had we been given the time."

"We'll do right by him," Cecilia declared firmly. "Let's go now. Chase, since you don't feel like doing anything and you don't want to come to this meeting, how about you go shopping for Grace?"

The teen scoffed. "Shopping?"

"Do you want dinner tonight or not?" I sarcastically asked. "I can make a list for you so it'll be quick. It'd be a huge help."

"I can help," Mira said as she leaned back. "I want to be there for the meeting, but the setup is boring."

"You just want time alone with me."

"Yeah. Is that okay?"

The boy grunted in approval and Mira clapped her hands excitedly. Before we left, we agreed to reconvene here at three at the latest, and I also asked Mira if I could borrow her Alakazam to Teleport back onto the mountains of route 214 to train. I wasn't about to make lava in the middle of a resort.

Would the League be able to track me if I Teleported? I assumed they had a way to do so, but I'd probably text Ariel just in case. She had given everyone her work number before we left Lake Valor. Soon enough, we split up in two groups, but some of our Pokemon decided to stay. Scyther and Zangoose, for one. The normal type had decided to make it her life's job to laze around on Chase's bed, and Scyther was happy enough. His relationship with Cece was currently… alright, but I wondered what else they needed to have a true breakthrough.

Or maybe it would stick to incremental progress as they got closer inch by inch.

Princess stuck around with me, but she was tired and floating with her head on mine. She hadn't slept much yesterday due to all of the speaking we'd done, and her barrier training with Gardevoir was quite intense.

"Will you go to the lazy river today?" Cece asked out of the blue.

"Me? Nah. I mean, the pool is heated, but it's still cold out. Maybe I'll dip my feet in the water, though. I'm sure Buddy will enjoy floating along the current very much. Hopefully he won't scare the pool-goers, but there aren't that many people."

"I'd like it if you came along," she said.

"I don't have a swimsuit. Don't worry though, I'll come."

She gripped my hand and looked into my eyes, and she was about to say something but a younger girl asked her for a picture. One of her fans, no doubt. They took a selfie together and spoke for a few minutes, and then we were on our way again.

"Grace, I'll be frank with you. Forgive me if this is too forward, but is it the scars?"

I blinked. "Well, no— yes, but it's not— it's hard to explain."

"We have a while until we reach reception," Cece said.

"I don't really care that much, not anymore," I quietly spoke. "But it's still weird. I mean, I don't feel confident in a swimsuit. Even that dress during our date was pushing my limit, but a swimsuit would be too much."

"You should feel confident. You're beautiful."

"I don't know…"

She dragged me forward and turned around, smiling at me. "What if we went and bought one today? I could help you pick one out."

"Why does it feel like you're going to get your way?" I asked.

Her grin turned mischievous. "Because I am. Slowking tells me I'm very good at it."

"He's onto something. Fine, I'll come. I didn't even know lazy rivers were a thing, and it sounds fun. Relaxing, even, after all of yesterday's events."

"Good. I want you to be comfortable in your own skin."

"I am. I'm not lying."

"I know you aren't. But it's still hard, isn't it?"

I nodded, and we continued on our way as Cece tried to cheer me up with more of Slowking's puns. As it turned out, he was really starting to feel himself with the jokes and there was a treasure trove of bad humor there. Plus, she was absolutely right. They were so bad they were good, and the funniest part is he didn't even know. He just kept going because he saw Cecilia and Talonflame laugh at them every time.

The woman at reception was very nice about setting up this meeting for us. At some points, I almost thought she was scared to say no, one because of Cecilia's last name, which even if it was tarnished, her family business was still extremely rich. Plus, it really did look like her father hadn't known much about Team Galactic's involvement with the Bianchis and he'd probably be let go soon.

Either that, or he had buried the evidence far enough. Either way, there was no way they'd let him stay here, so they'd ship him back to Unova soon enough.

There was also the fact that we were known to be involved with the League. The receptionist scampered off and dialed a number on the landline phone.

"How is it?" Cecilia whispered. "Your first taste of soft power?"

"This kind of stuff already happened at the Café Cabin. Feels dirty," I said.

"It is. I dislike having this name attached to me, but people will always associate me with the name Obel no matter what I do. People use connections and fame like this all the time."

"I know. At the end of the day, I won't complain, since we're getting what we want, but I guess it kind of feels… undeserved. I want these things to be attributed to me. Not the League, or a name."

"We'll get there," she said.

"The first thing we do need to do to get there is make a splash at the Conference. Being the last two remaining first-years would be nice. Everything else would be icing."

"Thinking that far ahead already?"

"Well, I'd be stupid not to, right?" I said as I stared at the Magikarp. One of them looked right back at me and blinked. "Violence is nice—"

"That'd be hilarious out of context."

"Well, you didn't let me finish," I chuckled. "What's that saying again? Speak softly but carry a big stick."

"Ah, that one was said by an Unovan Champion a century or so ago."

"It's Unovan? I thought it was Galarian," I said.

"What? No, no, I'm positive it's Unova— wait, you're just teasing, aren't you?"

I burst into laughter. "You got me. You're like Denzel, you know? It's funny to tease and probe at your more patriotic side. Anyway, the underlying threat of violence is a very effective tool when you're nice to everybody. It lets them know not to step on your toes."

Cecilia smirked at me. "Not that I mind, but how did we start talking about threats again?"

"Uh, I— yeah, I just launched into it, didn't I?"

"It's okay. I agree. There's a reason Cynthia managed to take over the entire government in a few months. The threat of her being able to do so anyway."

"That's what I'm saying," I nodded. "Not that I think that was a good thing."

"Oh, of course not. But it's still a good technique, isn't it? No matter what we think of her, she was still a transformative leader, which is something I want to achieve as well. A good performance in Sinnoh's Conference will guarantee headlines back in Unova since I'm Mark's sister."

"Does he know you're coming for him?"

"Oh, he doesn't. We don't talk much, as you know. I'll tell him formally the next time we speak."

I restrained another laugh. I couldn't help but imagine her giving him the most formal speech possible while he just listened over the phone, utterly confused.

He'd probably underestimate her.

"Young Master Sergei has agreed to meet you tomorrow at eight in the morning," the receptionist said. "He will be accompanied by guards. Do not bring your Pokemon and do not be late."

Cecilia frowned and then shook her head as she leaned over the counter. "We will bring them."

"But—"

"I'm sorry. What we mean to say is, we don't feel safe without our teams around," I gently said. "I think it'd be a mistake not to allow this. We have very public records and we wouldn't do something foolish. We just want to tell him about Luca. This is extremely important."

The receptionist sighed and dialed her phone again. I leaned against Cecilia and whispered.

"Gotta remember to speak softly."

It took a while, but the meeting was approved.

Afterward, Cece spent the next hour making me try all kinds of swimsuits, and I resigned to my fate knowing that she'd be putting different clothes on me for as long as she wanted.

I did end up buying one.

—

"Thank you for the help, Alakazam," I said.

The psychic type nodded. Of course. I will stay here while you train.

"Oh, you can come back in an hour or so, there's no need. I know you're busy—"

Nonsense. It would be best for me to stay in case you need to change locations and you are nowhere to be seen when I come back. We're a few days out of the hotel, and you'd have to walk the entire way back. Or ask one of the League Trainers for a ride, which is a request I doubt they would accept.

"Fair enough," I nodded. "They always do the strict minimum. Well, make yourself comfortable, then."

I released Sunshine, Princess and Buddy. Honey was back at the hotel with Angel, and Sweetheart was asleep in her Pokeball. Togetic yawned and complained that it was time to train already. Sunshine mocked her and began to walk away to create the usual lava, and she called him an impotent wyrm. The fire type didn't seem to care at all and laughed. Buddy floated up ahead to warn any passersby and got ready to extinguish the lava at a moment's notice.

"How about this," I raised a finger. "You do this today, and tomorrow, you'll be free to relax at the hotel and do whatever you want. I'm sorry about this, but you're a really important part of our strategy. If you really don't want to train though, then we can skip today. It's up to you."

Princess considered her options for a few seconds, but she decided to accept my offer. I thanked her and we watched as the terrain in front of us turned into a molten hell. As usual, I timed how long the stone took to turn into lava and got two minutes and thirty-nine seconds, so he was getting better at it slowly but surely. Once we reached the ideal time of one minute, I'd get him started on the explosion jump plan.

"You can go ahead," I whispered.

The flying type slowly approached the molten rock.

Stage one had been to teach her how to move the lava as well as she moved actually solid rock. We weren't there quite yet, but we were close. The last thing we wanted was to accidentally fling lava at a Pokemon during the gym battle. Lava was a liquid. That meant that it was difficult to contain, and small globs of it flew everywhere whenever Princess carried it. Once we reduced that waste, we'd be ready to move onto stage two.

I grinned as she lifted a portion of the lava and spun it around. It was difficult to see, but barely any particles were falling off from the main chunk, and she was keeping it far enough away not to burn. Once she mastered proper barriers, this wouldn't be an issue, but for now, she had to stay safe.

Step two was to learn to shape that liquid.

Not into spears or drills like I had done with stones. That was extra effort for no reason. Lava was lava, and it didn't need to be shaped to kill. What I could do, however, was zone Pokemon and confine them wherever was needed with that lava.

For example, say Sunshine had just finished turning the middle of the arena into lava, separating our sides into two. Princess would then be able to move that lava en masse and trap her enemy somewhere, by surrounding the Pokemon— albeit from a safe distance— while they slowly burned.

Lava, as it turned out, would also be quicker to move than rock, and it was a terrible conductor of electricity, which meant Princess would be able to use it as a shield. Even if she mastered psychic shielding, I knew that it wouldn't last long against Volkner's powerful electric attacks. So long as she raised it at a safe distance, the technique would be sound to use, but even with her perfected shield, I didn't want to risk her burning herself if she could avoid it.

There was also the last thing on my mind. Creating a proto-eruption.

That was, however, still in the theoretical stage. I had no idea if there was a way to do it in a safe and controlled manner, and worst-case scenario I'd keep it for non-friendly battles.

But if I could do it? Arceus, it would be cool as hell. Seeing Princess and the others wield forces capable of so much destruction was the kind of thing that excited me the most.

Alakazam, who I had completely forgotten about, stared at my notes over my shoulder like I was mad.

I ignored him.

—

"I don't know about this, Cece."

"Grace, you look amazing."

She spun me around and stared into the bathroom mirror. My burns were on full display here, and they tingled whenever I looked at them for too long. She grabbed her phone, placed her face against mine, and took a picture. She'd never been one for photos like Denzel or Emi, but she did take them once in a while.

"Can I send it to Pauline?" Cece asked. "Knowing them, they'll probably stay here too and drag Denzel with them."

"Are you kidding me? Drag? Denzel would love this place. Have Emi and Pauline been here before?" I asked, trying to stare straight.

"Oh yes, plenty of times. Emi loves it here in the summer—"

There was an obnoxious knock on the bathroom door, which could only be Mira.

"Get out, you lovebirds! It's time to go!"

We put on clothes over our swimsuits and exited the room. Somehow, she'd convinced Chase to come during their shopping trip as well, and I had no idea how. We grabbed our bags and our Pokeballs as well and we made our way to the lazy river.

There were more people now than this morning, and employees were handing out inflatable tubes (which almost no one was using because of how cold it was) and plenty of Pokemon and humans swam inside of the water. At this point, it was too cold to stay out for too long and I started shivering. I grabbed Honey's Pokeball and released him, along with Angel. I would have made Sweetheart swim, but she definitely would have destroyed the pool and probably killed or injured someone. I would bring her to the lake at the resort's center tomorrow, however.

"Honey and the others can watch our bags," I said, my teeth chattering. "I'm going in, it's too cold."

Cece asked Slowking if he wanted to swim, but he preferred to laze around on one of the folding chairs. Angel, meanwhile, couldn't help but dip his vines into the water and shiver in excitement at the touch. He sprayed Sweetheart with it, but she was angry I wasn't letting her in, so her reaction was pretty muted.

As for Sunshine and Princess? Well, they were sleeping soundly, the first back in our room and the latter in her Pokeball. They'd worked hard today and deserved a break.

"Don't jump in the water, shrimp. It's shallow and you'll break your ankles," Chase told Mira.

"What a specific injury," she said. "But okay."

She was first in the water, and we soon followed, but before that, I released Jellicent directly into the pool. The ghost shivered in excitement, although he did immediately complain about how warm the water was. I dipped my feet into the pool and slowly lowered myself in.

"You'll get used to it," I said. "For now, let's just hang out. Let the current carry you, but don't scare anyone, alright?"

Jellicent rumbled under the water, and I felt a powerful jet at my feet. Soon enough, his two red eyes were floating off into the distance. He was almost invisible, so most people that weren't paying attention wouldn't see him.

Chase swam ahead as if this was actually a competitive swimming race while Mira tried to keep up despite her Pokemon's warnings. Cece and I hung in the back and got carried by the current as we spoke of the limits of how a battlefield could be altered and ways around that limit, and she spoke to me about different ideas she was thinking of implementing for her future battle with Volkner. Nerding out about battling with her was so much fun.

Every time we passed our Pokemon, Honey would wave at me with the biggest smile on his face and Angel followed suit. Sweetheart was angry, but she couldn't help but join in. Slowking was already half-asleep. Sigilyph beeped as she dipped her bottom wing in the water and Zangoose grunted when some of it got on her. Lucario meditated next to the edge, undisturbed by any noise.

The eyes of strangers felt uncomfortable for the first few minutes, but soon enough, I shed the final bits of reluctance and realized I wasn't interested in anything they thought.

Just the girl in front of me.

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri

 

[Soussouni1]

SAILOR

"Takeda! Takeda!"

Takeda, who had been resting his head on his palm, nearly fell and knocked himself on the ship's railing. His head snapped toward the source of the voice and he straightened his back. It was his boss, not the captain of the ship, of course, but the CSO— Chief Security Officer, Mister Richards.

"Yes, sir!"

"No slacking. You keep an eye out at sea, and you keep an eye on your Buizel."

"Yes, sir!" Takeda repeated again. Buizel, for his part, was barely visible from this high. There was the bright yellow of his flotation sac, but apart from that, Takeda only saw the white foam of the ocean.

And Legendaries, was it a mesmerizing sight. Calm blue waters as far as the eye could see without an island in sight. The horizon appeared a seamless curve, and Takeda couldn't see where the water ended and the sky began. The sun kissed his face and the wind blew in his hair, carrying a salty scent. Wild Wingull followed the ship wherever it went, flying high in the sky and occasionally landing to nab any food they could get their hands on.

"If I catch you dozing off, I'm throwing you overboard,"

That'd be illegal, you son of a bitch, Takeda grumbled to himself. He exhaled and ran his hand on the rusty railing. Takeda was a new sailor, and he'd recently gotten a job aboard the Evercrest Voyager, a container ship that traveled the world and shipped goods in between regions. Right now, they were traveling between Hoenn and Unova, and they were taking the long way because traveling near Orre's coast was a sure way to get your ship raided by a bunch of pirates.

Takeda was just a small part of what kept this ship running, but his job in the security apparatus was to have his water type keep a lookout for any wild Pokemon getting any ideas. The official position was Navigational Watch Officer, but that made it sound a lot fancier than it actually was. He was a dime a dozen, and there were at least two hundred people like him on this ship. The only requirement to get hired? Have a water type Pokemon that can keep up with this boat for hours at a time. The Pokemon worked in shifts, of course, but his Buizel had a lot of stamina since he could float along the water's surface and move using only his tail.

Takeda hadn't really imagined that he'd be a sailor, but he couldn't complain. The pay was good, since he stayed away from home and treaded dangerous waters for months at a time. The ocean was different from the routes, and Takeda knew routes. Just like many trainers with jobs aboard this ship, he'd failed multiple times in Hoenn's Circuit and decided to get a job instead of wasting his time beating his head against the wall. Routes were relatively calm, and Pokemon there could be negotiated or dealt with. In the ocean?

Well, there was a reason this job was dangerous as hell.

"Boss caught you slackin'?"

"Shut it." Takeda groaned. "Are you taking over my shift?"

He wouldn't have called Cameron his friend. More like an acquaintance because they shared the same job. The man was actually from Orre, and he'd entertained the entire ship with stories many nights in the crew's quarters. The region was lawless hell where death, looting and murder were just a way of life, save for a few safe zones and cities. Cameron's hometown didn't even have a name, nor was it on any maps, but it had been victim to raids many times in the past. He never did tell them how he had escaped, though.

The tanned man leaned against the railing. "Nah, just makin' rounds. If I look like I'm doing something, I'm not getting yelled at."

Takeda rolled his eyes. "You ever regret taking this job?"

"Isn't this only your fourth trip? And you're already thinking of quitting?" Cameron wheezed as he slapped his leg. "Why don't you go back to being a little trainer while you're at it."

"That's not even— you know what, never mind."

The man paused. "I'm just pulling your leg. What's on your mind?"

"It's just, you know… this is it. I'm just gonna be standing on a ship for the rest of my life, shipping whatever the hell is in those containers," he sighed, turning toward the huge row of red, metallic boxes. "Fuck, man."

"The pay's good."

"It's not about the pay, it's about being bored out of my mind. I should have tried for another job."

"Stick around another few months," Cameron shrugged. "This is your first go at Unova, right?"

"Not like I get out of the port. Heard Castelia was pretty though."

Cameron smirked. "Hear me out. Me, Doyle, Jimmy, and Kaine were thinking of sneaking out when we get there, just for a few hours. Go to a bar, meet some girls, get laid—"

"Arceus—"

"No, I'm serious! You need to get your dick wet, man, that's your problem. Spend a night in a woman's arms and all of your stress will vanish. Not like the girls working here are any good, and I'd have to report that shit to HR."

Takeda scoffed. "Asshole."

"Yeah. I am. You're too innocent, Takeda. Tell me, what led you to this ship."

"Huh?"

"What made you get this job?"

"Isn't it the same for everyone? It's your fifteenth birthday, you think you're going to be the next big thing, but you realize that shit is harder than you thought?"

"Can't relate, I'm from the shitty desert," he smirked. "But I meant, why this job? It can't be the pay, you said as much."

"I thought it was a way to still have an excuse to travel," Takeda said after a short pause. "I was stupid and thought I'd actually get to use my paycheck and act like a tourist at every port we stopped at. I also thought it'd be good for Buizel and Carvanha. I have two water types, so why not use them?"

"Well, there ain't much those two can do against the threats of the ocean."

"No shit," Takeda deadpanned. "I'm a lookout— oh sorry, a watch officer. I'm no battler. But you worry too much. The waters are calm."

"Let me paint you a picture—"

"You're going to jinx us."

"In these waters? No, no, we've gone through this route a hundred times, the Pokemon here are harmless. Anyway, this was… fifteen years ago. My Swampert's a little pipsqueak Mudkip. We're traveling from Kanto to Galar."

"That's a long ass trip."

"Twenty-five to thirty-five days depending on the weather and what happens. Guess how long this one took."

"I don't know, two months? Three?"

"That was a trap. We never made it. Gyarados attacked us near the Sevii Islands. Half of the crew and their Pokemon went missing. That's what they always say. Missing. Can't recover bodies or Pokeballs in the damn ocean."

"Which island did you wash up on?"

"Oh, I don't remember. There are way too many on that archipelago to count. The natives threw a fit, let me tell you. That was back when they had their whole independence war and they thought taking us hostage would send Kanto-Johto a message. Those dumbasses didn't care if the company we worked for was fucking Galarian. Hell, there was only three fucking Kantoans and two Johtoans alive at this point. The vast majority of us had nothing to do with it."

"How'd you manage to get out?"

"Months of negotiation. Let me tell you, it's weird to be in the headlines and to have governments squabble over you when you're not even from the place. Anyway, long story short, the government invades and takes back control of the Sevii Islands. It was when they were still reeling from Team Rocket's last remains in Johto, so their forces were stretched a bit thin."

"Never thought you'd be the type to know about shit like that."

"Well, I am an old man."

"You're forty."

"I said what I said," he laughed, clapping Takeda's back. "Anyway, that day, the waters were perfectly calm, just like today. Gives you something to think about, eh? I hate it when it's calm… too calm."

"Correlation doesn't equal causation."

"Take it from an experienced sailor, Takeda. Can't you feel it? Everyone's on edge."

The young man turned around and started to notice the temperament of his older and more experienced crewmates. One, nervously tapping a foot against the metallic ground. Another, pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back. His head turned toward the bridge high up behind him and saw a glimpse of people looking through binoculars.

"Sailing's dangerous, kiddo," Cameron said. "We link the world together. We're the ones that allow them to frolic with their damn luxuries, and people never think about us. Hundreds of us die every year, but we aren't even a headline. Being taken hostage? Now that's interesting. Being vaporized by a Gyarados' Hydro Pump? People don't give a shit about that."

Takeda swallowed.

"So you should live every day to the fullest. You don't need no fancy dream. Come with us to Castelia. Here, I'll take over your shift, go and get some rest."

"Thanks," he nodded as he recalled Buizel. He barely got the words out of his mouth.

Cameron released a Swampert that was made of pure muscle into the ocean, and the ground type began to swim.

—

The crewmates' quarters were a cramped, hot and uncomfortable affair. The bunk beds were barely large enough to fit Takeda, and he was smaller than the average man. What had woken him up was a flurry of steps and activity on the deck of the ship. Takeda rubbed his eyes and yawned before tapping another man on the shoulder.

"You know what's going on?"

"Nope," he answered. "But I was about to go on deck. You're…"

"Takeda."

"Takeda. Right, one of the new guys. Don't panic, you'll be fine."

His words had the opposite effect, and Takeda's leg began to bounce. It was a nervous tick he'd had since he was a child, and he'd repeated it during every single Gym Battle he'd tried. And failed. In retrospect, worrying about losing some Gym battle had been stupid, especially compared to now. His life was on the line. Cameron's story still hadn't left his head, which Takeda assumed was the point. He'd been too lax, sleeping on the job and acting like he was some security guard at a mall instead of a sailor braving the most dangerous areas known to man.

There was a reason the ocean floor outside of very well-guarded areas with underwater cables couldn't be explored. Mapping was done by sonar, and every submarine sent down never came back up. Pokemon ruled here, and they would rule forever.

Takeda scrambled up the narrow stairs and pushed the door open. He'd expected rain to be battering down the deck, heavy winds or at least large waves, but there was nothing. The ocean was perfectly calm. Too calm. It was only now that he understood what Cameron had said. The suspense was killing him, and he'd rather for it to be storming than whatever the hell this was.

"Takeda! To your post, now!" Mr. Richards bellowed. A huge Kingler crawled by his side, onto the containers. "Protect the cargo at all costs!"

"What is it? What's happening? Cameron took over my shift—"

"There was a massive drop in the water temperature. Code Purple S."

Takeda audibly gulped. He was green, but he'd gone through training. He knew protocol and a drop in temperature that large at this latitude could only mean two Pokemon. Jellicent or Dhelmise.

"Focus, sailor!" Mr. Richards screamed. "To your post!"

"Yes sir!"

Takeda scrambled back to his position with Carvanha's Pokeball in hand. The water looked fine, but he knew the ship had measuring tools tracking the temperature and the water type Pokemon swimming around them could feel something coming. He released his water type into the sea.

"Carvanha! Be careful!" He screamed, cupping his hands. "There might be a ghost under the hull!"

Carvanha was too far for Takeda to hear his response, but he was far from the only water type there. He spotted Cameron's Swampert swimming with broad strokes way down the hull. As Takeda's eyes scanned for any disturbance in the water, his boss' words rang out in his mind. Protect the cargo. They were worth less than merchandise here.

He could see why Cameron behaved the way he did.

Two hours passed with no progress. The water temperature kept dropping until ice formed around the hull and slowed the ship down to a crawl. The Wingull had all left, and the sky was completely clear. Takeda shivered and frowned when he noticed he could see his breath. They were still next to Hoenn!

Suddenly, someone screamed.

"Jellicent!"

An audible series of gasps ran through the deck, but they didn't panic. They were sailors. Takeda leaned over the railing and saw a glimpse of a pink tentacle as large as one of the containers slither up the hull, but someone pulled him back by his collar.

"Don't look down, kid. Easiest way to get dragged down and drown."

It was Cameron.

"I didn't know Jellicent got this big," Takeda stammered as his leg bounced.

Cameron shrugged. "They can swell up to massive sizes. Call out for your Carvanha and tell him to stay away, he'll hear you."

Takeda quickly followed suit and hoped for the best. He heard the hull start to crack and the ship began to tilt starboard. Jellicent were monsters of the sea, known to drag ships to the bottom of the ocean to feed on any living creature that dwelled within. If you were lucky, you'd drown or freeze to death. If you weren't and you got stuck in a room with air, it was only a matter if time until Jellicent found you and touched you with a tentacle that would somehow stretch far into the ship and scan for anything alive.

Takeda heard and saw things. Attacks from Pokemon powerful enough to hope to stand up to a Jellicent of this size. Cameron leaned against a container with his arms crossed. There was nothing they could do. The engineers downstairs were probably hard at work, and so were the other members of the crew, but the trainers? They could only trust that their Pokemon would be enough. Takeda flinched when he heard a huge explosion somewhere below the ship— no, an explosion would be wrong. Something had punctured. The ship began to tilt more, and Takeda had to hold onto the anchored containers.

"We're still relatively close to Hoenn," Cameron said, his voice stone cold. "Carvanha and Buizel can alternate and take you there. You might die of hypothermia, but there's a chance."

"What about—"

"Worry about your own skin," he interrupted. "The ship's done for. Swampert!"

Protocol dictated for them to get on the lifeboats, but Jellicent wouldn't let them escape through those. Takeda stood on the left side of the container as the ship rolled onto its side and he heard a loud booming noise that felt like a shockwave blowing through his body. He stepped back for a second and saw that everyone was either falling overboard or jumping. It took him a few seconds to understand why. If he waited too long, he'd be buried by the ship.

Just when he was about to grab Buizel's Pokeball, Cameron held him back.

"Don't jump you fools! You're jumping to your death!"

Below the water, another Jellicent loomed. Blue, this time. It looked a little smaller, but it was still huge. Large enough to swallow up anyone that had jumped on this side of the boat.

There were two.

Swampert jumped out of the water and began to climb up the deck with his hands glowing white. When he reached them, Takeda noticed the frost anchored on his skin, and he couldn't help but think about Carvanha. The little water type was nowhere to be seen, but all he could do was pray for his safety.

"Hold onto him. Tightly."

Takeda's body moved on his own. Half of the ship was submerged at this point, but at least he figured he'd die trying. He grabbed onto Swampert's shoulder as tight as he could while Cameron held onto the other side, and the water type began to climb up toward the bow of the ship. His arms felt like jelly, but he couldn't let go. When they reached the top, Swampert jumped with no hesitation.

Takeda screamed as he fell toward the ground a hundred feet down. At this height, the water would feel like concrete, and they were going to hit ice anyway—

Swampert croaked. Water broke through the ice, spun and formed into a pillar that stretched high into the sky and carried the water type toward the ocean's surface. The cold hit Takeda like a truck, and his body immediately felt numb. First, his fingertips, then his arms, then his core. Swampert swam quicker than he'd ever seen him until the ship was nearly a dot in to horizon and the waters had returned to their warm state.

Takeda had been crying for the last twenty minutes.

Carvanha was gone.

"Sorry for your loss, kid," Cameron sighed, patting him on the back.

"C—Carvanha—"

"I know. I know how it feels. I know loss. All you can do is bear through it. I lost friends today. Colleagues. Fellow sailors. I don't even know who escaped and who didn't."

And they'd be declared missing.

"Why would anyone do this stupid fucking job?!" Takeda sobbed. "We're worth less than cargo! Fuck!"

Cameron sighed as Swampert continued swimming toward Hoenn. "If it's not us, some other poor sods will get enticed by the paycheck."

Takeda blinked. Declared missing. Every accident, out of the headlines and quietly buried.

"I see," he simply said. This wasn't a job. It was a death trap. A death trap that was necessary for global trade between regions.

"Hoenn's probably three days away. Swampert is strong, so he'll manage with a few breaks—"

Takeda interrupted with a scream after he felt something nibble his legs. Two yellow horns protruded out of the water's surface and Takeda's heart swelled. It was Carvanha! Swampert stopped and the water type dove into Takeda's arms and tackled him into the water. Arceus, he was still cold, but the tropical waters were warming him and he hadn't lost anybody! They were all alive!

"Ain't that something," Cameron smiled. "Get back on and recall your fish, kiddo. We've got a long way ahead of us. It's not over. Three days without without food is going to be tough. Swampert can handle the water front."

When they reached Dewford, they were almost exhausted, their skin wrinkled and swollen, and they were too weak to even walk.

Takeda vowed to never be a sailor again.

Cameron hopped on his next job the next month.

---

A/N: So what is this? This is a new type of chapter called Side Story. They'll be one-offs or short stories exploring facets of the world that Grace/other characters are unlikely to see. And guess what? You could have read this early on my Patreon and my Discord! From now on, Patreons will get them six days early and Discord three days early. These will never replace the main chapter of the day, so you can consider them a bonus, and they are also not integral to the plot whatsoever so feel free to skip them if you wish.

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 214

I'd grown used to waking up early in the mornings, and it had never been a problem for Cece with how scheduled her life used to be back with her so-called father. Mira, however? She was basically a shambling zombie.

"Blergh. I feel like I could just fall over right now."

"Well straighten up, because we're going in the belly of the beast," Cecilia chided. "Take this seriously. It's horrible news we're delivering."

The pink-haired teen nodded. "You're right. Sorry."

I felt a strong gust of wind and shivered as we reached the gates of the Antonovichs' villa. And it was a villa, with multiple buildings each bigger than the ones they offered to rent out. The sheer amount of wealth on display would have made Chase pop a blood vessel, but he wasn't coming. Instead, he'd decided to borrow Alakazam to train just like I had. Seeing how convenient having a Teleporter around was did make me envious, but these large distances quickly tired Alakazam out, so there was a limit to how what he could do. Since Mira hoped to Teleport back to Solaceon after battling Crasher Wake to go through Celestic to get to Snowpoint, she was content enough to build up Alakazam and Gardevoir's stamina.

Gardevoir, however, wanted nothing to do with Chase and refused to help him.

This time, the guards confirmed our appointment and let us through the massive gates, and two of them decided to accompany us to the main mansion. The Antonovichs actually had a parking lot with… golf carts? They probably drove around the property in these whenever they wanted to get somewhere. We walked around a multi-level fountain that was made of the same white stone everything was made out of and we entered the building.

This was like stepping inside of Pauline's Hearthome mansion all over again. There was so much wealth accumulated in this place that just being here made me nervous in case I broke something. I saw a glimpse of a maid carrying a basket upstairs, but that wasn't where we were headed. We passed a crystal vase that was probably more expensive than all the money I'd ever made and we were led toward a living room. A woman in a suit dipped her head slightly and greeted us.

"Ms. Obel, Pastel and Compton. My name is Nadia, and I welcome you to the Antonovichs' home. Feel free to take a seat on one of the couches, the Young Master will be with you shortly. May I offer you any refreshments?"

Cece spared us a look, and we just awkwardly nodded.

"Water's fine," she said.

In barely a minute, we were handed ice-cold water, and we began our wait for Sergei. Nadia left the room with the guards, although I could still see them at the end of the hall. They probably just wanted to give us some privacy. I nervously sipped on my water we waited in silence. How would I even say this? Would it be better to rip the band-aid off, or ease into it? I was starting to think it wholly depended on who Sergei was as a person.

Minutes passed, and he was nowhere to be seen.

"Did they forget about us?" Mira asked. "It's been fifteen— twenty minutes. We woke up early for this."

"Relax," Cecilia said. "If he isn't here in ten more minutes, I'll say something. It's no use being impatient."

"I'm not impatient, I just think it's disrespectful to make an appointment and be late. Especially when it's a familial matter."

I blinked as I saw a scrawny, short teen off in the distance. "You won't have to wait for long. He's here," I whispered.

We all stood up and waited for Sergei Antonovich to make his entrance.

He was flanked by two maids and also wore a suit that had been perfectly tailored for him. What did catch my eye was the vibrant green apple in his hands that he carried like it was made out of glass. Every step he made was deliberate and he held his head high, but I saw the anxiety buried within. A little twitch of his head when he laid his eyes on us and the subsequent straightening of his back to appear a little taller. Self-confidence issues, maybe? He lived a pretty sheltered life and almost never had any visitors.

But regardless, I wasn't here to pick him apart. It was just practice.

"Good morning, Mr. Antonovich," I smiled with an outstretched hand. He hesitated for a few seconds and took it before moving on to Cece and Mira. "I'm thankful you could make it on such short notice."

My eyes drifted to the apple in his hands, and I confirmed that my senses weren't fooling me. That was a Pokemon. It was hiding within the fruit, and there was a hint of a tail behind the apple. I knew the species was Galarian, but I was blanking on the name.

"Yes. And as you know, I am a very busy man, so let us get on with it. Willa, get me some juice," he demanded as he sat. "No ice. If there's ice I'll send it back."

The poor woman silently slipped away, leaving only one maid left with us. Sergei stared at Cece and then coughed into a fist.

"Nadia told me that you had news of my foolish brother. What is up with him now? If you want us to pay for any damages he caused, I'll have to let you know that he is no longer associated with the Grand Hotel Lake— Hotel Grand Lake!" Sergei stammered.

I turned toward Mira, and then Cecilia. No one had planned who would speak first, but I had been the one to know what truly happened to him. That meant that it was my responsibility to—

"Your brother Luca Antonovich was in Solaceon during the tournament organized by BattleZone was running," Cecilia started.

The young boy hesitantly nodded. "I heard of that, yes. Mother and Father spoke of him on many occasions. What is… what is the problem?"

"You know what happened during the Darkest Day?" Mira asked. "A rogue dark type submerged the entire town in darkness. That meant that the town was… bad news."

She nudged her head toward me and I took a deep breath.

"Luca was an information broker during the tournament, and he helped us uncover the mystery. I can't really go into detail, but he's— he was crucial in exposing the Hunter family and saving the city. The problem is, he got captured. And after that, he… he died, along with his Cutiefly. I'm sorry."

Sergei let out a nervous chuckle. "No. There is no way he would die, he's— he wouldn't. He didn't even own any Pokemon when he left. This wasn't him."

"They took him, and they made his passing painful. We couldn't save him. I'm sorry," I said again with my head hung low. There were no tears. I hadn't known him long enough for that, but there was a heavy sense of guilt and shame. It was hard not to feel anything when the victim's little brother was sitting right here.

Sergei clenched a fist as the maid brought his juice back.

"Not now!" He screamed.

"But you said—"

He knocked the glass out of her hands, and it shattered into a hundred pieces on the floor and sprayed the white couches. The Pokemon inside of the apple yowled and retreated her tail inside the fruit.

"My apologies, Young Master," the maid said. "We'll clean this up right away."

"We aren't lying," Mira said. "I'm sorry. I know how difficult it is to lose someone close to you."

"We weren't— aren't close! I haven't seen my stupid brother in two years. He never calls and never comes back home because Father and Mother wouldn't let him. Do you have a way of veri—verifying this claim?"

"We have text messages with him and we were seen together in Solaceon on multiple occasions," I said. "But other than that, no. That's all we had to say. We want you to know that he was a good guy."

If only his curiosity hadn't gotten the best of him, I thought with a hidden wince.

"You say you didn't speak?" Cecilia asked.

"We didn't. I was forbidden from calling."

"Do you want to know more about him?" Mira asked. "What he was like? If it's been two years, I have no doubt he changed."

"Enough. He isn't dead. If he was, Mother and Father would have told me. I'm done with this farce. Guards, show them out!"

There was nothing else we could do. We'd tried everything and he wasn't budging, so we didn't try to stay around any longer. The guards silently escorted us to the gate and I heard a loud clang as they closed.

"He's in denial," Mira immediately said. "It happened to me too. The problem here is that since he has no way of contacting Luca, he'll be in denial forever, thinking that his brother is off somewhere traveling. Talk about shitty parents— what is it with rich people?"

"Josephine is fine," I said. "We tried everything. I don't think we'll get a second meeting, so we might as well enjoy our last day here, I guess."

That left a terrible taste in my mouth, but what else could we do?

"This is wrong," Mira bit her lip. "He's going to live his entire life following false information."

"He's burying his head in the sand," Cece added.

"He's being lied to," I said.

And yet, nothing could be done.

—

I spent the next hour and a half training Angel, Honey, and Sweetheart on route 214 with Gardevoir's help, since I had promised a break for Princess and Sunshine, and then I decided it was time to get Sweetheart's metaphorical feet wet. She'd wanted this for a long time and it would be good to cheer myself up. The lake at the resort's center was even larger from up close, and thankfully for me, it was completely empty aside from a few people hanging about on the quay. I circled the shores of the lake until I reached the most isolated spot I could find and released the family there.

"Sweetie, listen carefully," I said. "You're going to swim, but—"

The rock type cheered, but she lowered her voice when I covered my ears and stared. After a short apology, I continued.

"But only close to the shore. You can use your pressurized gas to propel yourself. If I ever think you're too far, I'll recall you in your Pokeball. Got it?"

She agreed with a grunt.

"Buddy, you go out there too. She's too heavy for you to drag her out, but you can still monitor her and speak to her as you follow. The rest of us will just stay here and watch."

Sunshine patted Sweetheart on the back and told her to get going, and the others also cheered her on. Angel was worried sick, but he tried his best not to let it show, which wasn't very effective. Pupitar slowly crawled toward the water's edge until the cold liquid touched her shell. The growing body inside her cocoon rattled at the touch, but she sunk deeper and deeper.

Bubbles quickly climbed to the water's surface and then the jet sprayed it behind her. A quickly erected psychic barrier from Princess protected all of us from the cold water. Sweetheart was skidding across the water with a jubilant scream, not unlike the jet skis that were parked at the quay. Buddy struggled to go as fast as she was, but Water Sport helped him barely keep up. I heard a hiss as she expelled more gas from her chambers.

When I yelled, she abruptly turned one hundred and eighty degrees and started flying back right at us. I'd never seen her eyes this excited, and I couldn't help but smile too, even if I couldn't help but worry about the worst-case scenario. Ever since she'd been a Larvitar in Hearthome, she had wanted this, and she was finally living it. She spent the next two minutes going across the water as fast as she could, but she ran out of pressurized air soon enough and had to come back.

Sweetheart slowly came to a stop on the shores of the lake, proving how much she had improved at controlling her movement. The first words out of her mouth was her asking if we'd all seen her. Water dripped down her shell and I grabbed five towels to wrap her up with while she bragged to Honey about her navigation skills. Arceus, I hoped we'd find a way to get her to swim after she'd evolved.

"That was great," I smiled. "You went so quickly too! People at the quay were looking at you, you know?"

She huffed, saying that she knew they must have been impressed.

"If you want, we can stay here a little longer to let you recharge, and you can have another go? We don't have anything else to do today."

Needless to say, she agreed immediately.

"Wait, where did Buddy go?"

While I hadn't been looking, he'd slipped back into the water and claimed it as his turf.

