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

[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

 

[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]

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

 

[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

 

[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

 

[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

 

[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

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 224 - Rivals II

Hey, I'm sorry about yesterday night. It was honestly just a stupid misunderstanding that doesn't have to mean anything. I'll see you later, I've got to iron things out before the battle.

That was the message I'd sent Cece this morning as I made my way to the isolated patch of beach. A night of sleep had cleared my mind some, and I'd also… called my dad last night to vent to him about it. I could tell he was angry I'd called him that late on a weekday, but he stayed up and talked to me.

And he told me I was just being stupid and that I'd probably laugh at this in five years. With Cece, if we were still together. Apparently we were blowing this up and making it a big deal for no reason.

He was obviously wrong, but it felt nice to have spoken to him about it. He was probably incredibly tired this morning at work, so I hoped he wasn't angry at me. I made it to the boardwalk, and Princess lifted me up the rocks with Extrasensory. I was surprised to see that Jasmine was here this morning. I hadn't expected to see her this early, even if this was technically a spot we shared. The Gym Leader waved at me and smiled as Princess and I walked toward her.

"Hi. Nice seeing you here," she said as she stared at the calm waves.

"Morning. Uh, would it bother you if I trained here? It's just low-intensity stuff, nothing major. I have to iron out a final technique with Princess, and the others could use the warm-up."

"Sure, don't let me rain on your parade," she said. "You have a battle today, I heard."

"Oh, you know about that? Yeah, it's with my best friend— he actually wanted to meet you if you don't mind."

"I don't. Regarding your battle, Craig told me about it and that he'll be watching. Denzel Williams interests him."

"I figured. Any advice for me?" I asked.

"No. You've seen plenty already."

"Seen… the battle you mean? I mean, It did inspire some ideas."

"See? You're already learning," she smirked. "Steal, Grace. Steal everything you see and make it your own."

"Well I'll get back to you when I can create a beam of light so intense it melts rocks," I joked as I released my Pokemon. "Want to talk a little? With Sunshine?"

Jasmine stared at the dragon, who huffed.

"That would be my pleasure."

—

I was just in time to the arena, and it was packed to the brim. Denzel had advertised it beforehand and I could barely navigate the damn thing. After squeezing past people bigger than me for around two minutes, I finally made it through. The trainers had cleared a space for us— including our friends. There was a phone mounted onto a stick with Pauline and Emilia standing next to it. Denzel spoke to them, probably about some technical stuff. Everyone who had been at my party was here. Lauren stood alone in a corner with Sirris hovering around her. Chase and Mira sat on the ground, and she was showing him something on her phone.

"Grace. We were wondering where you were," Erin said as she began walking by my side. "Do you want anything before the fight? Water? A snack?"

"I'm good Erin. Relax. You're more nervous than I am."

"Are you nervous? I have a stress ball in my bag, and it's very effective."

"Oh, it's just the pre-battle jitters. It's alright, nothing unusual," I smiled.

We continued across the arena until we reached the battlefield I would fight on, and Cecilia greeted me with a tight hug. My eyes drifted to her hand, and I was glad to see she was still wearing the ring. It was beautiful on her. She also donned the sunglasses I'd given her on her head.

"There you are. I'm sorry for freaking out so much," she said. "I spoke with Pauline. She, well, she told me I was making a big deal out of it for nothing."

"Well she sure was acting like it was a big deal at the party. But my dad said that too," I nodded. "So, we're good?"

"We were always good," she said. "And I'm not going to lie, I had no idea couple rings existed due to my… peculiar upbringing. I was just taken aback by the entire thing, since I hadn't expected it at all."

"Yeah, sorry about that," I said with a nervous chuckle. "It looks great on you, though. The sunglasses too. I should get going though, it's going to start soon."

"Good luck on your battle. I'll be rooting for you."

"Thank you. I'll talk to you later!" I yelled as I passed her.

It looked like Maeve was going to be the referee since she stood to the side of the arena and kept slicing across the air with an arm like she was practicing the motion. I gave her a thumbs up and she called me over.

"Grace! I thought you'd be late!"

"Why is everyone saying that?" I scoffed. "I was just at the beach, relax."

"You were at the beach before such an important battle?" She asked.

"No, I was training and speaking to a friend," I said. "Anyway, what's up?"

"You've got to tell me which Pokemon you're starting with—"

"Pupitar," I said. "Is that it?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Good luck in your referral duties."

"I mean, it's not that difficult of a job…"

I noticed that Erin had started pressing on her stress ball behind me, and I patted her on the back.

"Are you okay?"

"I just really want you to win," she said.

"Aw. Thanks."

After a few seconds, I waved to Denzel and finally reached them. They were opposite of Maeve to get the best shot of the battle possible. I greeted all of my friends with a hug and leaned toward the phone.

"Are you already streaming?" I asked.

"Yes, they can hear you right now. I wanted to start early in case we came across any technical difficulties. Pauline and Emi are emergency moderators because it's getting really toxic— wait, don't read the chat!"

I squinted at the phone and saw a flurry of messages going far too fast to read any of them except the ones that were appearing over and over. People were spamming a bunch of different messages with emojis to support Denzel or me. The number of viewers was… 72,021 and rising. I felt a twinge of nervousness that eased when I took a few deep breaths.

"What does 'spam this pretzel to support Denzel' mean?" I asked. "I guess it rhymes."

"Just… it's a meme I have on my channel. Just ignore it," he said.

"Should we put it on emote only?" Emilia asked.

"No! That'd be terrible. Not even the Conference does that," Denzel shook his head. "Are we ready to start?"

"I'm ready," I said.

My best friend nodded, and outstretched a hand. "May the best trainer win."

I shook his hand. "May the best trainer win."

"Was that for the stream?" Erin asked. "Can I speak?"

"Yes, Erin, you can speak," Pauline sighed. "And by the way, all you fucking morons in the chat. If I see you get toxic I'll make sure to ban you and tell Denzel to never let you chat again no matter how many unban requests you send!"

The chat devolved into a flurry of pauLines… I didn't really understand why the L was highlighted, but I just decided that I wasn't going to get streamer culture for a while and that was fine.

"Remember, Pauline. Supporting one side is fine, you can even get a little spicy if you want, but toxicity, insulting us or our Pokemon is off limits. Get it?" Denzel said. "Emi, you keep her in line."

"I'm not sure making her a mod was a good idea, Denzel," Emilia muttered. "And two moderators for a stream that's probably going to have a hundred thousand people is insane in the first place."

Pauline huffed. "Shut up! I can do this just fine!"

Denzel let out a half-restrained groan. "Okay everyone, we're going to start. Uh, make sure to subscribe if you're a first-time viewer because a lot more of these are coming. Oh, and this battle is brought to you by…'

He started listing all of his sponsors, and we finally went our separate ways. I climbed onto the podium and tried to ignore the crowd of people to my right. At least they were almost all trainers, so they knew to stay silent.

"Guys! Guys, come on!" Erin yelled.

I turned and saw a group of people lift a huge, clumsily made pink banner with my name on it and drawings of my team. New Wave had come to support me. The last bits of anxiety melted away as I turned toward them and waved with a huge grin. Erin clapped and they cheered for a few seconds until they respectfully quieted down, but they did keep the banner up.

Arceus, those kids were the cutest.

Denzel faced me as he clenched a fist behind his legs and grabbed his first Pokeball. This was definitely the biggest audience we'd ever had for a battle outside of a Gym— more than our double battle in Hearthome, even if you discounted the stream. I had spent numerous days thinking about the Pokemon he would start with in numerous ways, and there was a multitude of reasons I'd gone with Sweetheart. My team's biggest weakness right now were poison types, and Denzel's Roserade was a perfect choice. Not only would her poison type moves destroy Angel and possibly break through Princess' barrier like Craig's Eelektross had done to Jasmine's Metagross, but her grass typing meant that she'd screw over Buddy and Sweatheart as well, even if I had a tactic for the water type to at least fight back. Only Honey could fight her on equal footing, but he'd need to get close with Ice or Fire Punch. Roserade was basically what any trainer worth their salt would start with.

But Denzel knew that I knew this. And he also knew that he'd be able to hang Roserade over my head like a guillotine. He would not start with her. No, he would expect me to begin the fight with Honey, since that was my only play, and he'd send out either Lopunny or Sylveon since I was sure he'd keep Froslass for later in the fight and they were better suited to fight Honey, even if I was sure he would be able to do well against them. Of course, I wanted to keep him against Roserade and Milotic.

That meant that I could only start the battle with Sweetheart. She would destroy Sylveon in a one-on-one or put up a fight against Lopunny before I recalled her. Maeve ordered us to release our Pokemon, and we both did so.

I hummed when I saw that Denzel released Froslass. Snowflakes fell around the ice type and the ground under her feet froze over as she let out an ethereal giggle. Had he mind-gamed me and faked me out? Or had I overthought things? I hid the annoyance on my face and took a deep breath. Maeve counted down as she brought an arm up and slashed across the air.

"Begin!"

"Double Team and Confuse Ray!" Denzel ordered.

Froslass split into ten after-images and her eyes gleamed as frost overtook them all. Ten dim lights crawled out of the powdery snow, screaming for freedom and beelined toward Pupitar. I had no idea which one was the real one and they were all spreading out and covering the entire arena, so dodging wasn't an option. This was a really bad matchup for Sweetheart.

But that didn't mean she was useless.

I waited for a few seconds and internally smirked when I saw some of the Confuse Rays hanging back and more appear around each of Froslass' clones.

"Go in and Rock Slide from below," I said.

The rock type kicked up dust and rocks as she let out the pressurized air out of her cocoon and rushed forward. She expertly navigated the field of Confuse Rays— and I could tell Denzel had not expected that. The frozen ground below her feet rumbled as rocks burst out and tried to swallow her and her clones whole. Three of them disappeared, but the rest dispersed and escaped, slipping into another plane of existence. The remaining Confuse Rays fizzled out.

Where's Blizzard? I thought to myself as the rocks collapsed back to the floor.

Without a command from Denzel, Hail began to form near the arena's ceiling and crashed toward the ground, chipping at Pupitar's armor.

"Ice Shard!" Denzel yelled.

The ghost and her clones appeared all around Sweetheart and small shards of ice broke against her. I bit the inside of my lip and recalled her. I'd be fighting from behind, but she'd done enough scouting while taking minimal amounts of damage.

One, Denzel wasn't using Blizzard for whatever reason. Two, Froslass had gotten good enough with Double Team to make the clones' attacks actually take a physical form. I hadn't been sure with the Confuse Rays, but this confirmed it.

I released Angel next and immediately called out for a Sunny Day.

"Don't let them! Confuse Ray!"

"Knock Off the lights," I added.

He'd probably expected Sunny Day to take as long as it had against Maylene, but it came in only a few seconds. A strange light began to shine and weakened the Hail. We wouldn't get the full benefits from Chlorophyll, and Froslass' Hail wouldn't deal as much damage either. When Froslass formed three more clones and sent out the Confuse Rays again, I realized that her hard limit was ten— unless it was a trick.

Angel's vines exploded out of his body, each of them wreathed in darkness and reflecting no light. He swatted the Confuse Rays like bugs, and they dissolved with pained screams. Denzel's fist stayed clenched and tightened for the next five seconds, and he let out the smallest hint of a sigh.

"Blizzard."

Why was Blizzard a disappointment? What was he hiding?

"Ancient Power," I said.

We only had a few seconds to work with. Tangrowth encased himself in rocks, leaving only the top bare, and the battlefield was engulfed in the snowstorm right as he finished the fourth wall. That meant that we weren't benefitting from Chlorophyll, at least for now, and I couldn't see or hear anything. Just the howling of the wind and the frost battering against the psychic barrier.

I bit the inside of my lip until the Blizzard wavered earlier than usual, and I couldn't help but internally scream for joy. The fact that we'd made no roof had been a bait for Froslass to attack, and she'd bitten. The Blizzard dissolved, revealing Tangrowth's collapsed frozen walls of protection, and I saw him squeezing the life out of Froslass with Knock Off. The entire field had been overtaken by a thick layer of snow and his body was coated in a thick layer of frost.

Denzel swept his arm. "Push through! Freeze the vines and escape!"

"Leech Seed!" I yelled.

Seeds exploded out of Angel and three of them landed on the ice type before she could freeze Angel's vines and break free. She was struggling to do it through dark TE, but we weren't anywhere as good as Chase and Cecilia in that regard. Froslass flickered in and out of reality, her eyes glazed over and unfocused as the Leech Seed slowly drained her energy. I normally would have used spore attacks here, but Froslass didn't breathe.

"Crush some rocks and throw 'em," I continued.

Angel divided his collapsed walls into smaller shards, and then swept them within his vines, throwing dozens of them at a time. We'd taken inspiration from my battle with Roark for that little trick. Froslass cried out in pain as the rocks tore through her body and she began to leak ghostly energy.

"Frost Breath!" Denzel screamed.

"Ancient Power!"

Her weakness bought us the precious second we needed. The air in front of Froslass grew so cold it was freezing over and blew toward Angel, who raised another four walls around himself. I internally swore when her clones started reappearing. Was that why he hadn't been using Blizzard? Because she couldn't maintain them while using the move? They certainly were a lot more annoying to deal with than some snow.

Angel beat the clones with Knock Off, the ones he managed to hit disintegrated in one attack. The ones that didn't, though, created Ice Shards that buried themselves inside of him and Frost Breaths that rendered his vines unusable—

And the real Froslass— the one with the Leech Seed— created ten icicles above Angel and let them drop. We'd trapped ourselves in our own barrier and the move was undodgeable. The grass type's vines wriggled in agony as each Icicle stabbed into Angel's body.

Damn, Froslass was tough to crack.

But she'd been weakened enough for what I needed. It was time to pull on Angel's first and only anti-Froslass contingency plan.

"Collapse the walls and detach!" I yelled.

I reveled in the confusion in Denzel's eyes.

"Keep your distance and keep attacking! Ice Shard and Frost Breath!"

Angel dissolved the last two clones with a Knock Off as Froslass created another ten and they all used Frost Breath in congruence. Angel pushed himself to the right using the few rays of sunlight that shone through the hail and ran using his vines. He was almost permanently suspended in the air and almost slipped on the snow multiple times. The grass type circled around the Froslass and ten of his vines turned dark.

Then, they detached from his body and flew toward the real Froslass. The ice type screamed, and clones bunched themselves up in front of her body and attempted to freeze them. But I'd sent ten for a reason, and the darkness was a nice protective coat against ice Type Energy. They wrapped around Froslass and her clones like a lasso, and they all dissolved, leaving only the real body.

"Knock Off!" I yelled.

Angel slammed another vine against Froslass, but he only opened a deep gash against the snowy floor. Denzel recalled her with a relieved sigh and thought for a few seconds on who to send out. He decided to play his hand early and use Roserade. The flamboyant grass type glared at Angel. She'd never liked him, mostly because she considered him simple-minded.

Her poison would make minced meat out of him. It pained me to be behind in switches right after I'd equalized the match, but there was too much risk involved with letting Tangrowth fight Roserade. I retrieved him and released Honey instead, much to Denzel's annoyance. Without Froslass and Angel here, the Hail and the sun were on their way out and would be gone in the next minute.

"Poison the field," Denzel ordered.

My eye twitched as gallons of noxious, purple liquid so toxic that the ground began to melt sipped out of Roserade's flowers. At first, it only contaminated the ground around her, but her eyes shone and it began to seep further. I recognized that move. Extrasensory. Approaching her would be devastating for us, and the more we waited, the more the poison would spread.

"Thunderbolt," I muttered.

The attack was practically instant. Electricity zipped toward Roserade and ransacked through her body, but the fact that she was a grass type meant that she'd be able to take plenty of these. Still, Honey wasn't the same as he used to be. He had stamina to work with now, and these were too quick for Roserade to dodge. The poison type grunted as the fourth Thunderbolt singed her right in the head, and she began to run forward, bringing poison wherever she went.

"Sludge Wave!" Denzel yelled.

For the first time, my air of calmness broke. A wave of poison rose behind Roserade and the grass type threw it all toward Electabuzz. It was literally a tidal wave that was twice his height and left nowhere to dodge.

Holy fuck. That was power.

"Screech until you have to Protect!" I cried out.

The electric type's chest swelled as he inhaled and screamed. I still hadn't gotten used to the sound, and I had to cover my ears as the move's sheer force pushed back the poison around him until the vast majority had cleared. He pulled up the transparent green barrier and waited until the poisonous sea had turned back into a puddle.

We couldn't be defensive, or we'd drown.

"Go in and Ice Punch," I said.

Honey blurred forward, and every time he lifted a foot, he'd lost more of his fur and even some of his skin. Ice surrounded the electric type's fists as he closed in on Roserade.

"Extrasensory and whittle him down!" Denzel ordered.

Honey snarled as he sped up, and electricity crackled through his fur. He broke against the Extrasensory so quickly that his fist reached Roserade's face and punched her and sent her flying back. The grass type screeched, scrambling back up as sharpened leaves flew out of her petals, but a quick, low-powered Discharge from Honey fried all of them before they could reach us.

"Again!" I yelled. We couldn't afford to give them time to recover.

"Spore—"

"Don't!" I added, speaking over him.

Electabuzz slid against the poison and quickly rushed out of the powder's range, but the poison was slowly stacking up, and it was almost as if it subtly tried to climb higher than his ankles. I'd wanted to save this for future Pokemon, but I couldn't allow Roserade to take us down here, or I'd go from being at a slight disadvantage to losing.

"Thunder," I breathed.

Electabuzz bared his teeth, pushing through the pain, and electricity ran through his fur as his body began to hum. The electric type spun his arms, and Denzel's hair began to stand on end.

"Seed Bomb! Break his focus!" Denzel said.

With a quiet nod, Roserade pointed her arms forward and sent out a series of exploding seeds, but they were underestimating us. We'd trained since Solaceon for this. The explosions rocked the arena, kicking up rocks and poison until the nefarious liquid rained down all over the field.

And then, an enormous Thunder broke loose with a deafening roar. The attack blinded me, but I bared and squinted through it. The poison at Honey's feet evaporated and turned into noxious smoke while fissures and gashes opened up everywhere the electricity touched. The loud aftershocks drowned out Roserade's screams, and the grass type convulsed against the floor. Honey took a deep breath, and I could tell he was kind of tired, but we needed to push while she was down.

"Fire Punch," I said.

Not missing a beat, Electabuzz' fists caught on fire and the electric type blurred toward Roserade. Denzel grimaced and recalled his Roserade before she could get hit. He hadn't expected such a powerful move coming from us, and it was a good thing I'd only told Cece and Erin about it. He ran a hand through his hair, and then sent out Froslass again. I wasn't surprised, especially when Honey didn't really have reliable ways to defend himself against sustained attacks and we couldn't exactly fight back.

"Blizzard!" He immediately barked.

The ice type was still tired from her short fight with Angel, but the attack was second nature to her now. She would easily dodge Thunderbolt and Thunder, and getting up close was impossible with a floating ghost.

"Get in there and Discharge," I said.

Electabuzz ran, leaving behind him a trail of electricity and he jumped as high as he could before the full force of the Blizzard appeared. Electricity erupted around him and Froslass cried out, but she managed to finish up her Blizzard. Without dark type moves, throwing her off her game was impossible. I grabbed Honey's Pokeball and recalled him before the Blizzard could deal too much damage. He was my best possible counter against Roserade.

This was it. No more switching. No more musical chairs. Just commitment. Froslass obviously noticed that I'd switched, because she ended her Blizzard early to save her energy. I could have spent the full thirty seconds allowed between switches wasting her stamina, but she was smarter than that. Even if there was now a thick layer of ice over the poison, sending out Angel here again wouldn't work, especially when they knew our trick now and would be warier, so I released Princess. The cold would seep past her shield some, but she was my best bet.

Plus, we'd been working on a new appliance for Ancient Power specifically for matchups like these where she would get swarmed and overwhelmed.

The fairy type immediately ripped out some chunks of earth from below the ground, and the stones began orbiting her.

"This is it! Double Team and send your clones! You stay back and Hail!" Denzel yelled.

This is it? That was his plan, then. The ice type split into ten once more and all of the appearances rushed toward Princess while the real Froslass sang, calling forth another Hail. The chunks of ice broke against Togetic's barrier, but it would be additional pressure on her.

The clones spewed a Frost Breath that froze even the air, and they were smart enough not to get in the range of Dazzling Gleam. Togetic grunted as two of her stones melded and stretched into a wall, but the rest of the clones circled around her as they kept their attacks going.

"Shrapnel."

The wall stretched around Togetic's entire body, using all of the rocks she had, and then it exploded everywhere. They tore through the clones' bodies, and they disappeared with pained screams. Some even impacted Princess' barrier, but none of it went through. With a soft grunt, the stones immediately circled around her like the rings of a planet and rebuilt themselves into larger chunks. It was a perfect attack to take care of enemies surrounding her without putting down her barrier.

"Keep those for defense!" I yelled before snapping. "Extrasensory and spears!"

Denzel's face went through numerous expressions as the air around Froslass blurred and the ghost was stuck. She tried disappearing, but even while she was gone, Princess wouldn't let her go. Spears flew toward the ice type with a spin and stabbed into every inch of her body. Froslass' bright yellow eyes dimmed, and she fainted, falling on the floor without a single sound.

It had been a trick to catch them off-guard, and it had worked. A brutal misdirection that didn't leave them time to switch, just how I loved them. By the time he'd grabbed Froslass' Pokeball, it had been too late. Denzel took a deep breath, no doubt to calm himself down as he recalled Froslass and sent out Roserade again. Her body was still smoking from the Thunder that had hit her minutes earlier.

"Extrasensory," I immediately ordered. Psychic would be better, but I didn't want us to get too close.

"Counter it and Poison Cutter!" Denzel yelled.

Poison Cutter? That had to be the same as Water Cutter, I quickly thought. He'd taken inspiration, then.

Both Pokemons' eye shone as they engaged in a mental battle. Roserade let out a soft cry as Princess' psychic powers slowly beat out hers and the space around her slowly began to turn. Roserade aimed a hand forward—

"Shield yourself with rocks too!" I commanded.

—and let loose a powerful stream of poison as thin as a laser toward Princess. The fairy type stuck the stones together and formed them into one big barrier, but the poison was so potent that it melted right through the rocks and Princess' barrier. Togetic cried out as the fur on her chest sizzled and the poison ate at her skin, exposing her pink flesh.

The attack was short, so still blockable by Honey's Protect, which was probably why she hadn't used it against him. Either that, or they'd wanted to keep it a surprise, and fuck, it worked. Honey was truly my only counter.

Anyone else though? There was nothing we'd be able to do to stop it.

I couldn't let her see this through.

"Spears! Stab her and Air Cutter!" I yelled.

"Again!"

"Layers!" I added.