"Ok, you know what, I'm going to swing back home and grab you guys lunch. Sunshine, since Buddy's gone, you're on Dad duty—"

The dragon snorted.

"Don't laugh, I'm serious. Make sure Sweetheart doesn't go in while I'm gone, and don't let Princess hurt anyone that looks at her wrong. Angel, you come with me."

Togetic let out an exaggerated gasp of betrayal at my words. She was obviously angry I was placing her under Sunshine's watch, but she also disliked that I hadn't told him anything about Honey.

"Your brother knows how to behave," I said.

Princess grumbled and plopped herself on the ground.

I rubbed her cheek and smiled. We ended up staying here the rest of the afternoon.

—

Night had come to the Hotel Grand Lake, and with it, our final hours in the resort. Tomorrow, we would be back on the road and we'd hopefully get to Sunyshore within two to three days. What we were currently doing, however, was waiting for midnight.

Cecilia turned sixteen in exactly four hours.

"How the— see, how the fuck did you do that? That trick with the exploding spores?" Chase asked. "I want Abomasnow to do the same."

He squinted and snatched my phone out of my hands to rewind the video. He was currently watching my Gym Battle with Maylene, although he was completely uninterested in the Gym Leader herself. He still held a grudge against her since she hadn't battled him, and I didn't want to tell him it was for the best.

"What do you mean, trick?" I frowned. "It's not a trick if I just have Angel expunge them from his body. Does your Abomasnow not do it like that?"

"No, his spores attack are smaller than this. Training through repetition doesn't really work, the mileage we get out of it is basically non-existent."

"Do you have a video of him using the move? Maybe I can help."

"They must have recorded his Gym Battle," Mira yelled from afar as she opened the fridge. "He's obsessed with creating a weird spore attack powerful enough to swarm the entire arena. He told me when we were shopping yesterday— aw man, there's no apple juice? That was my apple juice! Who drank it?!"

"The entire arena?" Cece scoffed. She was sitting opposite of me with her legs crossed. "That's a lofty goal."

"Isn't that just a spore bomb, but big?" I frowned. "Not exactly unique. Denzel already uses it."

"Who drank my apple juice?!"

"I drank your fucking apple juice!" Chase snapped. "You didn't say it was yours."

"Chasey…"

"I don't care, I was thirsty and you never said it was yours. Anyway, I don't want to make a spore bomb. I was thinking that with Blizzard, we could spread them all over the arena. Mix cold, paralysis, poison, sleep and hail all in one. Keep the Blizzard low-powered too so he can keep it going forever."

"Ohh, that is devious," I grinned.

"Yeah, that's the point. But for that, we have to improve with spore moves."

He showed me a video of his battle. It hadn't really been close, and even Abomasnow had destroyed the competition despite having the type disadvantage.

"I'm not seeing anything," I shrugged. "I mean, yeah, it's a weak attack, but—"

"Lemme see," Mira said as she grabbed the phone. "Hm… yeah, he's using the move wrong. Hold on… uh, he's made of mostly bark, right, so getting the spores out there is difficult. Have him spit 'em out. It'll be easier that way."

She threw the phone back on his lap and sat next to him.

"You know, that does seem obvious now that you say it," Cecilia said. "Grace, come here."

She tapped her thigh with a coy smile, but just as I was about to follow suit, there was a knock on the door.

"Someone hire room service? I did want to order a pizza," Mira said.

"I'll go," Chase shot up. He strode up to the door followed closely by Zangoose and Lucario and looked through the peephole. "Some blond kid's at the door. He looks like someone stole his lunch."

I stared into Cecilia's eyes, and then Mira's.

"Sergei," I said. "Open the door."

Gone was Sergei's perfectly tailored-suit and haughty pose. Instead, his clothes looked disheveled and his eyes were red and swollen. He still carried that apple in his hand that Cece had identified as an Applin for me. Not only that, but she was a different color than the norm like Emilia's Metang. Apparently her species was a popular dragon type that rich people bought their children because of how safe it was compared to the norm. She certainly looked a lot more peaceful than Deino. We recalled our Pokemon so he wouldn't get scared and we sat him down on the couch.

"What happened?" I asked. "Chase, shut up."

"I didn't say anything!"

"You were going to. Sergei, what happened? Do you want anything? Water?"

"It's my parents. They told me he was d—dead. That they didn't think it would be relevant information to give me."

I blinked. "So they did know."

And it made sense, considering they apparently had spies tracking him all the way to Solaceon. They hadn't seen his death, but his disappearance left very little room to theorize. People didn't just vanish off the face of the earth— unless they had a specialized team to do it like Abel. All Luca had owned was two Cutiefly.

But what kind of parents would hide this information? They hadn't made any public statement, nor did it look like they cared. We'd come here with the expectation that Luca's parents loved him.

That didn't look to be the case.

"I don't know what to do. I ran away and Nadia told me where you were staying. She said she'd distract my parents for a bit but the guards are already looking for me."

There was no easy answer to his dilemma. He wasn't fifteen yet, so he was still a child in the eyes of the law and he would get sent back to his parents as soon as he was caught if he ran away from the resort. Taking him was out of the question, but surely there was something we could do. Mira grabbed the television remote and turned it off.

Chase spoke up. "Run away—"

"No. He can't run," Cecilia shook her head. "Not until he turns fifteen. And does he even want to?"

"That's not the face of someone ready to run," Mira said.

"You don't know anything about me!" Sergei lashed out. "I can— I have Applin. It can help me. Pokemon fight things! It'll protect me from the wild!"

My eye twitched at that pronoun, but I let it pass. He was in no state to be lectured about that, but the fact that he spoke of his Pokemon like an object didn't do him any favors.

"Cece? You're the most knowledgeable with this," I said.

My girlfriend sighed and brought her hand to her mouth as she thought. After a minute, she spoke.

"Sergei. Are you happy here?"

The boy suddenly looked so small and innocent. His eyes widened slightly and he gave us a half-hearted nod.

"Is that the truth?" She asked again.

"I'm tired here. I have lessons every day. I can't go out of the house without approval from my parents and I can't make friends with the guests."

"And your parents. Do they make time for you?"

"We eat together every night when they aren't away on business."

"Do they ask you about how you're doing and actually speak to you, or do they pressure you and demand to know your 'progress' on whatever lessons you had that day."

We didn't need his answer. His expression was enough to know what his life was like. Cecilia saw herself mirrored in him.

"Look, Sergei. Right now, there isn't much you can do. You're young, so the authorities will take your parents' side, and that's not even talking about the whiplash you'd get from living like this to traveling the routes and sleeping in Centers."

"So what, then?"

"Bide your time. Plan your escape and if you want to, run away when you're ready. The first step is always the hardest, but you'll have to be strong. Having friends and support helps a lot with that. Do you have someone you can trust unconditionally?"

"Nadia," he instantly answered.

"Very good. Get her to help you, and when the time comes, you strike. You run away and watch their reaction as fifteen years of investment falls down the drain. Because that's what you are to them, Sergei. An investment."

"And make them pay when you're strong enough," I added.

"Well, let's hold off on that," Mira chuckled.

"You could also take a chance and run away now," Chase shrugged. "Fuck it, why not? I'd rather risk getting caught than live a single day like this. Hell, you could even get this Nadia to help you out."

"Thinking long-term is smarter. That way, he's ready," Cece said as she shook her head.

"Long term doesn't sound so good when he's eating shit every day."

"I get it," Sergei said. "Running away now was all a pipe dream anyway. It's not like I could ask you to help me escape. Even if you made it past the guards, you'd be charged for kidnapping and my parents would drown you in lawyers until you never saw the light of day again."

"I'm sorry," I said. "But if you want, you can stay a little while."

He sniffled. "I'd like that. You said that you could tell me about Luca?"

"We can!" I smiled. "And you can tell us about how he was before too."

Sergei began to tell us about his brother. That he'd been a rebel from a young age and was the heir until he burned down a building for attention. From the way Sergei had spoken about his parents, I understood why. It was Luca's way of getting his parents to look at him, even if he got disowned and kicked out right afterward. It was only when he started telling us that they became estranged after his parents filled his head with bad things that we pivoted to good stories only.

Luca was gone, but he would not be forgotten.

—

Sergei had left at eleven after we saw flashlights in the distance. It wouldn't be good for the guards to find him in our home, and he hadn't wanted to get us in trouble. In the end, he'd decided to prepare for his journey. He'd pitch the idea to Nadia and she would teach him how to survive the wilds and how to train his little Applin— that I had also given him advice on. It would take years of grueling work, but he was determined to see it through.

The mood had largely recovered from when he'd first arrived, and we counted the minutes until midnight. Cecilia anxiously watched her phone every few seconds and Mira couldn't help but tease her for it. Hell, she even screamed happy birthday as a joke when there were twenty minutes left, and she fell for it.

But when midnight came, I was the first one to speak.

"Happy birthday," I said.

It was a quiet declaration, and Chase and Mira quickly followed suit. Cecilia teared up, and I wrapped her in a tight hug. This was her first birthday with friends. All of her others, she'd either spent with her parents— soulless husks that didn't even love her. They'd take her to parties where she knew nobody and was alone the entire night.

"So, the sweet sixteen! How does it feel?" Mira asked as she leaned forward.

"I'm going to be upfront, I don't have a gift for you yet," Chase shrugged. "It's the thought that counts though, right?"

"I thought we were waiting until the joint party thing to do gifts?" Mira said.

I instinctively stared at my bag. "Well, it depends. Cece's the birthday girl, so if she wants…"

"We can wait," she smiled. "I'm… content."

"I guess I'll wait to give mine, then," Mira said.

Cecilia laughed again, as if she couldn't help it and thanked us each with a hug. With me, though, she leaned down and kissed me.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you too."

"Don't jump at each other's bones while we're here," Mira teased.

"Let's get the Pokemon in here too!" I exclaimed.

A year ago, she'd been like Sergei. Now, she was free.

Hopefully, he'd manage the same one day.

Morning came soon after, and we were on our way to Sunyshore again.

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri, Rhuodric

 

[Chewy]

Sidestory was well crafted, world building is honestly my favorite thing about stories. Afterall we are all here for the world that is fantastical and different from ours no? I would love to see more snippets of Pokemon from your perspective. Were the Jelicent that appeared Buddy's Mother and Sibling?

 

[soulreaper22]

I love the side story, now I'm imagining how Pokemon changed to adapt to civilization and humans. Like did Dhelmise always look like a ship anchor or did it only start to look like that after ships were invented?

Now I'm thinking of how trade routes work in the world. The land route would be safer but take longer and is more expensive. The downside is that you would have to create a dedicated route for trucks and that would mean destroying the natural habitat which would invite retaliation from wild Pokemons. The air route would be faster but have constant danger because of flying Pokemon attacking the airplane. And the sea route is safeish and has medium speed but when attacked by Pokemon means the loss of the ship and all crew members.

 

[Soussouni1]

Sidestory was well crafted, world building is honestly my favorite thing about stories. Afterall we are all here for the world that is fantastical and different from ours no? I would love to see more snippets of Pokemon from your perspective. Were the Jelicent that appeared Buddy's Mother and Sibling?

Click to shrink...

No, they were just a group of wild Jellicent, not related to Buddy at all. Glad you liked it though, more side stories will be coming soon (Aiming for sometime next week)

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 215

Route 222 was filled to the brim with trainers, and this time there was no avoiding them. My eyes lingered on a small Nidoran battling an obviously more experienced Dewott. Nidoran ran at full speed toward the water type, his horn dripping with poison, but Dewott simply pulled out one of his shells and raked it across Nidoran's hide. This wasn't the first uneven battle I'd seen. In fact, there were a lot of them. Not only was route 222 full of people and civilization, without a single wild Pokemon to be seen, but we could also see a prolonged patch of beach in the distance that reminded me of Sandgem.

"This is kind of nostalgic," I said. "Reminds me of when I just left Jubilife with Denzel. The road was full of trainers like this."

"Sunyshore's a noob trap," Chase said. "A lot of these kids have been here the entire year and won't bother quitting. Throwing their heads against the wall, not changing their habits even though they've been losing to Volkner all year."

"I mean, if it's fun," I shrugged.

"It's not fun. They're playing pretend," Chase said with a haughty tone. "Staying on the safest route, not bothering to take any risks to improve and going back to their parents' house when the day's over. I mean, what's the point?"

"Don't be an ass," I rolled my eyes. "We all start somewhere, don't we?"

Making it through route 222 would only take around twelve hours, and the more we approached Sunyshore's gate, the more trainers there were. This route was so safe that even civilians were out picnicking and the road trucks drove through was still there far to the left. There were even homes near the beach. They weren't simply a part of Sunyshore's expansion— the city was actually pretty conservative on that front despite the high population. There were just homes in the middle of a route.

I didn't like it.

"We need to find a quiet spot for the thing," Mira muttered.

"Good luck finding a quiet spot here," I said. "It might be a better idea to wait until we get to Sunyshore."

The thing was another word for the Voice. Originally, we'd wanted to test it in the resort (although Cecilia still vehemently opposed it, as she showed with her glare), but we'd delayed it due to personal arguments and disagreements. I was stuck in the middle of it all. On one hand, I didn't want to go against Cece, but I did believe Mira was right. It would be better to test it so we knew what we were getting into.

After around a two hours' walk, we decided to take a break near the beach. It was a great view, although it was way too active for Sweetheart to swim. Some trainers were even having a battle in the water, although they stayed out of it themselves. We all snacked on sandwiches I'd made before we left. The occasional trainer stopped by in hopes of talking to us, but Chase's unfriendliness chased them away pretty quickly despite Cece and I's best efforts. We'd even kept our most confrontational Pokemon inside our Pokeballs in order not to scare the public.

I sat on Angel's vines with Cece while Honey ate a sandwich of his own. Slowking spoke to Alakazam, although they kept their conversation private. From the way Mira's psychic looked, he was probably being subject to more horrible puns. Lucario sat with his legs crossed, and a pale blue Aura surrounded him. His usual meditation, no doubt.

Speaking of.

"Hey, Chase. What's Ri meditating for?" I asked.

"Oh, it's a bunch of complicated words," he waved a hand. "Long story short, his body's a conduit through which Aura can flow, and he's building himself up. The more he does it, the stronger his Aura-based attacks get."

"He'll have to show me his tricks sometimes. I'm interested in how they differ from Maylene's."

"That five-badge Lucario she has? Ri's better," Chase declared. "I know he was itching to battle him too. Too bad all we got was some League Trainer."

"I'd be glad if I got a League Trainer," Mira pouted. "Gym Battles are exhausting. I prefer the path of least resistance."

"Maybe you'll get one with Volkner. He's known to be quite lazy with his Gym Leader duties," Cecilia said. "He misses quite a lot of battles."

My eyes narrowed. I was not going to battle a League Trainer. I'd make sure of it, no matter what levers I had to pull.

"Guys, guess what, by the way!" Mira exclaimed excitedly. "Gardevoir told me I grew an inch! I'm 5'5 now!"

I craned my neck and instinctively stood a bit straighter. "You are my height… I'm still not growing."

Cecilia and Chase had grown during the year as well, although Cece was almost taller than he was at something between 5'9 and 5'10. I didn't think I'd grow much, but I had expected at least an inch or two. What was next? Was Mira going to grow taller than me? I could already visualize her future smugness and I was preemptively annoyed.

"You don't have a height complex, do you?" Mira asked when she saw my face.

"No, but I'm friends with a bunch of tall people. Well, except you."

"Touché."

Cecilia wrapped an arm around me. "I like you small. Angel does too."

I felt the grass type's vines shake in agreement behind me.

"I'll let that pass because it's your birthday," I smiled. "Angel's fine, though. He can do no wrong."

"Oh, I get birthday privilege? I'm going to abuse that. Can we extend it until it's your birthday?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself now."

"All this battling's got me itching for one," Mira grinned.

"Mira Compton, interested in battling?" Cece raised an eyebrow. "That's a new one."

"How about it, Chasey?"

"Me?" He asked, his mouth full of food. "Sure, why the hell not."

"Don't speak with your mouth full…" I sighed. Honey echoed my words, but he ignored us.

Mira raised two fingers. "Two-on-two, no switching! If I win, I get a date with you in Sunyshore."

Ah. That was her angle. Her interest in battling had probably been a lie. She was a trainer, but she didn't share the sheer joy the rest of us had during Pokemon battles. Chase finished his sandwich in two bites and hummed.

"Not like you're going to win anyway," he said. "Cecilia, can Slowking make us a barrier?"

The girl hummed. "A low-powered one, perhaps. He's still getting the hang of it. Slowking?"

I will try my best, he said. But I would appreciate it if you didn't go all out.

"They won't, this is just a spar. The last thing we want to do is kill a kid—"

I heard a whimper behind me, and a girl scampered away in fear. Cece nearly held her laugh in, but Mira didn't bother to hide it. I lowered my head into my hands and groaned as Honey patted my back and Angel caressed my head.

"This always happens to me."

"No, no, please go into greater details about how you threaten to murder children." Mira teased.

"I said we shouldn't," I hissed. "Whatever, just go do your battle thing already. I want to get out of here ASAP."

I watched as Cecilia made rounds to clear us enough space for a battle and Slowking summoned a rectangular barrier. It was a much smaller area than actual gym battles, and it was also less high, but he was still a novice at protecting such a wide area and Mira needed her Pokemon with her in case she was going to use them. A small crowd formed around the makeshift battlefield, and people already had their phones out to film.

"Honor system. We release on the count of three," Chase said.

"Sounds good. You better prepare to organize a date for us, Chasey!"

He scoffed and then counted down the three. He released Sigilyph while Mira released Gardevoir. It'd be a battle between psychics, then, but I had actually never seen what Sigilyph was capable of, so I found my eyes getting drawn to the cute flying type. Needless to say, the person who knocked out the first Pokemon would have a huge advantage, so everything rested on this fight.

"Damn it, I thought you'd lead Houndoom!" Mira yelled. She sounded genuinely upset. "Come on, Chase! Your Houndoom beats Magnezone, Haunter, Alakazam, and Porygon isn't strong enough yet. He was your best choice! Use your head!"

"Don't care, didn't ask. Can we start?"

"...Yeah."

"Three, two, one, go!"

Mira leaned against her knees, but no orders came from her. Instead, a multitude of microexpressions etched themselves onto her face and Gardevoir responded to the silent order. The psychic type held out a hand and tiny rays of electricity appeared in front of her palm, coalescing into one giant sphere that exploded outward into a beam.

"Psycho Shift!" Chase yelled.

Sigilyph's singular eye lit up, and the ray of electricity blinked out of existence right before it hit her chest. The attack immediately shot out from another point in space, this time slightly to her left, and flew toward Gardevoir. The fairy type quickly raised a barrier and the attack broke against the invisible shield.

Mira's face only twitched, and red flames began to spin around Gardevoir. The psychic grunted, bringing her hand down and the fire split into five different wisps. With another wave of an arm, they each flew toward Sigilyph. Psycho Shift wouldn't work this time, not when the flames were being deliberately controlled by Gardevoir.

"Whirlwind and Psybeam!" Chase ordered.

Sigilyph shook her wings, and wind powerful enough to send me flying beat against the flames. Gardevoir's stare intensified as she fought to keep the flames going, but they each fell onto the grass and began to burn the field. The wind continued and swept up Gardevoir's dress-like skin, and the fairy type glared at Chase. Another attack, this time a multicolored series of rings flew toward Gardevoir. She didn't hesitate to raise a barrier, but—

"Shadow Ball!"

While dark type moves broke through barriers like butter, ghost type moves were effective at breaking them down. While Gardevoir blocked the Psybeam, Sigilyph weaved shadows into a tight ball and let it loose. Gardevoir Teleported away from the sphere, braving the flames she herself had created, but the wind ahead of her sharpened and cut up her skin.

A slightly frustrated groan escaped Mira, but she stayed silent. Gardevoir grinned, and then appeared right above Sigilyph with ice frozen around her fist. The flying type let out a series of beeps as Gardevoir relentlessly beat her up. She tried to shake her off, but she'd linked her other fist with Sigilyph's skin and frozen the two together.

"Don't panic. Steel Wing!"

Mira's eyes widened, and before Gardevoir could Teleport away, Sigilyph's wing turned silver and slammed against her. The psychic type's Teleport stuttered as she quickly released another one of those electric attacks to buy time. I'd noticed the fact that Gardevoir had also tried to use Psychic on Sigilyph while she'd been on her, but Sigilyph was a construct. While the attack would work, she wouldn't get a headache that broke her focus when there was no brain to assault.

Gardevoir stood on one side of the field, burned and holding an arm. She wasn't bleeding, nor had the Steel Wing been that strong, but just a touch of steel type energy and she'd been reduced to this. Sigilyph's eye shone, and an arc of air larger than her own body flew toward Gardevoir. The fairy type expected it to fly directly to her, but it winked out of existence and appeared near Sigilyph again.

And again.

She was using Psycho Shift on her own Air Slash.

The same process repeated itself over and over, and the Air Slash slowly built up speed as Sigilyph shifted it around the arena. Mira bit her lip, silently ordering her Gardevoir. She began Teleporting erratically just like the Air Slash in hopes to avoid the attack, but she wasn't like Alakazam. Even with these short distances, she would tire and Sigilyph would not.

I blinked when the fire suddenly rose as one and converged toward Sigilyph. Her wings twitched, but Chase told her to hold strong. The flames surrounded her and she let the Air Slash loose. The move shattered Gardevoir's hastily erected barrier and cut diagonally across her body. She flew back and crashed against Slowking's barrier.

"You've done well, Gardevoir," Mira said. "Take a breather."

The fairy protested, but Mira recalled her anyway. Since this was just a spar, they weren't going to fight to the point of unconsciousness. That Air Slash had been going at speeds so incredible that I'd barely seen it hit and it hadn't been visible at all. I'd heard stories of a perfected Air Slash being invisible, but I supposed it was easy when you could build up its speed over an infinite distance.

I wondered if you could do the same thing with Teleport? It'd be a bootleg version of the move, but I believed it might work. I hurriedly grabbed my laptop and began typing away as Mira released her next Pokemon. Magnezone, this time.

"Did the battle give you an idea?" Cece asked as she leaned against me.

"Yup. What if you could use, like, a Flamethrower or Hydro Pump and Teleport it in a completely different location?"

"That… that sounds extremely powerful and annoying," she said.

"Yeah, well, not that many Pokemon learn Psycho Shift, so I'll have to make do."

I turned my attention back to the battle, and a ray of fire, ice and electricity appeared above Magnezone's forehead and rushed toward Sigilyph. The ray of electricity disappeared and reappeared behind Sigilyph, but the other two hit her in the wings. That had been smart of Mira. Sigilyph wasn't good enough to use Psycho Shift on multiple attacks at once, and it looked like Chase hadn't even taught her how to raise barriers yet, so they were taking full advantage of it.

"Discharge!" Mira said.

Magnezone buzzed and flew toward Sigilyph, his body brimming with electricity. I saw a glimpse of Psybeam before electricity exploded outward and blinded me. Sigilyph was surprisingly still standing after the attack, but Chase recalled her before she could get hurt any further. Magnezone actually seemed quite rattled by the Psybeam, and his magnets rapidly spun as he buzzed and flew back toward Mira.

Wait, she has Tinted Lens, I remembered. What an annoying ability.

Needless to say, Chase sent out his Houndoom next.

"Flamethrower," he immediately ordered.

"Mirror Coat!" Mira yelled.

A shimmering barrier appeared in front of Magnezone, and the Flamethrower bounced back toward Houndoom. The attack itself didn't deal any damage thanks to Flash Fire, but Mira was really playing with fire here, no pun intended. The flames danced around Houndoom and the dark type howled.

"Let's finish this quickly! Lock-On and Thunder Wave!"

That was the play, then. To not let Houndoom attack at all. Something changed in Magnezone's eyes, and a low-powered beam of electricity flew at Houndoom. Chase didn't say anything, but Houndoom expunged darkness from every pore in his skin and the Thunder Wave collapsed and died. When the void dissipated, Houndoom was nowhere to be seen.

"Find him with Lock-On and Tri-Attack," Mira whispered.

Magnezone's eyes darted to the left and a quick, low-powered ray of electric energy hit the ground. We heard a yelp, and strands of darkness tied themselves into knots until Houndoom appeared again. He'd done this during our double battle, but he'd been easy to track. Now, he was practically invisible as if he was a ghost.

"Lock-On is bullshit," Chase complained after clicking his tongue. "Darkfire!"

Darkness bled below Houndoom's feet, and from there, silent and dark flames crawled out as if they had a mind of their own. They were so dark it was as if they sucked the light wherever they went.

"Don't let him! Lock-On, Electroweb!"

The steel type screeched as he rapidly weaved a web of electricity in front of him. He wasted no time throwing it toward Houndoom, who was busy focusing on creating his flames. Right before the web hit, they all shot out upward. The web dissolved where the flames hit, but it had been large enough to completely wrap around Houndoom anyway. The fire type whined and began to convulse on the floor, but what happened to Magnezone was far worse.

It wasn't the heat that was the problem. The flames burned Magnezone, and it did hurt him, but it also completely cut off his access to Type Energy. Mira desperately yelled for the steel type to finish Houndoom off, but every attack died before it could even come together. And since they were Houndoom's flames, they wouldn't go out until he decided to extinguish them.

"Isn't this kind of… insane?" I frowned as I spoke to Cece.

"Yes, yes it is. He told me he'd been workshopping it for a while. There are ways to counter it, but Magnezone isn't exactly equipped to deal with it."

"Yeah. Looks like Mira knows it too," I said.

"She'll get another chance. Chase could have flat-out refused, after all. I've been trying to replicate something like this with Scyther and Houndoom's been a big help for us…"

I listened to Cece's progress as Mira gave up and told Houndoom to stop the flames. Magnezone had nearly been knocked out and struggled to float, and Mira quickly ran up to him with a potion in hand after Slowking dissolved his barrier and extinguished the last remaining flames that Gardevoir had made. How would I even counter this Darkfire technique? Well, besides not getting hit, beating Houndoom to a pulp before he could attack, or switching, I knew dark types were vulnerable to bug TE. Aaron had found the weakness in Shiftry's domain, after all. I assumed fairy was the same along with fighting, and you could always brute force him with muscle.

So it wasn't unbeatable, but it sure was insanely annoying to deal with. Like a stronger version of Will-O-Wisp.

"Good effort, but you're going to have to try harder than that," Chase said.

Mira said nothing. She looked genuinely disappointed, which was something I hadn't seen from her in a while. After Alakazam spoke to her, she cheered up pretty quickly and put a smile back on her face.

"I really thought I had you before that Darkfire trick. Dang it," she said. "I'll snag you next time."

"There's going to be a next time?" Cece asked with a teasing smile. "My, my, Chase is falling into your clutches faster than I thought."

"She's a friend," he shrugged. "And I did say she wouldn't win."

"It was close," Mira said.

"Sorry shrimp, but it wasn't."

"T'was!"

Chase shook his head dismissively. "We're still sticking around for twenty minutes or so, right? I'm gonna go for a jog."

He patted Mira on the shoulder before he left.

"Wait, do you want potions for your team— he's already gone," I sighed. "He can't sit still, can he?"

I turned toward Mira.

She was completely red.

—

"Um. You four are really strong right?"

We were back on the road, and a girl had approached us. She was fiddling with her fingers and shifting in place, like this was nervewracking for her. She was actually tall— as tall as Cece was, and she was obviously the same age, but there was a clear demeanor difference between us and her. She was green, and we were not.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "Did something happen to you? What's your name?"

"Uh, Erin. I was wondering if you could help me… and, uh, a bunch of other trainers. I'm kind of the representative on this route."

"Representative?" Cecilia curiously probed.

"Yeah, we have a club for new trainers back in Sunyshore called New Wave where we vote on stuff. I was voted representative."

"What the hell is this, student council elections?" Chase mocked.

I hit him softly on the arm when the girl shrunk at his words. His forcefulness was intimidating, and I didn't think he realized it.

"What happened to you?" I asked again.

"Um. Last week, we voted on banning money matches on this route. We're all in this together, and I thought it'd be better if we didn't have them. That way, people don't lose all of their money on battles."

She paused.

"And?" Cece asked.

"Some trainers disagreed. They formed their own club and they're asking for money when they battle us. We have no badges, but the majority of them have one and their leader has two. We can't stand up to him."

I raised an eyebrow and enunciated what we were all thinking. "Why not just refuse the match? Two trainers have to consent to battle, and to battle for money. Can't you just disagree? If they want to battle for money, they can do it between themselves."

"I mean, we can, but that's just not how— we can't really do that," she said. "It's just… cowardly. We tried keeping our heads down at first, but people who wanted us to fight defected and other non-affiliated trainers are hearing all about them and are joining their club. They'll be bigger than us soon."

Ah. The West-East cultural divide struck again, it seemed. This was completely alien to us as people who had started their journey from the West. Route 222 was the safest in Sinnoh, but with that came petty disputes like these instead of a united front. Hell, maybe there were some on route 214 too, we just hadn't traveled on the popular part of the route.

Politics, I sighed.

"They also keep badmouthing us and pushing us around. I hate it."

"What do you want us to do, then?" Cecilia asked.

"I don't know—"

"You know," I interrupted. "It's okay, just tell us."

The girl shuffled uncomfortably. "I'd really like it if you beat Riley on our behalf! He's the Wild Tamers' leader— that's the new club. You guys are famous, and if you came out and supported New Wave, he'd stop bullying us."

"The kid with two badges? That should be easy enough," Mira said. "Where's he at?"

"He usually hangs out further down the route, an hour out from the gate. Since I was planning on heading home soon, uh, I can follow you. I'll point you to him."

I brought a hand to my chin and nodded. If what Erin was saying was true, then what was happening was unfair. No trainer should ever be forced to give money to another if they didn't want to, and since they weren't actually breaking any laws, calling the Rangers would be useless.

Plus, they'd look like cowards, and they seemed to hate that. If they kept it to trainers, they'd look a lot better.

But first, I'd make sure to get this Riley's story.

"What do you guys think?" I asked.

"I say we help, it sounds entertaining," Mira said.

"Don't care," Chase shrugged.

"Sure, why not," Cece said.

"I guess we're in."

—

Erin was quite a sweet girl, but sometimes I felt like she thought we were, like, Gym Leaders or something. Even after traveling with her for two hours and making small-talk most of the way there, she was just as nervous as she'd been when we first met. She explained this club system to us in greater detail, and it was mostly kept to Pastoria, Veilstone and Sunyshore, where first and sometimes second year trainers decided to stay the entire Circuit. All you had to do to join was pay a membership fee every month, and the club would distribute potions, food and supplies, and the older members would give tips and practice with the newer ones. They mostly stayed inside cities but liked to go to routes to battle and 'camp', which was meant to stimulate the harsher environments of western Sinnoh.

I had to say, it was very cute.

And of course, with these quasi-armies came politics. Club rivalries, drama, bullying, everything I could think of. Hell, they were even run differently. Some of them were direct democracies while others had councils where a few ruled, and others were basically a dictatorship. Erin's club— New Wave— was actually a relatively new player on the tri-city area stage. Tri-city meaning Pastoria, Sunyshore and Veilstone. Even though she had no badges, her organizational skills had propelled her to the position of representative, and now people looked to her to fix this issue.

"That's him, that's Riley," she whispered as she shrunk behind Cece.

Mira smirked. "Woah, Chase it's your twin—"

"Don't even fucking go there."

Riley didn't really look like Chase. He was a short-haired, stocky kid that was bigger than the others— and than me, by extension. I kept having to remind myself that these people were my age and not a bunch of children. He was speaking to some others with the widest smile on his face, and a Makuhita sat at his side.

"Okay. Guess we'll go in and figure this out, then," I said.

"You should come," Chase told Erin. "Don't run away."

"I'll… I'll come," she whispered.

"Let us do the talking, Chase," I warned.

At first, when Riley noticed us coming at him, his face scrunched up and he placed a hand on his second Pokeball. Then, he recognized us and his face fell. That was convenient, then. There probably wouldn't be a need to battle him. He waved away his entourage, leaving only himself, but they still observed from afar. We made sure to recall our Pokemon to forgo any… intimidation or accidents, but Cece still kept Slowking out.

"How the hell did you find these people, Erin?" He asked.

"Hi there!" I smiled. "Would you be open to speaking with us for a few minutes? Yes?"

"I didn't say yes," he said, glaring at Erin.

"It's about your problems with New Wave," Cecilia added. "Something about forcing money matches onto others even though they don't want to."

The teenager grunted. "Pokemon battles have always been this way. If I don't make money, then what? I've been saving up for a TM! Not only could I not make money, but I still had to pay the stupid club fee. I was bleeding cash."

"Erin, how much is the club fee?" I asked.

"Five Hundred Pokedollars a month," she muttered.

My first thought was that that was dirt cheap, but I had to remember these were new trainers— relatively speaking. That amount of money was a lot to them, especially when they wouldn't be able to make any more. Riley did have a point, but bullying? That was too far—

"Riley, you get an allowance from your dad that's way more than that!" Erin snapped.

"I do, but the others don't! I'm fighting for them."

"It's like I'm watching a show," Mira whispered to Chase.

I clenched the bridge of my nose, and Cecilia took over for me.

"Then let the split happen. That's fine," she said. "But don't pressure trainers who don't want to battle into battling. Problem solved!"

"I'm just teaching 'em to be tough. And a lot of them seem to like the way I run things, considering how fast we're growing."

"So you won't stop bullying them, then?" I asked. "While I do think your concerns are valid and that you have a right to create a club to run things the way you want, I don't think you should keep up the bullying."

"It's not bullying. I'm just toughening them up—"

"Well, fine," I said, turning to Erin. "Hey, I'm going to be in Sunyshore for quite a while. I'm probably going to head to this route a lot to train in the coming days. Y'know, maybe I'll stay a few weeks. I've got to get my flying license and do a bunch of other stuff. My friends will be here too, and more of them are on their way."

"So— so, you're threatening me?" He asked.

I scoffed. "Threatening? Oh, absolutely not. I wouldn't threaten someone with two badges, not when I have five. That'd be punching down and would reflect horribly on me, especially when any confrontation wouldn't be close at all. No, no, I'm just talking to Erin, telling her my plans. She's our new friend, so I figured it'd be good to let her know. Maybe I'll help her train too while I'm at it. What do you say, Erin?"

"Huh— what?"

"That a yes?"

"Y—yes…?"

"Cool! I'll see you here tomorrow, give me your number—"

"Fine, fine!" Riley yelled. "You don't have to pretend to be her fucking friend. I'll stop it, okay? We'll just do a clean break and go our separate ways. That sound good to you, Erin?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Arceus, fuck," he sighed as he left. Makuhita patted him on the leg as he followed.

Mira whistled. "Damn, you were ruthless."

"Ruthless? No, I was just being nice to Erin," I said. "Is it my fault he interpreted my words as a threat?"

Mira pursed her lips. "Now you're just being devious."

"Thank you guys… for, uh, helping us. We don't have much to give you, but New Wave will remember this favor. If we get big enough one day, then I'll repay this kindness," Erin stammered. "I'll be on my way now, I've got to call a general meeting—"

"Wait. I wasn't lying, Erin. Give me your number."

The girl's eyes widened, and she nearly dropped her phone.

"I'll help you get a hang of things. Leaders being organizers is nice, but you've got to be stronger when you're talking about club for trainers. Come on," I smiled as I beckoned her. "Cece can help you too if she wants. I won't ask the other two—"

"Absolutely not," Chase groaned.

"I'm busy," Mira lied.

"I figured, which is why I said I wouldn't ask," I said. "Cece?"

"Sure, I'll help," she smiled. "This reminds me of Unova, makes me nostalgic."

"Thank you anyway!" She beamed. "Oh Legendaries, the others will never believe me when I tell them this!"

They'd probably seen us walking together already, but I wouldn't let it spoil the surprise. Erin accompanied us to the gate to Sunyshore, and we finally entered the solar-powered city.

Now, to start preparing for my battle with Volkner.

And Denzel.

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri, Rhuodric

 

[Soussouni1]

INTERLUDE - Band-Aid

Denzel stretched his hand and looked at the little creases in his palm as he applied some of Emilia's moisturizer. She'd remarked on his hands' disastrous state and practically ordered him to put it on every day. Their fire burned in the distance and smoke rose high into the night sky, and Emilia and Pauline huddled around the pocket of warmth. They huddled on Braviary, who was even large enough to serve as a bed if need be. Charizard slept with a loud snore a few feet away, her flame a vibrant blue and Fennekin sat on Emilia's lap while Gothorita observed the stars with a wondrous expression. The rest of their Pokemon were in their Pokeballs.

The atmosphere between them three had been great, but Denzel knew something was bubbling beneath, begging to be let out. He thought it was better to ignore it. It was best not to rock the boat.

Plus, he was busy preparing for his battle against Grace, but it was hard to do when his team was so… what was the word for it? Not dysfunctional, but hard to work with.

Sylvi followed wherever he went with a ribbon wrapped around his wrist, although he didn't use any of his powers on him. He seemed to be quite persistent in getting him away from Pauline, so he had the biggest smile on his face now that they were going to spend a few hours away. Sylveon had always been a jealous one, but at least he kept it in check these days.

Roserade knelt next to a patch of flowers and watched as her poison slowly dissolved the colorful leaves. She'd been fascinated by her heightened abilities since her evolution, and now she liked to throw it at everything— rocks, plants, trees, and she'd just watch them melt. He was kind of worried about her, but he didn't want to stop her from having… fun.

Lopunny lounged on the ground, and she'd stolen his phone again without him noticing. It was the fifth time since they'd started traveling, and he'd confused his fans a little when Lopunny had posted some barely coherent gibberish on a bunch of forum posts. Some of them even got deleted by the mods for being off-topic. Just thinking about it made him cringe, but he apologized soon after and it got him quite a bit of publicity. And any publicity was good publicity if he knew how to handle it.

Denzel strode up to the normal type and snatched it out of her hand.

"No. I'll buy you one and make you accounts on social media when we get to Sunyshore, but you need to stop messing with my stuff, okay? I'm going to need you to focus up, we're talking about Grace soon."

He turned his head and saw Swablu standing atop Milotic's head. Thankfully the bird wasn't enamored by Sylveon as everyone else on his team was bar Froslass, and she seemed to be integrating rather well. She was fierce like all of them and had easily handled all of their hazing, for lack of a better word.

Froslass was close by, much to her displeasure, and she observed Roserade from up close and spoke to her. Denzel kept having to keep Froslass close to him because she was determined to spook any trainer she came across on route 214, and there were a lot, since they opted to go for the easier, quicker path that didn't go through the mountain.

"Listen up everyone," Denzel said. "When we get to Sunyshore, we're going to face off against Grace and her team."

That seemed to garner their attention. Even Roserade turned away from her simmering flowers. Denzel smiled when Swablu held her head high and chirped.

"Not you, Swablu. You're still training! You did good against all those trainers today."

The flying type scowled at him and retreated behind her fluffy wings. She still had a lot of catching up to do, but Denzel had plenty of ideas for her.