Princess was still staggered and reeling from the pain, but the remainder of the rocks around her turned into a multitude of layers as the flying type lowered herself and pulled a few spears to chuck at Roserade. They stayed low to the ground, and the grass type opted to take the attack to attempt another hit. She lowered herself to one knee, taking aim with a closed eye, and the small jet of poison beelined toward Princess.

It melted through every layer. Slower, this time, but it did.

The spears stabbed into Roserade's shoulder and gut, and a half-formed Air Cutter hit her in the back as well. Air Cutter would deal more damage, but the pain from stabbing? That would stay, and hopefully throw her focus off. Roserade could barely move without feeling agony through her wounds and screamed out in frustration.

"Again!" Denzel yelled.

Now that we'd stabbed her, we could focus entirely on Air Cutter. I ordered Togetic to use the move, and it came much quicker this time, cutting Roserade to ribbons while the poison type again inflicted incredible damage on Princess. She finally fainted after the third hit, and her body was in a terrible state. Almost no fur to speak of except on her face, which had been spared by Roserade because this was a friendly battle. I wiped my sweaty hands against my skirt and pondered on who to use next—

"Synthesis!" Denzel ordered.

But that was thrown out the window when a yellow glow overtook Roserade and she began to heal from the damage Princess had dealt. I immediately sent out Honey, who was the only one who would be able to counter Poison Cutter. Buddy could potentially hide on the ground, but that would mean we weren't attacking, and mere shades would be destroyed by Roserade before they could strike.

Luckily, the spears were still penetrating her body, and she couldn't exactly get them out— not without hands, and using poison at the force needed to melt them would hurt Roserade as well.

"Spore Bomb!" Denzel yelled.

Roserade grunted in pain as she angled her two flowers forward, and multicolored spores flew toward Honey. The electric type blurred forward, avoiding it by a large margin he as awaited my next order.

"Magical Leaf!" Denzel said.

"Discharge!" I countered.

This time, multicolored leaves flew out of Roserade's flowers, and just like last time, Discharge easily dispatched of them. Roserade kept throwing attacks at Honey, who countered with Thunderbolt and dodged many times. For four minutes, Roserade healed any damage we'd done with more Synthesises. We were both at a bit of an impasse here. I wanted to get close to use Fire or Ice Punch, but I couldn't because that would open us up to more Poison Cutters. Honey wouldn't have the time to put up a Protect if he was at point-blank range, and I wasn't sure if Screech would allow us an opening. I couldn't take risks now that I was out of switches. Thunder would be too slow to charge up too.

At least the floor wasn't poisonous this time, because Denzel knew he would have no way to turn it back to normal for his other Pokemon. I leaned against my knees as Electabuzz roared out another Thunderbolt, and Roserade tried to catch him off-guard with more spores. He slipped away before they could even cling to his fur, and every time they were too many, he simply Screeched them away.

But slowly, we were inching our way toward a victory. Inch by inch, Roserade's Synthesis grew weaker and our Thunderbolts didn't waver one bit. Denzel's lips went flat when he realized he wouldn't be able to outlast us, and he finally decided to use his last switch of the battle.

The fact that Roserade was in the back was worrying, but I'd leave that for future me and Buddy. Denzel sent out Sylveon, who stared at Honey with disdain and unblinking eyes. The glamour around his short fur materialized in an instant, and he grew slightly blurry at the edges.

"Thunder," I immediately said.

They were far enough for us to launch the attack. Electricity hummed through Electabuzz's body and crackled through his fur.

Denzel winced. He knew Detect wouldn't be enough. Thunder was no Thunderbolt. It was too wide and struck in every direction.

"Swift ASAP!" Denzel ordered. "Break his focus!"

If Seed Bomb hadn't worked, Swift would not, but Denzel had always been a positive one. Sylveon ran forward, ignoring the immense power that was about to course through his body and fry him alive as pink stars appeared around him and flew toward Honey. They winked out and seemed to appear next to him quicker than they should have, and the electric type grunted as they spun and dug into his skin like saws.

That was new, I muttered. But still not enough. Blood seeped from Electabuzz's wounds, but he did not waver. He would not.

Honey let the Thunder loose, and I covered my eyes once more as multiple explosions rocked the arena. Ice broke and shattered under the move's weight, and Sylveon's glamour disintegrated in one attack. Unfortunately, it had still shielded him from the vast majority of the damage, and he'd gotten away with minor burns on his fur. Honey heaved as the fairy type got ever closer.

"Screech and Thunderbolt!" I yelled.

"Detect and Play Rough!"

Electabuzz bellowed all of the air out of his lungs, and Sylveon winced. His ears went flat against his head and a short Thunderbolt impacted his neck, and the fairy type convulsed on the floor.

Denzel clenched his teeth, and I stared right at him. I will never let you use Detect.

"Keep your distance and Thunderbolt," I continued. There was no way to beat Sylveon up close, especially with how exhausted Honey was getting. One more Thunder left.

I swallowed when I saw that Sylveon's ribbons all converged toward Honey even when the fairy type was playing dead. Electabuzz side-stepped a ribbon that whipped against the ground and ran off. My eye twitched when it extended way past its normal length and tripped him before wrapping around his leg. Sylveon slowly stood as he tilted his head and stared at me. The ribbons slowly dragged Electabuzz toward him, and despite being able to push through the ribbons' compulsive soothing, he wasn't able to break free.

"Thunder!" I yelled.

This one even caught Denzel off-guard. He hadn't expected three. Electricity coursed through Sylveon's ribbons as Honey charged the attack—

"Play Rough, now!"

Sylvi's ribbons shone pink, and lifted Honey in the air like he weighted nothing. He began beating him against the ground like a ragdoll over and over, but Thunder didn't require much focus. It was a burst of a massive amount of electric TE in a general direction. The electricity intensified until Sylveon started weakening.

"Let go and Disarming Voice!" Denzel yelled.

I clicked my tongue. I already knew what was coming. Sylveon screamed, and the electricity around Honey dimmed, burying at least half of the time we'd charged the attack. It allowed the fairy type to keep beating Honey up without restraint, and he fainted soon enough. I smiled as I recalled him. So much progress. This battle and our old ones were like night and day.

I had a Pokemon deficit now, but Roserade's stamina was done for and Sylveon's glamour was gone. I just needed someone to push through.

I sent out Buddy, who floated high up in the air away from Sylveon's ribbons. Using him guaranteed Roserade would be next if I knocked out Sylveon, but that was perfectly fine. There was a long-term plan at play here. Like in the battle with Maylene, he left the tiniest part of his body the closest he could have it. This time, however, it clung to the barrier right in front of me.

"Swift!" Denzel yelled. "Disarming Voice if he gets close!"

Now, Sylveon's weakness could truly shine. The invisible Swift only tickled Buddy, and the gashes in his body regenerated right away. It was the next order that made me panic.

"Wish!"

I was on a timer.

"Shades, Poison Sting and Hydro Pump," I said in quick succession.

Sylveon cried out, and a light flew out of his forehead and through the ceiling while shadows weaved and intertwined, creating two silent shades. The water type had instinctively understood me. The Shades reared their heads and spat out a multitude of Poison Stings, which Sylveon desperately ran away from, but there were too many to dodge and he couldn't use Detect forever. The Shades cornered him together, and the spikes buried themselves deep in Sylveon's hide, slowly secreting their poison.

Jellicent, meanwhile, inhaled as his head swelled twice the usual size, and a stream of water powerful enough to dent steel washed over the arena, destroying much of the remaining ice and throwing Sylveon against the left side of the barrier.

"Swift and run away!" Denzel yelled.

Obviously he wanted to stall this, but—

I stopped my train of thought and blinked.

"Keep attacking," I ordered. "Use Water Pulse."

I sensed the ghost type's confusion, but he listened without hesitating. Sylveon was put under a true deluge. One of the shades covered him with brine, and the raindrops stabbed into him like knives. The other kept harassing him with Poison Sting and Buddy himself kept to the skies and used a multitude of moves. Water Pulse, Shadow Ball, Bubblebeam— anything that was appropriate for the situation. Sylveon retaliated, of course, but he only had Swift to work with. No Moonblast yet. The pink stars penetrated one of the shades and caused it to explode, but we weren't green with the tactic anymore. They were spaced out at all times to avoid collateral damage. Buddy simply let out a series of loud clicks, and a Night Shade formed anew.

And then, the Wish returned from the skies, healing Sylveon's wounds.

"Finish him," I instantly said.

Buddy's red eyes glinted, and two Hydro Pumps and another set of Poison Stings immediately rushed toward Sylveon. The fairy type gargled on the water and was continuously kept in the right corner of Denzel's side of the arena due to Hydro Pump's sheer force and pressure. Half of the Poison Sting didn't even make it because of the water, but that was perfectly fine.

Sylveon fainted, unable to fight back in any way, shape, or form.

Wish had made me panic at first, but then I realized that there was simply no way for Sylveon to even make use of it. Roserade, however, would have. The best choice had been to let the Wish complete and destroy Sylveon before he could use another one. Denzel recalled the fairy type and immediately sent out Roserade, just like I'd predicted. Predictions didn't matter much if I lost, however.

It was time to bring back an old trick.

"Mist," I said as I subtly motioned my fingers downward. "Keep the shades on the defense."

"Magical Leaf!" Denzel ordered.

Jellicent inhaled, and he started spitting out a thick, cold mist that fell toward the floor. Roserade, now freed from the spears, quickly moved her arms in one smooth motion and released sharpened, multicolored leaves that flew toward the ghost. The Shades weren't equipped to stop such an attack. One of them summoned a Shadow Ball that split and released the smaller attacks like a machine gun, and they slammed into the grass type, creating a continuous, small explosion. The other Night Shade quickly floated in the way of the attack. It absorbed some of the hits, but exploded soon after, grazing Buddy in the process. The rest of the leaves buried themselves inside of the water type, who let out multiple, booming cries.

"Hide!" I exclaimed.

Jellicent lowered himself into the mist, and he would now be out of view from me, Denzel and Roserade. My best friend didn't even pause.

"Seed Bomb! Disperse the mist!"

The explosions rocked the field and the heat turned the remaining mist back into water, which dripped onto the remaining ice and rock. Roserade readied herself to send another Magical Leaf toward Buddy, but she blinked when she saw that he wasn't there. Not missing a beat, she dispatched the other Shade before it could attack again, and it sported a furious expression before exploding.

"He's underground! Synthesis!"

The poison type shone, using the last remaining bits of energy to regenerate herself from the damage from Shadow Ball. I had no idea how she was still doing so. It was like squeezing water from a stone. Since we hadn't managed to stop her before that, I decided to stay silent.

And so we waited.

For thirty seconds, nothing happened. I just let the tension build. Denzel and Roserade's eyes darted around the arena, waiting for anything to happen, but nothing ever did.

Until now.

"Drown and Hex!"

Buddy emerged from under Roserade and enveloped her. He had no form and continuously shifted as the grass type squirmed and fought to get out of his hold. Only his shining red eyes were still recognizable. At the same time, a vicious Hex hit Roserade and caused her to writhe in pain. The grass type thrashed around as violently as she could, hitting Jellicent with sharp leaves, spores and poison from the inside. This was risky, but we needed to take Roserade down.

"Seed Bomb!" Denzel yelled.

"Solidify!"

In an instant, Jellicent's body grew less transparent and Roserade slowed until she kept completely still. I squinted as multiple explosions shook the water type from the inside and internally swore when his body dispersed. They were too powerful for us to keep Roserade trapped. Buddy split into hundreds of pieces that slithered across the floor and returned to our side of the arena. When he reformed, his body was infused with poison and tinted purple. Roserade used another set of Seed Bombs, but Buddy easily avoided the attack by propelling himself upward with Water Sport.

"Magical Leaf!"

Again, Roserade let loose sharpened leaves that followed Jellicent wherever he went and cut him apart before he quickly regenerated. It was the only super effective move they could hit us with, but it was still destroying us, especially with the poison eating away at Buddy's energy.

"Night Shade. Bombard her."

The water type boomed, summoning half-formed misshapen shadows that looked nothing like him. With a silent, rageful scream, they all barreled toward Roserade. She grunted as Denzel barked for a Poison Cutter. The thin jet of poison cut the Shades apart, exploding them in one attack, but there were too many, and even if they sometimes aimed at the real body, he regenerated the damage as best he could. Buddy had traded time for utility, and eventually, a Night Shade slammed into Roserade, exploding into thick, shadowy smoke. The grass type reeled as she tried to keep her Poison Cutters going, but those two seconds of inattention were what we needed. More impacts than I could count destroyed Roserade and brought the grass type to her knees until she finally fell unconscious, poison dripping from her flowers. I sighed in relief and wiped the sweat off my forehead.

Relax, I told myself. I was slipping back into my old ways and showing what I felt. I hadn't cleared my mind before this battle like I had before my fight with Maylene, and we had basically passed the length of that battling with all the stalling. Focus. Don't slip.

Denzel used the full thirty seconds and released Milotic onto the field. At this point, it was a mix of overturned earth, ice, and water.

"Bomb him," I said again. The poison was eating through Buddy's energy, but if we could deal as much damage as we could, then we'd be in a great position.

"Dragon Pulse the ground!" Denzel yelled.

A turquoise beam of draconic energy slammed against the floor, slowly creating a crater that Milotic sunk in while the Shades floated toward the water type as fast as they could. I internally smiled when they all hit their mark, and ordered Buddy to summon another wave.

"Surf," Denzel continued.

Milotic spat out gallons of water as the shades around him exploded. The liquid dulled the explosions, but his scales were beginning to crack and he was struggling. Milotic filled his crater with water until it was full.

"Aqua Ring and Recover!" He said.

I'd known about Aqua Ring, but not Recover. Milotic went as deep as he could under the water and shone with a pale blue as lights spun around him. This was bad news. I'd wanted to expose his flesh to poison him with Poison Sting, but that wouldn't work now that Milotic was as good as new.

"Twister!" Denzel yelled.

"Get in that water and Absorb," I muttered, motioning him underground again. The jelly-like liquid clinging to the barrier wriggled. "Don't wait, strike right away."

The air quickly begin to spin as Milotic sang, infusing it with draconic energy, but it barely hit Buddy before he slipped through the floor.

Panic marred Denzel's eyes. He hadn't heard what I had said, only seen my lips move, and I had kept this tactic for an occasion like this after being inspired by the battle between Jasmine and Craig. Buddy's hearing wasn't good enough for this, but he could use a piece of himself to look at me and hear. Denzel was a Pokemon behind, clenching his fists and probably repeatedly telling himself that he could still do this. This was a new element added to the mix that he hadn't expected since I hadn't used it before.

I wanted him to spiral.

Denzel nervously licked his lips, but flinched when Jellicent appeared in Milotic's lake and wrapped his body around him. The whiplash he'd felt from us waiting for so long the first time we'd hid hit just like I wanted it to, and he took two seconds to say his next command.

Two seconds where Absorb could hit.

"Recover and Dragon Pulse!" Denzel ordered. "Outlast him!"

"Whirlpool," I whispered.

The water spun, speeding up until the two Pokemon became a blur of color. Multiple Dragon Pulses slammed against Jellicent and disintegrated parts of his body, but the water type didn't even bother to regather them. He wanted to save as much energy as he could, squeezing the life out of Milotic until he fell. They fought for an entire two minutes, Jellicent losing more and more mass until a final Dragon Pulse finished him off. The water clinging to the barrier fell, and the ghost type reflexively formed into a puddle I could recall. Milotic was unwounded, if just a bit tired. The Aqua Ring continuously spun around the water type as he sunk back into the calming waters. I immediately sent out Tangrowth and exhaled.

Lopunny wouldn't have been able to finish off Buddy as easily as Milotic did, but for that, he'd have to contend with this fight. There was also a risk that he'd known and that he had a tactic to counter us. Angel shook off the ice that Froslass had left on him and blinked at the water type, his vines shaking in excitement.

"Sunny Day and get in there," I immediately said.

"Dragon Pulse!"

A second sun shone once more, and it would until Angel won or fell. The intensity of the Aqua Ring lowered under the light's power. Wasting no time, Milotic peeked out of the water with a Dragon Pulse already formed, and it immediately slammed into a hastily erected barrier. Angel rushed toward the lake, but attacks from Milotic slowed him down so much and forced him to keep raising walls with Ancient Power. The water type switched things up, using Twister instead to slow him down further. Angel's loose vines spun in the wind as the grass type shut his eyes due to the pain. Somehow, Milotic could both maintain the Twister and use Dragon Pulse at the same time.

He was buying time and basically stalling me. I needed to break the dam, but Leech Seed and powder moves would just get lost in the tornado. It was so powerful that he'd take at least two more minutes to get to Milotic, even with the power of the sun at his back.

I bit my lip, and then blinked.

"Ancient Power! Give yourself a kick!"

A small pillar of rock burst behind Angel and slammed him at full force, sending him through the Twister. The grass type wasted no time, immediately propelling himself forward with his vines before Milotic could create a new Twister to trap him in. Once he got close enough, his vines surged forward.

"Giga Drain!" I yelled.

"Surf!" Denzel countered.

All of the water from the lake burst out and barreled toward Angel. The goal here wasn't damage, but to keep the grass type away from Milotic at all costs. Even with the sun, the current proved too much and pushed Tangrowth back.

"Anchor yourself!" I barked.

Denzel snapped, "Twister!"

Ten vines shone neon green with a Power Whip and dug into the floor as the water broke against the grass type. The rest of them still continued above the water and wrapped around Milotic's neck. The water type was too heavy for us to lift, but he squeezed as hard as he could as he began draining his energy and the vines gleamed with a dull green.

"Disarming Voice!" Denzel said with a hand around his jeans.

"Hit him!"

Milotic opened his mouth, but some of Angel's vines immediately intertwined and a Power Whip slammed against Milotic's face. The Disarming Voice came out a nonsensical mess, but Angel's hold over the water type still loosened slightly.

But not enough for him to escape.

The Surf finally ended, and Angel quickly pulled back the vines that he had attached himself with. The grass type closed the distance between him and Milotic and continuously hit with and drained his energy. Every time he tried to attack, Tangrowth would hit him with another Power Whip so strong that the only ones he could use were the quickest ones. Milotic kept himself to Dragon Breath, but soon enough, Denzel clicked his tongue.

"I'm withdrawing Milotic out of the fight," he said, recalling the water type.

That had been smart, but it was a little late. Angel had still drained much of Milotic's energy and used it to recover himself. Denzel cracked his fingers and sent out Lopunny. When she saw who she was fighting, her fists, feet and ears burst into flames, and the small amount of water under her feet that had come from Surf turned to vapor. I knew the normal type would dominate Sweetheart with her speed and Power-Up Punches, and unlike what I'd considered at the start of the battle, I had no more swaps to fall back on. If she defeated Angel, they'd actually have the advantage again. Denzel knew it. It was the only thing keeping him from getting lost in negative thoughts and making him battle worse.

The buck stopped here.

"Fake out!" Denzel ordered.

Lopunny blurred impossibly fast and slammed both fists deep inside of Angel's body. They'd combined Fake out and Fire Punch somehow. The grass type blinked and took a step back—

"Power-Up Punch!"

And was barraged by fiery kicks, punches and hits with Lopunny's ears. They'd combined those too!

"Spores!" I snapped, bringing my arm forward. "And stop your Sunny Day!"

Lopunny blurred back from the quick burst of spores as fast as she could, but even if she'd held her breath, they still clung to the non-burning parts of her fur and she would inhale them as the fight went on. The second sun dimmed, petering out into nothing, and Lopunny's fire type attacks weakened slightly.

"Grab her!" I yelled.

"Dodge and Shadow Ball! If he catches you, it's over!"

The normal type backflipped, twirling in the air as she turned into a ball of flames thanks to her ears. She burned Angel's vines away, and the spores on her fur. Still in the air, Lopunny gathered the shadows in front of her mouth and spat out a Shadow Ball toward Angel, which he blocked with Ancient Power.

"Collapse the wall and throw the rocks at her," I said.

The grass type swept his vines and gathered as many rocks as he could, throwing them toward Lopunny. The normal type waited until the last moment and dodged with a jump so powerful it left another crater behind her.

"Bounce!" Denzel yelled.

So he was going for broke, then, I quickly thought. "Spores and Ancient Power!"

The normal type turned into a flaming meteorite as the air pushed her forward. More spores quickly exploded out of Angel, and he raised a thick wall in front of him. Lopunny grunted as she burst through the wall in an instant. She'd used too many Power-Up Punches. The spores around Angel themselves caught on fire and his vines started to burn to a crisp. Even without Sunny Day, she'd gotten so good at elemental attacks that this was second nature to her.

"Hit her away!"

Even beneath the fire, I could see Knock Off's enveloping darkness. The energy coated some of the vines enough to keep them from burning, and Angel whipped her right flank at full force. The normal type tumbled to the ground and slid as the flames returned to her extremities. Even after all of this, Angel was still burning. The grass type sent out another set of vines and tried to grab at Lopunny's arms and legs. She side-stepped and ducked, crouching against the floor and then kept backing up.

"Wait him out! Run—" Denzel said.

"Walls!"

Three walls erupted around Lopunny and the normal type bumped her back against the rock. She'd been running backwards at full force. There was an opening for Angel to grab her, but Lopunny jumped—

And promptly hit her head on a half-formed ceiling. Arceus, that training with the pillars had worked wonders. Tangrowth was nothing but a few vines and the dark body within at this point, but he was still hidden by the fire. He didn't even waste an instant and five vines— the only ones that remained usable— wrapped around Lopunny's arms and legs. The normal type burned, and fire enveloped her entire body once more, but she was no fire type and I could tell she wasn't experienced with it because it hurt her as well. Denzel couldn't see what was happening to her, but he desperately craned his neck and yelled out her name.

Lopunny grunted as the Knock Offs impacted her, and she was forced to end her flame body, lest she choke on the fire. The walls collapsed as Tangrowth finally fell. He'd been burned to a crisp. I softly thanked him as I recalled him.

Lopunny was done for too. I kept a hand on Sweetheart's Pokeball as the normal type struggled to stand up. She raised herself with her hands, but then fell flat.

I'd won.

Denzel's shoulders sagged as he recalled Lopunny.

The first thought that flooded my mind wasn't the elation of victory, although that came second. I'd defeated Denzel. I'd won. And that was a big deal.

No. What was at the forefront of my mind were new ways to fight that I hadn't considered before. New moves, new applications for already-existing moves, things we needed to practice more before the battle with Volkner.

It was ideas.

---

A/N: Don't worry, Sweetheart fans, she'll get her time to shine soon.

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 225

Denzel took a few breaths as the reality of his loss sunk in and the cheers from the crowd flooded his ears. He clipped Lopunny's Pokeball to his side and sighed with sagging shoulders. All of the adrenaline from the battle was leaving him at once, and it sure wasn't helping with the disappointment he felt.