"It'll be a five-on-five. We still don't know how many switches, but we can assume the standard three. We can also assume that she won't use that Turtonator of hers, because otherwise it's a guaranteed loss. So that leaves us with Jellicent, Togetic, Tangrowth, Electabuzz, and Pupitar. Now, it's obvious that she's going to come at us knowing every trick under our sleeves, so we can't rely on surprise, especially when I have such a public persona. Now, what do you think would be a sound strategy?"

They all spoke over each other, and Denzel only understood a little of it. Lopunny couldn't learn to read fast enough. Then, she'd be able to use a text-to-speech program to translate what everyone said.

"Grace thrives when she has information, and she's gotten a lot better at thinking on the fly. Now, at the moment, we can't exactly pack the punch they can power-wise aside from Froslass."

The ice type smugly placed a hand in front of her mouth, and Lopunny tried to hit her with an ear. The attack just phased through her.

"Don't get overconfident, the others are close behind you. In a speedy battle, we lose. But what we can do is draw things out. Roserade's Synthesis, Milotic's Recover and Aqua Ring, Sylvi's Wish and Detect, Froslass being able to disappear and hide in Blizzard— and Hail, now. Lopunny… well, you're still working on Mirror Coat, but you're faster than every one of her Pokemon except Pupitar when she flies. I thrive in longer battles. Endurance matches. Grace does not. As much as it pains to admit, we're the underdogs, so we've got to even the playing field a little bit. You know what that means, right?"

For once, he had his team's full attention. Denzel smiled.

"A battle of attrition. The longer it goes on, the more mistakes she'll start to make. Now, it won't be easy. Grace is good because she can force things to go her way. Let's start by looking at her Togetic— broad strokes, let's just parse through it and see if we can brainstorm something. I don't just want to draw things out, that makes us predictable and that's a death sentence. We also need to—"

Denzel nearly jumped when Emilia grabbed him by the shoulder. His team laughed at his scared self, although Sylveon's face was completely still. He opened his mouth to say something funny, but her face was far too serious for that. Pauline was with her and looked to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

What had happened in the last two minutes?

"Denzel," Emilia spoke. "We need to talk. All of us."

—

Emilia Lussier might have gained in confidence, self-esteem and peace of mind these past few months, but she still despised traveling even on a route as safe as this one. The feeling of tough ground under her bottom, the cold as soon as she walked a few steps away from the fire, the grime, the lack of bathrooms and plumbing and the fact that she could only wash herself with a glove and water in this frigid temperature. She hated it all.

Luckily, Winter would soon be over and it would start to get hot again.

What she had missed, however, was hanging with her friends and her girlfriend. Plus, being with them finally made her feel in the loop again despite Cecilia and the others hiding things from them. She'd taken a break during Veilstone, only training every day, but it was time to get back into the swing of things in Sunyshore and get into contests again.

"Hey, you'll never guess what happened!" Pauline said as she browsed through her phone.

Emilia had been reflexively petting Fennekin's head, and the fire type was sound asleep on her lap. She held out a finger in front of her mouth and motioned at Pauline to keep quiet.

"My bad," Pauline said. "But look. Cece sent me this this afternoon."

Emilia leaned against her girlfriend and stared at her screen. It was a mirror selfie of Grace and Cecilia in two-piece swimsuits.

"They look great. Wait, are they in the Hotel Grand Lake? I'm so jealous," she whispered. "I wonder how she got her in one."

"Right? When we were at Mommy's Hearthome house, she didn't entertain wearing one at all. I'm happy for her," Pauline smiled. "Maybe we can stop by for a few days too, the three of us? Get a house with one of those indoor jacuzzis you like."

Emilia nodded. "That sounds nice. We don't want to take too long, or Denzel will probably get frustrated."

Pauline exhaled as she looked at the tall boy in the distance. "Yeah. He would, wouldn't he?"

Emilia blinked. She knew that look.

She'd known it for months now, really. Ever since they were in Hearthome and Pauline threw a fit about Denzel potentially having a friend of the opposite gender. She was better now, and the jealous rages had stopped, but she was still terrible at hiding it, especially from someone she'd known her entire life. Even on route 214, when Denzel's adoring fans— which were mostly girls— stopped him to ask for a picture, she couldn't help but stare daggers.

Emilia's face turned toward Denzel, who'd been sneaking a look at them, and he hurriedly turned back toward his team and began to observe them one by one. He liked her too. It was easy to tell.

The problem was that Emilia had no idea what this meant for her. Her hand in Pauline's suddenly felt cold, and she bit her lip.

Her old self would have followed in their folly and ignored this. It was easy, after all. The status quo was comfortable. Cozy, even. Day in, day out, the same thing happened. They bantered, laughed together, ate together, and trained together. A nice rhythm to get into. A routine.

But Emilia was no longer the passive, scared little girl that let things happen to her.

She didn't care if she got hurt. Not anymore. Emilia pulled out her hand from Pauline's and swallowed as she recalled Fennekin so she wouldn't wake up.

"Pauline," she firmly said. "How long are you going to lie to me?"

The redhead froze completely still, and Braviary did as well. Emilia felt a rumble at her back as the flying type let out a quiet caw.

"What do you mean?"

"You're in love with Denzel. Do you still love me? You look like you still love me, but I honestly can't tell."

Pauline's face turned toward a multitude of expressions, but settled upon one of pure panic as tears began to well up in her eyes. The sight hurt Emilia, but she had to remind herself that this wasn't her fault. She had a right to demand answers, and the quicker Pauline told her what the hell was going on, the easier it would be to deal with. Worst-case scenario, Veilstone was still only a day and a half away on foot. She could always go back and cry her heart out.

"I didn't lie— I just—"

"You kept it from me. You're stringing me along, Pauline."

"No!" Pauline hissed. "Please, keep quiet and let's just talk between us— maybe we can figure things out tomorrow. I promise you Emi, I still love you, I just… I just…"

"No. We're talking tonight. Enough stalling," she declared as she shot up. "We're all doing ourselves a disservice if we keep burying it. This has been going on for months, and I can't keep my head in the sand any longer."

Pauline couldn't even speak. She simply gave the barest hint of a nod and got up like a shaking leaf. Seeing her reduced to this state almost made Emilia hesitate. A part of her had expected Pauline's usual bombastic self, but her entire personality had done a 180, and Emilia knew that only ever happened when you peeled back every layer and exposed the weak side of Pauline that hid within.

She'd only seen it happen three times. Tonight was the fourth, and she was the cause instead of the comforter.

Emilia strode toward Denzel and grabbed his shoulder. The man jumped before turning with a smile, but his face fell when he saw the two of them.

"Denzel. We need to talk. All of us?"

"Um. Yeah? About what? Pauline, are you alright?" He asked with a frown.

"I— uh—"

The words died in Pauline's throat, and Denzel seemed to enjoy this uncomfortable silence far too long, so Emilia took the initiative. It was too late to turn back. She'd jumped out of the plane and this conversation was their parachute— except they all shared the damn thing and risked crashing and dying anyway.

"Do you want to recall your team for this?" Emilia asked. Sylveon shot her an angry look and protested, but Denzel nodded and did so. "Perfect. So, Denzel, remember when you told me that you'd confessed to Pauline in Eterna City and that she'd shot you down, and that now you were content to be friends?"

His frown turned into a wince. He knew what this was about now and he didn't like it one bit.

"Yeah," he said.

"Oh good, at least you have the guts to speak to me. Why did you lie? You're still in love with her. You've been in love with her the entire time, and she likes you back."

"I didn't lie, Emilia. I am content to be friends. I haven't made any moves, I haven't even talked to her about it since."

"But that doesn't change the fact that you still like each other and were traveling together. Don't I have a right to be angry? I mean, I believe you, but this still borders on emotional cheating from my point of view."

"Look," he sighed. "I'm sorry. This is— this is my fault. I'll travel on my own tomorrow morning. I'll be gone before you even wake up—"

"Arceus, I'm surrounded by cowards!" Emilia yelled through clenched teeth. The anger she felt surging inside of her helped mask the pain. They both flinched at her outburst. "One that shuts down and doesn't want to speak and one that wants to run away. Grow some fucking balls, both of you. Pauline, am I right or am I wrong?"

"You're right," she muttered.

"Okay. So, what's going on, then? What is all of this?"

"What do you mean?" Denzel asked.

"Why are you playing pretend? Acting like everything is normal when it isn't?" Emilia sighed before turning toward Pauline. "Did you not know how to break up with me?"

"Emilia, she doesn't want to break up with you," Denzel said. "I'm the problem. I'll just go."

"No! No, Emilia, I love you, I just— I just— I love you both, okay?! And I won't choose, and I want to date you both!"

Pauline took a few steps back and stumbled, and she began to sob.

Emilia was ready to wait for her to cry her heart out. After all, she wanted to as well.

Instead, Pauline got up and broke into a mad dash toward Braviary. Emilia yelled out and tried to follow, but Pauline had always been more fit than she was and she'd been traveling for months, unlike Emilia who had stopped. Denzel just had his eyes downcast and rhythmically clenched and unclenched a fist. With surprising dexterity, she recalled both Charizard and Gothorita (who'd been observing the events in silence) at the same same time, and climbed on top of her giant Braviary. The flying type immediately understood and beat her massive wings, kicking up dirt and grass and forcing Emilia to cover her face and mouth.

"Pauline, I swear, you better not!" Emilia screamed. "Get back down here!"

"Go! Anywhere but here!" She yelled. Her voice was distant, so distant.

She soon became undiscernible in the night sky, and only Denzel and Emilia were left. The girl turned toward Denzel and sighed.

They didn't have their license like she did, and neither Swablu nor Metang would ever catch up to her. The latter couldn't even fly that high in the first place.

Pauline was gone.

"Fuck," Emilia teared up. "Damn it!"

For a while, they stood in silence as they watched the stars. Emilia sat in the grass and hugged her knees and Denzel did the same a few feet next to her. Emilia tried to text and call Pauline, only to realize she'd left her phone here, along with her bag, even.

"I'm sorry," Denzel said, breaking the silence. "I knew deep down, but it was easier just to… let it be. I should have said something in Hearthome when the situation first reared its head up."

"Yeah. You should have," Emilia sniffled. "But I also knew. The only difference is that I had enough of it, so I share some of the blame."

"Yeah. I guess."

There was another lull. Contrary to before, Emilia took comfort in the silence. It wrapped its cold hands around her and it was just so pleasant. It was a physical weight on top of her, like a blanket she could hide under. She'd just blown up the entire metaphorical house that was their relationships, and Pauline had run away from the fire and left them to die.

"Where do you think she'll go? Sunyshore?" Denzel asked.

She shook off the silence.

"Pastoria, maybe. It's further away and it'll take us longer to get there. She could even be done with the city by the time we make it. Damn it."

"She wasn't going to break up with you, you know? You know she isn't like that," he said.

"I know, but I also didn't? I couldn't be sure, I was just— scared, I guess. Not like it matters now. Everything's down the gutter."

"Yeah."

Denzel groaned, and he lay down with his back against the grass.

"She said she loved us both. Does that make any sense to you?" Emilia asked, still not daring to look at him.

"I've heard of it. Polyamory, right? That sounds like something bound to blow up in our faces. Not sure if I'm compatible with that lifestyle."

"I think I could do it if I liked you too and not just her," Emilia shrugged defeatedly. "You're a friend; one of my closest. But I've never even looked at you like that. I mean, I'm— I was dating someone else."

"Yeah, I'm in the same boat, besides the dating part. Not like it matters now, though."

They continued talking deep into the night. It wasn't like they could sleep anyway, not after a night like this one.

Emilia hoped Pauline would come back.

—

Pauline let loose a scream so loud that her throat felt like it had been torn apart. Tears and snot streamed down her face and her heart felt like it was made of glass and it had been shattered into a million pieces. She clenched her hands around Braviary's coarse feathers and lowered herself as close to her ears as she could.

"Faster!" She yelled. "Keep going south!"

She didn't have a decision in mind. Just to get as far away from the source of her pain as possible. It was entirely her fault. She'd let the situation simmer for too long and the boiling water had blown up in her face. Now, she was burning. Hurting. She dug her teeth into her lips to distract herself from the heartache.

Weakness, a voice rang out.

Pauline didn't turn toward the source. Braviary was large enough to fit Gothorita, and she'd released her for support. Instead, the psychic was berating her. Gothorita had always been harsh with her words. She said everything that passed through her mind no matter who it could offend, and Pauline was no different.

You run away in fear like a scared little girl, she continued. Would you throw it all away because of cowardice?

"I've already thrown it away! Don't fucking lecture me," Pauline raged through clenched teeth. "There's nothing left to fix."

With the way you're leaving things, that might be true, Gothorita shrugged. But there is a chance to make things work, even if just to save your friendships that you are about to irreparably destroy.

"Why is it that everyone else gets some damn therapist as a psychic and I get someone who fucking shit talks me?" Pauline hissed.

Because you deserve to be shit talked, you utter moron, she clapped back. You have a brain, don't you? Can you tell me in what situation what you are doing fucking works out for the better? You're like a child scared of going to the doctor because you're terrified of what news you'd get. It could be terrible and you could be dying, but it could also be nothing.

"I'm pretty sure I'm already dying," Pauline said.

Every time you confided in me, I told you to rip off the band-aid. You'd always say you'd do it soon, soon, fucking soon! Well, soon has come, Pauline! The band-aid is half-ripped, even if you weren't the one who pulled it! Now it's your turn to finish the job.

"Braviary, faster!"

The giant bird stretched out her wings and came to a silent halt. The momentum nearly made Pauline bump her head against her body, but Gothorita held her back. Braviary offered a screech.

"What's your problem?" Pauline asked with a stammer. "Don't stop!"

We will drag you back kicking and fucking screaming, Pauline, Gothorita said. Braviary agrees with me. Don't even think of swapping to Charizard. She will agree as well, and that stupid Vigoroth would too.

What remained of the girl's heart dropped.

I see your fear. It is etched into the stars, Pauline, and there are many tonight. Much more than in that smog-filled city.

"Please."

I can draw upon the stars. I can look further. Right now, you are on an asteroid on a collision course with Earth, but you're so small you'd burn up in the atmosphere. There is an alternate path. I see it—

Pauline covered her eyes as light engulfed the small psychic. If Braviary hadn't been so big, she would have fallen off. Gothorita became a Gothitelle and now towered over her trainer. Her black dress now went down to her legs and her eyes—

Arceus, her eyes.

They shone in the night, and there were little lights inside of them. Stars, Pauline realized. Gothitelle were known to draw their powers from the cosmos. The best of them were so good at approximating the future that they could see the exact date their trainers would die. Their future-telling was more personal than Xatu and could only be used with people they bonded deeply with.

I see it now, she said. If you go back, you will be happy. I do not know what form it will take, but the feeling is there. Do not throw it away.

"I'm a terrible person."

You aren't. You're just scared, and being scared makes people do terrible things.

Pauline took a deep breath.

"Turn back, Braviary. Thank you for not listening to me," she sniffled. The giant bird cooed at her touch and began flying toward their camp. "I'm fucking terrified."

Ah, yes, add feelings to the list of your worst fears. I'll put it next to ghosts and making hard choices.

"I deserve that."

Pauline's throat felt like it was being squeezed by a vice that tightened the closer she got back to camp. When she saw the tiny red dot— the flame— that anxiety reached a crescendo. Emilia and Denzel waved at her with both arms and yelled out some words she couldn't make out, and Braviary landed with a loud thud.

"You came back!" Emilia exclaimed with a relieved sigh. She touched Pauline's shoulders, as if she needed to make sure she was real. "You didn't run."

"I did. For a bit," she said. "Gothitelle and Braviary knocked some sense into me."

Denzel frowned and then noticed the tall psychic still sitting on Braviary's back. "Gothitelle—"

"We can talk evolutions later. Enough stalling," Pauline said. "I'm ripping off the band-aid. I'm in love with both of you, and I know that sounds stupid, but it's true. Now, in a perfect world, we'd link arms and start singing together to celebrate, but I know this isn't… that. Emilia, I'm sorry for lying to you and omitting the truth. I've betrayed your trust. I don't deserve you."

"I accept your apology," she nodded.

"Denzel, I'm sorry for stringing you along. For harassing your friends and being a possessive bitch. I kept giving you mixed signals, and you must have been confused. Maybe if I made a clean break, we could have moved on, but I couldn't."

"I mean, you're not the only one that did wrong. I'm sorry too."

"Yeah, but I think I did more wrong than both of you, so just… let me apologize," she exhaled. Her heart was beating against her chest so hard that it hurt. "So, we probably have the same question on our minds, right? What now?"

Pauline was an idiot, but she wasn't that stupid. She knew that her fantasy about the three of them starting to date as soon as she confessed had never been realistic in the first place.

"I don't know," Denzel shrugged. "I'm the outsider. It's up to you and Emilia. If you want, I'll leave and you can sort out everything—"

"Stop asking to leave already, Arceus!" Emilia said in an exasperated tone. "We're riding this one out. You know how sometimes people don't leave a room until a deal is made? This is that. We're sticking together until we figure out what the hell is going on, because the status quo wasn't working."

So they spoke. For nearly four hours, they discussed between themselves, and the conversation derailed multiple times. The good thing was that the awkwardness was nearly gone, albeit it was still easy to see and feel. Both of them dating her wouldn't work. It was possible, and people sometimes entered such a polycule, but they all vehemently disagreed and disliked the idea. Pauline yawned and then she finally reached a conclusion.

"I see it two ways," Pauline said. "Either Emi and I break up, we all… uh, separate for a few months to chase away remaining feelings, and then hopefully we can return to each other as friends."

"Or?" Denzel asked.

"Or— and don't strangle me for this— we all break up—"

"We weren't dating," Denzel said.

"Let me finish. We untangle and destroy this entire mess of a relationship and build it anew. Slowly. And see what works? You two can also, uh, hang out more and maybe see if something happens?"

"I feel like you're a five-year-old smashing two toys together," Emilia said.

"I mean, I'm not! And maybe now that you have the added context, you'll both catch feelings, right?"

"I don't know," Denzel hesitated as he scratched his head. "This feels weird, still."

"I'd really love it if you gave it a try. And if it doesn't work, well, we can do the first option. The friend thing. I'm probably making it sound a lot simpler than it is."

"Not probably," Emilia said. Sadness crept up on her face. "You broke up with me. We've been dating for three years."

Pauline held her breath. "Yeah. I'm sorry."

"You suck."

"I do."

"Let's give it a try. But no guarantees. If I think this is uncomfortable for even a second, I'm out."

Pauline beamed. "Thank you. And Denzel?"

"Fuck it. I'm probably going to regret this, but whatever. Why not take a chance, right? We can call it a trial period."

The vice unscrewed from Pauline's neck and she felt like she could finally breathe again. The redhead stood up and stretched to get some blood flow going.

"I guess we didn't sleep," she said. "Should we skip a day or should we travel?"

Denzel hummed. "I think we should… should, uh… Pauline, behind you."

Pauline turned around and saw a wounded little furball approach her. It had deep gashes under its nose and on top of its left eye and one of its legs looked to be broken.

It was a Mankey.

Later that day, Denzel figured out he'd been run over by one of the trucks that drove along the road. The driver was also heavily wounded, and the front of his truck had been shredded. Pauline flew him back to Veilstone as soon as she could and Denzel and Emilia spent the day on route 214.

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri, Rhuodric

 

[SailorOfMyVessel]

I ship it. Been doing that for like 2-3 cities and change, so hoping it works out for this disastrous triad. Even if there's obvious massive challenges because of their differences and all.

Or, perhaps, because of that...

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 216

Pauline tapped her knuckles against the Pokemon Center's reception counter. She wasn't speaking to anyone, nor was she blocking the line, but she couldn't help but stick around. Mankey had been on the point of collapse, so Pauline had caught and brought him back to Veilstone, but she knew that the longer a Pokemon had terrible wounds, the harder they were to fix, even with Ditto Cells. She was nowhere smart enough to know how the hell they even worked, but it had taken a few hours for her to get here. She just hoped the Pokeball had helped at least.

Run over by a truck, she thought. It was in the headlines already. Pokemon were smart enough to avoid the roads, so it almost never happened. The driver had been Teleported back to a hospital by the Rangers and his half-destroyed truck had been towed back to the city.

"Pauline King?"

The name took a few seconds to register, and she had to be called two more times for her to realize it was her they wanted. She was just so tired due to everything that had happened last night, and she hadn't even slept a minute. One of the nurses walked up to her with a Pokeball on a tray.

"Yes?" She muttered.

"Your Mankey is perfectly healthy. We recommend no training or straining for a week, but other than that, he's fine. There is a scar above his eye, but the eye itself is in perfect condition."

Pauline sighed in relief. "Thank you!"

She didn't really want to tell her he wasn't her Mankey. She'd only caught him to save him, after all.

The girl wandered into the cafeteria to grab a sandwich to go and then after sending a message to Denzel and Emilia, she flew back onto route 214. With her signal, Braviary landed thirty minutes out of the city, and Pauline quickly hopped off the bird with Mankey's Pokeball in hand. She also released Vigoroth and Gothitelle, primarily by instinct than anything else. She was running on fumes at this point, and she expected Mankey to attack her.

Vigoroth shivered in excitement, as he always did whenever he was out. Calming down was impossible for him, but it beat running around like a maniac, and he was pretty level-headed these days even if he didn't look the part.

"Don't hurt him unless he attacks," she warned.

Very well, Gothitelle nodded.

Vigoroth, meanwhile, let out a frustrated groan. He was addicted to fighting, and not getting his fill meant that he'd blow up as something soon. And to think that Slaking were harder to handle than this.

Pauline's fingers felt sluggish as she pressed the release button. The small Mankey simply observed her with a calm demeanor, his red eyes staring right into her own. A large, circular scar where no hair had grown sat above his eye and stretched up to the left of his forehead.

"Uh, hello. I'm Pauline," she said. "I assume you know what happened? You got run over by a truck?"

Mankey sat on the ground and crossed his arms as he grunted.

He says he was crossing the road and the truck came out of nowhere, Gothitelle translated.

"Out of nowhere? It's open road for miles and it's a truck. Not exactly hard to miss," Pauline said.

Mankey shrugged and dismissed her concerns.

He says that you are a stupid idiot and that your lack of intellect worries him, the psychic type said. It was a lot ruder than that, but I removed the swearing. Only I'm allowed to swear at you.

Even Vigoroth snickered at that, and he never laughed except when he was fighting.

Pauline knew she was right, but maybe Mankey was just oblivious to his surroundings? He didn't really fit what she'd expected. Mankey were known to be abrasive and aggressive, but this one was just… there, even if he had a way with words. He was just a calm little guy.

"Well, Mankey, I'm not going to lie, I haven't slept in more than a day and me capturing you was a completely random event, but do you…"

What would Grace say here? She didn't want her friend to pop a blood vessel because she'd messed up the capturing process, even if she'd managed well up until now.

"Do you have people to go back to? A family, friends?" Pauline asked. "If you want, you could come with us. These aren't the only Pokemon I have, I also have a Charizard. I hope you know what that looks like."

Mankey scoffed.

He says that he takes offense at how stupid you think he is.

"Well, I'm not the one getting run over by a truck with miles of open road," she snapped back. "Sorry. Too soon?"

Mankey shrugged.

"So what do you say, then?"

The fighting type shrugged.

"Yes or no?"

He shrugged again.

"Will you answer the damn question?!"

Mankey did not shrug. Instead, he finally spoke.

Only if you help him reach enlightenment, Gothitelle chimed in.

"What is he, some kind of sage?"

He took a vow to never grow angry, but he still slips sometimes, especially when he fights Gothitelle translated. He wants to obtain a peace of mind never before seen in his species.

"Well, we're a rough bunch," Pauline muttered. "But if you can stay calm with us and stay calm with Denzel's mess of a team, then you'll be able to do it anywhere. How about it?"

Mankey stared off into the distance until she snapped a finger to snap him back to reality. He really was aloof.

The fighting type nodded.

"Great. Welcome to the team, Mankey. You're going to love it here. Hopefully."

Of course, Vigoroth immediately challenged him to a fight, which Mankey promptly ignored. Pauline had no time for their antics, though. She needed to get back to Denzel and Emilia, and then she needed to sleep for ten hours straight.

—

Sunyshore was definitely my favorite city I'd been to so far. The streets were wide, with ample spots for pedestrians and bus-only lanes, meaning that there were very few cars driving around. It was also just so vibrant despite the city having been built on a piece of arable land. There were palm trees that lined a lot of the streets! Palm trees! They'd probably been imported from another region, but they fit right in and they were beautiful. We couldn't go more than ten seconds without seeing a solar panel. They were on the bus stops, on the apartments, and even on the floor we walked on sometimes. Long sky bridges linked different high-rises together and made the city a true labyrinth, yet it didn't feel crowded at all. Being here felt like living thirty years in the future, and yet it was happening now. Sunyshore was Sinnoh's technological center.

And there were also plenty of influencers here. It honestly reminded me of Hearthome.

I'd been to Sunyshore once as a kid, but I'd been so young I barely remembered anything. The view of the Ferris wheel on the beachfront in the distance felt familiar, though. It was one of Sunyshore's main attractions and it was situated on the city's famous boardwalk. We'd split from Erin a bit ago after she'd pointed us toward the nearest Pokemon Center, and Cece and I would meet her tomorrow. For now, though? It was time to settle in.

We signed into the Pokemon Center, and Mira couldn't help but notice that it was the first time Chase was staying in the same one we were. All of my Pokemon were completely healthy, so there was no need for me to hand them to one of the nurses. After that, we all split up for the day.

The view from my room was spectacular. I couldn't see the beach itself, but since I was on the highest floor, I could see the Lily of the Valley island far off in the distance, and even a hint of the tall spire that capped the Pokemon League. I gripped my windowsill to stop my fingers from trembling in anticipation. My goal— the Conference— it was right there. The salty breeze kissed my nose and I squinted. So close, and yet so far.

I was more than halfway there.

After looking at the island for a good two minutes, I grabbed my phone and sent the usual text to tell our group chat we'd made it. Louis and Maeve were already there, and we'd meet them another day. Justin probably was too. They had a lot of drama to solve, and I feared that I wouldn't be much help in that department. Denzel, Pauline and Emi had sent Cecilia birthday wishes, but they hadn't called, which I found strange, but maybe they were just busy.

Either way, I had no time to worry. There were a lot of things I needed to do today.

First, I needed to familiarize myself with the bus lanes here as I'd done with the tram lanes in Eterna City, then I'd need to scout out the beach for Buddy and Sweetheart, find where the city's flight school was for when Princess finally evolved— and I was sure Cecilia would appreciate it as well, given she was certain that little Golett was close to his own evolution. She'd always been good at gauging these things. Then of course, there were the usual hours of training. I hadn't lied when I'd told Riley I'd train on route 222, but I'd keep the most lethal parts of it to the mountains of route 214, since there was a lot less risk involved. Hopefully Mira would be okay with lending me Gardevoir or Alakazam today.

My team wouldn't be the only ones to train. I needed to start thinking about my battle with Denzel today. I was sure it'd happen before Volkner's, so his would come first.

I released my team and got to learning which lines went where. And by Arceus, it was a lot more confusing than Jubilife's public transport system.

—

The bus was cramped, and extremely so. I shrunk as everyone else towered over me. Men in suits, students from Sunyshore University, trainers, tourists, there were all kinds of people here. I had managed to find the city's flight school's address online, so I was going to the beach first since Mira told me she was busy with Alakazam and Gardevoir at the moment, but that they'd be free in a few hours.

I got off at the boardwalk, and I released Honey so he could walk with me. There were even more people here. Sunyshore was Sinnoh's third most populated city behind Jubilife and Hearthome, but its relatively small size and huge tourism industry meant that it was really densely populated and it felt packed at all times. Not only that, but it was also the seat of Sinnoh's civilian government branch. The Directorate was at the city's outskirts away from the buzz, so I hadn't seen it yet. Apparently Cynthia had been here just last week to give a speech, but she was back in Veilstone now.

The boardwalk was one of Sunyshore's hot spots. It flanked the massive beach and was lined by stores, stands, and there was even a Pokemon Center there, although Erin had told us it was always full because of its location. Even in February, people were on the beach. They weren't in the water save for some Pokemon, but children played in the sand and adults relaxed there. Sunsyhore's close proximity to the sea meant that it actually wasn't cold. It was 12 degrees Celsius at the moment, so it was basically scorching hot for a Sinnohan even if Sunshine would say otherwise. I only had a hoodie on me right now, and I had the hood up and kept my head down as much as I could so people wouldn't recognize me. I wasn't nervous about it— not anymore. I'd grown since my original rise to fame after surviving Mount Coronet. Having people ask me for pictures and a thousand questions just felt like a hassle.

Now if they asked me for tips about battling? Then I would have felt happy to help! But nine times out of ten, it was just a picture they wanted so they could brag to their friends or online or something.

The goal was to find an isolated spot I could relax in with the family… or potentially bring Cece for a date. I had promised her I'd plan one, but it was the first date I was going to organize and I already felt anxious even if I already had ideas. My phone suddenly vibrated in my pocket, and I grabbed it, expecting Cecilia to be calling me.

It was Lauren. She usually never called.

I was so astonished that my finger almost clicked on hang up instead of picking up. She usually never called.

"Hi? Lauren?" I asked. "What's up."

She said something in her usual quiet voice, but I barely heard her. Honey tapped on my shoulder and pointed me toward a section of the beach that was blocked off by some rocks.

"You're going to have to speak up, I'm in a crowd, I can barely hear you."

"Grace Pastel—"

"Grace is fine," I stopped her. "We're friends."

"You own an Electabuzz, and I own a Magmar. Both of these Pokemon have evolutions that are secrets. Do you have a plan?"

I stopped in my tracks and raised an eyebrow. "Yes. Ask for Volkner's help after I hopefully impress him in a battle. What about you?"

"I thought so," she murmured. "I don't know much about people, but Sirris does. He told me that Volkner and Flint are best friends. People say they're so close they might as well be brothers."

I nodded to myself. Volkner was the most powerful Gym Leader behind Fantina, even if the way he ran things didn't exactly show that. But while Flint chose to go work for the League (and was promptly promoted to his position a few years later), Volkner decided to become a Gym Leader instead.

"Ah, I see your angle. Flint's the only trainer with a Magmortar in the entire region and you want to somehow get Volkner to ask him for you? That's going to be tough, Lauren," I said. "Getting an Elite Four member's attention is an order of magnitude above a Gym Leader, and Volkner's pretty introverted and hard to get a hold of."

"But you plan to impress him anyway," she said a little more forcefully than I expected.

"You've changed a bit, haven't you?" I smirked.

"I'm just trying to be myself more, even if it's embarrassing," she said, her voice back to a whisper. "What do you say we team up on this? You're good with people."

I hummed as I thought about my options, but I swore when I stepped onto the sandy beach.

Lauren squealed. "I'm sorry for even asking! Goodbye!"

"No, no, don't hang up! I'm on a beach right now and some sand got in my damn shoes, I'm sorry," I groaned. I stuck out my tongue to Honey, who was mocking me like there was no tomorrow. "Stop it, or I'm going to throw sand all over your face, kid."

"My face?"

"No, I'm talking to Hon— Electabuzz right now. We're just fooling around, don't worry about me. Uh, let me think for a minute."

On one hand, seeing the Lily of the Valley Island, a visual representation of my goal had made me realize that this was closer than I realized and everyone around me was going to become a competitor soon enough. Lauren had practically thrown herself at me, and she didn't have the resources I had. No Cynthia to answer her questions, no way to access Flint without getting in Volkner's good graces, and there was no way she was going to use her brother's clout for this even if that was her most realistic avenue.

We were both really stubborn.

In other words, I was in control here, and there were more reasons to refuse than not.

But she was also a friend. Not as close as my others since she refused to hang out, but a friend nonetheless.

"Fine, we can team up," I said. "But I want to spend more time with you while we're in Sunyshore in exchange. We get to know each other better first. We're going to need to employ strategy for this. Two back-to-back battles that Volkner would enjoy would be enough to convince him, I think, so we need to sign up at the same time. We're the bait, and we have to hope he bites, and we have to be in top form."

"That's okay," she said. "Thank you. I have to warn you though, my fans in this city are pretty rabid… they're scary sometimes."

"Scary?"

"They wait outside of my Pokemon Center and stuff."

"Oh. Yeah, are you sponsored by any companies right now, or do you plan on getting sponsored in the future?" I asked.

"No, but I sold the rights to a TM to Silph Co, so I'm not struggling with money."

I nearly choked on my own saliva.

"You what?"

"Sirris set up the meeting for me. I get a small percentage of each sale. I sold them Fire Pillar, since it wasn't an integral part of my arsenal."

"Oh. Well, good on you, I guess," I said.

I recalled that Craig had told me that it was one of the avenues to make money, but I had never expected someone I knew to be doing so. Originally I was going to tell Lauren to just scare them off with her Aggron if she didn't care for bad PR like Chase, but I was a lot more intrigued by this. There had been a small trial run where Silph Co. had checked if the move could actually be easily recreated and taught to Pokemon. Make a move too complicated, and there was no way you'd be able to sell it. If your move passed trials, then they'd sign a contract with you. While Lauren wasn't rich by any means, she was about as wealthy as I was from the sales. Trainers certainly wouldn't say no to what was essentially a fire type Earth Power.

"Ok, well, we can hash out the details on our Volkner strategy later," I said. "I'm coming up on an isolated part of the beach and I'm going to spend some time with my Pokemon there."

"Is tomorrow okay?"

"The day after tomorrow, if possible? How does 10 AM sound?" I said. "I'm going to be helping out a new friend tomorrow."

"Every time we speak, you have someone new in your orbit…" Lauren sighed. "Okay. The day after tomorrow."

"See you later."

I hung up and Honey lifted me up the rocks. I was almost scared some lifeguard was going to stop me, but nothing of the sort happened.

"Look at you," I smiled as I jumped down on the other side. "You've been growing up."

The electric type easily cleared the rocks in one hop and grinned. When he'd just evolved, he'd only been slightly taller than me, but he was a head and a half taller now. Maybe he was getting his growth spurt?

In front of us lay an untouched patch of beach that went on for at least a mile. There were no crowds, no parasols, no food stands. Just me and nature. It was exactly what I was looking for. Just when I was about to release the entire team, I noticed a tall girl standing in the distance. She must have noticed us as well because she shot us an awkward wave. The sunlight made her hair look white, but upon closer look, it was more of a very light beige than anything. She looked to be in her late twenties and was built similarly to Justin before his stint in dark type energy, meaning that she was lanky and looked very frail due to her height. Even in this cold, she wore sandals and a pale blue and white dress with a bright red ribbon on her chest.

And of course, she had Pokeballs with her, so she was a trainer.

Well, it'd be weird not to at least say hi when she waved at me. Plus, she was already coming my way right now.

"Hello," she smiled. Her voice was quiet, but unlike Lauren, she didn't seem shy at all. More like soft-spoken.

Her accent hit me hard as well. She definitely wasn't Sinnohan.

"Hi. Sorry if we stole your spot," I said. "I was looking for a quiet place."

"You hate the noise too, hm?" She said. "Don't worry, I was just leaving anyway. I'll come back at some point, though."

"Are you a tourist? I can't place your accent," I asked.

"That's exactly right. I'm from Johto," she said as she sat in the sand. "Work was getting overwhelming, so I'm taking a year off and traveling."

I blinked. A year? That was a long time to be off work, but I wasn't going to question her. Plus, it'd be impolite to ask her about it.

"Sorry to hear that. How's Sinnoh been treating you so far?"

"Oh, it's very pleasant," she smiled. "The cold is annoying, but the people are nice and Sunyshore is quite a beautiful city. It reminds me of home."

"That's cool. I only made it here today."

"You're a trainer, I assume? First year?"

"Yes. We've come quite far already, but I want to make it to the Conference," I declared. Electabuzz cheered alongside me. "We still have months to go."

"Good luck to you, then," she nodded. "I'm Jasmine, by the way."

"Oh, I'm Grace. Grace Pastel."

We stood in silence, not knowing what to talk about next, but her phone thankfully saved us from the awkward silence.

"Well, I'll be on my way. The beach is yours for the taking," Jasmine said.

Two things happened next that made my jaw drop to the floor.

One, she uttered Volkner's name as soon as she picked up the phone, meaning that she knew the Gym Leader on a personal basis somehow. Two, she released a Metagross that lifted her up the rocks to access the public section of the beach. They were extremely rare and living supercomputers that thought faster than even Alakazam thanks to their multiple brains. The hulking steel type grabbed her with their psychic powers and she recalled them soon after, waving at me as if nothing had happened.

Like she hadn't known she had dropped two bombs before leaving.

"What the hell just happened…?"

Electabuzz shrugged.

—

I still didn't trust Sweetheart enough to let her play in the water without supervision, so I stood with my bare feet in the water with her Pokeball in hand. She preferred the sea over lakes because of the waves she could ride, and she looked to be having the time of her life even if the saltwater slipping inside of her shell annoyed her. Buddy was soaking inside of the water and riding the waves and Princess was making sand castles with Angel— and it was really funny how she desperately tried to get him not to touch her castle. Their sculptures were night and day. On one side, there was a literal castle that looked like it could be lived in and was as tall as I was, and on the other, well, there was Angel's mound of sand. He looked pretty happy with it, though.

Sunshine was here too, of course, and he kept harassing me about the state of Sinnoh's beaches as if I had something to do with them.

I crossed my arms.

It was time to brainstorm for the battle against Denzel.

"Hey, just a sec," I told Sunshine. "I'm gonna be thinking."

He blinked, but then nodded as he lay against the soft sands. I grabbed my phone and opened my notes app. Trainers came into battles hoping to push any advantage they had. That was why I came in with as much information as possible or why Cecilia pushed on the power angle so much.

Denzel was good at everything and a damn good trainer in his own right, but what he excelled at were drawn-out fights. He'd shown it in a multitude of battles, but especially in our double battle in Hearthome. While I wasn't as weak stamina-wise as I had been, there was no doubt in my mind that he would outlast me. The longer the battle went on, the more mistakes I'd make while Denzel would stay solid and only hit his stride. He was a diesel engine, and I was a petrol engine.

Unless diesel cars went faster than gas engines, in which case this would make no sense.

What I needed to do, then, was shut that shit down right away.

He would have counters, of course. I remembered that he'd told me that he regretted not teaching Milotic Recover for his battle with Maylene, so I knew that he was guaranteed to have learned it by now. What I needed to do, then, was overwhelm. There would be no switching the tempo in this battle unless I needed to. This was one of the rare cases where things would work in my favor because Denzel took time to get in the grooves of things. So long as I kept him on the backfoot, I would have the advantage, and I couldn't let him recover and think, because he was arguably the best out of all of us at thinking on his feet.

Now, I could have gone deeper than this, find ways to exploit some not-so-good traits and flaws that sometimes reared their heads and that he refused to talk about with me, but this wasn't like my battle against Maylene. Denzel was a friend and this was a friendly battle. There were still easy tells that he had when he got nervous, though. Him clenching his fists so much, running his hand through his hair, but also him trying to keep a positive attitude in spite of that in a very non-convincing manner. Those forced smiles weren't fooling me. If I had him stressed, I'd be able to tell and push his buttons whenever something worked.