He hopped off the elevated podium and toward Grace, who was frozen still and staring into the distance for some reason. It was only when he was basically almost there that she did the same and came to speak to him. Denzel outstretched a hand and she grabbed it before pulling him into a hug. She was sweaty, but he didn't mind.

"Congrats," he smiled. "How's it feel?"

He wasn't bitter. Denzel had convinced himself he'd be the underdog since the day he challenged her, and he had expected it to be an uphill climb. Even more so now that she was hanging out with trainers so powerful they boggled the mind. Walking weapons of mass destruction that countries liked to flaunt and brag about, but that also kept each other in check.

But damn it, was he disappointed in himself.

"It feels… well, revelating," Grace answered. "Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine," he said. "I won't lie though, it hurts."

"Shit. Sorry."

"Don't apologize for winning, dude. I'll live," Denzel said. "Uh, I'm gonna stop the stream and stuff for now."

"Want to bring our teams to the Center after?" Grace asked. "I knew we said we'd hang out in two days, but now would be cool."

"Eh, I'll get back to you on that," Denzel hesitantly said. He couldn't help but feel hurt at the disappointment on her face. "Don't be like that. I'm fine, no joke. I just need a few hours to clear my mind and think on the battle. Relax."

"If you say so. We're all one phone call away—"

"Yes Mom," he groaned. "See you soon, alright?"

Denzel patted her on the back and pushed her toward Cece and Erin who were waiting for her with wide smiles. The former raised a hand at him and shot him an apological look when their eyes met. He smiled at her and waved back before making his way toward his mounted phone, where Emilia and Pauline stood with saddened faces. They stayed silent and pointed at the phone, and he understood that they were asking him to end the stream so they could speak privately. Denzel's eyes bulged when he saw the viewcount at 102,399 thousand. He spoke a few words to the stream and ended it, making sure to remind them to all subscribe. No doubt, he'd see a massive revenue bump from this and incredible growth for his channel.

"Holy fuck, that was a lot of viewers," he said. "What did it peak at?"

"118,000 or so," Emilia answered. "But Denzel, are you okay?"

"Disappointed and angry at myself, but other than that, I'm fine."

"That doesn't sound too good. Do you want us to do anything, or—"

"Pauline, I'm fine. Well, actually, I won't deny I feel like shit, but it's nothing I can't handle. This is something I learned to deal with months ago."

"...If you say so."

"Oh. When was this?" Emilia asked.

"Back in Jubilife, Chase beat the crap out of Sylveon when he was just an Eevee and Ri was a Riolu. It was the first time we met actually," Denzel explained. "It took me a while to get out of that slump, but I did. I'm okay, I won't spiral and start doubting myself or whatever. I'm a fucking good trainer, and I know it."

The redhead smiled. "Cool."

Chase was lucky Denzel hadn't told her how much of an asshole he used to be, or he would have gotten an earful from her.

Denzel sighed as he picked up his phone and folded the tripod. "But! Let me spend a few hours alone to get my thoughts in order."

"I thought your thoughts were fine?" Emilia accused as she crossed her arms.

"You know what I mean," he rolled his eyes. "I'll get my team to the Center and wander around and think about the meaning of what being a trainer is until I lose sight of myself and want to retire."

He paused when both of his… friends' faces didn't move.

"That was a joke, guys," he said. "Okay, seriously though, I'm off."

Denzel told the rest of his friends goodbye and made his way toward the Center, releasing Swablu on his head while he walked. Many in the crowd tried to hold him and ask him questions, some of which were very inflammatory, but he just used the convenient excuse that his team really needed to get to a Nurse Joy right now. He could have taken the bus, but he really felt the need to get blood pumping in his legs right now, and Sunyshore was a beautiful city. He could see why so many people had moved to it in recent years.

Swablu chirped on his head as soon as he released her, and Denzel guessed what she had just asked.

"We lost," he said. "4-5. You could have seen the battle if you weren't so… particular about interacting with others. Not everyone that isn't me is dirty, you know?"

The flying type bit and pulled at his hair in response, and he hissed out in pain.

"Fine, fine," he sighed. "I'm bringing the others to a Center right now. Just relax and take in the sights."

Swablu huffed and he felt her puff up her fluffy wings. She was quite a peculiar Pokemon, even after having known her for a few weeks. She was young, having hatched from an egg months prior, but she didn't behave like his friends' baby Pokemon. There was none of the cuteness there, only an aggressive tendency to destroy anything she didn't like and a want for battle. That one would have to wait, unfortunately, since she was still playing catchup with the rest of the team. Milotic and the others liked to help her train, but Sylveon still hadn't fully accepted her.

And she wasn't even a dragon type yet. Denzel shivered at the thought of that.

He handed his Pokemon to Nurse Joy and smiled at the trainers at the Pokemon Center that had been watching the battle. Normally he would have loved the attention, but that was the last thing he wanted right now. He slipped out as soon as he saw an opportunity to and decided to wander the streets once more.

"What could I have done differently?" He muttered to himself.

Because that was the entire crux of the issue, wasn't it? A question that had haunted millions of trainers throughout all eras and all regions and one that he couldn't shake right now. Should he have saved Roserade for Tangrowth after all? The fact that Froslass lost to a grass type was still something that he hadn't fully registered. That Knock Off trick had been vicious. Maybe he should have recalled Roserade as soon as Electabuzz showed his face… yes, that he was sure of. Thunder had been wholly unexpected, and the fact that she'd almost used the move three times was awful. It would only go up from there—

Denzel jumped when Swablu alerted him by pulling on his hair. He'd nearly crossed the street while the light was red.

"Thank you, Swablu," he muttered. "That was weird."

He usually never got lost in his thoughts like that.

"I should go and eat something," Denzel said. "Thinking over lunch sounds great right now."

The teenager found the nearest restaurant on his phone and quickly asked for a table for one. Pokemon were thankfully allowed in the establishment, so Swablu stayed on his head. He had tried to place her on the table or the chair in front of him, but she'd bitten his finger in protest. He ordered a pizza and returned to his thoughts, but he couldn't help but think he was biased somehow. Trainers weren't exactly the best at analyzing a battle completely objectively, so Grace was kind of a monster in that regard. Seeing your flaws exposed like that hurt, and it hurt even more to call them out. Better bury your head in the sand and blame something else.

He scrolled through the contacts on his phone as he clenched a fist. What he needed was someone with a completely unbiased and objective view. Someone that would be willing to call him out on anything he'd done wrong. He answered a few worried messages from his friends, sending a picture of himself and a scowling Swablu to their group chat.

His finger hovered over Barry Lane's number. Even if they'd told each other they'd hang out in Sunyshore, they hadn't spoken since meeting that one time in Veilsone. He was the only person not in their friend group that wouldn't be scared to set him straight. He called on his old friend, who picked up the phone instantly. He smiled when he saw that he hadn't lost that old habit. Denzel's mother would sometimes called his on their landline and he would always answer the phone first.

"Denzel! My old buddy old pal! What can I do for you on this beautiful day?"

The way Barry spoke was a flurry of words, as always, like he was constantly in a hurry.

"Want to come and eat with me?" Denzel asked. "I can drop you the address. I need you to discuss some battling issues with me."

"Well, if it's battling!" Barry exclaimed. "I'll be right there!"

"I haven't even sent it to you yet."

"I'm already running, so you better send it before I end up on the other side of the city."

Denzel stayed silent for a few seconds and heard Barry's stomping against the ground and his shallow breaths.

"Okay, you're actually serious. I'll hang up, and you can check the messages for the address."

—

Barry leaned forward with terrible posture as he stared at Denzel's phone and watched his battle with Grace. Somehow, he hadn't known about it despite it being the only thing every first year could talk about online. Barry was the only person Denzel knew who was worse at keeping up with news than Grace. While they had a similar upbringing in Twinleaf, Denzel used the internet as much as he could to escape his boring life while Barry was just incapable of getting bored with what he already had. Swablu stared at what lay below the table with disgust and disdain.

Barry's Munchlax was currently finishing his third meal and he would definitely ask for a fourth one. The normal type held his plate up and slid all of his food down his mouth, not caring for all of the food he dropped on the ground in the process. Denzel could feel the waiters stare daggers in his and Barry's back.

He'd definitely clean up before leaving.

"What a great battle!" Barry exclaimed. "Super, duper good. But, uh, why did you need me?"

The short trainer looked at Denzel with light brown eyes that almost appeared orange and blinked. Even while eating, he always wore his green scarf. A heirloom left to him by his father before he left for the Battle Frontier.

"I want advice," Denzel said. "You're one of the best first-years—"

"I'm the best! I'm him!" Barry yelled.

Barry wasn't just among the best first years— and definitely better than Denzel was. He was possibly the most random-minded trainer Denzel had ever seen at their level. People on the forums said that whenever someone battled Barry, they could never know what to expect, and he knew it to be true despite how relatively average his team was. Denzel had watched his battle against Maylene and saw how much he had angered her (it had been a while before her break). For example, his Staraptor knew Sunny Day and Heat Wave. His Rapidash knew Bounce and could somehow gallop across the air, raining fire down at her opponents, and she synergized perfectly with Staraptor. His Heracross had mastered his flying capabilities and could use them to create a sound that confused opponents. Empoleon was as good at using ice TE as his own Froslass was and he used it to slide around the entire arena incredibly quickly. Munchlax wasn't good enough to battle yet, but he was sure he'd pull some similar tricks when he was.

While Denzel's Roserade had focused on her poison typing, Barry's was focused on grass.

And all of that was just the tip of the iceberg. He always pulled some insane shit that shouldn't have been possible every time he popped up in an official battle.

"Okay, let's not yell in the middle of the restaurant, please," Denzel whispered with a hiss. "I wanted your advice. Completely unbiased. Just lay it on me."

"Well, there were mistakes on both sides, but it's easy to say that from my seat," he rambled. "I think that you got too lost in your original strategy—"

"You know what I was doing?"

"Well, you were trying to mentally exhaust her, it's obvious. The stalling you did when switching, the healing moves, it was a pretty decent job, I'd say. But it wasn't working, and you kept doing it and leaving her ample time to think!"

"I fucking knew it—"

"I'd say the only time where that was the right decision was when you let the poison whittle down Jellicent before releasing your next Pokemon, but I mean, maybe it's just me. I like fast-paced fighting better than this mind game stuff. I yell out what feels right at the moment. I don't really know how you jive, so I don't think it would work for you. This Grace Pastel fellow's interesting, though. Is everyone in your group as good as you two?"

"You met her in Veilstone," Denzel sighed.

"Oh. I forgot."

"And yeah, I'd say Chase, Lauren and Cecilia are that good," Denzel said, rubbing his chin. "Interested? You need more friends."

"I'll be fine. I can't waste time when I've got to get my eight badges! I'm leaving for Pastoria when I get my team back."

Denzel's eyes bulged. "You won already?"

"What do you think?" Barry grinned, flashing the Beacon Badge on his trainer ID. "I won yesterday. I thought you of all people would know. I want to be the first first-year to get eight badges! That ought to impress my old man."

"I was at a party yesterday," Denzel said. "Congrats, though. Happy for you. Shouldn't you slow down and get your flying license, though? It'll be convenient for… Candice is your eighth badge, right?"

"I'll do that in Pastoria," he quickly dismissed. "I heard that—"

Barry stopped when he noticed that Munchlax was tapping his feet for more food.

"You're ruining me," Barry smiled. "I'll get you some… what do you want? Is fish okay?"

The normal type shrugged, probably saying that anything was fine so long as it got in his mouth. Denzel leaned down to look at Munchlax and decided to talk to Barry about him. They were rare, and Craig had one. Plus, it wasn't every day that he got Barry to stick to one place for long. Keeping his attention was notoriously difficult.