"Good, good," I muttered.

Easier said than done, but at least the scaffolding was there. Now, none of his Pokemon were to be underestimated, but until I gathered more data about what Roserade could do, I would focus on the two main problems on his team. Froslass and Lopunny.

They were both slippery and difficult to hit. The rest of his team was relatively slow, even if Sylveon's ribbons would be annoying to deal with, but the ice and normal type would be the main problems, especially when every single hit Lopunny landed on us would be extremely punishing due to Power-Up Punch. Froslass, meanwhile, would be well out of reach of Angel's Knock Off at all times and would destroy him with Blizzard anyway, so I needed to find another way to deal with her.

Nearly twenty minutes passed, and something clicked.

"High risk, high reward. And it requires Angel anyway," I sighed. "Let's keep it as a plan B for now."

Sunshine sighed and desperately asked me to stop talking to myself. I ignored him. If push came to shove, he was good enough with Ancient Power to raise a protective shell around himself to hide from Blizzard, but that wouldn't be good for my strategy. I needed offense.

Well, I had a few days to think about it.

—

"Hello, I'm here to borrow one of the psychics again," I said as I opened Mira's door.

"Oh, yeah," she said dismissively, "Alakazam can take you, Gardevoir's completely wiped out."

"Sure. And thanks again. I'll pay you back one day."

"Stop being so fairy-brained, it's a nice thing between friends. Alakazam, you can go."

The psychic type nodded, and before I could even blink we were back on route 214. I once again released my entire team, although Sweetheart was sleeping in her Pokeball.

Today was the day.

"Are you ready?" I asked, patting Honey's shoulder.

The electric type nodded, and Togetic and the others offered him some more encouragement. Even Sunshine reluctantly told him to break a leg. All those weeks he'd trained had led to this. Thunder. One of the most powerful electric type moves was at the tip of our fingers. In front of us stood the mountain's facade.

I took a dozen steps back and Princess erected a psychic barrier in front of me. Her training with Gardevoir was going well in that regard, even if she hadn't been able to do so today.

Honey took a deep breath and took a look at his palm.

He clenched it.

Honey grunted, sending sparks of electricity crackling through his fur. The yellow part of his fur began to glow as it brimmed with intense power against the dark stripes on his back, arm and legs. The smell of ozone clung to my nostrils and all of my hair stood on end. My heart raced in anticipation as he raised both of his hands. He was so blinding now that it was as if he was evolving. The floor under me shook and pebbles rattled.

He finally unleashed the Thunder, and the environment responded in kind.

I covered my ears as an explosion rocked the entire mountain. A flock of Starly flew off in the distance, desperate to escape from the noise as Electabuzz finally released an enormous amount of energy. I covered my eyes, but the light still shone through my eyelids. I was too blinded to see the attack itself, but I heard it despite the fact that my ears were still ringing from the explosion. The mountain cried. Something collapsed— like a landslide running down the facade. When I opened my eyes, I blinked the clear the last remaining blotches of light in my vision.

Honey was panting, but he was still standing tall.

The mountain's facade had been altered beyond recognition. There were deep gashes in the wall, and a part of it had collapsed completely. The ground under Electabuzz's feet was blackened stone and was smoking slightly. I was glad to see that Alakazam had stopped the landslide from going further down with a psychic net.

But still, Honey had done it.

He'd mastered Thunder.

"You did it! Honey!"

I ran toward him, but Angel wrapped a vine around my waist to stop me from touching him and he took a quick step back. His body was still overwhelmingly charged with power, and even though I wasn't going to touch him, the arcs of electricity that jumped out of his fur might have tried to go through me. Electabuzz flashed a toothy grin as the rest of the team congratulated him.

With how he looked right now? I reckoned he could use three before tiring out, so essentially only two in battle unless I was going for some kind of desperate play. If we managed to make him charge it faster, then he would be a devastating opponent to face.

Oh man, this was just so awesome.

"You've worked hard, Hon, feel free to bask in your superiority today," I smirked. "I'm sure Sweetie will love that when she wakes up from her nap."

He chuckled and said he wished she'd been there to see this.

"Can't take a nap away from her," I said. "She's growing. By the way, when we get back, I can finally go and buy you that new battery! Anyway, if you'd like, could you try out another one? Right now, I think your limit is three, but I'd like to test it to make sure. Then come tomorrow, we can start working on Screech and Low-Kick."

The electric type nodded, and electricity hummed again.

—

I knocked on Cece's door, and she quickly opened it and dragged me into a long kiss. I laughed against her lips as we spun, stumbled around the room, and fell on her bed.

"How was your day? Productive?" I asked.

"Oh, the usual. I trained, but I also found you the perfect gift," she grinned.

"What? I thought you had it already!" I said. "You were all nervous when I mentioned our birthday party."

"I had it in mind, but I was scared that traveling with it in my bag would spoil the surprise. Plus, I wasn't even sure if— you know what, never mind. I'm going to reveal too much if I keep speaking."

"Well, I'm looking forward to it. I found the city's Flight School, by the way. Maybe we can attend together if our evolutions line up."

"That'd be nice. Golett's been different since I released him near Lake Valor. He was always changing, but it's sped up now, and it makes sense considering the whole Willpower thing."

"Aw, he's growing up. Cute. Anyway, today Honey mastered Thunder, and…"

I started telling her about my day in no particular order, although I kept the beach and my encounter with that Johtoan woman hidden because I wanted to keep the spot a surprise. Cece told me she'd brought Talonflame to the spot she had first caught her in and that the flying type met some of her old friends there. She hadn't said it, but it was obvious that Talonflame liked to bask in their admiration. They were still Fletchling, after all, and seeing Talonflame all grown up must have felt weird for them.

Cece gently placed my hair behind an ear. "Oh, by the way, what are we doing with Erin tomorrow?"

"I was thinking that route 222 was too crowded, so we could get Alakazam to Teleport us to assess her if it isn't too difficult for him. Then maybe we could go and see what this New Wave thing is all about. I sent her a message saying that we'd meet her at nine in the morning in front of her house."

"She gave you her address?"

"She's way too trusting, I know."

"Sounds like a fun day. You know, part of me is glad we've returned to events with such… low stakes. It's probably rude to Erin, but little things like this almost make me forget the world could end."

"Cece…"

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine," she smiled, kissing me again. "What I'm saying is that Sunyshore could be a nice little vacation. Have we ever stayed in a city where nothing happened? Wouldn't that be nice?"

"Don't jinx us."

She laughed. "You're silly. Anyway, don't scare Erin."

"Scare her? I wouldn't scare her."

Cecilia raised an eyebrow at me. "Okay."

"No, seriously, I wouldn't scare her at all! She likes me!"

"Let's just watch a movie or a battle or something. By the way, are you sleeping in my room tonight?"

"Well, obviously. I'm going to need to grab the usual, though. Toothbrush, pajamas, laptop, and I'll let my team out in my room so they can hang out."

Cece paused. "I can just lend you some pajamas."

"They're too big for me."

"That's the point, Grace. And may I remind you that it's still my birthday."

I chuckled. "Okay, you win."

I probably wouldn't have said no even if it wasn't her birthday. Wearing my girlfriend's clothes? I hadn't done that since Eterna City, and she hadn't even been my girlfriend then. I'd let her think she won something, though.

"You're playing me," she noticed.

"When you say play like that, you make it sound a lot worse than it is."

"I'll use my birthday privilege on something else, then," she said, tracing a finger down my collarbone.

Her words and touch sent tingles down my spine.

"Don't get too excited now," she smirked, pulling her hand back. "Later."

"You suck," I playfully groaned.

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri, Rhuodric

 

[Chewy]

I'm guessing you read When is a Spoon a Sword? Or is enlightenment cannon for mankey to evolve to Annihilape

 

[Soussouni1]

I'm guessing you read When is a Spoon a Sword? Or is enlightenment cannon for mankey to evolve to Annihilape

Click to shrink...

I haven't, actually, but it's come to my attention that the MC in that story owns a Mankey that essentially has the same goal. I don't really know much about the fic, but I hope I'll differentiate the two enough for it not to be a 1:1 copy.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 217

The sound of Erin Atwood's alarm had always been obnoxious, but it was especially so when she hadn't slept a wink. The girl groaned and rolled to the left to grab her phone and saw that it was already eight. How had she been supposed to sleep, with the people she was meeting today? Even now, she was nervous she was going to mess something up.

"Good morning Comet," Erin sighed. "Mornin' Sat."

Comet and Sat were her Bidoof and Glameow, and they were just as tired as she was despite having slept all night. Comet kept snoring at the foot of her bed while Sat lazily stretched on top of her wardrobe and swayed her tail from side to side. And like clockwork, now that Erin's alarm had rung, she was starting to feel tired. Erin lay in bed for five more minutes and considered sending a message to tell Grace Pastel and Cecilia Obel that she felt sick. All of New Wave had already sung her praises and begged to come with her, and she'd told them that they'd only asked for her because she was their leader. Not going would be betraying her club.

But still, maybe—

"Erin! Are you awake yet?!"

Her mom's voice sapped all of her tiredness away in less than a second and woke up Comet, who nearly fell off the bed. Before Erin could answer, her mother barged into the room. Sat jumped off the wardrobe and rubbed herself on the woman's legs.

"Mom, don't just come in!" Erin stammered.

"Didn't you tell me to wake you up no matter what yesterday in case you slept through your alarm? That you were meeting some new friends and that this was really important, and not to let you miss this for anything in the world?"

"I did say that…"

"Then chop chop!" Her mother yelled. She walked toward her blinds and opened them wide, letting the sunlight through. "I made some chocolate chip cookies for these new friends. You said they were a big deal? You better make a good impression."

"Mom."

"What? You never know where connections can bring you in life. You need to wine and dine them— with my cookies. Go get ready. I'll make more for your friends at New Wave later today."

"Thanks," Erin muttered as she hopped off her bed.

They were a big deal. Celebrities, you could say. Not just because they were among the best first years in the Circuit, but because of their strange closeness with the League. They'd spoken to Cynthia herself, which meant that Erin was basically one person removed from having spoken to the Champion. She was sure they'd be fast-tracked to a job there as soon as the year finished, and many agreed, according to a whole lot of posts on the forums. It was how Flint got his job too! But Erin didn't care for herself. What she wanted was success for New Wave.

The minutes passed quickly. Too quickly. Her club's group chat was alight and the early goers on route 222 were telling her that the Wild Tamers were keeping their distance and all harassment had disappeared. Erin placed her two Pokemon in their balls, made sure she had everything in her bag and sat by her window upstairs to wait. Five minutes before nine in the morning, they just appeared with an Alakazam next to them. Erin had to do a double-take to make sure she wasn't just seeing things. Was she going to Teleport?

"Oh Arceus," she whimpered. Erin had never Teleported before.

Her mother yelled from downstairs, "Your friends are here—"

"I know!"

Erin ran down the stairs and told her mother goodbye, although she told her to be back by eight at the latest. Erin honestly had no idea if she was going to be able to fulfill that promise or not. To her mother and most members of her club, Pokemon training was just a social activity for people to bond and make friends. Most trainers knew that they weren't going to make it big and were just in it for fun. Maybe they'd get a badge or two along the way. Erin's mother herself had forbidden her from ever going further than Veilstone or Pastoria if she ever did go on a journey, and most parents were the same.

Erin didn't exactly know what she wanted in the long term. For now, however? She wanted to beat Volkner before the year ended—

"Are you going to open the door?"

"I'm going," Erin hissed. She pressed down on the handle until her knuckles turned white and pushed it open.

Cecilia and Grace waved at her as she walked through her small garden, and the latter even patted Alakazam on the back like it was just another human and not an all-powerful Pokemon capable of squeezing her brain like a grape. Erin also noticed the scars they both bore. A leg mangled beyond recognition and a body half-burned. It was a reminder of the dangers that lurked behind what Erin knew and had known her entire life, yet they flaunted it like it was nothing.

Well, it wasn't like there was a way to hide the burns anyway.

"Erin! How're you doing?" Grace asked. "Ready to get your feet wet?"

"Sorry to do this so early. We're morning people," Cecilia said. "Next time if you want, we can meet later."

They were going to do this again? Erin thought. They must have really been serious about this.

"That's Alakazam. Mira's. He'll be carrying us around today," Grace said. "Oh, and don't mind the looks, he's actually very nice even if he doesn't look it."

The psychic must have said something through telepathy, because both Grace and Cecilia laughed out loud.

"Um, nice to meet you," Erin greeted Alakazam. "So we're Teleporting? Does it— what does it feel like?"

"Oh, nothing," Cecilia waved. "One second you're somewhere, and the next you're someplace else. It really isn't bad. A little disorienting at most."

"Okay. Sorry to spring all of this on you, by the way."

"This is like a holiday for us, so don't worry," Grace smiled.

Erin blinked, not knowing what to say.

"But we're still taking it very seriously," Cecilia added. "Right?"

"Oh, yeah, of course. Alakazam? Take it away."

The air around Erin suddenly felt colder as the psychic Teleported them… somewhere up a mountain. Erin didn't really recognize this place, and she felt a surge of panic.

"It's route 214, no worries," Grace said. "Still safe."

Erin breathed a sigh of relief, but the blond girl kept going as she turned around.

"Hey, Cece, this is what I was telling you about last night. Isn't it awesome?"

Erin couldn't help but stare as well, and she felt her throat tighten at the sight. The mountain's facade had been destroyed beyond recognition. Large portions of it had collapsed, leaving debris and chunks of rocks at its base, fragmented and disintegrated into a thousand pieces. Layers of sediment and soil, each a different shade had been displaced and large fissures ran up the side of the mountain.

What had done this? Some kind of rampaging wild Pokemon? Was it still on the loose?

"A single Thunder did this?" Cecilia asked in awe. There was a certain glint in her eye that Erin couldn't place.

"I wish. It was three," Grace huffed. "Honey'll get there one day, though. Anyway, Erin! Why don't we start off by greeting your Pokemon?"

Oh.

It had been her?

Erin stared at Grace, who innocently stared up at her. Cecilia had walked toward the destroyed wall and ran her hand over the wounded facade with a grin.

These people, Erin thought as she gulped. They were insane.

—

"A Bidoof and a Glameow. Aren't they cute?" I gushed. I tried to pet the feline, but she turned away from me and jumped on Erin's shoulder while Bidoof just watched. "Are you trying to be a normal type specialist?"

Alakazam suddenly became interested in the conversation, no doubt because of the TE implications this had.

"No, it was just random," Erin stammered. "My mom gave me Comet for my birthday and Sat is hers, but she's lending her to me for battles."

Alakazam deflated and went back to practicing his telekinesis with Psychic.

"Interesting. May I know their moves?"

Erin listed off some common moves that were to be expected from inexperienced Pokemon. Tackle, Scratch, Leer, Growl, et cetera. The usual. Cecilia listened intently as well, although I knew she was thinking further ahead than the basics. Today, we'd stick to those basics, however. I released Angel and grabbed my laptop.

"That's Angel. He's one of my friendliest. Angel, no touching her."

The grass type's vines drooped, but his entire body nodded as I sat on his vines. I'd wanted to get my entire team to train while we were here, but I realized pretty quickly that Erin was far too skittish for that. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her off.

"My mother baked us some cookies too, if you want some," she added.

"Oh, really? Thanks a ton, I haven't eaten today!" I cheered. The girl quickly handed us some and they were delicious. "Now, Erin, how many times have you fought Volkner this year?"

"Only once. The other three times, I fought a Gym Trainer, and it also took me multiple tries to get past the Gym Trainer that allows you to sign up for the real deal," she embarrassingly said. "I got decently close last time, though. I took down his Shinx, but then he pulled out a Magnemite and Sat and Comet don't have much to deal with anything that floats. Every time, they use those against me. Twice I fought Magnemite, then once a Tynamo and another time an Emolga."

"That's your test, then," Cecilia nodded. "You might be able to deal with them power-wise, but he's asking you to think outside the box to deal with something you think you can't. It's a lesson."

Erin turned toward me. "Uh, is what you're writing… good?"

"What? Oh, I'm just summarizing what you're telling us. Bullet points," I said. "Do you mind if we look up a video of your battles while you get your Pokemon warmed up?"

"Uh, go ahead," she hesitantly said. "Comet, Sat, let's start training."

She went off into the distance, but not too far, and she watched her Pokemon jog and use moves on repeat. I entered the Sunyshore Gym's website and quickly found her when I looked up her name. I clicked on one randomly and let the video play. The battle opened with Bidoof against Blitzle.

"What jumps out to you?" Cecilia whispered after around two minutes.

"Well, letting Comet take on Blitzle instead of switching to Glameow was a mistake because of how fast Blitzle is. Comet can't keep up."

Indeed, the electric type ran circles around Bidoof and occasionally zapped him with low-powered Thundershocks from afar.

"You're looking too deep. Wider," Cece said. "We need to start broad and hone in on her deficiencies."

I mused to myself for a few seconds. "The lack of confidence is killing her. She's second-guessing every order and her Pokemon are getting confused."

"Yes."

"Oh, and she closes her eyes whenever her Pokemon get hit. That's a split second lost, and those add up."

"I didn't notice that one," Cecilia said.

"Eh, she could be wincing, it's hard to tell with this video quality," I said, squinting at the screen. "But the fact that she freezes up as well is an issue. Fix these two, and she's golden for the first badge. The flying Pokemon stuff is easily fixable with a little bit of outside-the-box thinking."

"How would you instill confidence in someone? Train her until she can beat her peers easily?" Cecilia asked.

"Hm. Yeah, I think that works. Be gentle with her."

"I'm no Chase," she smirked. "Erin, are you done warming up?!"

The teenager ran toward us a lot faster than she needed to and nearly tripped on the way there.

"Done already?"

"Well, we noticed something big, but easy to fix. You close your eyes and freeze up when your Pokemon get hit, don't you?"

Focusing on the easier issue first to ease Erin in was smart. I was content to let Cecilia work as I continued to watch Erin's battle with the Gym Trainer.

"Well yeah. It's a reflex, I can't stop, but does it matter that much?"

"It does, exceedingly so. Time is a resource, Erin, and you need to be smart when using it. Notice how when you freeze up, the Gym Trainer keeps up the pressure on your Pokemon? Instead of countering or offering a strategy to your Pokemon, you freeze for some precious seconds. Do you battle others often? Non Gym Leaders, I mean," Cecilia asked.

"Not really. I train a bunch, but we only battle every few days," Erin said.

"Desensitize yourself to the feeling of seeing your Pokemon get hurt," Cecilia said. "Do they want to do this? To help you be a trainer?"

Erin nodded, and both Comet and Sat did as well.

"Then they know what that implies. Trust them," she gently smiled, patting her on the shoulder.

"What should I do, then?"

"You could ask them if they want to battle each other," I said. "But some Pokemon dislike that. My team's not a fan, for example, even if they do it sometimes. Meanwhile, Cecilia's has no qualms about it. A Pokemon will improve the quickest when there's struggle involved."

"Struggle doesn't have to mean anything dangerous," Cece quickly added. "Just difficult battles and strenuous training will do. Push them to their limits again and again, and you'll find that limit increasing extremely quickly."

Erin breathed a sigh of relief, which I felt like she'd been doing a whole lot these last few minutes. Her Pokemon agreed to spar— and only a spar for now. It wouldn't do any good to have them faint this early when we had only been there for a few minutes. I wanted her training to last longer than that.

The fight itself was… well, something I'd known to expect. It reminded me of Princess' early days and mainly consisted of Glameow desperately dodging Bidoof's attacks. There was this interesting dynamic where Comet was stronger but slower than Sat, who was weaker but quicker on her feet.

As for Erin countering Volkner's Pokemon capable of flying?

Yawn on Comet could potentially work, but it left the opponent the opportunity to finish him off before they went to sleep, and I assumed that moves like Hypnosis were too advanced of a concept for Sat. She was actually quite spry on her tail, however, and she used it to dodge multiple times.

"Think Sat can use her tail to jump in the air?" I asked.

"Oh. Oh, that could work," Cecilia said. "And it'd take whoever she's fighting by surprise and potentially allow her to get a clean hit."

"See? Progress already," I smiled.

Cecilia nudged her head forward. "Look, she doesn't know who to cheer for."

Erin's eyes desperately alternated between both of her Pokemon, and she kept stammering something under her breath.

"Aw."

—

As it turned out, the training with Erin didn't go nearly as long as I thought, mostly because I'd overestimated how long her Pokemon would be able to train for. What she did have, though, was a lot of questions, and she was finally starting to open up to us, and she took notes on her phone whenever we answered. Cecilia healed up her Pokemon with two potions and she said they'd never been this tired or hurt after a training session, and even battles sometimes ended before things got this far. I was starting to better grasp how people were stuck here all year long, but Erin also told me that some of them didn't really care for the Conference and that this was mostly a hobby.

It was barely over eleven when Alakazam teleported us back to Sunyshore, but instead of going back home, Erin decided to take us to her clubroom.

"People are going to love you," she said. "It's going to be awesome."

"Sure. I'm always willing to help people get better at Pokemon training," I shrugged. "Cece, you're good to go?"

"Yes," she said before leaning against me and whispering. "This might be good PR for you and the Poketch Company."

That was true, but it wasn't my main motive. Or any motive, for that matter. We stepped onto one of the sky bridges and I realized that they were automated walkways. I felt the urge to walk backward on one, but Cece grabbed me by the arm and shook her head at me like a disappointed parent. After navigating this labyrinth of a city for around twenty minutes, we reached the New Wave building.

It looked a lot like a school from the outside, and there was even a playground that was currently only used by young Pokemon. I smiled as an Igglybuff slid down a slide as he waved his little arms and his two friends— a Popplio and a Rattata— waited for him at the bottom. There was a sign made out of cardboard with the words 'New Wave' clumsily painted on it, and dried light blue paint had dripped down from a few of the letters.

We were accosted before we even reached the entryway by a multitude of children with too many faces to remember. Erin introduced each of them as a name that I committed to memory. There was even a girl called Emilia here, and it wasn't actually a school, but some sort of old human daycare according to Erin.

So many questions, pictures, so much noise. It was almost overwhelming, but I found myself able to cope with it, especially with Cece here with me, who handled all the attention like it was second nature for her. After around thirty minutes, Erin locked us up in her office. It was a simple, small room with a wooden desk at its center and some file cabinets. I took a seat and sighed.

"Oh man, that was tiring," I exhaled.

"I'm sorry. I thought it would be nice, and people will talk about this for a long time. This is good for New Wave's rep," Erin said.

"Whose building is— who's paying rent for this?" Cecilia asked.

"Oh, this belongs to Jamie's grandparents. They used to run it as a daycare before they retired, so we're using it for free. We still have to pay for utilities, though, but electricity and water comes cheap here," Erin explained. "And we pool all of our resources together, and some parents help too."

"Well you look like you run a tight ship," I said as I splayed over the desk. "I don't know if I'd be able to do it. Sounds like a hassle. You've got some real leadership skills."

"Really?" The girl beamed. "I mean, yes, uh, I do."

"I must agree. I should take notes," Cecilia mused with a hand to her chin.

"Well, um, I can help you if you need it. I need to go speak to them for a few minutes and tell them to stop the noise, and I'll be back, just five minutes!" Erin exclaimed. As soon as she opened the door, a flurry of voices slipped through the small opening.

"You were really good with the kids too," I told Cece. "Hey, when I have to go to that Poketch event this summer, do you wanna come with me? I can bring a date."

"I'll never say no to you asking me out," she smiled. "This was tiring, though. I got rusty."

"Really? You didn't show it at all. I thought you were fine."

"I can't let it show, Grace, I was trained not to. I thought I'd be fine," she shrugged. "I need to get better at these kinds of events before we get to Unova if I want a chance at nabbing the Championship."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you know already," she said as she began rubbing my shoulders. "There's a lot less 'might makes right' and a lot more politics involved. I told you what happened to Iris, right? She was forced into resigning because she had no political support."

"Uhuh."

"Support is what I need. So I'll need to make connections with politicians, Gym Leaders, and maybe the Elite Four if possible, or I'll just get pushed out of power. For that, I need to work on my charisma and my stamina in social situations, and I'll also need a total reset from my last name so that they know they're speaking to me and not my father."

"You're plenty charismatic already," I said.

"I know. Speaking of, you're going to go after the badges, right? In Unova?"

"Yeah! There's ten, so that sounds like fun."

"Do you want the position at all, though?"

"No," I said right away. "I mean, I'll still fight for it, but if I get there somehow I'll turn it down. I sure as hell don't want to be a politician, I just want to fight strong people."

"I'll have to go through you, then."

"If the brackets line up that way," I said. "By the way, have you always been this good at massages?"

"Am I? I'm just winging it."

"Well, keep winging it please. My back's been pretty tense lately. Maybe I'm growing?"

Cecilia guffawed, "No."

"You could have entertained it!"

—

There was a storm brewing in New Wave, and Erin was desperately trying to contain it. She'd locked the doors to her office from the outside so no one could sneak in and interrupt those two terrifying girls. They were nicer than she would have expected from celebrities, and they gave good tips, but Arceus, sometimes they just said things.

During training, Erin caught a glimpse of Grace's computer and saw that the most recently opened note document was labeled 'LAVA STRATEGY - LETHAL VERSION.' All she had wanted to do was check if her new teacher was writing nice things about her or not! And her other teacher Cecilia wasn't any better either! She kept saying that every time she saw the beach, she felt the urge to glass it. Glass it! Erin had to look up what that implied, and the internet redirected her to a horrifying battle at the Solaceon tournament. And the worst part was, Grace had answered that she understood completely and they both giggled about it afterward like it was a joke. They were completely insane.

But she couldn't deny that she had improved more in that one training session alone than she had in the last few months. A single day, and it felt like the wind was in her sails and Comet and Sat could potentially win at Volkner's Gym if given another few days of training, and if she fixed her own issues they had outlined.

"Erin, when are they coming out? I didn't get a picture?"

"Can they train me too?"

"Are you hogging them for yourself?"

"Are they joining New Wave?"

"Who cares? Lauren Goodwill's better!"

Erin inhaled. "Listen up! Right now, they just came to greet you all. I don't know what they intend to do but it's certainly not join New Wave. Maybe they'd be willing to help out the club temporarily while they stay, but that's it. If you want, I'll outline what they tell me during training and bring it back to you, does that work for everyone?"

"But they're training you specifically. Most of the advice won't apply to us," June yelled in the back.

"I'll ask them for some general advice, then. If you have any specific questions, send them to me and I'll see what I can do, okay? I can't guarantee anything, though, so don't expect much, or you'll be disappointed!"

That seemed to have calmed them down somewhat. Erin created a separate chat where each person could send one question at most. They had three hundred and fifty-six members, so even that was too much. Erin looked the questions over a few times, but an older girl— Sandy— tapped her on the shoulder.

"There are more trainers outside. They heard that Cecilia and Grace were here."

"Heard?"

"It's all over the Sunyshore forums— and the forums in general. They're both usually so private that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"You can't ambush them, Sandy."

"Don't call it an ambush, it's just fans wanting to meet them. Denzel Williams does it all the time— and did you hear he was on his way here? I'm his biggest admirer, I can't wait!"

Erin pushed a thumb against her forehead and sighed. "Keep them out. Don't disturb them ever. We don't know what they'll do if they get angry."

"Why do you look like that? Like you're scared?"

"I'm not scared, I'm just nervous. It's not like they laugh about blowing things up or glassing beaches or anything—"

"What?"

"I'm just joking. Haha. Isn't it funny? Please laugh."

Sandy frowned and just stared at Erin like she was insane.

"Okay, I'm going back in there. Keep them out, Sandy. Keep them out no matter what."

—

"Okay, but fossils cost a bajillion to buy, let alone revive. I bet your dad had some fossil sitting in one of his mansions," I said.

"Yes. A Plume Fossil," Cecilia smiled. "It's behind a glass display near the entrance of our home in Castelia to impress the guests. He never did want to revive it, though. I'm just saying that fossil Pokemon are interesting. They function on a completely different mindset and are a lot more aggressive, even with their trainers."

"Byron has one, right? Bastiodon."

"Yes, and Roark has Rampardos. I just think it'd be an interesting challenge—"

Erin knocked on the door of her own office and then entered when we told her to.

"You don't need to knock, Erin. This is your place," I said. "So, what now?"

"Um, could we get Alakazam back?" She muttered.

"I'd have to call Mira," I said. "He'd probably be pissed at me for asking him to come when I told him he could go. Do you want to go back to the route?"

"Oh, no, it was just to ask. Um, there might be a huge crowd of trainers outside. They aren't from our club. And, uh, I don't want you to get mad or damage our building."

I frowned. "Damage your building? Why would we even— even if we're mad, we wouldn't do that. The Poketch Company would hate me, and I'd be arrested!"

"And you know, there are people in the building," Cece said.

"Yes, but that's obvious, so it's beside the point."

"You said you wanted to glass a beach, so I didn't know—"

Cece grimaced. "Erin, you weren't supposed to hear that. It was just a flirty joke, nothing serious."

"Flirty?!" She coughed. "O—okay, yeah. Flirting, got it. Okay, let's go ahead and leave, then. Sandy's keeping them out, so I'll clear the way for you."

Even with Erin here, avoiding the crowd was impossible, but she seemed to have a lot of authority even with non-club members in the city. When she yelled, people listened, and we were through easily.

—

"See you later, Erin. Cece will take care of you tomorrow, and we'll be together the day after that, alright?" I said. "Thank your mother for the cookies for us!"

"I will!" She yelled as she waved. "Sorry for the misunderstanding!"

"We apologize too!" Cecilia exclaimed. We waved until Erin returned to the street the New Wave building was situated on. "Arceus, that was a disaster."

"Hey," I said with an air of smugness as I bumped her arm with mine. "You're the one who scared her in the end. I was completely innocent."

"She wasn't supposed to hear it," Cece groaned. "And you started it with what you did to that mountain! You could have fixed it with Princess, but you kept it there to show me when you knew I'd love it!"

"Are those excuses I hear? It's okay, I'll just bask in this superiority for the next week, don't mind me," I teased. "Don't worry about it, we'll grow on her. Hopefully. She didn't refuse to meet us again, at least."

"I suppose so," she shrugged. "She has potential. She's a planner like you are."

"She is," I agreed. "Let's hope we manage to nab her a badge."

We walked back to our Pokemon Center, and while Cecilia left to meet with Chase for some theory crafting about dark TE, I stuck around and secluded myself in my room.

It was time to see how Volkner functioned in detail.

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri, Rhuodric

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 218

"Princess. Analysis time, get in here," I said.

The flying type chirped as she floated on my lap, and I opened my laptop so she could see with me. She hadn't given her input before, but she was just as smart as I was and I wanted her more involved in the process so we could bounce ideas off each other and she could get better at noticing weaknesses. I already had Volkner's Gym website open, and I felt a sense of pride when I clicked on the six badge battles. What I did see, though, was disappointing. Even at a level this high, Volkner still didn't fight in a lot of his battles and had a few League Trainers capable of standing in for him do so instead. I applied the seventh and eighth badge filter and saw that he was present for all of those.

"So six badges is your threshold?" I murmured. "Okay."

I wasn't sure if demanding to battle him when I signed up would work, but I'd make sure he wouldn't abandon his duties somehow. I also decided to study Volkner exclusively and not bother with any of his League Trainers.

At six badges, I was finally getting into the big leagues, and Volkner was a difficult opponent to make that transition with. I'd heard and said multiple times that he was a master of the field, but seeing him in action was different. All of his Pokemon at this level knew Electric Terrain— all of them. That meant that no matter what, I'd be fighting against boosted electric type attacks, but that was just the surface. Electric Terrain was simple to deal with compared to everything else Volkner had up his sleeve.

"Let me tab out for a second— actually, I'll just split the screen. Keep watching the battle for me and see if you catch anything."

Princess nodded, but her eyes had already been glued to the screen. I opened my notes and began to type. Volkner had many variations of Electric Terrain, each with different effects— but all of them would still power up electric type moves.

The first was something I'd named Static Terrain, although Volkner called it Electric Terrain Two. It was just as bad as it sounded. Any Pokemon that stood still for too long would eventually get paralyzed, and getting paralyzed meant that they'd struggle to move, which in turn meant that they'd get further paralyzed and then they'd enter a death loop while Volkner fired off Thunderbolts or whatever was needed to finish them off. Funnily enough, however, flying types or Pokemon capable of flight were immune to this and of course, so were any electric types.

With a small grunt, Princess brought the fact that she couldn't see any weaknesses to this move to my attention. Volkner could have his Pokemon create Static Terrain in mere seconds and it looked to require next to no concentration. Another electric type could possibly counter it, but Honey and I hadn't trained enough in that department and catching up to a Gym Leader with years of experience was next to impossible, so we'd have to adapt.

Not all of his Pokemon could use this variation. They were mostly kept to his heavy hitters that weren't as fast, but were endurant enough to sustain the effect. Of course, not as fast was relative with Volkner. Luxray, Manectric, even his damn Ampharos was fast somehow. This would not only be a battle against the element of electricity, but speed itself.

"Wait, Princess. I got a counter," I smiled. "Well, not a counter, but I noticed something. None of his Pokemon that float can use the damn move."

Magnezone, Eelektross, Vikavolt— all of the fliers were incapable of using Static Terrain. The only logical conclusion was that to sustain the attack, a Pokemon needed to constantly channel electricity through their feet like Zachary had done with his own Ampharos. If he hadn't battled me in Veilstone, I was sure it would have taken me some extra days to figure this out, so I'd have to thank him.

The next effect— which I donned 'Electric Fog' had no such limitations. Volkner would somehow create some kind of mist that he then supercharged, and the electricity would desperately jump at any Pokemon inside at random intervals and it'd reduce visibility, even if not by that much. This one was less annoying than the first overall, but it would destroy Princess if we didn't master her shielding in time. Almost all of his Pokemon could use this, but Volkner liked to keep it to his more frail Pokemon, along with his Pokemon capable of flight.

Now, these were the main two that he used, at least at my level, but there were a few more that he kept if he needed. Sometimes he'd flood the field with his Lanturn— that he had somehow gotten so good at water manipulation that he could fight on land by being submerged in floating water. Now, he wouldn't do it all the way. Volkner only created a massive, arena-wide puddle that was ankle-deep and then he electrified it. If he only had two Pokemon left, however, he'd flood it completely. Eelektross and Lanturn were very adept at navigating water, and any water types you countered with that weren't also either electric or ground type would be quickly fried in the water.

His electric types that knew the move Rain Dance could create a Thunderstorm that made Thunderbolt and Thunder strike from above instead of from his Pokemon, and the move would be quicker and almost impossible to dodge. Volkner's arena actually shared Gardenia's open skies, and it was the only one to do so. I shared some thoughts with Princess about countering it with Angel or Sunshine's Sunny Day, but I'd have no way to know if that worked until I was in the battle itself. Weather moves countering each other only worked if the Pokemon was better practiced with it than the other.

And for some reason, these were all called Electric Terrain with some number by the end. Volkner had a disappointing amount of inspiration when naming things.

"Speaking of Volkner's arena," I muttered.

On the surface, his didn't look that different from Maylene's, but that was only at first glance. There was a lot more metal in the rocks than the average arena, which meant that any chunks or debris could be moved and manipulated with incredible precision through magnetism, like what Zachary's Ampharos had done but with ten times the amount of control. Volkner mostly used those for defense, though. Offense by throwing rocks looked a little lame when you could summon a lightning strike from the sky itself and would serve next to no purpose.

Now, this was all… kind of overwhelming. To go from Maylene's simple but effective fighting style to this was difficult, but there was a silver lining to all of this. Volkner had practically no defense to speak of beyond rocks, and those weren't very good. No Protect, no barriers, nothing. Just like what I'd heard about his best friend Flint, Volkner was an overwhelming attacker who believed that offense was the best defense, which meant that his Pokemon would go down a lot easier than Maylene's. I watched as the slouched Gym Leader placed his hands in his pockets and a Raichu sliced up an Onix with an Iron Tail.

"He looks bored, don't you think?" I asked.

Princess nodded and told me his mug was also ugly and unpleasant to look at.

"Someone's been hanging out with Sunshine too much," I said, petting her head. "You're lucky you're a Pokemon and people don't understand you, you know? You need to be nicer."

The fairy type absent-mindedly nodded and was mostly preoccupied by my head scratches.

Unlike Fantina, Volkner didn't hate battling, he just hated battling at what he considered a low-level, which the sixth badge was still apparently a part of. What I did see, however, were glimpses of enjoyment from time to time. When he got hit by a tactic he didn't expect or a battle he'd been handily winning suddenly tightened, he actually smiled and got into it. What I needed was for him to feel like that for the entire battle, and Lauren would as well.

"Possible, but difficult. What Pokemon did you notice were tougher than the rest?" I asked. "We'll see if we came to the same conclusion."

While Princess shared some of my worries, she mostly picked Pokemon that would counter her terribly— so Pokemon that were fast and highly maneuverable in the air, and who could run circles around her.

"Don't be biased. Looking at the team as a whole, the biggest problems are… Toxtricity, Heliolisk, Lanturn, Zebstrika, Galvantula and Eelektross, I think. Raichu looks easy, but Alolan Raichu isn't. He's the only one that can do barriers, even if they're weaker than yours. Think you'll have your new ones mastered by the battle? I'd probably give it a week and a half or two weeks."

The fairy type nodded firmly, letting me know that there was no doubt in her mind.

Toxtricity was a poison type, and I had very few counters for those, so he was on top of the list. Lanturn and Eelektross for reasons already outlined, Zebstrika because she was so fast that she was nearly impossible to hit. Heliolisk and Galvantula were also quick, but their way of fighting was more gimmicky. Galvantula was quick, and she liked to wrap your Pokemon in a thunderous web and knock them out while they couldn't move. Despite being so tiny, Heliolisk could dish out incredible attacks from afar, and his dragon and ground type moves would actually be able to counter Sunshine even if he was one badge level ahead. Plus, he was like Gardenia's Lombre since he could take advantage of both the rain and the sun with Solar Beam, but Solar Power meant that he wouldn't be able to fight for long under the latter even if his attacks would be boosted.

And I couldn't forgo the possibility of Volkner using a seven-badge Pokemon to counter Sunshine.

Either way, these were just the ones that jumped at me. At this level, everything Volkner brought out would be a threat, and I'd be a fool to underestimate Pokemon like Luxray and Manectric even if they were more of a jack of all trades.

Now, that wasn't it. This battle was two-fold. One, impress Volkner. Two, there was the question of how to make Honey shine the brightest. I didn't only need to impress Volkner, but I needed to show him that Honey was worthy of the knowledge he held. Thunder would no doubt help with that, as the move was so intensive that I was sure Volkner had almost never seen any six badger use it against him. In fact, it was so powerful that it would deal a decent amount of damage against electric types without abilities that rendered all electric type attacks useless.

But that wasn't it. He couldn't just hold his own. He needed to excel.

He needed to be my ace for the battle.

"Looks like we have our work cut out for us like usual," I said as I stretched. "I'll start outlining the moves I see. You just observe for now, okay? And use the opportunity to get better at reading letters."

—

I probably would have kept studying all night if Cecilia hadn't knocked on my door to check if I was still awake. She knew me too well at this point and had forced me to go to sleep since I was waking up relatively early tomorrow to meet with Lauren. I fell asleep right as I hit the bed and morning came in a flash. I did feel stupid because we hadn't actually decided on where to meet. After a quick call, we quickly realized we were actually staying in the same Pokemon Center by pure luck. We decided to meet downstairs in the lobby, but it took me a while to find her because she was wearing a face mask, sunglasses and wearing a hoodie. She was the one who actually waved at me.

"Lauren, what's with the getup?" I frowned. "You alright?"

She was the same as always, but it looked like some of her skittishness had disappeared, at least.

"It's my disguise. I did what you told me yesterday, Grace… I tried scaring them off. They liked it."

I let out a scoff and leaned in as I began to whisper, "Okay, I'm sorry. I guess they're a lot more rabid than I thought. Have you considered putting out a statement online? I know you already walk around with Sirris everywhere, so you should be fine security-wise, but maybe you should be straight with them."

"So I should tell them that they're fucking annoying wastes of space and that I'd be happy if they died?" She shyly whispered back.

"Maybe something less extreme?" I said. "Like, 'hey, I'm happy I have fans, but please stop waiting for me outside of my Pokemon Center because it makes me feel uncomfortable'. If you want to keep working with Silph Co., you can't seem too violent or extreme. It sucks and it's unfair, but walking around with a Pokemon is kind of the limit of what you can do."

"I see. Sirris said the same thing, which is why I tried to hide."

"No, that's just common sense," I said. "Want to go to the Boardwalk? Eat some ice cream?"

"It's pretty hot today," she nodded. "Ice cream sounds fine."

I felt my lips creep upward when I imagined Sunshine screaming that no, fifteen degrees Celsius wasn't hot. I feared his standard had forever been altered by Alola. We left the building with Lauren's disguise, and we quickly hopped on a bus.

"I wonder why your fans are so extreme?" I asked her. "I mean, we all have some, but yours are something else."

"I don't know. At some point, I thought it was because of my brother, but—"

Lauren froze when she spoke of Craig.

"What's going on?"

"Craig… uh, talking about him made me remember he's here."

"By here, you mean here? In Sunyshore? I thought he was training on Mount Coronet!"

It was at times like these that I regretted not being as online as some of my other friends. It meant I could miss easy information like this.

"Well, he's been there for a few months now, so he's taking a break," Lauren said. "I'm surprised he hasn't come to see me."

"Why? You said you didn't want anything to do with him," I shrugged as I watched the city pass us by. "He probably learned to respect your wishes."

"Maybe… I guess…"

"You know, it's alright to want to see your brother," I said.

"I don't want to see him, I was just wondering."

"Well, it works out for me. I haven't been able to thank him in person since he kind of secured my deal with Poketch for me. I wonder if he'd be willing to meet."

"I mean, he's quite busy. The Poketch Company was getting antsy about him going missing for so long, and they want to use him as much as they can before he disappears again. Or at least I think so!" She exclaimed.

I turned toward her with a smug smile. So she did like her brother after all.

—

We'd made it to the boardwalk, which was even more packed than yesterday now that the city was warming up. A few brave souls had decided to enter the waters of the beach too. I waited for Lauren to complete her order as I ate some of my ice cream from the small paper cup the stand gave me. I'd never been a fan of cones. Lauren, meanwhile came back with a yellow ice cream.

"What's that flavor?"

"Ginger pineapple ice cream," she said before licking the base of her cone. "You should have one too."

"I'll stick to strawberry, thanks," I said. "So, Lauren. What do you know about Volkner so far?"

"That he's tough," she grinned. "He can make the battlefield extremely difficult to even stand on for anything that isn't an electric type. I'm confident I can handle him, but I know this is going to be harder than Maylene."

I resisted the urge to start rambling on everything I'd studied up on last night. I knew Lauren functioned differently than me, and she did have two ground types. Even if Volkner had ways to counter them, she was in a good spot to win.

"What Pokemon do you have on your radar?" I asked. "By the way, I have to say, I fucking love your sunglasses. Sorry if that comes out of nowhere."

"Oh. Thanks," she smiled. "I bought them the other day, I can show you the store if you want to."

"Sure!"

"And for his Pokemon, well, uh, Lanturn looks annoying. Then there's Zebstrika, Alolan Raichu…"

I nodded along with her list. Even if she didn't study as much as I did, she was able to scope out threats with the little amount she had, which proved her instincts were on point. Of course, some of her answers differed from mine. Toxtricity wasn't as much of a problem against her team, for example. I finished my ice cream, threw it in the trash and we kept talking.

"Now, to impress Volkner, it won't be enough to just win. You'll have to bring out your A-game."

"I always bring my A-game."

"Just making sure," I innocently raised my hands. "He loves twists and turns he didn't expect, so try to think outside the box. If the battle is predictable, he'll hate it even if you're throwing powerful attacks around or fucking up the field. So, we should share what we plan on doing and make our tactics different."

"I don't have a plan. I think I'll just wing it."

"Oh Arceus," I shivered. "People like you terrify me."

"Am— Am I scary?" She whimpered.

"Well, the fact that you're as good as you are while winging things is scary, yes," I said. "Anyway, do you plan on using lava in any way shape or form? Or just using the sun in general?"

"You're thinking sun team?" Lauren mused. "Interesting."

I shrugged. "Sorta kinda."

"Well, I'll probably use Lava Plume with Mags, but that's it in the lava front."

I nodded. Magmar's Lava Plume wasn't as hot as what Sunshine was capable of, so I thought Volkner would still be impressed with us. We kept sharing some insights for Volkner until Lauren brought me to the store she'd bought her sunglasses in. It was nice to finally hang out with her. We were friends, but until today, it was like she didn't feel the same way.

"And don't forget, your Magmar needs to leave a mark on Volkner. That means you need to do everything in your power to make him an unstoppable force. Taking down multiple Pokemon with him would be ideal."

"You've seen Mags battle. I have no doubt in my heart that he'll do it."

"Good. The question is, how do we guarantee a battle with Volkner?" I asked as I stared at myself in the mirror with a pair of sunglasses. "Think they'll agree if we ask? We're among the best first years."

"I don't know. I thought you would know."

"I guess I can call Candice," I whispered. That was one of the levers I could pull. "She might be busy working, though."

"You have Candice's number?"

"Oh yeah, we're friends," I said. "Want to know what she's all about? She'll be your eighth badge, right?"

"I would like that, yes," Lauren nodded.

"Okay, let me call her first. I'm going to buy these sunglasses and a matching pair for Cece, so I'll be right back."

I walked up to the counter with a giddy feeling inside of me. Was I buying too much stuff for her? Honestly, I wanted to shower her with gifts, but this was already my second— or my third, if I counted the video Emi had agreed to edit. Cecilia didn't have a laptop yet either… but she'd probably feel uncomfortable if I gave her too much, and I had explicitly told her not to do the same for me. I dragged Lauren into one of the changing rooms as I scrolled through my contacts to call Candice.

"Hi Candice. You're on speaker," I said.

"Oh! Grace, you called me? I'm so moved!"

"We spoke the other day. You called me to say happy birthday when it wasn't my birthday yet? Remember that?"

"Oh, yeah, right," she said. "Who else is here? Is it your giiiirlfrieeeeend? Cecilia! How're you doing! You should call me more often!"

"It's not Cece, it's my friend Lauren."

"Lauren? Oh, Craig's sister?!" Candice yelled before freezing. I ignored Lauren's annoyed expression and waited for Candice to continue. "Yes. Hello, Snowpoint's Gym Leader Candice here. Please keep this short, we're extremely busy."

"Lauren's fine, you don't have to pretend to be working," I rolled my eyes. "We had a question regarding Volkner."

"Oh, grumpy old Volkner? Shoot."

"You know how he lets his Gym Trainers battle for him? Could we somehow prevent that for us? And you know, my friends who may not want to have it easier too?"

Candice laughed and I heard her slap her knee. "Don't be so oblivious, Grace. You don't have to worry about that!"

"What do you mean?"

"Well first, you brought Maymay to tears, so Volkner won't pass this chance. You're lucky he's a good Gym Leader, or he would have sworn revenge against you or something and made your win impossible. It would have been funny, though. Craig's Volkner's buddy and he gives him the best battles, so I'm pretty sure he'll battle his sister—"

"Let's stop with the sister stuff," I interrupted. "Sensitive subject."

"My bad, I seem to be very good at stepping on landmines. And I doubt Volkner will pass up the opportunity to fight the best first years, so your friends should be fine! You were worrying for no reason. You're lucky we're friends, or I would have charged you for this. I'm very busy, there's mountains of paperwork—"

"You let all of your League Trainers handle that, Candice," I said. "And Snowpoint's still frozen over, so trainers haven't started arriving yet. You're probably bored out of your mind."

"I am!" She screamed with a fake cry. "I wanna go to Sunyshore and hang out with Volkner! He got this new girlfriend and I haven't met her yet, I want to embarrass him in front of her so badly! Like, what if I told her all of his deepest secrets?"

"You're the worst," I smirked.

"The best. Anyway, no joke, I actually have to go train some of the little guys, so I'll be off. Say hello to the others for me. Bye Lauren, it was nice to meet you even though I'm pretty sure you hate me!"

I stared at Lauren, but she didn't answer.

"Sheesh, that's awkward. Bye Grace!"

"See ya later, Candice. Thanks for the help."

I hung up the phone and grinned. It looked like I'd been worrying for nothing.

"I don't like her," Lauren muttered.

"Yes, I could tell. But this was good news, right? We're basically golden, now we just have to not fumble the opportunity."

"We won't. I never back down from a tough challenge."

—

I spent another few hours with Lauren going to different shops on the boardwalk, but we separated after that. I made sure to warn her that since she also had a Pokemon more powerful than the rest of her team in Rhydon, Volkner could possibly amp up the difficulty. When I asked her what she was planning on doing to figure out how the hell Rhydon evolved, she told me she was planning on going to the Battle Frontier to speak to Barry Lane's father after the Conference. In a way, it was weird to see everyone so interconnected.

Before I went off to borrow one of Mira's psychics to train, Louis and Maeve were finally free to meet. I didn't know what had gotten them so busy, but it was apparently some kind of intense training regiment that meant that they had an intense battle every few hours and limited their Pokemon to potions unless they really needed to go to the Center. As a result of that, they'd battled the most out of everyone in the group, and their Pokemon approved. Especially Gabite.

I met them in one of the many arenas dotting Sunyshore, although this one was quite far away from our Pokemon Center since they were staying in a different one. I was greeted by a Ninetales battling toe-to-toe with an Infernape and Louis and Maeve standing at two opposite sides of the battlefield. Not only that, but a Gligar clung to Maeve's head and tried to eat her hair while she battled.

It seemed like we hadn't been the only ones moving forward.

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri, Rhuodric

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 219

The battlefield was embroiled in fire.

Ninetales crouched as she opened her maw wide with her throat lit by the bright flames building within. Fire exploded out of her mouth, but where she truly shone was control. She weaved fire like it was a part of her body, and the flames divided outward in ten parts, each going toward Infernape at different speeds.

"Torment!" Maeve yelled.

Infernape's eyes dimmed, losing their vibrant color as the fighting type scrambled across the arena to dodge the following flames. Ninetales lit up with a rage I'd never seen her have as a Vulpix and the flames dissipated into thin air. Her tails coiled around her body and toward her mouth, and this time, a Shadow Ball formed.

"Get in there and Power-Up Punch! Calm Mind too!" She yelled again.

The Shadow Ball flew forward, curving toward Infernape. Ninetale's eyes shone bright pink and I started to feel drowsy.

"Taunt!" Maeve screeched.

The Hypnosis ended, and the Shadow Ball hit Infernape in the leg, exploding into purple smoke that he quickly left behind. The fire type grunted in pain every time he used his wounded leg, but the Calm Mind was already starting to take effect. I was surprised at how seamless it had all been, but Maeve's starter had never been one to not be calm.

"Extrasensory," Louis ordered.

Ninetales howled, and the air in front of Infernape warped. The fighting type struggled against the psychic force, but he kept building the flames around himself until he turned into a fireball brighter than anything in the arena. I covered my eyes as the flames around Infernape jutted out like knives and stabbed into Ninetales, who yipped and slammed him away with her powerful tails.

In a way, the battle was a deadlock. Ninetales and Infernape only had a few moves that weren't fire type and that meant that they would struggle to take each other down. I'd been watching for the last ten minutes, after all. But maybe that was the point. The destructive force that they both brought to the table was nothing to scoff at, and I could easily see that they'd both improved leaps and bounds. Louis took a more proactive role in things, even if he still liked to hang back, while Maeve had slowed down her orders and actually thought before giving them instead of a panicky stream of commands that were only half feasible.

The two Pokemon threw two Flamethrowers at each other, and the explosion and subsequent shockwave rattled the small arena even though the barriers held. Sometimes, I'd see Ninetales attempt to control Infernape's fire, but she still struggled on that front. I'd place her above the fighting type for now, but he was nothing to scoff at and unlike Zachary's Infernape, he preferred to fight at a distance.

"Confuse Ray," Louis exhaled. He seemed to know exactly when Infernape's Taunt had run out, and the problem with Taunt was that Pokemon grew a tolerance to it when used multiple times in a single battle.

A strange ray of light appeared in front of Ninetales forehead and rushed toward Infernape in a straight line. Gone was the wobbly nature of the attack she'd struggled with as a Vulpix. That wasn't it either. More flames converged toward Infernape in an attempt to keep him from moving. Maeve tried Taunt again, but the light only slightly dimmed and wavered.

Infernape attempted to run, to attack to interfere with Ninetale's focus, but nothing worked. The Confuse Ray caught up to him, and he started attacking in every direction. Even himself.

But what surprised me was that he broke out of the confusion in twenty seconds. That had only been enough time for Ninetales to hit him with more flames and another Shadow Ball. At this point, these two were so in tune with each other that they knew every trick and could counter them in countless ways.

After another five minutes, Ninetales and Infernape had been brought to the point of exhaustion, although it looked like Infernape could still keep going for a while longer. Louis and Maeve both recalled their Pokemon and nodded at each other.

"Good battle," Maeve cheered. "Are we doing Bisharp against Empoleon later?"

"Sure thing. Uh, Grace is here!" Louis smiled as he waved. "Good afternoon!"

Bisharp too, huh? I finally understood what they were doing, now. Throwing Pokemon that couldn't deal that much damage to each other over and over, like an unstoppable object meeting an unmovable force. That meant that their Pokemon would struggle more, but improve faster. It was an ingenuous method, especially since they battled each other so much. I waved back at Louis as the arena's employee arrived with a Sandslash that began fixing the arena. The blond boy rubbed his scarred cheek and nodded at me.

"Hi Louis. Working hard, I see," I smirked. "Got your badge yet?"

"Oh, me? Not yet, but Maeve has hers, so she's got the same number as I do now."

"It was kind of underwhelming. My Pokemon were stronger than my badge level, so the first match up was a Luxio, so that was free," Maeve chimed in. "The rest were tough, but I was fighting a Gym Trainer, so I ended up winning with an entire Pokemon to spare."

I patted her on the shoulder. "Look at you! All confident now."

"Maylene was kind of a wake up call," she said as she awkwardly shuffled. My eyes settled on the Gligar on her head.

"He's cute. Where did you get him?"

"Route 214. It took a few days because I was looking for one specifically. You told me it was okay to be picky, and I really wanted one. He's still catching up to the rest of the team right now. Gli, say hi."

The ground type seemed a lot more preoccupied with eating and licking her hair right now, but he spared me a passing glance. Maeve didn't look like she minded, but it was more of a defeated look than anything else. Like she'd already tried everything to get him to stop, but resigned to her fate.

"Nice to meet you, Gli," I greeted, dipping my head slightly. "So. Ninetales."

"Ninetales," Louis repeated.

"Is it true what they say? The curses and stuff?"

"Well, there's some degree of truth to it, but she's not at a level where she'd be able to inflict any kind of curse on you, no," Louis smiled. "She's been quite irritable since evolving, however, and it took some long nights negotiating because of lifespan issues and, I had no idea what she meant most of the time, but we came to an agreement. It has to do with my long term goal."

"He's too embarrassed to say it to anyone else," Maeve added. "He didn't even tell Mira when we met her yesterday."

"Well, it's quite private," he quickly added. "Could you wait a little while we heal our Pokemon?"

"Oh, sure thing," I said.

I'd never seen a Ninetales from up close, and she did not disappoint. Her fur was golden like the sun, and her tails tipped in a fiery orange, and it had no signs of burning even if she'd been fighting in a sea of flames. Even Infernape was burned in some spots. Her red eyes analyzed me as Louis applied potions to the areas she'd been hit, and his hands sunk into her fur every time he dug to get the spray applied to her skin.

"Can I touch?" I asked her with a raised hand.

Louis was about to answer, but Ninetales shot him an angry look. After reflecting for a few seconds, she deigned to let me touch one of her tails. The third one from the right, to be quite exact. I had no idea why it had been so specific, but I respected her too much to go against her wishes.

Plus, pissing off the embodiment of fire that lived for a thousand years might have been a bad idea.

I nearly gasped at how soft it was. It was like touching a cloud— or a stack of feathers. After five seconds, Ninetales grunted and I pulled my hand off her tail.

"Thank you for that," I said.

"Sorry, she's—"

"It's okay. She's entitled to what she wants," I shrugged.

"Do you want to get lunch somewhere, all three of us?" Louis asked.

"I ate a little with Lauren, so not that hungry, but I can order some fries or something," I said.

"Sounds good," Maeve agreed. "Let's go and catch up."

Arceus, Cece would probably kill me for what I ate today. Ice cream and fries? I was pretty sure that'd give her a heart attack.

—

"Now, now, Erin," Cecilia gently chided. "You have to be firm. Don't doubt yourself when you battle. Sat and Comet know you well enough to tell, and they'll begin doubting themselves too. Say it firmly."

"C—Comet, Tackle!"

Cecilia smiled as she observed the Bidoof run up to Slowking. The psychic let him hit him in the gut, and the normal type bounced off like he'd run into a rubber band.

Should I act hurt, my lady? Slowking asked.

"What? No," Cecilia said.

No, no, look. I'm feeling Slow-hurt right now. Isn't that a good one? I'm going to report it to Alakazam and Gardevoir.

Cecilia restrained a laugh. "You have a problem."

Erin frowned. "What is it?"

Cecilia shook her head. "No, no, it was just Slowking."

She wasn't used to Slowking not being able to bring one of her friends into his psychic link, but Erin had never been telepathically spoken to before and she didn't want to give her a terrible headache. Today was Cecilia's day with Erin, but none of the Teleporters had been available, so they were on route 222. She'd wanted to go to the edge of the route to avoid other trainers, but Erin had vehemently refused, since she was scared some wild Pokemon would jump out of the tree line and attack them despite Cecilia assuring her that Slowking would catch any danger.

Cecilia was in a dilemma here. On one hand, she could have released Zweilous to scare off admirers. On the other, Erin would be scared as well. She wouldn't mind speaking to younger trainers, but she was here to train Erin, and the amount of people that had come up to them— both in and out of New Wave— was starting to get annoying. Still, this was practice. It was good for the long term, since she was planning to throw herself to the Sharpedo and enter politics.

"That was a nice, firm command. It doesn't have to be loud, just solid," Cecilia continued. "Now, it'd be good to see if you could replicate that in an actual battle. Why don't you go check on one of your club members with no badges and challenge them?"

"S—sure thing," Erin said. "But before that, I have to ask. Don't take this the wrong way, please."

"Nothing you could say would bother me," Cecilia said.

"Wait, nothing? Really?"

"Yes. Go ahead."

"I just think I need to ask for the general safety of Pokemon, okay? This isn't me bad mouthing your girlfriend."

What now, Cecilia sighed to herself. She motioned at Erin to keep going as Comet kept using Tackle on Slowking.

"I know you somehow flirt about weird stuff, but this— uh, I read this and I couldn't help but think, what if—"

"Erin. Please, talk."

"Do you know about this lava plan thing? I glanced at her screen yesterday and it said…" Erin looked around before leaning in to whisper. "Lethal version."

A few thoughts ran through Cecilia's mind, but none of them were concern. The first one was that Grace's aloofness was cute as always. Just imagining her typing that made her smile, but a mental nudge from Slowking made her remember than Erin expected an answer, and she looked more scared than she'd been before she asked the question. Cecilia didn't know much about the lava plan besides the fact that Grace whispered about it in her sleep a lot and that she enjoyed watching her do so.

"Oh, it's just theoretical," Cecilia waved a hand.

"Theoretical way to m—murder?"

"Well, yes, but you know. At a certain point in a trainer's career, you come up with strategies that are too dangerous to use sometimes. Grace just likes to keep them written in her notes. She's very diligent."

"Oh, right. That makes sense. I think?"

"Yes. It's completely normal," Cecilia lied. "You don't have to worry about it. Now, off you go. I'll keep an eye on you, but I've got to watch some of Volkner's battles."

Volkner was going to be an issue, and Cecilia knew it, but if her time with Chase could give her the breakthrough she needed with dark type energy with Scyther, then so long as the bug type scored a hit, she'd be able to cut off their access to most TE's for a short amount of time. That meant that all terrain alteration would weaken or even disappear.

Using a flying type as a lynchpin in an electric type Gym? Cecilia chuckled to herself. Just like Zweilous with Maylene, she was going to take a big risk with this battle, but both Talonflame and Slowking would struggle as well. It could also be the breakthrough her and Scyther desperately needed. She knew he had the power to stand with the others, but they needed the dam to break before Scyther fought like Cecilia knew he was capable of.

"Right away, Cecilia!"

"You can relax, this isn't the army."

Before opening the website to Volkner's Gym, Cecilia opened her messages to Grace and sent something to check on her.

I am currently training with Erin, and it is going well. Have you eaten yet?

—

Cece

I am currently training with Erin, and it is going well. Have you eaten yet?

I chewed through a fry and my tongue, wincing at the sharp pain. My sunglasses nearly fell off my head.

"Grace? Are you alright? Is it urgent?" Louis asked, dropping his fork and knife. He'd ordered some salad with cheese and Maeve had taken the same thing.

"No, no," I said. I quickly answered the text and expected a verbal lashing about my nutrition later. After putting the phone back in my pocket, I continued. "Just Cece. So, we were talking about plans."

"Right. So as I was saying, I don't have a flier, and Maeve's Staraptor isn't big enough for the two of us, so I was thinking of hitching a ride on Pauline's Braviary. Do you think she'd say yes?" Louis asked.

And there was also the fact that Maeve was leaving as soon as she got her license to go back to Veilstone to challenge Maylene again— or another Gym Trainer, in this case. Louis would be alone again soon if he didn't find a solution.

"Well, Pauline did tell me she planned on separating from the group as soon as we finished up Pastoria, but I'm not sure," I shrugged. "Why don't you get yourself a flying type or a psychic anyway? It'd be good for the long term, even after this year. Plus, you're halfway to eight now, right? And even fewer months. If you don't get your sixth soon, you don't know if they'll be ready for the Conference, and that's a whole other issue."

An issue which would be a lot more common if more first years ever made it to the Conference in the first place. The number was usually lower than twenty, although there'd probably be more this year due to it having more people in general. Thirty, maybe?

"I know it isn't to my advantage," Louis acknowledged. "But I don't want to be that strategic with my Pokemon. If one falls on my lap in need of rescue, then I'll pick it up. If not, then I'll move on."

I nodded. "That's fair, everyone's different."

"Come to think of it, Grace… have you seen Justin here?" Louis asked.

He'd told me 'come to think of it,' but I knew it had been weighing on his mind the past hour. I had hoped that Justin would have spoken to him after our short talk, but it looked like it hadn't been the case.

"He'll speak to you. I'm sure of it," I said. "I don't know when, but it'll happen."

I saw it in his face on route 214.

We stayed in relative silence for another few minutes until I spoke up again.

"By the way, will you guys be there for Cece and I's birthday parties? We were planning on doing it in a Center room like usual, but it'll be pretty crowded and we made a new friend that said we could use their property late at night when everyone was gone. You guys heard of New Wave?"

They both shook their heads, and I started telling them about clubs.

—

Alakazam and Gardevoir weren't available today, and the scale of the training I wanted to do wasn't suitable for route 222, so I'd unfortunately have to skip out on lava training today. That didn't mean my Pokemon were inactive, however. Princess still practiced her barriers, and Honey was still getting Screech and Low-Kick down at the isolated beach we'd found. The fact that he was practicing Screech meant that he was far off in the distance in order not to damage my ears. Louis and Maeve, meanwhile, had gone back to train at the arena. I was actually thinking of messaging one of my friends to ask if we could replicate these little one-on-ones. Cece would be nice since I'd be able to spend more time with her, but objectively, Lauren was the best choice. Unfortunately, she only looked at her phone once in a blue moon, so she probably wouldn't even answer today.

I adjusted my sunglasses as I dipped my feet in the sea water. My pant legs were rolled up as high as they could be, and even though the water was chilly, it felt nice. There was unfortunately no sign of the mysterious woman I'd met, which was too bad. I wanted to ask her about her Pokemon.

"Hey, Sunshine," I asked. "Do you want to get started on your explosion thing tomorrow? You're starting to heat up decently quickly."

Of course, he wasn't in the water next to me. He was currently lying on the dry ground, surrounded by a mound of sand that Princess had raised for him, because Arceus forbid he got an inch of himself wet. The fire type hesitantly nodded with a lot less gusto than I'd come to expect from him, but at this point, he'd tried it for years with no progress. Moving around in the air using Shell Trap would be a long term project, but the sooner we started, the better off we'd be.

"You're lucky Sweetie's having so much fun right now, or she'd wonder where all your confidence went," I said, turning toward the speeding Pupitar.

It had recently come to my attention that Tyranitar could learn Surf, but having her float on the water without pressurized air was another issue entirely. My working theory was having her create a surfboard made of rock, but I wasn't sure if that would just sink or not. Oh well, we'd get there when we got there.

I carefully waited until Sweetheart beached herself with the gracefulness and beauty of a Milotic if a Milotic weighed one hundred and fifty kilograms. Actually, it was more, since she'd shed multiple times since then. Now that she was out of the water, I could finally return to Volkner.

A Pokemon had gone under my radar yesterday. Jolteon. A small and unassuming Pokemon at first glance, but it was a lot more threatening than anything else I'd seen. The reason I'd missed her was because Volkner almost never used her. He probably thought that she was too powerful to use on five-badgers, but with Sunshine in the picture, anything was possible.

I'd heard a lot of things about Eeveelutions back when I lived in Jubilife. That the elemental ones could turn into— well, their element. I'd seen my first glimpse of it when I battled that water type specialist in Solaceon with the Vaporeon, and Jolteon was no different. She could literally turn into a bolt of electricity for a short amount of time. The burst of speed she'd get would mean that she'd be faster than even Zebstrika.

The good news was that it wasn't possible for her to maintain it for long, but it was just another worry to add to the list. I'd have to send this one to Lauren as well—

I glanced at the top of my phone and noticed that Cece was calling me. I quickly ran away from the water to hide the sound of the beach, much to Sunshine's amusement. Buddy would have defended me if he wasn't off somewhere deep in the water.

"I'll let you off the hook for now, mister," I amusedly said before answering the phone. "Cece! How'd it go with Erin?"

I ignored Sunshine making fun of me again, this time for apparently making my voice higher pitched when I spoke to her. He was definitely lying.

"It went well, but I have to tell you this! You did scare her yesterday!"

"What? Pfft, no I didn't."

"You did. She saw your lava document. The lethal one."

I groaned and stared at the sky. "Okay, maybe I did scare her. But it's not bad, right? Like, she's fine."

"I made it fine. She'll probably look at you weird tomorrow, still, and maybe ask more questions too. She really thought you were going to randomly kill someone, you know?"

"I'll soothe her worries, don't worry," I said, noticing Angel desperately dragging Sweetheart away from the ocean to no avail. I motioned at her to not get back in the water this soon, and despite listening, she grumbled in protest. "But aside from that, she's making progress? How are we doing on the timeline?"

"Oh, yes. She won two battles today and Comet's working on Rollout while Sat is still trying to get her tail jump down. She'll probably be ready in a week."

"That's great—"

"By the way, Grace. Ice Cream for breakfast and fries for lunch?! I'm taking you out to get a proper meal tonight, and I won't take no for an answer."

"Well, you're making it sound like a punishment."

"Don't get smart with me now. I hear you smiling. Something with vegetables."

"Fineeee."

—

I'd expected Craig to take days or even more than a week to answer my message asking to meet. He answered it in a few hours. Him and his sister couldn't be more different in that regard, especially with how busy he was. I'd heard of him going on interviews with reporters desperate to know what his training on Mount Coronet had been like and what new techniques he had to show for the Conference. Obviously, he kept his answers vague, but he had this suave way of appearing so pleasant, even when he was basically telling reporters off.

And I'd even seen him in a new Poketch Watch ad on TV this morning. He could really act his socks off.

"To be honest, is there anything he can't do?" I whispered to myself.

He'd invited me to a bar on the boardwalk because he'd already been there, so it only took a few minutes for me to get here. I'd expected it to be a lot more… rough than it actually was, mostly because all of my experiences with bars came from movies, but I was greeted by a symphony of soft lighting, cheerful chatter and the quiet voices of a high-leveled battle playing on television. Some tournament in Jubilife with only eight badgers, apparently. A Tauros and a Lilligant were battling, but I could only tell because of the text at the bottom of the screen. The battlefield had been overtaken by thick vegetation and trees grew in front of my very eyes as Tauros rampaged through the makeshift forest. Needless to say, not many people were watching because we couldn't see anything.

But the fact that grass types of that level were able to build a forest from nothing? That intrigued me greatly. And it had literally been nothing. According to the bottom of the screen, this arena had been a default, rocky arena like Maylene's.

If Alakazam had been there, he'd probably launch into a lesson of how grass TE represented growth and not nature or something. I wasn't exactly sure if growth was it, but it certainly fit neatly in the complicated puzzle that was Type Energy.

"Grace! Grace, over here!"

I turned toward Craig's voice, and I was glad to see he hadn't suffered any new wounds on Mount Coronet, although he did look a bit pale. He looked like he'd just gotten a new haircut and he was clean-shaven, so he didn't exactly look like someone that had just spent a few months in the wild, that was for sure. Then again, he'd been back for a few days and there was no way the Poketch Company would have let him appear in a non-presentable state.

I waved at him and quietly made my way to his seat, but I was bewildered to see that the woman I'd seen on the beach two days ago was here too. Her thin frame had been hidden by Craig until I'd gotten close enough.

"Jasmine?" I asked.

"Good afternoon," she smiled, her voice as gentle as I remembered.

"Oh, you know each other?" Craig asked. "Small world. Take a seat, Grace."

That's what I wanted to say! I slid into the empty chair in between them and cleared my throat.

I suddenly felt very out of place here.

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri, Rhuodric

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 220 - The Mountain

Sitting next to two trainers way stronger than I was in such a public setting sure was… something. Craig called one of the bartenders over, and the woman immediately dropped everything she was doing to get his new order— or, well, my order, in this case. She looked nervous as hell to be handling Craig.

"Do you have some, uh, cranberry juice please?" I asked. I was also nervous, obviously, but I managed to soothe my nerves quickly. I shot the man a friendly look. "So, Craig. Thanks for meeting me, I guess. Was I interrupting something?"

"Not at all," Craig said.

"We just got stood up by my boyfriend," Jasmine sighed. "Canceled at the last minute."

"Well, you know how it is, Jasmine. Work's a bi— work's just like that," Craig said. I noticed he still hadn't lost his habit of stopping himself from swearing in front of younger people. "He can't put one of his trainers to fight for a kid's eighth."

"Well maybe if he kept better track of his schedule, then this wouldn't have happened," Jasmine said before sipping on a giant mug of beer. Sipping… actually she was practically downing the entire thing.

Craig's lips went flat. "That's just Volkner for ya. Oh, Grace, how'd you two meet each other, by the way?"

Volkner, I thought to myself. Candice's mention of a new girlfriend. It all made sense now. Volkner was dating Jasmine.

"I met her on the beach," I answered, desperate to hide my surprise. I wanted to fit in. To belong with these incredible trainers. "Behind the rocks."

"Oh, she likes that spot," Craig grinned. "So yeah, we were just drinking here—"

"And I was venting," Jasmine grumbled.

"And she was venting," Craig repeated with a nod. "Then you messaged. So, what's up?"

"Well, originally I just wanted to thank you. For the sponsorship thing, I mean," I said. "Without your input, the Poketch Company wouldn't have contacted me and I'd be in a worse spot right now."

"Ah. Don't worry about it," he smiled. "You're a great kid, you're going to be a great replacement. Plus, you're my sister's friend. How is she, by the way? I'm keeping my distance, but I'd like to know."

"Here he goes again," Jasmine cringed. "Let her spread her wings."

"I am, which is why I'm not asking to meet her. Just, you know, I'd like to know what's new."

Just as I was about to answer, my juice came and I took a sip.

"She's doing great. We're going to be meeting a lot more since we're planning something for our Gym Battle. And I'm pretty sure she—"

I was about to say that she missed him, but in retrospect, that was a pretty terrible idea. He doted on her way too much to ignore that, and he'd probably fly off to see her immediately.

"—sold a TM to Silph Co.," I added without missing a beat. "So financially, she's doing well too."

"I saw that! Fire Pillar, right?" He grinned. "I bought… a few, even though I don't really need any. Don't tell her."

"I won't."

Jasmine slammed her glass against the counter and yelled, "Another beer!"

"Are you— are you okay?" I whispered.

"Me? Oh, I'm perfectly fine," she said. I could tell it was a lie. "What's this plan with Volkner you're doing?"

"Oh, nothing much. Lauren has a Magmar and I have an Electabuzz, so we just want to impress him in hopes that he can give us some information regarding their evolutions. Volkner and Flint are best friends— well, I guess you know that."

There was a glint in her eye. "I've met him once. This is an ambitious plan. Volkner's not easily entertained, so I wish you luck."

The conversation slowed for a little bit, and I saw Craig message Volkner on his phone. I knew it was bad manners to snoop, but I couldn't help but see him typing 'fumbling the bag,' before I turned toward the television and sipped on my juice while I swayed my legs in the air since they dangled from the stool.

"You know, I'm sure he'll apologize," I muttered to Jasmine. Part of me said it was none of my business. I didn't even know them, after all, but I couldn't help but want to soothe things over.

"He's apologized many times already," Jasmine sighed. "I don't want to break up or anything, I just wish he was a little bit more thoughtful, you know?"

"Well, Gym Leader work is busy," Craig tried.

"You think I don't know that?" Jasmine said. Even when she raised her tone, it was as if she was incapable of speaking past a certain volume. "I left for a reason. I'm not asking him to do the same, but keeping track of his schedule is the bare minimum."

Craig stared at me and restrained a grimace. "Let's change the subject. Did you know Jasmine was from Johto, Grace?"

"Yeah, she told me when we met," I said. "I don't know much about the region."

"Yeah, she's from Olivine. I hear it's a nice little coastal city. She's the Gym Leader there."

My hands around my glass tightened. I was speaking to a foreign Gym Leader? I had already spoken to her and not known!

"I'm so sorry," I stammered. "I didn't know, I—"

Jasmine placed a hand on my shoulder, although I didn't miss her amused smirk. "You're alright, Grace. Right now, I'm not a Gym Leader. Just a humble tourist."

"She loves to drop that knowledge on people," Craig said. "She enjoys their reactions."

"You dropped it this time. I wanted to see how long it took her to realize it on her own," Jasmine said with a smug expression.

"I guess I gave you what you wanted anyway," I grumbled. "But wait, how do you two know each other?'

"Volkner's my friend," Craig said, turning to Jasmine. "He introduced us a few months ago when they just started dating. You know, I couldn't believe Kanto-Johto just let you go back then."

"Oh, it was this entire process," Jasmine groaned. "I had to grovel at Lance's feet for months to even start it. Fucking self-aggrandizing asshole."

Oh, she just dropped Kanto-Johto's Champion's name like it was nothing. And called him an asshole. Great.

"Kanto-Johto's got a tight leash on their leaders," she continued. "I had to go through intent assessment, get my travel plans a security clearance, then since I'm a foreign national in a position of power and have a lot of destructive force available, they had to negotiate with Sinnoh's government to make sure I wasn't coming to be the world's most obvious spy or terrorist. And I have two agents with me that are supposed to be following me at all times. I'm good at losing them though," she smirked. "I'm under a lot of restrictions, and I have to call every three days. Sometimes dear old Lance will even pick up the phone."

"Agents from Kanto-Johto, might I add. They're scared she'd defect," Craig said. "They're a paranoid bunch."

"Don't start talking shit about Kanto-Johto now," Jasmine warned. "You know how I get."

"Right, right, my bad," Craig said, raising his hands innocently.

My head was spinning, but I just nodded along to whatever they said. If I remembered correctly, Jasmine's vacation would last a whole year. What would happen to her relationship with Volkner then?

Maybe that was why she was so saddened beyond the obvious fact that he'd ghosted her for work. Every day they didn't spend together was a day they would never get back unless she did decide to defect, and that would probably create an entire diplomatic crisis between her region and ours. And with Team Galactic around, Cynthia wasn't going to let a Gym Leader resign, and I didn't even know if Volkner had even entertained moving back to Johto with her. Their relationship was basically on a timer.

I exhaled as I bit the inside of my lip. That was a depressing thought.

"Who's replacing you? At your Gym?" I asked.

"My father. He used to run it before me, and he's not as good as he was in his prime, but he's still good enough to run the Gym," she said. "Anyway, enough about relationship stuff. It depresses me."

"Sure," Craig nodded. "Hey, Grace, check this out."

He pointed at the television, and the battle was still going on, although Tauros had gone down and been replaced by a Kricketune that could slice through the trees like paper.

"Here we go again," Jasmine said.

"You know who those two are?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Not at all. I mean, I can read the names on the bottom of the screen—"

Craig interrupted me. "The guy with the Kricketune. He's Archie Wright. Decent battler, but where he shines is the fact that he has twenty Pokemon, and almost all of them are good enough to stand their ground at the Conference. He's a bi— he's almost impossible to plan against."

"But?" Jasmine asked. "There's always a but, right?"

"Just standing your ground at the Conference level isn't enough to win," Craig continued. "I battled him once, but I blew him wide open. He's improved slightly this year, but if I had to guess, he stalls out right after the group stages."

"Harsh," I whispered. And it was especially harsh when I knew this guy could wipe the floor with me. If my Pokemon ever got there, I was confident I'd be able to plan against him, though. "What about the girl with Liligant?"

"That's Mikaela Acevedo," he said. "Grass type specialist, and the winner of this battle."

I nodded. It wasn't over yet, but she'd been dominating from the start, so it was obvious she was going to win bar any extraordinary circumstances.