"How is taking care of a Munchlax? Isn't that expensive as hell?"

"Yeah, but Professor Rowan sends me everything we need. That's how I get my vitamins too," Barry explained. "This is just a treat."

Denzel salivated at the thought of having a Professor sponsor him, but he knew that was a pipe dream. Barry had only been picked because Rowan knew his parents well. Palmer was well-acquainted with a lot of Sinnoh's important people, and Professors were no different.

"What else does Rowan send you?" He asked.

"TMs, Ultra Balls, advice on how to raise each of my Pokemon and the exact nutrition they need. It's annoying to keep track of, but it's for their own good. He also sent me one of the few Shiny Stones he had stocked up for Roserade. In exchange, he asks me to catch some Pokemon to send back to his lab."

"You can go past the six Pokemon rule?"

"Duh. He's a Professor, I get special perks," Barry said excitedly. "I'm still not allowed to keep them, but I can catch 'em and send them to him. Sometimes they stick around the lab their entire lives, or he sends them back to where they lived after he's done with them if they want to. That's why the good old Professor wants me to get strong quickly. The more powerful I am, the more rare Pokemon I can find him. He's been wanting to get his hands on a Carbink, but good luck finding a wild one outside of the deepest parts of Mount Coronet. He's got some wack theory about them having an evolution even though it's never been proven."

Denzel nodded. All of that made sense… except one question he had.

"Can't he just buy them?" Denzel asked.

"He's a Professor, not a billionaire," he said. "He buys the ones he can, but a lot of Pokemon are too expensive. And if he can get them through me, why not save his cash?"

"Right. Right. So is that how you taught your Staraptor Sunny Day and Rain Dance?" Denzel said.

"Yeah! Rowan sent me the TMs for both. Reusable! I got Sandstorm and Hail too. Weather's cool, but I kind of want him to get me Hyper Beam. He's got a bunch of old TMs he stocked up through his career that he's slowly giving me, just like the evolutionary stones. Obviously I have to give the TMs back when I'm done with them, though."

"I guess that's how your Pokemon know moves that are completely crazy," Denzel said, leaning against a palm. "What's next, a Rapidash with Solar Beam?"

"Yeah, that's in the works, actually," Barry said. "Anyways, TMs are great, but I still got to practice the moves for weeks before they're usable. They're only a baseline."

"Yeah, obviously."

"I need to get started on these custom moves. I've got some, but I've been relying on TMs for too long and your battle inspired me. That Poison Cutter was cool. I wonder if my Roserade can do the same thing, but with grass… Grass Cutter?"

"Yeah, I don't think that'd work."

The waiter arrived with Munchlax's fish. Denzel didn't really know what it was, but the normal type inhaled it in seconds, bones and all.

"I've got to go," Barry said, shooting up from his chair. "This was cool, but Munchlax needs to train now. We've been working on Sleep Talk, but he just keeps staying asleep instead."

"Wait, already—"

"Glory waits for no one, Denzel!"

Barry recalled Munchlax and ran off, his scarf flowing in the air. He nearly bumped into a waitress and she almost dropped all of the drinks she was carrying, and he didn't even look back while apologizing. Denzel chuckled as he grabbed his phone again. He'd wanted to ask for the tab, but a message from Grace caught his attention.

Stay where you are. Trust me.

"What…?" Denzel muttered.

Well, he didn't like to be kept in the dark, but this was probably harmless. Maybe she'd show up— actually, that wasn't possible. He hadn't sent them the address. Only a picture. Either way, he listened, ordering a drink to not clog up the table and browsed some of the reactions of the battle. A lot of people had expected him to pull through, mostly because Grace kept her training in the dark the entire time while he livestreamed his progress for his viewers. They probably hadn't expected her to have kept up with him. The forums were alight with discussion of the battle, and even trainers beyond the first-year chimed in to give their opinions. Some of them called Denzel's group overrated and said that they'd wipe out at the Conference, if they even got that far, but the majority actually respected their skill, much to Denzel's surprise.

Around ten minutes later, he heard some commotion around the restaurant's entrance. He paid it no mind. It was probably some fight happening outside or a famous person walking by. When he heard the commotion get closer, though, he turned and saw that Craig Goodwill was in the damn restaurant. At first, he thought it was just a coincidence, but he waved at him with that crooked smile of his and tapped him on the back.

"Hey kid," Craig said. "How's it going?"

"C—Craig! What are you doing here?"

Denzel cursed at himself for the stutter. He hadn't seen his idol since they were at Lake Acuity, and he was still nervous around him. He knew what it was like to have nervous fans now, though, and he tried to calm his nerves. A titan of the industry was standing right next to— actually, he dragged the chair Barry had been sitting in and took his place. His friend would definitely regret leaving so soon if he found out. He recalled Swablu so she wouldn't humiliate him in front of the trainer he admired.

"Your friend Grace told me you were here. It's a nice little spot, even if I usually stick to the boardwalk."

How had she found the address? Just from the selfie he'd sent? It had been innocent enough and well-intentioned, but Arceus, she could be terrifying when she wanted to. Yet another reminder to never get on Grace's bad side.

Denzel just decided to think that Erin had known this spot and that she had asked her.

"I was told you were watching the battle," Denzel spoke, trying to keep his voice still. "What'd you think?"

He winced, expecting the worst.

"You were both fantastic. Truly. It took me back to simpler times when I used to chase Sarah Newman around and she kept beating the crap out of me, except your battle was a lot closer. I see you're taking the loss surprisingly well."

Denzel unclenched his fist and relaxed. He thought he would completely rip him to pieces, exposing every imperfection. That was what he'd wanted, but it would have been different coming from the trainer he looked up to the most.

"I'll manage. I still feel like shit, but it's okay."

"Good. That'll help you for the Conference, if you get there. Losing there crushed me the first time. It still did every year, and I've been going for six years."

Denzel nodded. It was a known fact that Craig had been in a terrible state after losing in the finals last year to Sarah Newman, and it had only been by a hair. That probably still haunted him at night.

Or maybe not.

"But you've got to look at the bigger context. For a first year, you're progressing leaps and bounds. I thought you'd have flamed out by now when we met in Snowpoint, but here you are, chugging along. You're an extremely talented kid."

"But?" Denzel asked.

Craig placed an arm over the back of his chair and smiled. "Do you want my advice?"

"Who wouldn't?" Denzel scoffed. "You're the trainer. Everyone would want your insight after a battle."

"Eh, you'd be surprised," Craig smirked. "Why don't you tell me the problems that jumped out at you? Let's start slow."

"Everything I threw at her except Poison Cutter, she had a counter for," Denzel blurted out. "I don't know how she does it… not the planning, but, like, she manages to be the most defensive-minded out of all of us all while not lacking in power. Every single one of her Pokemon is so tough to crack. You've got Togetic with Ancient Power and her barriers, Electabuzz with Protect, and he's way faster than he used to be and that's only going to get worse if she figures out how to evolve him. Tangrowth used to be easy to hit, but he's got Ancient Power now too and even when you hit him, he's got an insane amount of stamina. Jellicent can regenerate a thousand times, Pupitar's got a tough shell and can fly incredibly quickly, but when she evolves she'll be nearly indestructible except for the most powerful attacks… Arceus."

"Seems like a lot," Craig nodded. "And she is quite the defensive trainer. Good catch. She's like a fusion of Gardenia and Byron, although even Gardenia wouldn't have gone as far as she did against Maylene."

Denzel swallowed. He knew that had happened? For some reason, he felt nervous even though he wasn't the one that had done anything.

"What about Jasmine?" Denzel asked.

"Oh, Jasmine is like a rapier," Craig said. "She'll stab you a thousand times and leave you dead. Byron's a shield. You can slam against him, but if you don't have the power needed to break through, you'll need tricks to win. Good luck on that eighth badge, by the way."

"Right."

That was going to be a terribly hard fight, and he looked forward to it already.

Craig snapped a finger and pointed at Denzel. "Anyway, back to you. You were on the right track. There are two kinds of battlers in this world, kid. Defensive and offensive battlers. Now, this isn't black and white… it's more like a spectrum. And just because you're defensive doesn't mean you wait to have things happen to you. You can be a proactive defensive battler or a reactive offensive battler. You catch my drift?"

Denzel nodded.

"Now you approached this battle the completely wrong way," Craig said. Denzel felt his heart drop. "It was close, but you could have handily won if you fought correctly. You played too passive, Denzel, and I don't mean using moves like Recover. You didn't fight to your strengths and fought to counter her instead. You were basically playing by her game, and against defensive-minded trainers like her that like to think, that's a death sentence. You can't let them think, Denzel, that's when you lose."

"But I did play to my strengths. I mean, I can battle for a long time, and she can't— well, I thought she couldn't. I underestimated her there."

"Obviously she can. That's beginner stuff, and you guys are at least intermediate. Your friends progress alongside you, not just you. I suspect that she'll love to have long battles by the time the year is over. Her type always does," he recalled with a hint of fondness. "Personally, I dislike long battles. I keep mine quick by blowing past most opponents with raw destruction— sophisticated destruction."

Denzel understood where Lauren had gotten her battling style from now, even if hers couldn't really be called sophisticated. He'd watched plenty of Craig's battles, but him saying it out loud had made it all click. Plus, according to Grace the battle with Jasmine had been pretty quick, all things considered, but that was mostly because of the strength disparity between Craig and Jasmine's Pokemon.

"So what are my strengths then?" Denzel asked.

"For this battle, it was Roserade and your creativity with her," Craig said. "I've rarely seen a Sludge Wave applied like this at your level, let alone Poison Cutter. She was your crutch, and you failed her."

Denzel clenched a fist and stared at his feet in shame.

"Sorry about the harsh words. She could have carried you to victory if you relied on her more. Notice how you were basically winning every time she was on the field? And you could have won against Electabuzz had you poisoned the field again. You did win the first bout the two fought and forced her to recall him."

"But my other Pokemon would have been hurt afterward!"

"What's a battle without a little risk?" Craig smiled. "Picture this. You just sent that Sludge Wave toward Electabuzz over and over until he couldn't use Protect any longer, and you take him out. What does she have left that can fight Roserade? Jellicent, Tangrowth and Pupitar. That doesn't sound so great, doesn't it? And there's also the fact that you could have used your switches better and gotten your Sylveon to actually get that Wish to her, but I digress."

"But there was no way Roserade could have finished all three off."

"She could have done two if you played it correctly, and that leaves you with Lopunny, Milotic and Sylveon against her last Pokemon. Even having two of those left would have netted you a win. The poisoned floor would have been there, yes, but you would still be at an advantage. At the heart of it all, Pokemon battling is a numbers game. You've got to play to your strengths. Convert them into a lead, and convert that lead into a victory. Switches are important, but leads are everything. They are crushing psychologically and you want to do everything to come back and at least equalize the battle again. That makes you stop thinking clearly and you start to make mistakes unless you're the most analytical, stone-cold individual out there. Even I'm not immune to it. It's how I lost last year. That make sense?"

Denzel nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Yeah, it does."

"Grace exploited that," Craig said. "Played with the tempo, quieted down, made you slip up. You basically lost control of the battle as soon as you let Roserade exhaust herself against Electabuzz for no reason, and you never came back from that. You had a one Pokemon lead for a little bit, but it was fake. Just smoke. It wasn't a real lead with your best Pokemon waiting in tow, because without Roserade there, all of the Pokemon she had left could beat yours without a problem. Now, every battle's got a different Pokemon that'll act as the cornerstone of your strategy. From the way she behaved, I'd bet that Grace knew yours was Roserade and that hers was Electabuzz."