"As you can see, her trick is growing forests out of nothing. She's so good at it that she could grow trees during a damn fire," he smirked behind his mug. "The thing with her is that you've got to fight not only her Pokemon, but the forest itself, but her problem is that she's a bit of a one-trick pony. She can do other things, but none of them are as effective as this."

I finished my juice as Kricketune took flight with his thin black wings, but one of the trees stretched to unbelievable proportions and high into the sky, slamming into the poor bug type as neon green light surrounded its bark.

"That was Wood Hammer," Jasmine said.

"So she can make the forest use moves?" I asked, trying to hide my surprise.

"Yeah. Told you that you had to fight the forest. Tricky opponent for sure, but easy to beat when you figure her out. I battled her twice. The first time I nearly lost, the second I won handily. If I had to guess… I'd say top 64, but no further."

"You sure are nice," Jasmine mocked.

"I'm just saying it how I see it," he shrugged. "There are a lot of people better than her."

"But no one better than you?" Jasmine asked.

"Now that Sarah Newman left, you would be correct, at least if you don't count the Elite Four and Cynthia," he said as a matter of fact. "When I finish up Poketch business here, I'm going to swing around the region to try and see if I can get any info on the people that pose a threat."

I stood at the edge of my seat. "Like who?"

"Ammar Halimi. From Orre," Craig said. "Brutal in fights because he's seen nothing but brutality his entire life. Nearly killed his opponent's Pokemon on multiple occasions. His ace is a Fearow that'll fight until every bone in its body's broken. I don't say this often, but I'm sure that it would beat Roxie in the air. I'd say he already has the makings of a potential quarter-finalist, but he still has months to improve, so he might get to finals."

"Fearow's interesting," Jasmine mused. "Underestimated a lot of the time because it's not as fast as some other fliers, but it can be very versatile."

"Then there's that younger kid from Galar with a Glimmora. The problem with him is that I know nothing about that Pokemon. He hasn't used it in any Gym or tournament fights, and the rest of his team is powerful too. He mostly has Galarian and Paldean Pokemon. I'm starting to think I'm going to have to look up fu— freaking Geeta to see what it's all about."

Jasmine snorted. "Okay, you know that you can swear, right? She's not ten."

"I don't swear in front of children."

"I'm not a kid," I protested. "And a Glimmora? I saw someone who said he had a Glimmora and who was from Galar. He was in Veilstone looking to get some documents updated. We spoke a little, and he seemed nice enough."

Craig's eyes widened slightly. "That was probably him. You've got a knack for encountering important people."

"I'm just lucky," I said.

"Luck is one thing, but taking advantage of that luck is another," Jasmine said. "Connections are important."

"Oh, come to think of it! Jasmine, I didn't ask what your specialty was. I saw you had a Metagross, so I'm guessing steel or psychic," I asked.

"Steel is correct, but I dabble in electric types as well," Jasmine said. "My dad spent countless nights yelling at me for deviating from the beaten path, but I didn't care. I've had enough men telling me what to do my entire life."

Craig spoke up, "Kanto-Johto? Sexist? I never would have guessed—"

A glare from Jasmine shut him down pretty quickly. Every person had their own biases about every region, and Craig was no different.

"Who's the strongest Gym Leader there?" I asked excitedly.

"In Johto? That would be Clair, the dragon type specialist and also Lance's dear cousin, even though they despise each other since Lance was exiled from their clan," Jasmine shrugged. "Volkner told me about that little kerfuffle you had with Maylene—"

I shrunk in embarrassment. She knew about that too?

"—No need to be that scared, I'm not going to eat you. I wanted to say, if you thought Maylene was bad, Clair is ten times worse. Did you know she refused to give out a badge when she got beaten once? It was years ago now, but it created this whole scandal."

"Refused? Like, flat out said no?" Craig asked.

"Yes. When the public pressure got to her and Lance started breathing down her neck, she made up this new challenge. The trainer had to navigate the Dragon's Den— it's this cave that belongs to the Blackthorn clan."

"The city's named after the clan?" I asked.

"The clan founded the city," Jasmine nodded. "The kid was called Gold. He beat that challenge too, and he went on to beat Lance that year, but he refused to take on the mantle of Champion."

"Isn't that the second time this happened?" Craig asked.

"Oh yes," Jasmine laughed. "It's a bit of a running joke, and Lance hates it, so I always make sure to tell it once every time we meet. Unfortunately, he's also the only one that seems to be able to run the damn country, so I still appreciate him in a way."

"If we ignore the human rights abuses, then he's pretty good at his job," Craig muttered under his breath.

"You Sinnohans are so soft," Jasmine mocked. "Why don't you move to Galar so you can be done with it?"

"Ha, ha, very funny," Craig rolled his eyes. "Barkeep, another beer please!"

"What about you? Where do you place?" I asked.

"Well, there's this huge gulf behind Clair. She's good enough to be in the Elite Four, and she was even propositioned when Agatha retired."

"The woman who refuses to die?" Craig said. "Heard a lot about her and her ghosts. How old is she now?"

"One hundred and two," Jasmine said. "But she always tells me she feels twenty, so make of that what you will. The only way Lance convinced her to retire was to offer her Lavender. He'd wanted to push her out of power since becoming Champion."

"Offer her? Meaning?" I probed.

"She rules it with an iron fist. It's a de-facto independent country within Kanto, and everyone knows it despite pretending otherwise," Jasmine explained. "Anyway, Clair would rather be the ruler of the kiddie pool than be in charge of the entire country and have to share her power. She's the strongest by far. Then I would have said Pryce, but he died recently, so… I guess it's me or Morty. We haven't really battled in a bit."

She went on to list every Johtohan Gym Leader and their specialties, and then I remembered that Sunshine must have battled her too. I knew Gym Leaders battled a lot of people, but maybe she'd remember him with how unique he'd been to the region. I made a mental note to ask her later. She'd already given me her number.

"Kanto's different than Johto," Jasmine said. "A little bit more modern, and with no care for tradition. Just power. The Gym Leaders there have the biggest egos. You have Blue, Sabrina, Koga, Surge, Misty, and there was Blaine before he died, it's a fucking dick-measuring contest and I want to die every time I'm in a room with them. Sabrina, Blue and Surge even have a policy of fighting at a six-badge level at minimum, so trainers know to avoid their Gyms before they get good enough, or their Pokemon would get beaten to the ground. But the strongest Gym Leader is definitely Blue. He's a Champion-level trainer."

"Champion-level? So stronger than Clair?" I asked. My mouth was faster than my brain, because I remembered that Cece had told me about him in Veilstone.

"Oh, yes. He was Champion for a little bit along with his dear old rival he hates so much and he hasn't seen in more than a decade. He's a little weird because he runs his Gym as a generalist Gym. Lance hates him."

"Is there someone Lance doesn't hate?" Craig asked.

"Anyone who's bruised his ego gets put through the wringer, but Blue likes to remind him he could take back the Championship any time he'd like. It's not pretty when they butt heads. But as we all know, it's one thing to win the position and another to actually run the two regions. Lance is good. A stable, steady hand."

"Seems like Kanto-Johto's a nice happy place," Craig said without bothering to hide his sarcasm. "I hope Sarah's doing well here."

"He liked Sarah Newman," Jasmine leaned in and whispered to me. "She beat him in the finals last year and then left for Kanto. Volkner tells me he spent months down in the dumps."

"He told me about her when we were traveling up north, but he never told me he liked her," I whispered back.

"Yeah. He never had to guts to tell her."

"Stop whispering about me," Craig complained.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jasmine shrugged. "People like to call Kanto-Johto dysfunctional, and I'll admit it's true. We even spy on each other sometimes even though we're supposed to be a part of the same damn country."

She laughed as she finished her second beer.

"But we've got each other's backs against any threat. Someone comes knocking, and we'll unite to take them down. Like Team Rocket."

"Shit. Yeah," Craig said.

"I had just started my tenure when we brought the fight to them," she continued. "Then when Giovanni disappeared, the Kanto branch fell apart and they fortified in Johto. I saw a lot of death. It wasn't a good time for us."

A heavy silence settled in, and we all drank as we turned toward the TV.

"Damn it, I ruined the mood," Jasmine said. "I'm feeling a bit tipsy, Craig. Want to cheer me up with a battle? I'd like to see how far I could push you, and you said no last time."

"Well, last time, I wanted you to fight Volkner instead," Craig shrugged.

"Yeah, but I beat him," Jasmine said. "So now I want you."

The raven-haired man sighed. "Fine, but it'll have to be in a private setting. No leaks, and no recording."

"Who do you take me for?" Jasmine scoffed before her lips turned into a mischievous smile.

"Someone who's drunk."

Jasmine thought for a few seconds and then her lips turned into a mischievous smile. "Only if you use mega evolution against me. And you have to release first."

"See? This is what I'm talking about," Craig groaned.

"Just get us out of here already."

"Can I watch?" I asked.

"Obviously," Craig said. "Follow me, kid."

I hopped off the bar stool and followed them onto to boardwalk. Thankfully, his hotel wasn't far from the beach, and he led us into his luxurious room that reminded me of the places we used to stay back in Eterna City. I'd never been in a hotel since then. There were too many bad memories associated with this place.

"Um, can I message my girlfriend about this?" I hesitantly asked. "She'll be so excited, it'll be really cute."

"Cecilia? Yeah, go ahead," he said as he grabbed a Pokeball. A seventh Pokeball that had been hidden in his bag, I noticed as I texted Cece.

She messaged me back right away asking for a video, but I unfortunately told her it was impossible. I'd tell her all about it, though.

If Craig had a weakness, it was that he'd limited himself to six Pokemon for nearly ten years. That meant that people always knew what he brought to the table, but it looked like he'd changed that. Craig released a small bug-like Pokemon with an oversized head that levitated in the air. She had seven spots on her bright red head, and she had multiple white rings in her pale turquoise eyes. I'd never seen this Pokemon before, so I scanned her with my Pokedex.

Orbeetle, the Seven Spot Pokemon. It is famous for its high level of intelligence and possesses immense psychic power. It can observe and study the world around it through psychic energy up to ten miles away.

Type: Bug, Psychic.

"This is Dot. She's my new Teleporter, and I'm trying to get her up to speed for the Conference. Spring a little surprise on people," Craig smiled. "I figured I'd keep her hidden until the semis, maybe."

Well met, the psychic spoke into our minds.

"Thank you, Dot. Could you bring us to… let's say one of the mountains on route 205."

Right away, Craig. Would you like some coffee with that? A nice massage, perhaps? Since you're so obligated to demand things of me and not say please.

Jasmine and I restrained our laughter, and Craig sighed.

"Please Teleport us to one of the mountains on route 205, Dot. I would greatly appreciate it."

The air felt thinner and it was instantly colder as we appeared on a mountain's peak. This place was a plateau with conveniently just enough space for two trainers to battle in. I squinted, and I could see Eterna Forest in the distance, sprawling all over the land. From up here, I could see that the trees grew taller the closer to the center I looked, and I remembered Bellatrix telling me about a Pokemon thousands of years old that slept at its center. My eyes drifted across route 205 and settled on Floaroma. The memories seemed so far away now.

"You are clinically insane," Craig said. "Dot will take care of the barrier. She's strong enough for that already, and I won't use her in the battle."

"Aw. We have this traditional game we sometimes play in Kanto-Johto where we battle without barriers. The Pokemon fight each other and protect the trainer, and the one who chickens out first loses. I'm very good at it."

"Do me a favor, Grace. Tell my sister to never go to that hellhole," Craig said as he dropped his bag on the ground.

"Come here, Grace," Jasmine said, beckoning me with a hand. "I'll show you what Olivine's Gym Leader is all about."

"Oh, I thought I'd just watch from the side—"

"No, you're with me," she said. "Come."

I nodded and followed her, and since I wanted to release my team so they could watch with me, I figured now would be a good time to bring up Sunshine instead of later.

"Say, do you remember fighting a Turtonator last year's Circuit? And an Alolan trainer?"

"A Turtonator?" She hummed. "Yes, yes I do remember. Why?"

"Well, uh, he's with me now," I said. "His trainer died."

"Oh. That's a shame," she said, her eyes dimming. For a second, it was as if she sobered up.

"Yeah, I wanted my Pokemon to watch the battle, so he''ll recognize you, that's all."

"No problem," she nodded. "Here we are."

I released my team as Craig stood on opposite sides of Jasmine. I explained what was happening to them, and Sunshine obviously couldn't keep his eyes off Jasmine, but I asked him to keep anything he wanted to say for later. Craig pulled a necklace out of his shirt and grabbed his first Pokeball. The orb-like jewel seemed to change and shift colors every time I looked. Jasmine simply grabbed her Pokeball as well. Dot the Orbeetle's eyes shone, and she summoned a transparent rectangular barrier around the field. I could tell she'd gotten the exact dimensions of a Gym's battlefield from muscle memory.

It felt odd, to be standing next to Jasmine. I'd never had this view of a field if I wasn't the one fighting. Craig was in front of me. In a way, it was kind of like I was fighting him. There was no sound except for the howling winds.

Craig yelled with his hands around his mouth. From this far and without a microphone, his voice barely carried over, so we didn't hear anything he'd said. He released a Gyarados that let out a thundering roar that shook the inside of my body like loud bass. The sea serpent floated a few feet above the air, clumsily bumping against the barrier.

"This is going to be fun," Jasmine muttered. "What do you think is unique about this battle, Grace?"

"I— uh— I think the sound? You can't hear what he's saying and he can't hear what you're saying."

"Yes," she nodded. "And that changes things. Craig knew it when he picked this place. It's harder to react for both trainers, so it's kind of a double-edged sword. I love those. Some people are good enough at lipreading for it not to matter."

I stared at Jasmine, who slowly sorted through her assortment of eleven Pokeballs as she decided who to send out.

Craig is asking for you to, and I quote, get a fucking move on, Dot spoke into our minds.

"Yes, yes, I will," Jasmine said. "Tell him to fuck off, but nicely."

Will do.

Jasmine led with a huge Skarmory that put any previous ones I'd ever seen to shame. The steel type bore many scars in its metallic hide, and it let out a screech that resonated throughout the mountain.

"Whirlwind Spikes," Jasmine ordered, not losing her soft tone.

Skarmory screamed, beating his wings as hundreds of small spikes fell from his body. A gust of wind as powerful as a hurricane sent them flying toward Gyarados so quickly that the majority of them stabbed into his huge body while the rest fell to the ground and began to levitate a few inches above it. Craig said something, and Gyarados inhaled. With a primal roar, he let loose a Hydro Pump toward Skarmory, but the winds were so strong that the jet of water weakened and curved before making it to the flying type. Even now, wind strong enough to lift everyone but the heaviest members of my team off their feet was swirling around the arena.

"Metal Sound to distract, Sand Attack in his eyes," Jasmine said.

Skarmory dove down from the sky and sped up as he manipulated the wind behind him. Electricity shone around Gyarados, and the water type let loose a Thunderbolt that hit Skarmory's wing. For a second, the steel type looked like he was going to fall to the ground, but a whistle from Jasmine snapped him back to reality and he sped up toward Gyarados. Another Thunderbolt was coming, but Skarmory opened his mouth and a horrible sound like nails on a chalkboard so powerful that I could see it slammed against Gyarados, who thrashed around to stop the pain. Skarmory continued on his path and threw sand into the water type's eyes before turning back and hitting his tough hide with a Flash Cannon.

In a normal battle, that wouldn't have worked. Not when Craig would have known that they were targeting the eyes beforehand.

This was like they were both fighting blind and while I would have hated it, Jasmine loved it.

"Okay, that's enough warming up, I think," Jasmine continued. "Light Ray."

A light brighter than the sun appeared in Skarmory's mouth, and we were all blinded by its brilliance. It condensed into a singular point and then flew toward Gyarados faster than anything I'd seen. The water type roared in pain as the laser burned and melted his impenetrable scales. When Gyarados thrashed, some of the laser impacted the ground and turned the rocks into lava instantly.

"What is that?" I muttered.

"A concentrated Flash, bounced and magnified over and over inside of Skarmory's body. The steel type is not only metal, but light as well," Jasmine quickly answered. "Again."

Another bright light appeared inside Skarmory's mouth. This time, however, the wind around Skarmory sped up, and it wasn't his. The flying type struggled to stay afloat as the wind intensified and slammed him against Dot's barrier. It was some kind of flying move, but I couldn't tell what. Then Gyarados lunged forward as electricity surged through his body.

Jasmine pursed her lips. "Damn it, he's got me."

The Thunderbolt ransacked through Skarmory's body and wounded the earth around him until the steel type fell unconscious. I had no idea Gyarados could even learn electric type moves. His own Thunderbolt was stronger than Honey's Thunder. The fight had just begun, but the field was already a mess. Lava, chasms and overturned chunks of earth lay across the floor.

"Not to cast doubt on your judgment, I mean you're a Gym Leader," I started. "But you have electric types, right? Why use Skarmory?"

Jasmine smirked as she grabbed her next Pokeball. "It would have been really funny if I won that round using Skarmory."

Oh. Right, they were having fun, and she was slightly drunk. This wasn't a battle for a badge or a tournament. They weren't even going all out. Jasmine sent out a Magnezone next. It was slightly smaller than Mira's, but I knew not to underestimate it.

"Zap Cannon."

Both of our hair stood up, but the attack had already hit its mark when our hair reached its apex. It hadn't even been a ray. The electricity between both Pokemon had simply formed in a split second. The attack was so quick I couldn't even begin to think about how to counter it. The lightning went straight for Gyarados and lit up his entire body. Protect or barriers would have been too slow. This lighting wasn't yellow either. It was blue. Pure.

Surprisingly though, even if its scales were a darkened husk and smoke emanated from his body, Gyarados did not faint. Water poured out from his still-burning scales and Gyarados lunged toward Magnezone. The steel type buzzed, and Gyarados nearly stopped in his tracks. The water around his head contracted and moved as if he was pushing against an invisible force, but I knew that this was no barrier.

"Zap Cannon," Jasmine said again.

It was a testament to her strength that something that would have been an ace in the hole— a finisher that could only be used a few times under normal circumstances— seemed to be her bread and butter. Craig quickly swept his arm, but Magnezone had already sent out the blinding electric ray. When I opened my eyes, I saw Zap Cannon breaking against what looked to be a Hyper Beam. The two moves exploded upon contact and I flinched when Orbeetle's barrier broke apart like shattered glass. The psychic quickly reformed it, and Gyarados once again rushed toward Magnezone with water surrounding him. The hulking flying type slammed his entire body weight against Magnezone, knocking him away like a damn cannonball.

"Zap Cannon."

Somehow though, after tumbling for a few seconds, Magnezone came to a complete standstill as if he'd been gripped by an invisible force and immediately fired off another Zap Cannon. This time, Gyarados couldn't stand against the sheer amount of energy poured into him. The water type collapsed onto the ground, his tail burning on the lava that remained. Craig recalled him and didn't hesitate to send out Typhlosion. The lava that had slowly been cooling thanks to Gyarados' water suddenly came back to life and began to spread. Skarmory's spikes converged and stabbed into the fire type, who groaned in pain. Her wounds were cauterized before blood could even seep out of them.

Jasmine sighed as she placed her hands on her hips. "Dot?"

Yes?

"Tell Craig that I thought we were having fun," Jasmine said. She ran a hand through her hair and called out to Magnezone. "Light Screen, keep away from all fire. Twin Hyper Beam."

I saw Craig visibly scoff as he ordered Typhlosion. The fire type got on her forelegs, roaring as the flames on her back stretched higher and higher.

Then, she quite literally exploded.

The light hit us a split second before the sound. All of the lava surged upward, along with more flames and globs of molten rock exploding out of Typhlosion's corona. The entire field was overtaken by lava so hot that I could barely see what was going on. Small mounds of earth rose from under the ground erupting, kicking up the molten rock until they hit and clung to the barrier's ceiling, and I soon realized those were mini-volcanos. Each eruption, a subsequent explosion. My ears rang, but I couldn't help but grin at the sheer destruction Typhlosion had wrought. She'd done more than Sunshine could ever hope to do right now in seconds.

Two orange beams appeared in front of Magnezone's magnets and destroyed everything in their path as they beelined toward Typhlosion. The fire type grunted, and a wall of lava erupted in front of her and solidified into a ten-foot rock in an instant as Typhlosion appeared to drain all the heat out of it. The two Hyper Beams destroyed the wall, and shards of rock and debris pierced into Typhlosion's skin, but she returned the attack tenfold. A giant pillar of lava bubbled, rose from the floor and levitated toward the steel type.

It didn't even have to touch Magnezone. Even through the shimmering Light Screen, the steel type could barely handle the heat. He was no psychic, I told myself. Jasmine tried to retaliate with Zap Cannon, but they seemed to veer off-course and weaken the closer they got to Typhlosion. When the first bits of lava clung to Magnezone, Jasmine recalled her Pokemon and clicked her tongue.

In front of us lay a field full of erupting volcanos and lava, and at its center stood Typhlosion.

How was a steel type master supposed to fight against that?

I got my answer when a Pokemon even larger and longer than Gyarados appeared on the field. Steelix. The same Pokemon that had destroyed Chase's hometown. Each of her segments spun independently from the other, and despite letting out a grunt that resonated through my body when she began slithering on the lava, Steelix appeared fine.

But that hadn't been enough for Jasmine.

"Magnet Rise and Head Smash," Jasmine whispered before turning to me. "He's lucky I can't use Earthquake here. It would collapse the entire mountain, barrier or not."

I let the words sink in as Steelix began to float. More lava converged and tried to drag the ground type down back to the ground, but despite all that weight clinging all over her metallic skin, Steelix didn't look like she cared.

And then in a flash and a lot faster than what I had expected (faster than even Sweetheart when she was flying), Steelix rushed toward Typhlosion, her head shimmering with a dim light. Craig said something and somehow…

Somehow,

The air around Typhlosion grew hotter. So hot even Sunshine wouldn't have been able to stand near her.

The world around Typhlosion turned bright white. Everything shone white. The lava, the rocks, the volcanos, Typhlosion herself. The air itself combusted and burned to smithereens as Steelix and Typhlosion turned into smudges of silver, blue and red. I heard the impact of the Head Smash, but the sound itself was weird. Like everything was… lower-pitched, somehow.

"W—what is that?" I asked.

"Oh, just Overheat," Jasmine said. "It's annoying how quickly he deals with my Pokemon. He's not even savoring the fight."

Steelix was— Steelix was unconscious when the air returned to normal. And by normal, I meant with the forever erupting volcanos and the relatively cooler lava. With how hot it had been, the lava was actually less viscous now, even though Typhlosion still stood on it like it was a platform. Jasmine recalled Steelix.

"The Head Smash connected. She's on her last legs," she mused.

Any other trainer, and that move would have killed their Pokemon. Despite being weak to fire, steel types were naturally tough. I couldn't imagine Craig ever using Overheat against Candice, personal team or not. Jasmine sent out her Metagross next, and the steel type immediately began to float above the lava with Magnet Rise. Typhlosion tried to melt them with another Eruption, but Metagross' psychic barrier was too good for that. Even the heat wasn't slipping past their defenses.

"Starve her," Jasmine said.

Metagross let out a metallic, clanging sound, and something around Typhlosion changed. The fire around her neck winked out like a candle subject to a gust of wind. The fire type tried to use flames another way, standing on all fours and spitting out a Flamethrower— no, that was a Fire Blast. The flames split into a star-like shape, but they died out immediately as well.

Starving… were Metagross starving out the flames of the oxygen?

"Hyper Beam," Jasmine continued.

Metagross opened their mouth, and a bright glob of energy formed at its edges. When the attack flew forward, Typhlosion attempted to counter with the walls of lava, but she was too weak now and the Hyper Beam simply broke through each layer. Next, she quickly used the last seconds she had and spat out another Fire Blast—

Metagross' eyes shone, and the Hyper Beam disappeared.

A second later, it struck Typhlosion from the heavens. The beam split the clouds and created a massive explosion, heating up the lava further and kicking it up high in the sky. The Fire Blast died before it could even reach Metagross' barrier and the fire type finally went down.

What a monster she had been.

Craig recalled her, but what now? The floor would be lava for a long while unless he had something to cool it down. I got my answer when he sent out an Eelektross and clouds began to cover and rain down the battlefield. It would be slow, but it would cool faster now, and Eelektross could float, even if the heat would hurt her. The raindrops pattered against Metagross' barrier as the spikes once again hurt Craig's Pokemon.

"Cut," Jasmine ordered.

At first, I expected it to be the move Cut, but the air in front of Metagross… vibrated until it rushed toward Eelektross. They were too fast to dodge, even for Eelektross who had to simply take the attack. The invisible air cut her and blood seeped out of the wounds, evaporating in seconds. The electric type coiled her body around herself and shimmered slightly before she quickly floated toward Metagross. She was continuously speeding up, and at some point, she began to move straight as an arrow, not undulating even an inch. Electricity charged around her, but I saw that her fangs also grew dark.

"Miracle Eye," Jasmine muttered.

I had to blink to stop myself from looking at Metagross for a few seconds, as if my instinct were telling at me not to stare. It felt wrong, forbidden, even. I could see it at the edges of my vision. An eye made out of energy above Metagross' head. Craig seemed to have caught on, because Eelektross changed plans and spat out a glob of acid instead. Metagross quickly grabbed it and threw it back toward her, but Eelektross bent in an extremely unnatural way to dodge the attack and coiled around Metagross' barrier. She stuck to it like glue.

Metagross attempted to peel Eelektross away from themselves as best they could with Psychic, but the electric type was somehow stuck to the steel type's shield. She burped, belching out more purple acid that somehow melted the damn barrier and harmlessly washed onto the steel.

Then, Eelektross let loose a Zap Cannon that shattered the rest of the barrier and fried Metagross to the bone. The psychic type's fist turned bright white as they slammed Eelektross away, but the electric type was just so slippery. She wrapped around one of Metagross' arms instead and continued delivering shocks and using Crunch whenever she could.

"Deactivate Magnet Rise and burn her," Jasmine said.

Without a moment's hesitation, Metagross fell to the hot rocks below, slamming Eelektross under their feet and burning her tough skin in the process. Water surrounded Eelektross' tail, evaporating in the same instant as the electric type repeatedly slammed it against the ground where she stood and kept using Thunderbolt over and over.

But it was the next order that sealed the deal.

The rain was a deluge now. A small storm atop the mountain. Eelektross let out a high-pitched scream and a blue bolt of Thunder dropped from the sky like a hammer. Metagross buckled under the force, allowing the electric type to slip away and wrap around another leg and continued shocking Metagross with as many electric type attacks as she could. The steel type, meanwhile, clumsily tried to pull their opponent away with Psychic and started punching her— and sometimes themselves with Meteor Mash.

Metagross went down first.

Eelektross followed seconds after.

"You didn't talk much this time," I noticed.

"Metagross are a better battler than I," she said as she recalled them. "When I tell them to do something, they've either already thought of it or disagree with me, but if they do disagree they do it anyway because they love me."

Craig sent out his Salamence. Finally, I could see Roxie in action. The huge, magnificent Dragon took flight and stayed stationary in the air as she waited for her opponent, the large necklace around her neck a mirror of Craig's.

"Here goes," Jasmine said as she sent out a Forretress.

I braced myself for what was to come.

Craig gripped his necklace and light overtook both the jewel around his neck and Salamence herself. The dragon grew in size, and her wings fused together into a crescent moon. Her front legs retracted into her body and she stared down at Forretress like a bug as she hovered there.

Eelektross' rain finally came to a stop.

"Zap Cannon!" Jasmine yelled for the first time.

Forretress let out a grave sound as electricity exploded outward—

A sonic boom hit the arena's barriers, and Salamence tore into Forretress with a Fire Blast that rivaled Typhlosion's. A shimmering barrier appeared in front of Forretress, but the steel type still grunted against the attack's power. Salamence circled around him so fast that a hurricane had formed. Every time the dragon type sped up, a shockwave would rattle the arena. She could fly at the speed of sound. The only other Pokemon I knew capable of such a feat was Cynthia's Garchomp. She was too fast for any of Forretress' attacks to hit— even the blindingly quick Zap Cannon because Forretress' was slower than Magnezone's. Pin Missiles flew out of the steel type's four holes by the hundreds— or even thousands, the few that hit barely scratched the dragon type.

Another shockwave, and Salamence bit into Forretress, her mouth wreathed in flames as she dragged him toward the ground.

"Explosion," Jasmine smirked.

In less than a second, light overtook the bug type and he blew up, shattering Dot's barrier for a second time. The steel type fell down, an unconscious, smoking husk while Salamence roared in fury at what had just happened. Her mouth was fucked. There was no other way to say it. It hung open as if she was unable to close it and blood and loose teeth seeped out of the opening, and she had slowed, even if slightly.

Craig would like you to know that that was a low blow, Dot spoke.

"I might have underestimated Roxie's speed, so it was the only way to score a hit. Tell him that he got greedy coming up close and that it's my revenge for bringing out Typhlosion so early," she responded.

Jasmine sent out her last Pokemon. An Ampharos. The light on the electric type's tail shone brightly as he stood over the cooled field.

"Rain Dance, Amphy. Cotton Spore when she comes."

Salamence roared, and she exploded forward with another sonic boom, her wings shimmering with draconic energy, but cotton surrounded Ampharos and allowed her to absorb the brunt of the attack. Of course, that didn't mean much, and she was still sent flying backward into the barrier. Since something was wrong with Roxie's mouth, it looked like she was forced to stick to attacks she could use without it. Craig swept his arm, and a Hurricane formed around Amphy that soon overtook the entire arena. Salamence seemingly rode the powerful winds, but Ampharos had to anchor herself to the ground with more cotton.

"Focus, Amphy!" Jasmine yelled so her voice could get through the wind. "Zap Cannon!"

Ampharos bleated, and a ray of electricity immediately tore through one of Roxie's wings. I hadn't known how the hell she had even aimed that attack, but Salamence nearly fell to the ground. A strong updraft carried her far above Ampharos, and she managed to regain her balance. At this point, the ground that had been formed by the cooled lava was now a mess again. A single Zap Cannon from Ampharos had created a crater where she stood, and more fissures formed on the ground.

The Hurricane was still going, and it now carried chunks of rocks with it. Some of them hit Ampharos' cotton while Salamence was too high to be affected. The problem for Jasmine now was that Ampharos couldn't see Salamence due to all of the debris-filled wind, and she was slowly taking more damage from Hurricane.

Or it would have been a problem for me, because Jasmine didn't seem to care one bit.

"Eerie Impulse!" She yelled.

A small pulse of light rang out of Ampharos' body and ran through Salamence. It went further than Discharge could ever hope to, but it dealt no visible damage, and Roxie appeared completely fine.

But then, another Zap Cannon tore through the dragon's chest and neck, burning across her scales as she let loose another garbled roar due to her broken jaw. And then another. And another. Ampharos could now somehow track Salamence at all times, and she couldn't retaliate because her jaw was completely broken.

Craig said something, and Roxie dove back into the Hurricane. Ampharos was on her last legs now, and they were determined to finish her off. The dragon's eye shone turquoise, and the light soon overtook her entire body. They were like green-blue flames constantly surrounding her, and they disappeared for a second as Salamence broke the sound barrier and then reappeared again.

"Zap Cannon," Jasmine ordered.

The entire hurricane lit up, and a thundering boom rang out.

When I opened my eyes, Ampharos was unconscious, surrounded by cotton and bleeding from her gut. Salamence had torn through her Cotton Guard with whatever move that was. I wasn't sure it was known, even. Salamence was on the ground, her hurricane ended and now incapable of flying, but she was still rearing to go. Craig gripped on his necklace again, and she changed back to her normal form before Craig recalled her. The wounds did carry over. Jasmine did the same and stretched.

"That was fun," she said. "I'm rusty."

"Are you?" I laughed.

"Well, the only person I've battled the last six months is Volkner, and we only did so three times. He won once, I won twice," she shrugged. "I still would have lost, but it would have been closer if I was in top form."

I gazed at the battlefield as Craig released his Hippowdon to fix it up, and the reality of what I'd just seen finally sunk in.

This was a battle at the top level. What I needed to reach in order to have a chance to reach the top sixteen at the Conference. It wasn't just the power they brought to the table that was mind-boggling. It was also the sheer amount of times they could pull on a move like Eruption, Hyper Beam, Thunder or Zap Cannon. Jasmine had used it so many times, and it put my three Thunders to shame. And even then, they didn't even reach close to the move's power. Moves I didn't understand or know, turning the entire field into a damned volcano.

And they hadn't even gone all out. This was just a battle for fun, with no stakes involved. Jasmine was drunk, spoke to me during the battle on multiple occasions and looked relaxed until Mega Salamence came out, and they'd even been bantering through Orbeetle!

Craig drew upon heavy breaths as he made his way toward us. He was pale, sweaty, and looked like he'd run through a triathlon.

In front of me and my Pokemon stood the strongest trainer in the Circuit.

Everybody knew his name, and the fact that he'd let me see this battle meant that he did not even consider me a potential threat.

He was Sinnoh. An impossibly vast mountain I needed to scale.

And yet, a mountain's peak wasn't close to the skies.

"Six-on-six, no switches so we keep it fun and straightforward," Jasmine said. "Are we doing this without a barrier? That's always fun."

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri, Rhuodric

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 221

There had been a few wake-up calls in my short career so far. When I fought Gardenia and realized that every Gym Battle was going to be an incredible hurdle to clear from there on out. When I'd caught Sunshine and found out that I could not just figure things out without consequences when plans fell through. When I realized sometime in Hearthome that there was simply no way I was going to win the Conference this year.

This was another one of those. Craig and Jasmine had gotten my full attention, and I was wide awake now, and so were my Pokemon. Sunshine's destructive power didn't look that powerful next to Typhlosion's continuous eruptions. All of their Pokemon were faster and stronger, but the trainers themselves were also better. The entire family had been in awe for the entire battle, each for different reasons.

Honey's high from learning Thunder had been stymied when watching Gyarados use a Thunderbolt packing a bigger punch than the move and with so many Zap Cannons thrown around. Sweetheart's uncontainable excitement when she'd seen Salamence, Gyarados and Steelix duke it out with their respective opponents. Princess' awe at Metagross masterful control of everything around themselves, and every other Pokemon as well. Typhlosion had controlled lava like it had been a part of her body.

What had fascinated Angel was how Eelektross had beaten a monster like Metagross through overwhelming determination, sticking to their body through her suction cups like a parasite and taking them down one attack at a time. Buddy had been impressed at all of that as well, but he'd been the only one leaving the battle with a sense of something lacking. Gyarados hadn't used that many water type attacks and there had been no ghosts involved, after all.

As for me?

There were numerous moves and techniques I was dying to know and learn about that had gone on during the battle.

"Good battle, Craig," Jasmine said with an outstretched hand.

The pale man gripped it tightly, shaking it. Jasmine didn't seem to care about the fact that he was so sweaty it was like he'd been in a storm.

"I'm wiped," he sighed. "Dot, could you bring us back to the hotel, please?"

The Orbeetle nodded, and after I recalled my Pokemon, we were back to Sunyshore as quickly as we'd left. Craig shambled to his bed and dropped on it like a log, mumbling something to Dot before passing out. I bit down on the thousands of questions I was going to ask and turned to Jasmine instead. She raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"You look like you're dying for answers," she said.

"I am."

The Gym Leader turned toward the passed-out Craig and pursed her lips. "Let's leave him to it, then. You'll take care of him, Dot?"

If I must, the psychic type said. I have to drop the rest of the team to the Center as well. Feel free to be on your way.

I thanked Orbeetle again with a slight bow before we left, and we rode the luxurious elevator down while I texted Cecilia that I was back and that the battle had been super duper cool. She answered right away, as if she'd been waiting with her phone in hand the entire time, and I told her I'd talk to her about it this evening when we met. The elevator doors opened with a ding when we made our way through the hundreds of tourists and their luggage in the lobby.

"Want to go back to that bar?" Jasmine asked.

"Um… should you still be drinking?" I hesitated.

"Probably not," she shrugged. "But I'd like it. Maybe I'd talk more over a drink."

"Well, okay," I said after a short pause.

Jasmine grinned like she was the happiest woman in the world for an instant. I hadn't known she loved drinking so much, and I supposed she didn't want to do it alone. I tried to pester her for answers while on the boardwalk, but she kept telling me to have some patience in that same soft voice that made it impossible to get frustrated at her. On the way there, Jasmine passed by a Pokemon Center and gave away her six wounded Pokemon. She did have eleven in total, so five still remained around her waist. We both sat in a booth opposite each other this time, which I honestly preferred because my feet could actually touch the floor.

"Can I ask? Yeah?" I hungrily said.

Jasmine nodded as she called out to a waiter. When she turned back to me, she spoke, "You've got potential."

I frowned despite the pride I instantly felt swell in my chest. "How do you know? You've never seen me battle. Is it just the fact that I have five badges in my first year?"

"No, no. I don't even know what your team's like except for Turtonator," she shrugged. "It's your mindset. You just saw destruction that only a select number of people in the world have access to in the palm of their hands. We're known and tracked by every government. Even good old Galar and Unova, despite them espousing their rights. Do you know why?"

"Well, it's like you said, right?" I probed. "The power you hold is too dangerous to let you slip through the cracks."

"Correct. Only a few trainers at our level are off grid and off the radar. You wouldn't believe how much the Indigo League panicked when Red went missing," she smiled fondly. "But yes. Craig alone would be able to destroy a good chunk of Sunyshore before anyone could stop him. You saw it, and yet you push forward instead of worrying about what would happen if one of us went rogue. You smiled at every explosion, every display of power and destruction. Why?"

"Because I want that power for myself," I answered right away.

"One beer please," Jasmine said. "Amber."

I turned toward the waiter. "Cranberry juice, please."

Jasmine waited for the man to leave before she started speaking again. "It takes a special kind of person to see that and keep going. Trainers at the top, they're all a kind of unhinged, some more than others."

"I don't see how someone could call Craig unhinged," I muttered.

"That's because you don't know him well yet," Jasmine said. "It'll slip through at some point, but he's good at pretending to be normal. Notice how I called you unhinged and you didn't say anything? You don't care, right?"

"Well, no, not exactly. I mean, I do think you're wrong," I said. "I'm just a normal girl."

"Trust me when I say this, you will never meet a trainer at the top that's normal, and that's a fact."

"What about you?" I asked. "You know what, don't answer that."

Jasmine smirked. "Go ahead and ask your questions, but I can't guarantee I know the answer to all of Craig's tricks."

I beamed. "Yes! Okay, uh, I'd like to start with something that you did, actually. That invisible force pushing against Gyarados when you used Magnezone. What was it?"

"Magnetism. The same thing he did when stopping himself from being knocked away," Jasmine explained nonchalantly. "I see how confused you are already."

"Well, I'm working through a physics textbook right now and I don't think that should be… possible? I mean, he's no steel type."

"And yet it is. There are a lot of metallic content in a Pokemon like Gyarados. Hemoglobin and Ferritin, mostly. Magnezone can push and pull on those. It works a lot better on steel and electric types, obviously, but he can do it on a lot of others, including himself. Gyarados would have ended up breaking through anyway, though. There isn't enough magnetic material to hold him for long."

I licked my lips and furiously typed on my phone. This information could end up being useful against Byron.

"Uh, next I have something related to Craig," I said. "Typhlosion managed to stop Zap Cannon… using heat? Is that possible?"

Jasmine ignored my question and nearly snatched the beer out of the poor waiter's hand while he gently placed my juice down. She threw her head back and nearly downed half of the mug before she exhaled like she was in pure bliss.

"Jasmine?" I asked.

"Right. Sorry. It's a little trick trainers with powerful fire types love to use. Blaine loved it," she said with a fond smile. "I don't really know the specifics of it. It's not the heat that weakens the attack or just makes it miss completely, but a sudden change in atmospheric conditions. To be honest, it all sounds foreign to me."

"But could I potentially use it with Sunshine— my Turtonator?"

Jasmine shook her head. "Not hot enough. And even if you did reach the temperatures needed, you'd do it too slowly."

My lips went flat. "I'll keep a tab on it for future uses."

That had been a shame. I'd wanted to use the tactic against Volkner, but it looked like that would be impossible at our current level. I sipped on my cranberry juice and moved on to the next question.

"What the hell is a Miracle Eye?" I asked. "I couldn't even look at it."

"No one can. It's wrong," Jasmine explained. "It allows Metagross to peer through the world's veil and influence dark types and dark type energy with psychic moves."

"What about ghosts? Moves like Shadow Ball?" I continued as I typed.

"That too," she nodded. "It's a complicated move to learn. It took them five years to master, and they're Metagross. The smartest Pokemon there is."

So there was a way, I thought. Mira had told me about it recently, but I hadn't expected to see it so soon. The dark typing was not as infallible as it seemed when we were stranded in Shiftry's domain. Still, five years for Metagross? That meant it was off the table for the near future. There was a reason even Lucian didn't have access to it, I supposed. Otherwise he would have broken through Shiftry's domain without a problem. Or maybe he could do it, and Shiftry's domain had been too powerful? It was hard to know without asking the man himself.

"Eelektross melted Metagross' barrier with Acid. How is that even possible?" I asked. "I thought barriers were, well, they're a physical thing, but not really."

"That'd be a question better suited for Koga," Jasmine said. "But at its core, poison aims to ruin. It is insidious. A knife hidden in a cloak, ready to stab you in the back. And a dagger powerful enough can stab through anything. Even steel."

The frown on her face made me realize that there was probably some bias at play here. I would hold her to her word until Alakazam got further into his research. I kept speaking with Jasmine for another hour, asking her about the battle in great detail, but at some point she got so drunk that half her answers were nonsensical and she had her head down on the table. What I had gotten out of her was more valuable than gold, however, and I had her number. The biggest being that Honey would be able to mess with magnetism as he grew older and more powerful, especially when he evolved.

"Uh… what do I do now?" I muttered to myself.

"I want another beer!" Jasmine yelled, suddenly shooting up. She slurred her words and was barely coherent.

My friends had drunk before, but I'd never been with someone this drunk. Craig was wiped out from using mega evolution, Volkner was at work, and I had no idea if the two agents following her even knew where she was. I stared around awkwardly and realized I probably needed to drag her out of here and bring her…

Wait, where the hell did she live?

"Jasmine. Psst, hey, Jasmine!" I heckled. It took ten seconds for her to pay attention to me.

The ashen-haired woman smiled at me. "Yeah?"

"I need to bring you home. Where do you live?"

"I live at Volkner's," she whispered. "You— you can bring me to his Gym. A Gym Trainer'll take care of me."

Well, at least she was lucid enough to understand the situation. I paid the tab and ignored Jasmine acting all embarrassed about having a kid pay for her or bring her back home. She didn't lean against me, but I did have to catch her a few times when she tripped over her own feet or a tiny ledge. Since the Gym was relatively far, I even had to pay for the bus fare, but I considered all of this worth it, especially when she'd given me a whole lot of information beforehand that I'd be able to use in numerous battles in the future.

It was my first time stepping inside of Volkner's Gym, and the stadium was actually smaller here than I was used to, and it had a thunder motif at the entrance and etched at the center of the carpet. The building's shape was generally the same— an oval-shaped building with the arena at its center. The Gym Trainers recognized Jasmine instantly and a buzz of activity started around the lobby.

"Um, I'll leave you here, okay?" I said as a pair approached us. "You rest up. Today was fun."

She mumbled something and slung an arm around a trainer's shoulder as they carried her to what I assumed was her room. We spoke for a little, and I explained the situation (minus the battle with Craig, since I assumed he wanted to keep that hidden). Apparently Jasmine was quite a heavy drinker and it wasn't the first time this happened, but she'd pulled back on alcohol recently, so this was actually not as bad as she usually got. It was one of the more positive aspects of her relationship with Volkner, since the man drank very little.

The Gym Trainers were quite friendly to me in a way that I hadn't expected. I'd honestly thought they would have been a lot angrier, but they were very appreciative that I'd brought her back safely. Maybe they'd put in a good word with Volkner?

I made my way back to the boardwalk and onto the private stretch of beach I had found, and I was happy to see that there was still no one in sight. Well, no one except a couple of Wingull that were resting there. It was late in the afternoon now and the sun would soon set. I released all of my Pokemon, who looked like they'd been dying to be let out.

"I'm sorry I couldn't let you out sooner, I was in a bar," I explained. "It was actually the second time today. That battle was… something, right? Let me explain how I even got to be there and catch you up on things."

I told them about randomly meeting Jasmine on the beach, since only Honey had seen her then, and also meeting her at the bar with Craig. Sunshine couldn't help but chime in that even though she was the steel type Gym Leader, she'd been challenging to beat when he'd been in Johto, and that of course had just been with Gym Pokemon and not her team.

"You saw that battle," I spoke as I paced in front of them. "You saw how powerful every single one of their Pokemon are. Now the question is, what can we do differently to reach that point faster?"

Training the way I was had worked for me this entire Circuit, but I felt like I'd grown complacent. All of the team agreed (even Buddy, who didn't care for battling), we needed to fight more people. The answer had been obvious. I called my friends rivals, and yet I only fought them once every few months.

That couldn't be the case any longer.

It wouldn't have to be full-fledged battles like the one I'd be doing with Denzel soon. Just doing it like Louis and Maeve were was perfect. A series of one-on-ones that pushed our Pokemon to the brink while we were in cities, over and over. Sunshine grumbled about the fact that he'd actually have to interact with more people and Buddy let out a slight sigh, but the rest of the team was excited about this new development.

And it all started with Lauren.

Who of course, hadn't answered me yet.

I sighed as I placed my phone back in my pocket. That was the first step. Complacency would be the end of me. I was under no illusion I would win at the end of the year, but I'd still give it my darndest to get as far as I could.

"Mira's busy with the psychics, Cece's training Erin and Louis and Maeve are battling each other, so I guess we're doing low-intensity training today," I said. "We don't want to ruin the beach for Jasmine when she comes back."

Of course, the training derailed and I started to nerd out about the battle with Princess and Sweetheart.

—

"It was so hot the air caught on fire and shone white?" Cecilia scoffed. "And you saw all of that? I'm so bitter."

It was evening now, and Cecilia had treated me to a nice, healthy meal. Now, we were back in her room and getting ready to sleep, but it was kind of impossible with the excitement of the battle still fresh in my mind.

"I'm telling you, it was unlike anything I'd ever seen!" I exclaimed. "It was— it was awesome! Every time I close my eyes, I see it all replay in my mind. Every single one of their Pokemon could take down six of ours without breaking a sweat. Oh, and I forgot tell you about that weird move Roxie used at the end. It was like she was engulfed in draconic flames, I had no idea what the hell that was and Jasmine doesn't either."

Cecilia drew a shaky, excited breath as she smiled and got up from the bed. "Maybe it's one of the new moves he was working on in Mount Coronet. I'd love to pick his brain about it."

"He'll never spill," I said. "I know he doesn't think much of us, but he'll still keep his techniques hidden for sure."

"Do me a favor, Grace. The next time you meet some incredibly powerful trainers that are about to battle, please call and take me."

I nodded. "Yeah, my bad, I just got so swept up in things. But what do you think about my idea? The battles?"

"I think it's good," she shrugged. "I'd have to stop them a few months before the Conference, though. Maybe after the seventh badge? I'd also want to keep things hidden."

"Oh, yeah, of course," I nodded. "You can join me and Lauren for the battles, I guess. I asked Chase about it and he said no. Mira doesn't care, and Denzel isn't here yet."

"He arrives in two days, right?"

"Yeah."

The day before my birthday, meaning that if everything went according to plan, our battle would be the day after the joint party. It'd be a shame if my Pokemon were all at the Center during the party, after all. They were family and I wanted them to be here too.

With all my planning against Volkner, I'd put the strategy against Denzel on the backburner a little, but I'd change that tomorrow. I joined Cecilia next to the open window and affectionately bumped her shoulder.

She turned toward me and smiled. "Could you recite the battle to me again? With an emphasis on the destruction this time?"

I chuckled. "You don't have to ask me twice. Craig sent out his Gyarados and Jasmine her Skarmory…"

—

It was my turn with Erin today, and she looked quite happy when I picked her up. Mira's psychics were still with her, but she was actually going to lend us Gardevoir today. I didn't know what exactly she was working on so intensely, but it was definitely substantial. After all, she hadn't seen Maeve and Louis that many times, and even Chase was surprised at the lack of contact. And this was all happening in her room, so I knew it couldn't be something destructive. Erin spoke to me about the clout New Wave had now, and that thanks to us, people were joining them in droves. She'd had to streamline the application process and she'd already gained fifteen new members since we'd arrived.

To think she and the others looked up to Cece and me that much. I was pretty sure she would have passed out if she'd witnessed the battle between Craig and Jasmine.

Gardevoir had already been waiting in front of the Center and Teleported us to route 214 right away. It was actually great that she was there, that way she could check up on Princess' progress with barriers.

"Okay, Erin. I'm actually going to have my Pokemon train here. I'm on a bit of a time crunch and I have an important battle in a few days," I told her. "Don't worry, they'll be a bit away from you. And there won't be anything involving lava."

"Lava? Oh. Oh. Did Cecilia tell you— oh, I'm sorry," Erin said with a slight dip of her head. "I was just worried. I mean, with that title—"

"No worries," I said. "You just keep working on what you know for now, and I'll be with you in a bit."

I released Princess first and let her go with Gardevoir after soothing her worries about Erin. I'd spoken about her, but it was their first time actually meeting. Erin called her cute, which assuaged her fears some. The fact that Princess had been that easily convinced forced me to restrain a laugh, and the flying type told me that she approved of this new friend.

The rest of the team knew what they had to work on. Buddy was on the cusp of mastering Water Spout, while Low Kick and Screech were already dealt with. Now, it was just a matter of actually getting them to a more powerful level. Now that Sweetheart knew how to draw upon Dragon Pulse, she'd moved on to Stone Edge, but it would be a bit for her to learn the move when the closest thing she had to work with was Rock Slide. She essentially needed to combine the control she had over Rock Slide with Smack Down's incredible speed. Angel, meanwhile, was still working on Solar Beam. Drawing upon the sun was one thing, but concentrating all of that power into one giant laser was another. I was sure he'd get there for Volkner's Gym Battle, but probably not for the fight with Denzel.

Needless to say, Erin was immediately terrified of Buddy. Sat's hair stood on end as she hissed at him while Comet ground his teeth together to create a cute, threatening sound. Of course, Buddy ignored them and moved onto his training. I did ask him not to do his usual shapeless horror thing in front of her.

I was a little way away now, and I unclipped Sunshine's Pokeball from my belt. When I released him, he did not hesitate to let his disappointment be heard. He seemed to love the beach very much, even if he relentlessly trash-talked it every time we were here. It was the closest thing that reminded him of Alola, no doubt.

"You ready to start?" I asked.

His expression grew serious and he instantly agreed. We both knew what we were here to do. We were attempting to have him fly— or at least jump in the air for a few seconds. If we solved his mobility issues, he'd be a huge threat on the battlefield.

"Give it your best try right now," I said. "I'll take cover— actually, that's stupid. I'll just stand really far."

The dragon disagreed and told me it'd be best to have Princess raise a wall for me. He wasn't worried about the temperature as much as the debris the Shell Trap would cause.

"I can't see how you're moving if I have a wall in front of me," I sighed. "But fine, if you're so worried. I'll have Princess take a little break and create a barrier instead. Princess!"

Gardevoir frowned at me from afar for interrupting Togetic's focus, but she was too far to speak into my mind. I apologetically raised a hand at her and Princess quickly floated toward me.

"Sunshine's going to use Shell Trap in an attempt to move himself around. I'd like a barrier, please."

The fairy type acquiesced right away and wished Sunshine good luck. The dragon thanked her under his breath, and it was at times like these that I could appreciate how close they'd gotten.

Turtonator's shell glowed with a sinister red, then his tail shone bright white as he slammed it against himself. The subsequent explosion was as impressive as always. Even after seeing Jasmine and Craig battle, I could appreciate the power my family brought to the table. Chunks of rocks flew and slammed against Princess' barrier and I felt hot wind slam into my face.

And I facepalmed as I heard Erin scream in the background. I had told her no lava, but I hadn't told her about explosions.

"What the hell was that?!" She yelled.

"Sorry about that, Erin! It's just a Shell Trap, don't worry about it!"

I returned my attention to Sunshine and noticed that the wind had been less hot than I'd expected. I patted Princess on the back and congratulated her on her progress with barriers.

My eyes had been on Sunshine's feet, and he'd only slid around a foot. A far cry from the flight we'd been hoping to achieve like that old arch-rival of his on Mount Wela. Normally, he would steady and square himself in order not to slide, but since he'd been trying to move, he wasn't doing so.

"That was a good first attempt—"

Sunshine interrupted with a grunt and told me not to patronize him. This was where he'd been stuck at for the last two years.

"I'm serious. It's a good base to build up from. We'll figure it out," I said, approaching to pat him on the arm.

Turtonator's shell was angled slightly downward, so the force from the explosion pushed him against the ground. There was also the fact that the explosion itself could be more powerful, but it would damage his shell, so we needed to make his shell more sturdy if we took that angle. Iron Defense was a way of doing that, and he knew the move, but that would weigh him down way too much.

"Let's start by angling yourself more toward the sky," I said. "Princess, another barrier please—"

"Grace! Grace help!"

My head spun toward Erin so quickly my neck hurt, but I remembered that Gardevoir was here and that she was in no danger. I ran up to her with Princess while Sunshine complained about wasting time and saw what she'd been screaming at.

I couldn't tell her he was harmless, or I would have given her a headache, Gardevoir said.

"No problem. This is what you're screaming about?" I sighed. "He's a little cutie."

I crouched, ignoring Comet and Sat's worried selves and held out a hand toward the Pokemon in front of us. He was only three feet tall and walked around like he was drunk all the time. I didn't know much about Spinda, but it was true what they said about their eyes. They really did look like they'd been drawn on there with permanent marker, and if I stared for too long it looked like they were spinning.

"He just wants to say hi," I said. "Look. Come here."

Erin blinked. "Are you— are you sure?"

"Erin, I'm literally petting him right now."

Angel had joined us and was rubbing the little guy's head with a few vines, and Erin finally did the same. Her hand had been trembling at first, but she was smiling from ear to ear soon enough.

"He likes you," I said.

"How do you know?" Erin asked.

"I can tell."

Not only just because of Mesprit's blessing, but also because the normal type kept holding onto Erin's sleeves anytime she stopped touching him. He was rather young, if I had to guess. Maybe Honey's age? Spinda stumbled forward and grabbed onto Erin's leg, and her Bidoof seemed to now trust him while Sat just stared with an ample amount of suspicion. I could almost hear her silent disapproval.

"Why don't you catch him? Would you like that, Spinda?"

Spinda answered with a small grunt. Even his voice sounded… swirly, somehow. I turned to Honey and remembered our first encounter fondly. It was almost a mirror of what had happened back then, except he'd been louder and more bombastic.

"I've never actually caught a wild Pokemon before," Erin muttered as she grabbed an empty Pokeball. "This is so exciting. It's like I'm the real deal, now. Are you ready?"

Spinda nodded, although due to how much he moved all the times it was barely recognizable. Erin tapped the normal type's head with the Pokeball and he was absorbed into the device, which dinged instantly.

"I wonder what his deal is," Erin said. "I didn't know wild Pokemon just did that."

"Learn to know him, and one day he might tell you why," I said. "Why don't you release him, and you two can start bonding? Oh, and by the way, do you want to come to Cece and I's birthday party?"

"W—what? The one with all of your famous friends?"

"Yeah. You're lending us your club building, and we're friends, so I thought it'd be nice," I said. "Why don't you come over? Meet the others?"

Erin drew a short breath. "Yes! Sure! I'll be there! I'll even be an hour early! Do you need cookies? Because I can help my mom make some! What about the cake? And what sort of gift would you both like?!"

Of course, I answered each question right away and we kept speaking until she froze and teared up. Sat and Comet began to hiss, but their bravado melted away in seconds.

When I turned around, Sunshine was looming over me with flames in his snout.

"Sorry, he just does that sometimes," I said. "Stop it. How did you even get here without me noticing?"

The dragon huffed and told me to get a move on.

"Sorry, Erin," I smiled. "Duty calls."

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri, Rhuodric

 

[Popoley224]

Fun fun fun. Grace is learning about a gentleman called Lorentz, I see. Honey will put his Force to good use.

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 222

"She answered?" Cecilia said. When I nodded, she sighed in relief. "Finally!"

My eyes glazed over Lauren's response as I read it out. "I'm sorry I took so long to reply, I was busy creating a new concept for a move and spent the entire time without looking at my phone— yeah, that sounds like her. Anyway, she agrees."

"When?"

"Now," I said.

"Wow. How… punctual."

"That was some not-so-subtle sarcasm. She's in our Center, so I think that's why."

It had been two days since I witnessed Craig and Jasmine's battle. Craig was leaving in a few days, but of course, he told me to tell his sister he'd said hello. Jasmine, meanwhile, had apologized for getting so drunk with me and said it was unbecoming of an adult. I really didn't mind much, especially with how much information I'd gotten out of her, but she wanted to make it up to me so I asked her if she wanted to meet Cece. I'd considered inviting her to my birthday before remembering that a twenty-seven-year-old probably wouldn't enjoy being alone at a party with a bunch of teenagers, so I didn't actually send that text.

"Maybe we should have slept in, then," Cecilia said as she sipped on some apple juice.

"Who doesn't like to go to a bar at ten in the morning?" I said. "We should go, though. I don't know when she'll be available again."

Since Erin had been taking a break today to deal with the new recruits in New Wave, I'd brought Cece to the same bar Jasmine and Craig had been in. It was a cozy spot by the boardwalk, so what was not to like? Plus, the eight badger tournament in Jubilife was still going on and we were having a lot of fun watching. That grass type specialist girl had made it to the semi-finals and I was rooting for her. We quickly downed her drinks and left.

We hopped on a bus back to the Pokemon Center, and I checked my messages again. Denzel, Pauline and Emi were coming back sometime this evening, and the party was tomorrow night. Our battle was drawing closer, but I felt confident. All training was going according to plan and we were progressing at a rapid pace. Sunshine still had problems, but we were actually making progress there too, despite it being so slow.

"Think we can do this out of the city?" I asked. "How about my route?"

"You call it your route now?" Cecilia smirked.

"Well, I've been going there every day since Veilstone."

"It depends on what Lauren says," she said. "She might want to stick to the arenas."

"Hm. I think she'll agree," I said. "I don't want to do this in public. Too many people and no cameras. I don't want the Poketch Company to complain because I lost a few one-on-ones."

"I've been thinking about sponsors," Cece said. "Oh, do you—"

Someone had just gotten off one of the seats and she offered it to me with an outstretched hand. I sat down and thanked her.

"Sponsorships? How are you doing on money?" I asked.

"I still have enough for a few years. It's not like I've been going on a spending spree," she said. "But it wouldn't be about the money. I would like being sponsored by a professor… someone who had information to give instead of money."

I chewed on her words and remembered Barry Lane existed. He was supposed to be in Sunyshore as well.

"There are a lot of professors out there, but not that many of them offer sponsors. Only the biggest ones like Rowan," I said.

"Yes. And it's not like it would be feasible at the moment. They tend to only sponsor children they know or that can have them study rare Pokemon in return."

"Zweilous is rare," I said.

"They're rare, but I mean truly rare. Like fossils, for example. I'll have to keep a tab on it for now, since it's not like it's an urgent matter. It's also a little late in the year for new sponsorships."

"Fair enough," I said.

Lauren was waiting for us in front of the Center already, donning her usual mask and sunglasses. Cecilia turned toward me and opened her mouth to ask why, but I shook my head. It'd be best if we just left first.

"Good morning," Lauren whispered. "I'm happy that we're doing this."

"Right? This is great," I grinned. "Is Mira busy? Do we have a Teleporter available? We wanted to do this on route 214."

"Alakazam should be," Cece said. "I'm worried about her. She's being a bit of a shut-in."

"Well when I asked, she said she was working on something great, and she looks fine," I said. "I wouldn't worry too much. Plus, she'll be at my party, so we'll get her out of her room. Lauren, what do you think?"

"About Mira? I don't know her well—"

"About training on the route," I said. "Slowking's good at barriers."

"You don't have to tell me twice. I don't like crowds," Lauren muttered.

We went to get Alakazam and he Teleported us to Route 214. He was getting interested in Erin and pestering me to line up our schedules so he could study her. She had three normal types now, but since they weren't powerful at all, they weren't going to change her behavior and the way she looked at the world. Still, Alakazam was interested in studying the potential start of the process. I told him he'd be able to talk to her during my party. Even if telepathy would give Erin a terrible headache, he could still write down questions on pieces of paper if needed.

"You still haven't fixed your carving?" Cecilia smiled as she stared at the mountain's facade.

"Well, it was for you, so it'd be odd to fix it," I said. "We can keep it here. It's romantic."

Cece's smile widened, and she grabbed onto my hips—

"Who's starting?" Lauren asked. "I want to go first."

"Um— I guess I can go," I said. "Remember, we need to find the right balance. Enough to maximize growth, but not too much. We don't want our Pokemon to go to the Center for multiple days."

It was a bit risky doing this with my battle with Denzel in two days, but I trusted myself to recognize when to give up or to stop attacking. Cece released Slowking, who quickly began to raise a barrier for us. It was a lot slower compared to Dot's, and it was no doubt weaker as well, but it would do for the amount of power we could throw around. Lauren released Magmar next to her along with Sirris, who had evolved into a Reuniclus during Lauren's battle with Maylene.

"Sirris is here for moral support," Lauren said.

Howdy! The psychic type said. I heard two voices instead of one, which made sense, considering they were two brains sharing one body.

Thanks for taking care of Laulau!

Lau's thankful for your companionship!

The voices were interspaced this time. They were kind of like Metagross in that regard, but unlike Jasmine, Lauren referred to them as singular.

"She's a friend," I said. "The pleasure's all mine."

Magmar had grown slightly, although he was shorter and stouter than Honey. I could feel the heat radiating from him due to the flames constantly lit on his shoulders. I knew his heat was dangerous, but he didn't come to Sunshine's level yet in that regard. Lauren made her way toward her side of the arena with her two Pokemon, but I didn't miss Mags shooting me a dirty look as he stepped behind his trainer.

I mentally shrugged. I knew how he was already.

"I might as well use Honey for this," I told myself. Since we were putting them in a pair anyway, it'd be nice to see how they matched up. "Is Thunder too much? It's probably too much."

I released Honey and quickly brought him up to speed. Gone were his days were he'd be anxious before such a fight. This was training, and win or lose, he knew that he'd progress.

"Good luck," Cece said.

"Thanks."

What was Magmar's biggest strength, I instantly asked myself. Versatile, but stronger at up close due to the heat while Honey was the opposite. Lauren's play would be to get close and finish the battle that way while mine would be to keep my distance as much as possible. Lauren probably had a bunch of custom moves under her sleeve and we had none.

I really needed to get started on those, and quickly. I was close to finishing building up a base. Something for all of my Pokemon to stand on. Now it was time to expand and branch out.

Alakazam positioned himself next to Slowking, who counted down in both of our minds.

Three, two, one, begin.

"Thunderbolt," I said.

"Mach Punch!" Lauren yelled, her meekness and innocence torn away.

Magmar rushed forward, becoming a blur of fiery red as his fist glowed white. A powerful burst of electricity immediately flew toward the fire type, hitting him in the chest until he arrived and punched Honey in the head.

"Grab onto him and Emberburst!" Lauren screamed.

Not good, I bit my lip.

"Electrocute, Screech and Cross Chop," I quickly ordered.

Magmar firmly gripped onto Electabuzz as the temperature rose and his snout glowed dark red. A quick shock fried Magmar and the fire type convulsed for a few seconds. Then, Honey roared right into the fire type's ear until he let go and slammed two glowing arms onto his shoulders. The mere contact burned Electabuzz, whose fur was already starting to smoke.

"Flamethrower!" Lauren said.

This time, a huge stream of flames exited Magmar's mouth quickly and engulfed Honey, who grunted in pain beneath the fire. I didn't know what Emberburst was, but it took a while for Magmar to charge up, and its range was seemingly limited.

"Thunderbolt again! Keep your distance!"

Honey circled around Magmar as multiple bolts of electricity slammed into the fire type. Lauren retaliated with another Flamethrower, but this time, I was ready and ordered Honey to put up a Protect. The flames were so quick that we barely had time for even that.

"Smog Wave!" Lauren commanded.

Toxic gasses spewed from Magmar's snout in huge quantities, but it didn't just stay there. Superheated air gushed forward and pushed it toward us.

"Now Mach Punch!" She continued.

A shimmering, green barrier appeared in front of Honey again, this time without my order. Magmar's fist bounced off the Protect with a loud clang, and the Smog finally reached both Pokemon. I knew Honey would hold his breath, but it would only be effective for so long, and the heat was getting to him at the same time. This was like Heat Wave and Smog combined, and the move was appropriately named. Honey's fur lit ablaze as he awaited my next order with a pained grunt.

"Discharge!" I yelled.

Electricity burst out from every inch of his skin, illuminating the battlefield and clearing away the Smog. Magmar hadn't moved, however, and despite being hurt by the attack, dormant flames already spewed from his snout.

"Now!" Lauren yelled.

Mags spat out the Emberburst point blank, and I screamed for another Screech. At first, the flames didn't look like much. They were a dull red that reminded me of the weakest Flamethrowers I'd seen, but a second later, something inside of it sparkled and exploded. Then again. It was a chain reaction of fiery explosions that overtook both Pokemon.

I desperately craned my neck to see what was happening, but a Screech from Honey let me know he was still kicking. The sound cleared some of the flaming smoke, revealing Magmar covering his ears with a snarl. At this point, no matter how much we kept our distance, he would always catch up with Mach Punch. Lauren knew how to push her strengths and how to put people on the back foot.

"Low Kick and Thunderbolt!" I ordered.

Honey squared himself and swept Magmar's feet. The fire type grunted as he crashed into the ground backward and another Thunderbolt coursed through his body. Honey bared his teeth as he gripped the fire type's arms, pinning him against the floor and he Screeched again as countless volts coursed through Magmar's body.

"Fire Pillar!" Lauren ordered.

The ground under both of them burst open, and flames and earth spewed from the opening. Honey tried to keep his grip on Magmar for as long as he could to electrocute him, but there was too much force. He flew back toward me and fell onto the ground, his body a burned, smoking mess. Magmar struggled to stand up and the confidence he'd exuded at the start of the battle was nowhere to be seen. He stumbled around and fell again.

Still, Honey was unconscious. That meant that that round was their win.

"Good job, kid," I smiled as I recalled him.

A few things ran through my mind. One, I of course needed to get started on at least one custom move before the fight with Volkner now that we had Low Kick and Screech evidently down, and I had an idea in mind now that I'd seen Jasmine battle. Two, I wanted to find a way to replicate how annoying fire types were to fight from up close, but with Honey instead. Could I make him impossible to approach without getting hurt, somehow?

Definitely. The problem was figuring out how. That was our next steps.

I released Honey outside the barrier and applied potions to his skin while Lauren did the same with Magmar. She hadn't used Lava Plume or altered the terrain, and we hadn't used Thunder, so I was glad we actually managed to respect the etiquette of this training regiment.

"I'm next, I presume," Cecilia said. "Am I battling you or Lauren?"

"You can fight Lauren," I said. "Then we can go after."

They took around five minutes to get ready. Since Slowking was in charge of barriers, she couldn't exactly use him, so she really only had four Pokemon to choose from. Cece released Scyther while Lauren released Sceptile. Volis was his name, and I actually hadn't seen him battle since the Solaceon tournament.

Slowking counted down, and the battle began anew.

"Agility and scope him out," Cecilia said.

"Root Surge! Slam him!" Lauren yelled.

Scyther pushed a foot against the ground and took flight, his wings beating so fast that they were just a blur. The flying type slashed a scythe, and an arc of air that was almost invisible rushed toward Sceptile, who dodged the move with ease. His main strength was his speed, and he could keep up with Scyther without even using Agility. Everywhere he moved, something green shone under his feet, leaving thorny roots behind him that burst from the rocky ground and tried to wrap around Scyther's body.

Scyther circled around Sceptile, slashing across the roots before they could get to him. This song and dance continued for around ten seconds until Cece spoke up again.

"Cut in and Night Slash," she said.

There was a short gust of wind behind Scyther's back, and the bug type actually sped up further as he blurred toward Volis, who croaked and spat out a Bullet Seed. Scyther angled himself in order to protect his wings, and the seeds broke through the tough exoskeleton on his torso. Both of his sickles grew dark, and he cut across Sceptile's chest in the shape of an X. Sceptile quickly turned and slammed him away with his tail, but the damage was done.

Darkness continuously leaked from the wound.

"Fury Cutter!" Lauren yelled.

My eyes widened. She knew? Cece was also surprised and quickly swept her arm.

"Double Team and Air Slash!" She yelled.

Ten after-images of Scyther appeared all around him and they spun around each other to confuse Volis, who was still struggling to charge up the attack.

"Detect!" Lauren continued.

Sceptile blurred impossibly fast, narrowlingly dodging the Air Slashes that had beelined toward him. Fighting and bug type moves could push through dark TE, and Lauren was in the know. What she hadn't expected was for another Air Slash to cut across Sceptile's flank as soon as he finished using Detect. The grass type slammed his tail against the floor in a display of frustration and ran toward Scyther, then jumped. Finally, the Fury Cutter had activated. Scyther flew toward the left, but the grass type twisted his body and kicked him in the waist with Double Kick. The Fury Cutter had been a feint.

"Counter!" Cecilia bellowed.

There was a glint in Scyther's eyes, and the bug type's body straightened as he slammed his entire body against Volis. Sceptile tumbled back toward the ground and Scyther followed, finishing him off with an X-Scissor on the back. Cece and Lauren congratulated each other and healed their Pokemon.

Even with the type advantage, that had been an impressive showing from Scyther. He wasn't the most powerful or the fastest of Cecilia's team, but he was among the trickiest to fight with his harassing and skirmishing tactics. The fact that Sceptile had managed to stand up to him was a testament to his strength. He might have made it close had he not been locked into bug and fighting type moves. I definitely needed to look into more of those types of moves for my team in case some other trainer ever had the same tactic as Chase and Cece.

These battles were relatively short and more fast-paced than usual since we could play them a lot more aggressively than usual because there were no consequences to a loss, but I was still learning a lot.

Cecilia grinned as she patted Scyther on the back. "I can't believe that worked! You did great!"

The bug type screeched and shook his head dismissively. He didn't really care about her praise much.

"Is it the first time you managed the darkness trick?" I asked.

"Yes. Chase helped me, but we never got it down until now," she excitedly said. "Now I just hope we can replicate it in battle."

"You will. And it's you and me now," I told Cece. "I'm going to use Princess."

"Princess, hm?" Cecilia mused. "I'll use Talonflame, then."

"Hell yes! Remember the last time they actually fought one on one? That was the Floaroma tournament."

Lauren walked up to us with a smile. "This is so much fun. Who knew battling with friends felt like this?"

"I told you you should have hung out with us sooner," I said. "I'll get in position."

Talonflame was actually a perfect matchup for Princess, since I was interested to see how good she'd gotten at shielding herself against extreme temperatures in a situation that wasn't a controlled environment. She'd have to multitask, so this was going to basically simulate the actual battle with Volkner. We released both Pokemon, and they floated high in the sky. Slowking counted down, and the battle began anew.

She's going to build up speed and Heat Wave, I thought to myself.

"Agility, Tailwind, Flame Charge and Heat Wave," Cecilia ordered.

"Keep a barrier around yourself and get some rocks," I said.

Talonflame's body loosened as she flattened her wings against her sides. The bird fell to the floor, speeding up until she caught herself at the last second and her body burst into flames. With a squawk, she blurred toward Princess and started gaining altitude with the wind at her back.

The air was growing hotter.

Princess ripped a set of fifteen head-sized rocks from the ground and chirped as they began orbiting around her. Talonflame simply circled the arena as she built up her Heat Wave, since they didn't want to get in Princess' Psychic range.

What they didn't expect was that we had another move at our disposal.

Princess grunted as the heat pushed against her shield, and I knew now that she was struggling to keep her shield up. Using it while doing other things was still too difficult for her, but practice made perfect. I waited just a few seconds until Talonflame reached the closest point and sprung to action.

"Extrasensory in front of her!" I yelled.

By the time the command had gotten out of my mouth, Talonflame was just where we wanted her. The air in front of her blurred, and the fire type screeched as she flew through it. She'd gotten a headache no doubt, but what I'd been waiting for was for her to slow down. Princess knew me and how I fought by now. The rocks orbiting around her flew toward Talonflame and reformed into spikes mid air.

Lances would have won, but that would have been overkill.

"Air Burst!" Cecilia yelled.

One of the spikes stabbed into Talonflame's chest, but that was all we got. The fire type flapped her wings with a defiant cry and a powerful gust of wind pushed the remaining stones away. The air was sweltering by now, and both Pokemon's form were blurry through the barrier.

"Air Slash," she continued.

"Air Cutter from below," I countered.

Talonflame flew quickly, but Air Slash was slower than what we had. The air below Talonflame sharpened and cut her body, slashing into feathers and skin. It'd been even faster than I expected thanks to the massive updrafts from the superheated air. I ordered Princess to gather some rocks again, and she did so. Having them in that form not transformed into anything would keep an opponent on their toes and guessing that we'd do.

Now, in a normal battle, the best play for Cecilia would have been to keep away from Princess while the Heat Wave did its job, but this was no normal battle.

"Go as fast as you can and Aerial Ace!" Cecilia yelled.

She was going for broke and hoping that the force—

"Extrasensory and Psychic!" I said, my words so quick they were barely coherent.

—behind the move would be enough to push past Princess' barrier, Extrasensory and Psychic.

A pillar of air in front of Princess grew strange in an effort to slow Talonflame down, and she threw all of her rocks forward, opting for blunt force this time instead of spikes. Talonflame slowed, but she pushed and kept going. The streaks of air forming from her beak destroyed most of the rocks, and she kept flying toward Princess.

We needed more juice.

"Dazzling Gleam!" I yelled.

Of course, the problem with Dazzling Gleam was that the move came from Princess' skin, and that for that, she needed to pull down her barrier. Her fur caught ablaze as she dissolved the last amount of protection she had, and light and wind exploded out of her. The Dazzling Gleam blinded Talonflame and burned her body into a hazy, smoking mess.

With a tilt of her head, Princess grabbed Talonflame's body with Psychic. The fire type had only stopped mere inches from her face, and she struggled in a desperate attempt to break free as Princess recreated her barrier.

"You win," Cecilia conceded. "You could just slam her against the ground and break her wings."

I nodded and wiped the sweat off my brow. Some of the heat had leaked past Slowking's barrier too. I recalled Princess to free her from the fiery arena and healed her with more potions. One thing was for sure, this was efficient, but we'd burn through potions pretty quickly. Slowking made sure to keep the barrier up until the air naturally cooled. Once I walked up to Cece again, she was already healing Talonflame with potions. The headache would stick around, though, so she'd need a big break.

"Isn't Princess just the worst the fight?" Cece asked Lauren. "You can't slip up even once."

"I'd like to have Sirris battle her," she grinned.

"Well, Flare Blitz or Brave Bird would have broken through and taken us down," I shrugged.

"Let's not do what-ifs," Cecilia said. "You won, end of story. Now, who's going next?"

We ended up doing this game the entire afternoon, cycling through our Pokemon who had gotten enough rest. Even Alakazam wanted to go home and thought we were insane. Since Cece had fewer Pokemon available than we had, she battled the least, meaning that Lauren won the most battles, I was second and she was third. By the end, all of our Pokemon were exhausted and definitely needed to spend the night in the Pokemon Center. I'd wanted Sunshine to battle Lauren's Rhydon, but we were interrupted by a text.

Denzel, Emilia and Pauline had arrived in the city.

Alakazam Teleported us back to Sunyshore immediately. Lauren bid us farewell, saying that she wasn't really good with reunions, and we waited at our Center after texting them the address.

Needless to say, I tackled Denzel to the floor as soon as he walked through the doors.

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri, Rhuodric, Nord, Filthymacgyver, Grey J

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 223

"Holy fuck, I think you broke my ribs…"

"Denzel! I missed you so much!" I yelled.

I heard him chuckle and felt him hug me back. Trainers were used to these kinds of loud, happy reunions, so they only stared for a few seconds before returning to their activities and conversations. When I looked up, Pauline's hand was outstretched. I grabbed it, and she helped me up and hugged me too while Cecilia greeted Emilia and Denzel.

"I missed you, little gremlin," Pauline said. "How are things here?"

"They're so much fun," I said before turning toward Emilia. "Emi! You look great!"

"I always look great," she smirked.

Needless to say, it was hugs all around.

"Let's catch up in my room—"

Emi interrupted me. "No, I want to host the party. It can be a pre-party for tomorrow. Just let us get a room, and I'll handle the food and drink."

"Taking charge already," Cecilia smiled. "How was your trip here?"

"It was… eventful, that's for sure. We stopped by the Hotel Grand Lake and stayed for two days, so it was fun too. Emilia took me to all of her favorite spots that she used to drag Pauline to when they were kids."

"Grace!" Pauline yelled. "I caught a Mankey! He's such a weirdo, but I like him! And I think he likes me back. Probably."

"You got one?!" I gasped. "I'm so happy for you! I can't wait to meet the little guy!"

"You can meet him tomorrow. All of our Pokemon are spending a night in the Center. Well, except Emi's. She doesn't train—"

"I do train. I just don't bash my Pokemon against themselves when I do," Emilia scoffed. "Anyway, let's get those rooms."

The process was quick, as usual, and we made our way toward the elevator right away while Emilia was already ordering stuff on the phone.

"Oh, Gothorita also evolved," Denzel said.

I grinned. "Really? You guys must have trained hard."

Pauline stared at Denzel, who stared at Emilia, who stared at Pauline.

That was weird.

"Maeve and Louis are arriving in twenty minutes or so," Emilia said. "Louis said he's smuggling in alcohol."