"Not Tangrowth or Jellicent? They were honestly a lot more annoying," Denzel said, recalling the battle.

"Tangrowth and Jellicent were like… Cynthia. They're powerful, sure, and without them it would have fallen apart, but Electabuzz was like the thousands of employees under her that keep the League running like a well-oiled machine. He was in the background, but he screwed you. He exhausted your Roserade by fighting her twice, damaged your Froslass some and took down your Sylveon's armor in one hit, rendering him basically useless and easy fodder for Jellicent. Do you get it? Sylveon was a nonfactor in that battle, even if he finished Electabuzz off. He turned it into a four against five. Electabuzz knocked down your foundation and Tangrowth and Jellicent finished collapsing the house."

"Okay. I get it, I misused Roserade," Denzel said. "What else was there?"

"Well, I don't want to just give you the keys to the castle. Finding them yourself is an order of magnitude more satisfying," Craig said. "But… hm."

"What?" Denzel asked.

"You know, you remind me of my younger self, believe it or not," Craig said.

"No way."

"Yes. That's why I like keeping an eye on you from time to time. I was worse than you, actually. I had my rival I desperately wanted to surpass, and the fact that she was two years younger than me didn't help. But even the way you behave. The way you handle your fame, it's very similar. I like you, kid."

"Thank you. That means a lot to me."

Craig Goodwill stayed silent for a few seconds, leaning back against his chair.

"I'll be in Sunyshore another week," he said. "What do you say I take you under my wing while I'm there. I can… point you in the right direction. You've got potential. An unpolished diamond, one might say."

Denzel practically jumped for joy. "Yes! Absolutely yes! But what about your sister?"

"My sister can handle herself," Craig said. "She's a damn genius. I trust her to be the strongest first year by the Conference. And it's only a week. Not much, all things considered. Just enough to light the way. I'll teach you the broad fundamentals."

"Fucking awesome. When do we start?" Denzel asked.

"How about right now?"

---

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]

INTERLUDE - FORUMS VI

Andrew Melendez's eyes snapped open as soon as his alarm rung. He already knew what time it was and spared no time jumping out of his bed. His leg caught in his cover and he tripped down on the cold, tiled floor.

"Fuck! Arceus damn it…"

Andrew hissed as he rubbed the shoulder and arm he'd fallen on until he heard a voice come from down the hall outside his bedroom.

"Andrew? You good, man?!"

He recognized Jan's voice and answered right away. "Yep! Just fell off my bed!"

"Okay, well I'm off to work! You have a good one!"

"Thanks Jan!"

Andrew struggled back up to his feet and quickly left his room, snagging anything edible from their small kitchen. He ended up settling on some canned fruits from the pantry. Living in Jubilife was expensive for an eighteen-year-old, and he was only able to afford rent with roommates. Jan, Sandy and he had lived together for three years now, and Sandy had already gone to work. Why hadn't he left for work yet?

Well, he had called in sick.

Today was a very special day.

Andrew floored it back to his room and sighed when he saw that he still had two minutes left until the battle between Denzel Williams and Grace Pastel. Andrew was no trainer, but battling was his passion and had been as long as he could remember. Unfortunately, he could never imagine himself actually traveling. He'd given it a try once and realized that it wasn't for him after barely making it through Oreburgh Tunnel with his trusted Meditite. He still battled sometimes in one of the public arenas when he had time, but being a real trainer was out of the picture.

Andrew grabbed his glasses from his bedside table, sat on his desk and clicked at Meditite's Pokeball. The blue fighting type yawned as he levitated off the floor.

"The stream's starting soon," Andrew said as he spooned a mouthful of fruits into his mouth. "You wanted to watch too."

I did, Meditite answered. But I said I wanted to watch the video of the battle. A stream is unnecessary. You interrupted my meditation.

"Shit— uh, sorry. Well, I'll leave you to it, then," Andrew answered, turning on his computer.

Meditite interrupted his levitation for a few moments and opened the door with his psychic powers. He'd probably be alone for a good hour or two. The fighting type shared Andrew's passion for watching and analyzing battles, but he certainly felt none of the urgency his trainer felt. Two of the best first-years in the Circuit, duking it out for the first time! There were rumors of them having battled at some point in Sandgem, but that was old history and couldn't be backed up by evidence, since the few trainers that claimed to have been there weren't recording. Apparently, Denzel had won.

Andrew opened up his browser and logged into DailyTube. His account name was the same as it was anywhere else.

Username: Goalducc42

Password: ●●●●●●●●●●●●●

He slowly munched on the last remaining fruits as he observed the stream. Denzel had panned his camera toward the battlefield, but the crowd in the background was still visible, along with a few in his friend group. The chat was… well, it was what he could have expected from an event this large. Denzel's chat was always terribly moderated, but today was especially bad despite Pauline King having warned toxic chatters. That only seemed to have triggered them as a flurry of 'pauLines' and other nonsense flooded the chat.

S0phinator: SPAM THIS PRETZEL TO SUPPORT DENZEL

Mawawawa343: Why is pauLine talking?

IlllIIIIlI: pauLine

CountBisharp: SPAM THIS VASE TO SUPPORT GRACE

SurelyShirly: pauLine pauLine pauLine pauLine pauLine

WailTank: Gamba where? Modcheck?

Arial22030934: ALL IN ON DENZEL BOYS THE TRAIN NEVER STOPS.

Tuturu: Every time this girl speaks I can't help but cringe

Phoen1x: Can we get a Grace blink counter going?

Andrew ignored those messages, along with the other spammers. Pauline and Emilia were quite hated among Denzel's community because he'd garnered a majority female audience and he was objectively quite a good-looking guy. Andrew had been at this for years at this point. The chat was flooding as fast as it did for some tournaments, but he was good at filtering the trash from the valuable commentary. Even in a chat for a live event, nuggets of gold could be found, but he couldn't deny missing the forums. Just as the battle was about to start, he split his screen and opened the forum live thread on the side of his screen. It seemed that the majority of people were supporting Denzel, but Grace had a sizeable amount of fans as well. Of course, there were also the inflammatory assholes who liked to rile up both sides into fighting each other by manufacturing arguments.

Welcome to the League Circuit Forums! The best website to get any League/Circuit related news!

Trainers → Events

Topic: Denzel v Grace live reaction thread

Original Poster: Denzel_Williams (Verified Trainer)

Date: March 5th 20XX

He quickly scrolled to the bottom of the page and looked at what people were saying.

►Lexie_Jimenez (Verified Trainer)

No way Denzel takes this. Grace is going to win handily because the only useful Pokemon on his team is Froslass. The rest don't hold any water to the force she brings to the table.

►Xavier_Hester (Verified Trainer)

I said the same thing but I was banned. Shit mods tbh that's not even toxic compared to half the shit people are saying.

►APETITAN

Tell me you don't watch the training streams without telling me you don't watch the training streams. Sorry bestie, you're both going to be in for a rude awakening.

Andrew groaned. It seemed that the event had been advertised so much that even the forums were annoying to read. Everyone had a take that they thought was the absolute truth, and they couldn't help but tell it as if it was a fact. He expected the intelligent chatters and users to start rolling in when the fight was in full swing. The man leaned forward as the battle finally started Froslass against Pupitar. If the ice type hadn't been so tricky, Pupitar would have held the advantage, but Andrew knew Grace would be forced to use the first switch. The two Pokemon started exchanging blows, and Froslass showcased her mastery of Double Team as Andrew glanced at the chat.

Penguindrum: Pupitar kind of washed tbh. Can't even deal with a basic Double Team.

PokemonEnjoyer234: Froslass is chadded out of her mind right now.

Celestrialcord: Why isn't she using Payback? I'm pretty sure that Pupitar knows Payback.

Goalducc clenched his teeth and had to refrain himself from @ ing the users directly. He knew the opinion of a chat could change on a dime. When Grace finished scouting and recalled Pupitar, more calls of her defeat began to roll in, especially when she released Tangrowth next.

NeonNebbi3: FROSLASS SWEEP!

(Krabbie): People are getting way too hyped up when this thing barely started.

Extendoarm: Already throwing OMEGALOL

1Harpie1: NOOOO GRACE DON'T SEND A GRASS TYPE AGAINST AN ICE TYPE NOOOO SHE HAS EARPODS IN SHE CAN'T HEAR US

Hazsuman: It's Sopher. I literally bet all of my points on her.

Andrew actually chuckled at that. 'Sopher' was a combination of Sophie and Over that had spread like wildfire after Sophie Richards had gotten kicked out of the Prime Minister position and arrested for collaborating with Team Galactic. The chat kept looking the same, with only a few actually realizing that Froslass was in trouble. Grace's Tangrowth was a monster, and anyone worth their salt knew it. The image of Tangrowth— or Angel, as she called him— running up to your Pokemon and destroying them in complete silence had become an internet phenomenon. It wasn't until his Leech Seed landed on Froslass that the chat started to change their tune.

Devil_In_Backseat: Wtf how does it not dodge that?!

PkmnTDW: Guys what if Grace wasn't actually throwing but actually cracked?

RRRER: FUCKING MIDROLL ADS I WANT TO DIE

Undertimex: Why doesn't she just dodge? Is she stupid?

Vroomvroom: Dodge 4Head Dodge 4Head Dodge 4Head

SleepyGlameow_: Holy shit, did he just detach that vine?!

Indeed, Tangrowth had. Goalducc laughed as the grass type's vines wrapped around Froslass and her clones. He would have finished her off had Denzel not recalled Froslass at the last moment. The momentum had definitely shifted in Grace's favor, and now everyone in chat acted like they'd been supporting her all along to save face. Andrew wouldn't be so sure of her victory, however. It was too early to tell who would win. The next bout began as Grace recalled Tangrowth and sent out Electabuzz to counter Denzel's Roserade. Her weakness to poison types was well-known, and many people Andrew interacted with enjoyed pointing it out, especially the second-years and above who would be at the Conference and were preparing for her and her friends. Normally, first-years wouldn't have been singled out like this. After all, they weren't the only first years that would make it to the Conference. Andrew tracked a lot of them, and he expected twenty-two to make it. Not everyone in Grace's group was on that list. The usual suspects, her, Denzel, Cecilia, Lauren and Chase were on the list, but the rest were a lot less unsure. Even Mira Compton wasn't someone Andrew was confident on.

But the reason a lot of the older trainers wanted to put them in the dirt was because they were a lot more fortunate than usual. Incredible sponsors, fame, a closeness with the League never seen with first-years, working with Silph Co, the list went on and on. Grace even looked to be on speaking terms with Jasmine, Olivine's Gym Leader who was on holiday here and dating Volkner. People were jealous that trainers objectively worse than they were had it better than they did.

Andrew was sure they'd catch up to most complainers by the Conference. Rare were the people who progressed as fast as they all did, and they were all a treat to watch. He did want Cecilia to do more public battles, however. He hadn't seen her fight since her fight with Maylene. It was a real content drought out here.

He turned his attention back to the battle. The entire field had been completely poisoned, and Roserade was having a much better showing than everyone had thought. Even Andrew's eyes bulged at that massive Sludge Wave.

KalosR: Yikes. Electabuzz can't keep this up.

PUAPUAPUA: WASHED. LITERALLY WASHED IN POISON.

EdisonWuu: Why did she go into Electabuzz??????

Jeeeeeeepers: Graceheads it's literally sopher.

QuQ0: She has to rush and overwhelm Roserade

PubbleYup: Wait, wtf???

AEIOUY: THUNDER??