Pauline pumped a fist. "Fuck yeah!"

"Let's be responsible now…" Denzel said.

"You say that, but you'll drink too," Emilia said as we walked out the elevator. "Grace, what do you want? Grape soda? Grape juice? Cranberry?"

"Soda's fine, thank you."

When we entered Emilia's room, she placed her bag on the ground and jumped on the fresh sheets right away.

"Oh, beds, how I missed you," she said with a fake-sob.

"Didn't you sleep in a bed yesterday? In the hotel?" Cecilia asked.

"Well, yes, but you know what I meant," she said.

Denzel opened a window, leaned against the sill and I followed him while Cecilia, Pauline and Emilia bantered together about how terrible the latter had found traveling, even though this was the safest route in the region. It was hard to remember she'd made it through Mount Coronet once and Eterna forest.

"This city's fucking amazing and I've just gotten here," Denzel muttered. The wind blew in his hair and face, causing him to squint. "You ready for the battle? I know you haven't been resting on your laurels."

"I'm ready," I nodded. "Well, I still need some finishing touches, but what do you mean, you know?"

"You need to be more online, dude," Denzel said. "You drank in a bar with Craig Goodwill and Jasmine Whitaker, and you got into Craig's hotel room with her. Next, you were seen helping her back home while she was drunk after drinking with her again. People are going wild about it."

"Oh. Right," I said. "I saw a little bit of that, but I don't pay much attention. I like to focus on myself, y'know? But I can introduce you if you'd like. Plus, Craig is still here. He was interested in you in Snowpoint."

Denzel's eyes widened. "Oh, word? I'd like to meet Jasmine! And Craig again!"

"Of course. You wouldn't believe what I saw—"

I turned back to the trio and leaned toward Denzel as much as I could. Cece was fine, and I assumed Denzel was too, but I wasn't sure Craig would appreciate me telling all of my friends about the battle.

"I saw them battle," I whispered. "I'll tell you about it when the party dies down, and you can ask Craig about it too."

"No videos?" He asked.

"Nope. It was private. On a damn mountain on route 205, believe it or not. I still can't believe that was real."

"I need to get better at this connection stuff…" Denzel muttered. "How'd you even stumble into that?"

"Randomly," I said. "Don't worry about it. I think Jasmine likes me, so it'll be pretty easy to set up a meeting. Cece will be there too."

"Great. Thanks," he said, scratching the back of his head. "Can you tell me about it now, actually? The battle?"

"I live to tell the story. The more I say it, the less the memories grow hazy," I smiled. "I guess I can do it before the others get here."

I recounted the battle to him until Louis and Maeve arrived, and his expression had grown more impressed with each order.

After that, though? The party was in full swing.

—

I felt a finger poke my cheek and I yawned as I woke up. It took me a few seconds to remember what day it was, despite us having a pre-party yesterday until three in the morning in Emilia's room. The fact that the first thing she'd done when arriving was host a party was hilarious enough, but she'd also ordered food and drinks too. It was as much to free herself from the terrible, pre-made food she'd eaten during her short stint to Sunyshore as it was something nice for everyone else.

And it had been expensive.

"Happy birthday," Cece softly said.

"Thank you."

I was sixteen today.

I dragged her face down and kissed her… a few more times that was probably necessary, and I got off the bed.

"I'm going to shower," she said. "Are you going back to your room?"

"No, I'll wait for you," I answered as I grabbed my phone. "I'll borrow your shower after. I think I have some clothes here?"

"You do, second drawer from the left," she said, not even looking back.

"How do you even remember that?" I whispered to myself.

I'd been bombarded by happy birthday messages on my phone, and it wasn't even noon. I checked my mom and dad's first, and I answered them right away. I spent some time with my dad on the phone too, and he was nearly crying the entire time about how I was growing up so fast. There were of course, my friends, including Candice (who finally remembered what day my birthday was) but also Jasmine and Craig. The Poketch Company sent me an email, and Melody also sent me a very heartfelt message about how proud she was of my progress. I snorted when I saw Cynthia sent me a message too. The cynical part of me wondered if it was just to keep me satisfied, but I figured I'd better just take it at face value and be happy about it. She'd sent one to Cecilia too on the 28th, and I decided to do the same as her. A short, succinct answer.

It was later than I would have liked. I wanted to go off to train for a few hours before we started organizing stuff for the party. I wasn't going to skip, especially when the battle with Denzel was tomorrow, and I wanted to experiment on some potential techniques with Honey. Cece came out of the bathroom, so I quickly showered, and soon enough, we were out of her room.

Sunshine was still sleeping in mine when I opened to door, along with Angel, while Buddy had been waiting for me right in front of the entrance. The water type floated toward me with more excitement than usual and wished me a happy birthday. Angel did the same, in his own way, dragging me up and down over and over. Sunshine muttered the words under his breath.

"Can you say it again?" I teased. "I can't hear you."

This time, he said it loud and clear, and I couldn't help my face from mocking him with a smug smirk. I used the opportunity to release the rest of the team from their Pokeballs. A few heads in the hallway turned when Sweetheart yelled happy birthday at me, and Princess flew into my arms, saying the same. Honey patted me on the shoulder and grinned.

I spent a few minutes with them, but since today was going to be busy, I recalled them soon enough and we were out of the door again. They'd be able to spend more time out at the party tonight. When Cecilia and I knocked on Mira's door for her Alakazam, she vehemently refused, even when I told her I was going to eat first.

"Absolutely not. We're swamped today," the pink-haired girl said as she typed on her computer.

"They're not doing anything," I protested.

The two psychics shook their heads at me, and Alakazam spoke.

We're training.

"Are you kidding me? You could have just said no," I scoffed. "Cece?"

My girlfriend shrugged. "It is what it is. Maybe you could take a break today."

"Get out of my room," Mira said. "I need to focus!"

"Arceus, no need to yell," I groaned. "Fine, we'll leave."

I gently closed her door and rolled my eyes.

"What's gotten into her?" I asked. "I hope she isn't like that at the party. I'm seriously getting worried she's slipping back into how she was in Veilstone."

But there was no reason for her to do so, so why? She had everything she wanted from the League that had dangled the bait that was Team Galactic in front of her face, and even she knew that. Arceus, I was getting nervous again. Couldn't I relax for a single week? Sunyshore was supposed to be my vacation! And hopefully Pastoria too!

"Well, just give her some time," Cece said.

"I don't know, she was looking at you weird. I'll talk to her tonight," I said. "I guess we can't really train like we did yesterday. I'm probably going to do some low-intensity training on route 222, and then I'll message the others so we can meet—"

"Why don't we go eat an early brunch first?"

"I thought we could just get something from the cafeteria with Denzel and the others?" I said.

"They're all out," Cecilia said. "They told me about it while you were sleeping."

"Aw. Why didn't you wake me up first?" I asked. "I really thought we'd be able to hang now that everyone's here."

"You just said you wanted to train. And I wanted you to get some rest," she said, rubbing my back. "Come on, let's go and eat something. I came across this great restaurant."

"On the boardwalk?"

"No, believe it or not. It's next to the University of Sunyshore campus."

"What? That's so far!"

"The food is really worth it, trust me."

"Fine," I said. "I guess we can go."

Cece smiled and bowed down to kiss my cheek. "You're the best."

—

The restaurant Cecilia had brought me to wasn't just next to the campus, it was right next to the campus, and it was full of students in their late teens and early twenties. If I remembered correctly, it was a tech-focused university, but it of course had all kinds of programs. Professor Rowan had graduated from here while he was young and he often gave speeches to graduates or at the start of semesters here. Or at least that's what Cece told me, I didn't know much about it.

"How is it? I told you it was great!" Cecilia said.

"It was pretty good, I have to admit," I nodded. "Thanks for paying. Again."

"It's your birthday."

"Yeah, yeah. I guess we can get back now. We really need to start organizing this party stuff. Denzel and Chase can do some heavy lifting. Should we order pizza? Cece?"

She looked up from her phone. "Hm?"

"For the party!" I exclaimed. "I think pizza's a good idea—"

My phone vibrated in my pocket, and the more I read the message, the deeper my frown got.

"Erin says there's some intra-club drama with the Wild Tamers on route 222 again," I said. "Something with Riley."

"Didn't he say that he was doing a clean break?" She asked. "How strange."

"Let's get going," I declared as I shot up.

"I need to go to the bathroom first, two minutes."

"Oh. Do you want me to come with you—"

"I'll be fine," she said. "Just wait for me outside the restaurant."

"Okay."

I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall outside as I observed students go about their lives. A lot of them were studying on the trim grass with their laptops, and some of them had Pokemon too. There were battles, people playing frisbee, volleyball, it looked like a lot of fun. The main university building was a few blocks away, but I could still see it from here. It looked extremely out of place with its dated architecture compared to Sunyshore's sleek, modern design.

"I wonder if they have a TE research department or something," I muttered to myself.

Cece arrived a few minutes later.

"Sorry about the time, the bathroom was full," she said. "Now, let's get going."

Since Sunyshore University was on the furthest eastern reaches of the city and next to the ocean, getting to route 222 took nearly thirty minutes, especially with how much traffic there was. It was at times like these that I wished for a Teleporter or for a Shiny Stone. The drama was apparently happening one hour into the route, but when we arrived, there were none of the crowds I'd expected. No yelling, no battling, no bullying. It was just Erin and a few friends of hers that I recognized sitting together and fawning over her Spinda, who spun on one foot and fell over— no, not fell over. He caught himself and somersaulted, flipping twice in the air and landing with a soft thud.

He'd looked on the brink of falling over and getting horribly injured the entire time, but he somehow made it look gracious.

"Erin? What's happening?" I asked.

Her friends frowned and were about to ask something, but she hushed them down with force I wasn't used to seeing from her. She really did behave differently with us.

"Uh, the drama's solved. It was a false alarm, sorry," she apologized. "Swirls was just showing us some tricks. Do you want to stick around and look?"

I squealed. "You named him Swirls?! That's so cute!"

"Grace loves cute names," Cece explained.

"I know, it's been all over the forums for a while," Erin said.

Spinda bowed at me, stumbling a few times as he smiled.

"But you could have sent us a text…" I sighed. "We spend a lot of time getting here. Do you want me to speak to Riley? Because I will speak to him—"

"No, he's fine! Here, why don't we… uh, what time is it?"

"It's three in the afternoon," Cecilia answered.

"Why don't we head back and get started on the party, then? We need to empty some rooms to get more space for everything. I'll help," Erin said. "Jessie, Sandy, Ken, you stick around. Sandy, you're in charge for the rest of the day. Watch the new recruits."

"Got it," she answered. Erin recalled Swirls and got up.

"Are you sure about Riley?" I asked as we walked back. "I can be persuasive."

"We know that," Cece said. "But let's give him a chance—"

"I could crush him. Gently."

"No! Don't talk to Riley without telling me first. Don't talk to him at all, actually!" Erin yelled. "It was just a little hiccup. We're fine."

At this point, she was practically dragging me back to Sunyshore, so I assumed she wanted to handle this herself to showcase her leadership to New Wave's new members. Maybe she didn't want to worry us too. Cece asked to take the scenic route back to Sunyshore by the beach, so I knew my plan for a beach date would work now.

By the time we arrived back in the city, it was the start of the evening and the sun had basically fully set, but we still had a lot of time to plan things since the club room would only be free late at night when the last members left. I disliked doing things at the last minute like this, but I'd been swamped with training and had no time to plan parties. Erin actually missed the bus somehow and wasted more time. I knew she was aloof, but missing a bus was really pushing it, especially when we'd gotten in right in front of her.

Finally though, we made it to the clubroom. We walked past the playground and I was surprised to see no one was there. Erin opened the door and pushed me in. The entryway was completely empty too.

"Where's everyone? Are they all on the route?" I asked. "Which rooms do we need to empty?"

Erin didn't answer, and Cecilia dragged me forward. All of the lights were off and I would have had to feel my way around without Erin here. She opened the door to one of the classrooms, and I squinted as the lights finally turned on. Multiple voice rang out.

"Surprise!"

Everyone was here, and they were here early. Chase, Lauren, Louis, Maeve, Mira, Denzel, Pauline and Emilia. They were all here. Balloons of every color were tied down or floating right before the ceiling. Multiple weird, cylinder things exploded and popped out confetti. The entire room had been cleared out, and instead there was a set of two long tables with all kinds of food and drink. Shrimp, pizza, chips, cookies, and an enormous cake with Cece and my name on it. There were stacks of gifts in the corner for both her and me.

The party was far earlier than we'd planned.

I stood there, dumbfounded for a few seconds, and then my vision went blurry.

I sobbed. "You guys…"

Lauren frowned. "She's crying. I don't think that's good news."

Cece stood in front of me and the others swarmed around me. I heard multiple 'are you okays' or 'what's wrong'.

"I'm just so happy," I sniffled. "I thought everyone was behaving so weirdly, I didn't understand. Cece, you were in on this?! It's your party too!"

"I was in charge of keeping you distracted today while the others organized things," Cecilia smiled as she wiped away my tears with her thumb. "When it didn't work, I had to call in Erin."

"Sorry," Erin chuckled nervously. "It's nice to finally meet everyone in person."

"You know Erin?" I asked.

"We spoke on the phone a bit. I was invited to the party committee group chat after you invited me."

"And let me tell you, this girl is a fucking blessing," Mira smiled. "She helped me so much."

"Kind of makes you feel bad about ignoring her when you first met, doesn't it?" Cecilia chided. "The reason Mira was acting so strangely these past few days was because she was the main organizer until Erin showed up."

"But I thought you were working on some really cool move," I said.

"No, I was working on looking up Sunyshore's regulation on fireworks, ordering a bunch of food, making a playlist, figuring out everyone's allergies, a time everyone would be available, you know, the average party drill. Emilia was coaching me on the phone and Maeve helped too."

I stumbled toward Mira and hugged her. "I'm sorry for assuming the worst about you."

The pink-haired girl scoffed. "What the hell does that mean?!"

"You know what it means," Cece smirked.

"Sorry for doing this," Denzel said. "We had to keep you in the dark because we were scared you'd figure things out. Uh, Louis, Cece and Emilia covered most of the costs. I would have helped more, but I'm kind of still broke. I haven't streamed in a bit and I haven't gotten my paychecks yet."

"Just you being there is good enough, you idiot," I sniffled. "And thank you for paying, everyone. I don't know how I'll ever repay this…"

Maeve chuckled. "Come on, Grace."

"No payment necessary. You're good," Louis said.

"It's our birthday party," Cece gently spoke. "Just enjoy it."

"Uh, I just showed up. Is that okay?" Chase asked.

"Same…" Lauren muttered. "Sorry. I gave a gift, though."

"Hey, I have a gift too, quiet girl," Chase said. "It's going to blow every other gift out of the water."

"Arceus, this is so overwhelming," I sighed. "But in a great way!"

"Let's get this started, then," Mira said. "This is the fruit of my labor. I feel like I just gave birth. It's like, so much relief."

Maeve recoiled with a disgusted frown, but Chase was the one to speak up first.

"Please don't say that."

Mira clapped her hands, and Alakazam appeared in the corner of the room. I craned my neck and saw that there was a DJ board there and a disco ball. Light began to shine throughout the room and music started to play. People slowly started to filter throughout the room.

"I can't believe you were in on this," I told Cece. "Since when did you know?"

"The surprise as a whole was floating around since Veilstone," Cecilia said. "But I was only brought into the plot after my own birthday, since they thought it would be too difficult to keep it hidden from the both of us. Everyone knew beforehand."

"Holy crap."

"I was just as surprised as you were."

A few minutes passed, and I grabbed a slice of pepperoni pizza and released my Pokemon one by one since the others were doing the same. The room was a little too crowded for everyone's teams though, so some of the Pokemon were released outside in the playground. Charizard, Braviary, Sunshine, Milotic, Sweetheart, Abomasnow, Talonflame, Vikavolt, Buddy, and Zweilous could be seen mingling through the window. I knew Sunshine and Buddy would have hated the crowd, and Zweilous would have knocked down all of the food while trying to grab some charcuterie or something. The rest of the teams were inside (except for Lauren, who had only released Sirris), including Erin's own Pokemon, whose protection Angel had decided to make his mission for the night. The grass type furiously swatted at Haunter with a few vines until the ghost ran off through a wall.

I noticed Erin pale and shiver at the sight of multiple Pokemon, so I decided to be her chaperone for the night. Or at least until she got used to their presence. I wouldn't like it if she was just scared the entire time, especially when it was a party.

"Please don't accidentally destroy the building," Erin whispered.

"Oh Erin, you worry too much!" I smiled. "Here, come meet Pauline— wait, I guess you already know her."

"Not really. I didn't exactly speak to her—"

"Pauline!" I yelled. "This is Erin in the flesh. I've been training her."

"I… know?"

"This is not fun!" I groaned. "Oh, is that Mankey?"

The fighting type was sitting crosslegged in the center of the room, oblivious to the people and Pokemon that had to walk around him. He wasn't even meditating. His eyes were wide open, and he was just staring at random things.

"I told you he was a weirdo," Pauline said. "But he's cool. He has this weird rivalry with Vigoroth. Vigoroth tries to make him mad, but he doesn't care since it builds up his tolerance to anger."

"Where is Vigoroth?"

"Gothitelle is babysitting," Pauline said, pointing to the other side of the room. The normal type was hanging on the psychic's robes and climbing all over her. "Oh yeah, she's angry. I should probably just bring Vigoroth outside before she swears so loudly it gets to everyone's mind. I'll see you later, Grace."

I turned and noticed that Emilia and Denzel were also outside, although they were just leaning against the window with some food. They had probably climbed through it. Honey was busy analyzing and tasting every single food item out there while Princess followed him and called everything disgusting, much to his chagrin. I decided to walk up to Chase, who was busy with Lauren and Mira. On the way there, I thanked Alakazam for playing DJ.

Mira basically forced me, he said. Why couldn't it have been Gardevoir…

Gardevoir was busy shadowing Mira wherever she went, and she loomed over the short teen while Ri attentively nodded to every word Chase spoke.

"...not two days. Three to four days per week instead," Chase said. "And you want to leave a day between each to leave your body some time to recover at the start. Now, don't forget that you don't need to actually get a Gym Membership. Those places are scams. Just get your Aggron to make you some dumbbells or something— ah, Grace. How's it going?"

"Are you teaching Lauren how to work out?" I asked.

"She asked," Mira said.

"I want to be physically stronger," Lauren muttered. "That way I can be physically imposing."

"And you'd do well to follow her example. Do you want me to start over? You want to warm up for ten minutes with a light jog or some stretches—"

"We're good," I said, turning to Erin.

A shame, Lucario said with a playful tone.

Erin flinched at the sudden words, but Aura-based speech didn't give headaches, so she was fine on that front.

"That was weird. My head felt cold."

"That's how it works," I said. "Anyway, you—"

Alakazam strode up to Mira with a frustrated look and spoke.

Mira. Take over DJ duties, please.

"What? Why?" The girl groaned.

You know the playlist better than he does, Gardevoir said.

"You just want to separate me from Chasey," Mira said. "I'll do it if Chase and Lauren come."

"I don't care," Chase said.

"If you want…"

The trio left toward the DJ board, but Alakazam's eyes were set on Erin. Cece was playing beer pong with Pauline, Louis and Maeve and someone had apparently made some kind of great throw because they all erupted into gasps and cheers.

Do you have a pen and paper, Grace? Alakazam asked.

"Uh, no. I don't have anything with me— wait, I don't even have my gifts!" I yelled. "Shit, shit, shit!"

"You'll be alright. Here, have a cookie my mother made," Erin said.

I snatched it out of her hand and reflexively munched on the food.

I'll go and pick them up if you tell me where they are, Alakazam shrugged. I'll pick up some a pen and paper as well.

"You'd be a lifesaver," I exhaled in relief. "Thank you. Erin, Alakazam wants to speak to you in writing. Is that okay with you?"

"Oh. Yeah, sure," she said. I could tell she was hesitant, though.

"Okay, my gifts are all in my backpack. Uh, here's my room key," I said, getting the keycard out of my pocket. "Oh, and can you grab Cece's coat? She might get cold tonight. The key opens both doors."

There was a glint in Alakazam's eyes and he disappeared.

"He'll be back in a few minutes. Why don't you tell me what Swirls is like?"

The little Spinda was giving Angel the performance of a lifetime, and they both loved it. Comet was snoring on Angel's head already while Sat was curiously pawing his vines, which he moved around to let her play. The grass type clapped with two vines and silently called Princess over, who'd grown tired of looking at food she found unappetizing. She hadn't interacted with Swirls much, but I knew she disliked him. She had called him loose, whatever that meant.

"He's really strong. He has this move, Dizzy Punch. It actually leaves an imprint on rocks whenever he punches them! Isn't that cool?!"

"Now you're getting it," I sagely nodded. "There's nothing better than seeing the mark of what your Pokemon can do, Erin. Destroyed stuff is cool."

"All this time, I thought you were crazy…"

"Me? No, we're normal, you and I," I said. "Everyone would think the same—"

Alakazam with a stack of papers, three pens, Cece's coat and my bag levitating around him.

Why in the world would you put your bag in the bathtub? He spoke into my mind. I had to look for it for thirty seconds! What a waste!

"Why did I do that…?" I muttered as I picked up the bag and the coat.

"What's he asking?"

"Why I put my bag in the bathtub."

"To hide the gifts, maybe?"

"Oh, right," I snapped a finger. "Cece came to my room yesterday and I didn't want her to look through it or something."

"That makes sense."

What if she needed to go to the bathroom?! Humans are simple creatures! The bag being where it shouldn't be would make her more likely to look through it!

"Well, it all worked out, didn't it?" I shrugged. "Come on, speak to Erin already."

The psychic audibly sighed and levitated a pen against the paper. His words read like this.

Dear Erin Atwood—

"You know my last name? How even—"

Alakazam stopped writing and scratched out his next words, replacing them with this.

Don't worry about that. It has come to my attention that you have caught a third normal type. Now, Type Energy is known to have multiple effects on humans, but there are no normal type specialists of adequate power in Sinnoh to study the phenomenon. I know you will not have changed—

"He wants to study you," I interrupted. The psychic glared at me. "What? It's faster that way, and you write super slow. Plus, your handwriting is pretty bad."

"What does study me imply?"

Tell her I want to know the beginning of how a human is changed by TE. It is a gradual process, but the start of it is seldom studied.

I relayed his words, and Erin reluctantly agreed after Alakazam told her there would be no pain involved. A strange light glazed over his eyes as he stared at her, and I decided to leave them be for now. Knowing Alakazam, they'd be there for thirty minutes at least, and I didn't want my party to be a research paper, and they could actually communicate now.

I did feel bad for Erin, though. I sent Emilia to keep her company since she was done speaking to Denzel. My best friend was currently hanging out with his Sylveon, who had been radiating jealousy since I'd seen him out of his Pokeball, and especially when he spoke to Emilia. I tapped him on the shoulder.

"Oh. Hi."

"Hi guys. Sylvi."

The fairy type's anger soothed when he saw me, and a ribbon gently wrapped around my ankle, reminding me of Angel. I crouched and petted his cheek. Unlike every other fairy I'd met, Sylveon didn't call me sister. He just used my name.

"I haven't seen you in a while," I said. "Is he okay?"

"Sylvi's fine," Denzel stammered. "We just have a few hijinks we have to settle."

"Jealousy issues?" I said.

He nodded, and I swore I saw him pale for a split second. He was hiding something. "Yeah. Nothing we haven't encountered before though, it'll be fine."

Sylvi huffed and muttered something under his breath.

Something he knew I'd catch.

Denzel, Emilia and Pauline were… well, not dating, but were trying to reach that point, and Sylveon hated it. I blinked, not knowing to pretend to not have heard anything for Denzel, or to just rip off the band aid, but I opted for the former. It would be better if they told me when they were ready. I stared at Sylvi and subtly shook my head, and the fairy type stormed off, jumping out the window.

"What's gotten into you?" Denzel asked.

Had he expected me to do something about it? Personally, I was happy that they'd finally stopped avoiding the topic and I hoped they'd succeed, but three people dating each other was still astonishing to me.

I guess I'm monogamous through and through, I thought as I fondly stared at Cece. Their game of beer pong was almost over now.

"What's with the coat?" Denzel asked.

"Oh, that's Cece's. I'm holding onto it for her," I said. "Thank you again for the party. I love you, you know?"

He nodded with a smile. "Me too. I'm glad we met."

I snorted. "You know how we thought we'd be able to become Champions when we first started out?"

He grinned. "It was a good dream. Why? Feeling sentimental?"

"No, it's just that hanging out with so many powerful trainers made me think back on those days," I said. "I want to get there so bad."

"Craig says the journey's just as good as the top when he does interviews," Denzel said. "Think about it. You're a Champion, you're at the top. What else is there to do? You'd crush anyone you'd battle without breaking a sweat, and battling other champions is impossible because of the political repercussions."

I nodded. "You're right. It's probably lonely."

Was Cynthia lonely?

I chewed on that thought for a few seconds, and Denzel continued.

"I've been thinking too. I don't really think I want to become a Champion and do politics and stuff. With my social media stuff, I'd prefer to be a free agent, you know? Not beholden to anything. Of course, the goal long term is still to reach the skill level of a Champion."

"Oh? Where's your usual patriotism?" I teased. "Sinnoh lost a good soldier today."

"Shut up," he groaned. "I mean, it's not impossible. Leon has a pretty big social media presence, but Sinnoh and Galar aren't the same culturally. It wouldn't work here."

"Who the hell is Leon?"

"Are you serious? Galar's new Champion that ascended last year? When we hang out, I'm putting you through some social media training. I wonder how the hell you're still alive sometimes."

"You suck," I said. "We should hang out, though. Let's set a date. Two days after our battle!"

Denzel beamed. "That's what I'm talking about. Want to come on my stream again?"

"I want to avoid anywhere your stream touches," I said.

"Well, I am streaming our battle. Win or lose, it's going to bring in a lot of viewers and revenue. I hope that doesn't make you nervous? I can cancel if it'll affect how you fight."

"I'm good," I said. "And fine, I'll let you be my social media coach. You can tell me what the new trend is on Chatter."

"Come on, even I don't use Chatter. That's where all the coordinators go, it's a toxic cesspool."

"Now you're sounding like Chase," I said. "Did you know he's teaching Lauren how to work out…"

We bantered for around ten more minutes, and then I made my way toward Cece. Honey was trying to speak to Lopunny— wait, did he have a crush on her? He looked a lot more nervous than he usually was. Where had this even come from?

Well, I wasn't going to interrupt, but Lopunny's heart was unfortunately Sylveon's. I considered speaking him out of it after the party, but hey, maybe he had a chance. At least he was holding up her interest. I heard a bit of their conversation and noticed they were talking about learning how to read and their progress.

You go, kid, I thought with a prideful smile. I also shot Princess a look across the room to get her to settle. I knew she wanted to tease and embarrass him from her mischievous stare. The fairy type grumbled and flew out the window to go see Buddy and Sunshine.

"Cece! Alakazam got your coat. It's going to get cold tonight, I think."

"Grace! Here, have a cheese stick."

She shoved the stick in my mouth and grabbed her coat.

"Thank you. I was getting a little cold, since the window's open."

"You Unovans," I teased.

My girlfriend grabbed my hand. "Don't start now. Want to dance?"

"Uh, I don't— well, I do, but I don't know how to. This song isn't that danceable, and I'm not exactly dressed for the occasion."

"That's okay. It's for fun."

"Fine. But don't blame me if I step on your feet."

Cece turned toward Mira, who was cackling with Lauren and Chase. I'd never seen the black-haired girl laugh this hard.

"Mira! Do you have a love song we can dance to in there?!" Cece yelled.

"Ask and ye shall receive, dear Cecilia," Mira said. Some cheesy song about two trainers being rivals and becoming lovers throughout their journey started to play.

I blushed when every head turned toward us. "Don't say it so loudly."

"I don't care. Hey everyone! Grace is great and I love her!"

Our friends cheered and whistled.

"Arceus!"

"Say it back. Come on," she chuckled.

"I love her too!" I yelled out to the world. "Now, how the hell do I dance?"

She leaned in a whispered in my ear. "Follow my lead."

Cecilia's hand intertwined with mine while the other wrapped around my back. I took a deep breath, and her warm smile calmed my nerves some. She began to lead me in the dance, and at first, it felt a little awkward. It felt odd to follow her every movement, but once I got used to it, we were practically gliding across the floor while our friends and some of the Pokemon clapped and cheered us on. Every subtle shift in her posture spread through me in such an innate way that it was like I actually knew what I was doing. By the time the song was halfway done, I was smiling just as widely as she was.

Cecilia leaned forward and kissed me right as the song finished.

She'd always been one for theatrics. And so was I.

"Let's keep this PG, guys," Mira said. "We can't ruin Chase and Lauren's virgin eyes."

"Shut up and put the next song on," Chase said.

Another song began to play softly in the background.

"You were great," Cecilia said. "And you only stepped on me twice."

"That was a lot more fun than I thought, honestly. I remember that you like dancing though. You told my dad when we were in his rental car in Hearthome."

Cece's eyes widened. "You remember that?"

"Duh. Of course, I'd remember."

"They were among the only lessons I enjoyed," she said. "I'd be happy if you partook in it. I'm a little rusty, though."

"You saying you're rusty after sweeping me off my feet is crazy," I said. "It's like what Jasmine said after the battle with Craig."

"Somebody said Jasmine?" Denzel interjected. "Nice dance, you two."

"Yeah. Jasmine was rusty, believe it or not," I whispered. "It kind of makes me think that Kanto-Johto's Gym Leader are a lot stronger than the norm, since she beat Volkner twice."

"She beat Volkner twice?" Denzel half-hissed. "Why didn't you tell me that yesterday? I had no idea they fought."

"The score is 2-1 at the moment," I said.

"It'd make sense considering how martial their society is," Cecilia shrugged. "Jasmine's standards might be skewed."

That made what she'd said about Clair a lot more impressive than it already was. The three of us spoke until Erin was finally freed from Alakazam's hold.

"Erin! Nice to finally meet you," Denzel said.

"L—likewise. I have a friend called Sandy that's a huge fan of yours. Can I film you for a bit? You can just say a few words to her about how you appreciate her support or something?"

"Sure," Denzel smiled. "Let's do it in another room. The music here's kind of loud."

"I'll be right back, I've got to talk to Alakazam," I told Cece.

I sneaked around the back of the party and saw that the psychic was sitting and staring at his spoons.

"So? Verdict?"

It's faint. Extremely so, Alakazam said. But the process is slowly starting. I would need to observe her behavior to see any minute changes.

"What if she doesn't change? I mean, it's the normal type."

Don't be so foolish, Grace, he shook his head. A change will happen. It is guaranteed. Normal TE is only named so because you humans named it so. There is substance to it, I just have to figure out what it is.

"Well, you could come back later in the year," I shrugged. "She's bound to have gotten stronger by then."

That was what I was considering. I could Teleport every few weeks to track her progress here.

"See? It's all good! Why're you sitting alone in a corner?"

I was enjoying myself, actually. Ruminating on my research.

"Oh. So basically, you're telling me to leave you to… ruminate?"

Well, no. Since it's your birthday, you can stay if you so wish.

"Nah, I'm going to hang out with the others. You should too. Gothitelle and Slowking are outside now. Buddy is too."

I will soon. Do not worry about me.

I nodded and let him be. I glanced outside and saw that Zweilous was harassing everyone else like usual, but Talonflame and Slowking were on there to keep him under control. Maeve was speaking to Pauline and Emilia about contests while Louis had joined Denzel. Their conversation topic was a lot more depressing.

Justin wasn't here.

Of course, it'd been stupid to expect him to be here, but a part of me had still hoped he'd show up. I mostly hung out with Erin, Cece and Denzel the rest of the night, and then we all reunited to eat the cake. Half of it was vanilla with strawberry frosting— my favorite! And the other half was chocolate, which was Cece's favorite. It was big enough for the entire group and then some. Cece even gave some of it to Zerst and Sol, who fought for the piece until they realized she was going to give another one to the head that hadn't gotten it. A few other Pokemon had some cake, including Honey, Lucario, Angel, Lopunny, Scyther… the list went on and on, and we actually ran out faster than expected. Everyone had gotten at least a piece though, so we were pretty happy.

"Time for gifts!" Mira announced right after cutting the music. "Guys, gifts! Who's getting them first— oh, nevermind you're just doing it without any organizing. Okay."

I was swarmed with so many things. A card with a nice word on it from Erin, along with a… homemade coupon that said I could come to her house whenever she wanted for some cookies. Emilia handed me a beautiful pale blue dress that was on par with the one I'd worn during my date with Cecilia. Maeve gave me some new running shoes and some traveling clothes while Louis handed me a nice card just like Erin and some macarons. Pauline gifted me some high-heels, not missing a chance to tease me for my height, but she also gave me money—

"Money?" I muttered.

It wasn't an astronomical sum. 'Only' fifty-thousand.

"Don't you dare complain. I held back, you know?" Pauline said. "I like giving people money. It means they can buy whatever they want if they don't like the other gift I give them."

"Well, uh, thank you. I'll buy some more soil for Sweetheart with this."

Denzel gave me two gifts. A joke one and a serious one. His joke one was a promotion to be the second moderator of his stream after Lopunny. The other was actually a joint gift for me and Cecilia. It was Cynthia's autobiography she had written a decade ago and that hadn't actually been distributed to publishers. There were only a few of them in the world. Needless to say, I was extremely interested.

"Where did you even get this?" I scoffed as I quickly flipped through the book. The cover page was a younger Cynthia with her Garchomp behind her. "I thought they never actually sold these?"

"I've got some connections of my own," Denzel said. "One of my fans works at the League and sent it to me after I paid… a pretty large price. Remember when I told you I was broke because I hadn't streamed? Yeah, that was kind of a lie. I'm broke because I bought this."

"Holy shit. You're the best," I said. "Thank you so much. And, uh, thank you for making me a moderator I guess. I actually don't have a DailyTube account."

"That can wait," he winked.

Lauren gave me a Fire Pillar TM, which she'd gotten for free since it was her move. I was going to teach it to Sunshine as soon as I could. Mira joked that her gift was the party she'd organized, but she pouted when I genuinely smiled at her and thanked her. Her actual gift was a sun hat made of straw that she said would look great on me and would help keep my face in the shade since we were going to Pastoria next. It'd be annoying to carry but I could always attach it to the outside of my bag. Chase handed me a step-by-step workout guide that he'd customized for me and made by hand…

Yeah.

But humans weren't the only ones with a gift. Angel strode up to me and pulled out a statue Princess had made. Buddy, Sunshine and Sweetheart clamored as they looked through the window and Honey could barely contain his smile.

It was a statue of me. The detail on it was extravagant. From the usual jeans, shoes and clothes I wore, to the freckles on my face and my hair. It was perfect. I was standing on a little podium and holding a Pokeball, and it was small enough to fit in my bag and sturdy enough to actually last.

"Baby…" I sniffled. "Thank you so much."

I wrapped my daughter into a tight hug, and she made sure to remind me that this came from everyone and not just her. I made rounds and hugged all of my Pokemon. Even Sunshine was smiling. When I hopped back through the window, Cece was done getting her gifts too. Clothes, cards, clothes, more clothes… yeah, she was definitely getting a lot of clothes, but she did love them more than I did.

But we still hadn't given each other our gifts. I sneaked a glance to Emilia, and she nodded. She had edited the video with our audio messages just like I'd wanted (although Erin and Lauren would have no part in it, I assumed), and the room had a projector. I quickly looked through my bag and pulled out the sunglasses and two small, square boxes. Cecilia pulled out a huge rectangular packaged gift from the now-empty pile.

"I'll go first," Cece said. "Unwrap it."

I felt anticipation course through my veins as I tore through the wrapping paper—

I sharply inhaled at what was within. I couldn't believe my eyes.

It was an electric keyboard with a sturdy protective case and a strap around it so I'd be able to carry it while we traveled.

"So? How is it?" Cece asked.

"Are you kidding me?! This is amazing! I'm gonna cry…"

I hugged Cecilia and kissed her over and over until it probably felt awkward for our other friends just watching. It was my turn now, and I handed her the sunglasses first.

"Just a little something I bought in a store on the boardwalk. Lauren was there," I said.

"It was a fun time," Lauren said.

I pulled out my own pair and grinned. "We're matching."

Cecilia chuckled. "They look so good. Hold on, let's take a picture together— wait, the lighting is terrible. We can do it tomorrow."

"I have something else. It's a ring— well, matching rings, really. They do this really cool thing where they interlock with each other, so it's this cool metaphor where we complete one another, and they're really pretty. I bought them in Veilstone and they were pretty expensive, but not too expensive— Cece? Are you good?"

My girlfriend was frozen and just staring at the two silver rings and back at me. I had never seen her look this shy in our entire time together. Even when we had just started dating, she hadn't been this bashful. The chatter had also died down and everyone was staring at me.

"Did you just propose to her in a really weird way?" Mira asked.

"What? Why would—"

Oh.

Oh.

That was what rings did. Yes.

How the fuck had I forgotten that?!

For a second, my perception of time slowed as if I was in a battle and needed to think really quickly, because if I didn't I would lose. This was a battle. A battle to find the words to get me out of this weird situation I had put myself in.

They're just couple rings! I would never propose to you— no, too harsh. That sounded like I didn't think our relationship could ever go long-term.

I had no idea that these could look like wedding rings and that this looked like I was proposing! No, they would never believe me. They knew I forgot obvious stuff sometimes, but this was pushing it even if it was true.

Okay, the truth is I do hope to marry you someday, but we're way too young for that and even though I think you're perfect, we've only been together for a few months! These are couple rings, not engagement rings. Hm, I didn't think that was good either, but it was the best option I'd come up with. Three, two, one, go!

"Okay— the— uh, yes."

"Yes?!" They screamed in unison.

What?

How the fuck had that come out of my mouth?

"No!" I quickly yelled. "There's this thing called couple rings. That's what this is. It's not actually… that. Yeah, that's what I meant."

I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Cecilia rapidly blinked as she grabbed one of the rings.

"Um. What finger do I put it on?" She asked.

"The… index finger?" I said, unsure of myself.

She slipped the silver ring on her finger, and I couldn't help but blush. I was sweating buckets because this felt a lot more official than it actually was. This wasn't supposed to be like this! I put on the ring on the same hand and held hers.

"So, uh, yeah, those were my gifts," I said. "Happy?"

"Hmhm," Cece mumbled.

Needless to say, that moment overshadowed the rest of the night, including the edited video. Cece was doing this thing where she was kind of avoiding me and could barely utter a word when we spoke. Then, Mira and Chase couldn't fucking stop making fun of me, and even Erin was pitying me. Her teacher!

The party finished at around midnight with a round of fireworks that Mira had bought, and we all went back home after that. I was too embarrassed to even ask Cece if she wanted to sleep with me and I just locked myself in my room and screamed into my pillow. It'd be best to clear my mind for the fight tomorrow and then speak to her about this.

Even so,

This was going to haunt me for a long, long time.

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri, Rhuodric, Nord, Filthymacgyver, Grey J