Partager: BROS SHE JUST SAID THUNDER

Doubledashline: HUH?

Fightclub: HOLY FUCK

Jeeeeeeepers: GRACEHEADS WE NEVER EVEN LEFT

LilyPikachu: are you srs rn -_-

Forsale: LETS GOOOOO

Goalducc grinned as the attack exploded onto the field, destroying everything in its path and singing Roserade. Grace ordered Electabuzz to use Fire Punch, but Denzel recalled his Roserade to salvage her endurance. Andrew sighed in relief and nodded. He couldn't deny preferring Denzel to Grace, even if Cecilia Obel was his favorite trainer this year, and he was rooting for Denzel to win. Keeping Roserade healthy was the correct choice, especially when Electabuzz was the only Pokemon that could take her down relatively easily. She had the type advantage against every other member of her team except Turtonator, and Grace wasn't using him. People liked to theorize about when she would start to do so. The dragon type was her most elusive Pokemon and was rarely seen in public, so people barely knew anything about him. The most fervent researchers (including himself) had looked up his old trainer's battles to at least know what Turtonator was capable of, however, and he would undoubtedly have turned this battle upside down.

Still, Andrew was glad to see Electabuzz succeed this much. People often saw him and Lopunny in the same light— Pokemon that held their trainers back, for some reason. He knew they had no idea what they were talking about. They were just as powerful as the others, they just needed to get their moment.

And it seemed that this battle was Electabuzz's.

Grace quickly switched, replacing Electabuzz with Togetic and Denzel sent out Froslass. Andrew refreshed the forum page to see if people that knew what they were talking about were there yet, but to his dismay, it was just a slower version of the livestream chat. He raised an eyebrow when he saw a notification— an invite to a private thread.

►Goalducc42

Hi everyone. Thank you all for the invite, the live thread and livestream chat is insufferable.

►Archive

It's giving me an aneurysm every time I look. Who do you think has it in the bag?

►Goalducc42

Too early to tell. I'd say it's anyone's game right now.

►AsobiAsobase

Did you see that Thunder? That packed such a fucking punch, I wouldn't have expected a five-badger to have taught the technique to her Pokemon. I think she wins depending on how many times she can use it. Electabuzz seemed quite tired after the attack, but he looks like he could use it a few more times at least.

►Chichi

Don't count Roserade and Froslass out. They're Denzel's keys to victory.

►Chance_Bartan (Verified Trainer)

Well Froslass ain't doing too hot right now, chief.

"Shrapnel," Grace had called out. Andrew gasped at the explosion of rocks that shred through Froslass' clones like paper. But she wasn't done. She proceeded to skewer the real body with an obscene amount of spears. The ice type fainted in silence.

►Archive

One key to Denzel's victory down. This girl likes stabbing way too much, by the way. Half the time she uses Ancient Power it's to fucking stab a Pokemon.

►Chichi

Did I jinx him? I think I jinxed him.

►Donald_Barkley (Verified Trainer)

It's not looking too hot. Hope Denzel can pull through.

►Goalducc42

Roserade can still win this.

There was a reason Denzel was so universally liked if you discounted the usual trolls and contrarians. He was possibly the nicest influencer in Sinnoh. No other influencer his size still regularly interacted with his community and answered his DMs when someone asked him for tips on Pokemon training. He was just a genuine good guy, and those were surprisingly rare on the internet.

Both the forum thread and the chat went wild when Roserade destroyed Togetic with Poison Cutter. Denzel hadn't even shown that move in his training livestreams! The attack was vicious and cut through both Togetic's barrier and rocks from Ancient Power. Togetic were slow Pokemon, so dodging was probably impossible for her, especially since Grace hadn't focused on her flying typing apart from a pretty decent Air Cutter. Most flying types— especially those at a high level— could manipulate wind to speed themselves up. Togetic would definitely have some catching up to do in that regard when she evolved. Even if Togekiss were quick, they weren't the fastest. They had the potential to be, however. They were capable of learning Extreme Speed for a reason.

►Archive

There she goes, stabbing again.

Togetic had just penetrated Roserade's shoulder and stomach with two thick spears. She was slightly creepy, especially since she seemed to enjoy herself whenever something got stabbed as Chichi had said. Her nascent fanbase was split into two camps: those that liked the creepy and those that thought everyone was being too paranoid and that there was no way Grace could be creepy in any way shape or form. Roserade finished Togetic off, and Grace sent out her Electabuzz again.

But it was then that the battle started to slip out of Denzel's control. Goalducc and the few in his private thread could tell, but no one else could other than a few isolated instances of intelligence coming from the livestream chat or the live thread that were instantly drowned out by every other take. His eyes panned over to the live chat once more.

Nujabes: Roserade can outlast with Synthesis imo

Peaceland: How the hell is Electabuzz lasting this long? It's been like four minutes of nonstop Thunderbolts

1029485ITE: SPAM THIS VASE TO SUPPORT GRACE

Fredfred: Electabuzz fans are vindicated rn

Teaisready: Denzel… Notlikethis Notlikethis Notlikethis

E10: Roserade is dominating and it's not even close

PianoGranbull: ELECTABUZZ ROSERADE TANGROWTH

When Andrew saw that Denzel switched, he knew the battle had tipped in Grace's favor. Not because of the swap itself, but because of how long he had waited to do it. Either he needed to commit to Roserade fighting Electabuzz— which would have been a worse choice, but still better than what he had done, but at least he would have one last switch for the rest of the battle, or switched as soon as she started losing the fight.

He had done neither.

The chat went wild as another Thunder destroyed Sylveon in one hit, and the two Pokemon began to fight. Andrew refreshed the forum thread and started paying a modicum of attention to the discussion.

►Donald_Barkley (Verified Trainer)

That Electabuzz is pretty insane. Honestly, I thought he'd hold her back by the time they got to the Conference, but if he can learn Thunder, I'm pretty sure he can reach the level needed to fight in that tournament, evolution or not. He might be able to dish out ten in a row and without charge time by the time he gets there.

►Archive

Yeah, Thunder's no joke. Only Zap Cannon is stronger if you discount custom moves.

►Chance_Bartan (Verified Trainer)

The moment she starts thinking with electricity or magnetism, Electabuzz will improve even more. Obviously though creating custom moves with electricity's tough. I'm pretty sure that Electabuzz is carrying this fight.

►Goalducc42

I can't wait to see him duke it out with Wake. Going to be an insane battle.

►Chichi

What if Grace figures out how to evolve him?

Andrew blinked at his screen and stood still for a few seconds. That's impossible, he wanted to answer. And yet, Grace had a closeness to the League that made people think that it was. What if they told her how to do it? They hadn't yet, or maybe they had, but the requirements couldn't be fulfilled yet.

►Goalducc42

Then we might have an ace on our hands.

►Donald_Barkley (Verified Trainer)

Dude, Tyranitar clears when she evolves and it's not even close.

►Goalducc42

I mean, sure. But you know what Volkner can do with his Electivire, and we have no point of reference for Tyranitar. No one owns one in the region. I still don't know how the fuck she got herself a Larvitar, and a fucking baby at that. They're always protected by their mother. Even the Hunters didn't sell them.

►AsobiAsobase

Imagine if she actually spoke to people instead of sticking in her little corner the entire time. Goalducc, you speak to Denzel like every week. Use your clout to get her on his stream. They can do a Q&A or something.

►Goalducc42

I mean, I can try, but don't expect anything.

Electabuzz finally fell to Sylveon, and Grace released Jellicent next. The fairy type was the butt of many harem jokes in Denzel's stream and was his most popular Pokemon, but he was completely humiliated by Jellicent and hosed down in a corner. It was now that it started to sink in for people that Denzel was losing. Even Goalducc had little hope now. Unless Roserade could beat Jellicent, then it was basically over, and the poison type was exhausted from her battle with Electabuzz and unable to use any more Synthesises. They had to go big or go home.

But the reason Jellicent was so tricky wasn't his attacks, although Hydro Pump was powerful. It was the fact that he could penetrate in any surface. Unless you had a ground type move or another way to hit something underground, you were basically forced to play the reactive game, which she thrived on. From this point on, it was as if Denzel had lost his footing. Grace started playing even more mind tricks on him, alternating the time she took in between attacks. Roserade fainted despite having put up an amazing fight.

►Chichi

Yeah, it's gg.

►AsobiAsobase

It never even began. If Jellicent hadn't been poisoned drowning Roserade he might have been able to sweep the rest. Might have been too aggressive from her.

►Goalducc42

She's winning because she's aggressive. Grace is defensively aggressive if that makes any sense, and Denzel isn't responding in kind. She's pressing down the gas pedal and letting go at random, different intervals to heighten the tension. He needs to learn how to not get affected by it if he wants to win, and he needs to learn how and when to take risks. Grace knew she had to take a risk to finish off Roserade and it paid off.

►Donald_Barkley (Verified Trainer)

Calculated risks.

►Chichi

The risk I took was calculated but man, I am bad at math.jpg

►Goalducc42

I wasn't even joking

►Archive

Once Jellicent can make his Night Shades actually take more hits and create attacks as powerful as he can, he'll be an even bigger threat too.

►Goalducc42

Everything on her team is a threat. That's how it's supposed to be, ace or not. No one can last long with an unbalanced team. Denzel's team is a threat too, but no one is actually paying attention. Sylveon just had a terrible matchup and Milotic is having one too.

►Chichi

Look at us, sitting in our ivory chairs and telling it how it really is. By the way, Goalducc, didn't you have work today?

►Goalducc42

I'm sick. Real bad cough.

►Chichi

Uhuh. I believe you. Looks like Milotic is down.

The water type had lost to Tangrowth. There hadn't been much he was capable of doing against the grass type except keep him at bay with Twister and Dragon Pulse. It had been a good strategy from Denzel, but it was too little too late. He sent out his Lopunny, who immediately rushed toward Tangrowth. Now, he was taking risks, but again, it was too late, and everyone but Denzel's most ardent supporters knew it.

Mystline~: It's COPIUM not COPIUM over COPIUM yet

AkakA: Midpunny can't do it, it's sopher. Blud keeps failing in every battle I can't do it anymore.

RockTypeSpe_1: HOLY BASED Tangrowth on fire

Starryeyes87: GOOOOO MY ANGEL

Threedashline1: Denzelbros on suicide watch now that their flawless idol is getting crushed

Axolotlhead: Do you think Tangrowth will be able to stab things with his vines one day?

X11P: LMAO SHE HIT HER HEAD ON A ROOF I CAN'T

Kaspaldrew: LOST TO ROCK HOUSE OMEGALUL

1010Years: What an awesome battle. Gonna watch it a thousand times.

Defeat4t: Truly one of the battles of all time

The battle was over. Lopunny and Tangrowth both fainted, the former from Knock Offs and the latter from the fire. Andrew got up to stretch his legs, letting the chat fly by. Denzel ended the stream soon after, and he made sure to download the VOD for Meditite in case there were any accidents that corrupted the video or it was ever deleted. He had thousands of battles on his hard drive that he'd saved over the years. After grabbing a bottle of water, Andrew returned to his computer and enlarged his forum window.

►Archive

They're already making GIFs of Lopunny hitting her head on that roof, she'll never live it down.

►Chichi

I mean, it was extremely funny. Y'all wanna get in a call so we can analyze this shit frame by frame or what?

►Goalducc42

Hell yeah. I'll call.

►Donald_Barkley (Verified Trainer)

Weren't you sick?

Andrew rolled his eyes and called his friends. He'd never been good at being a trainer, but he knew battling itself. That was why his dream was to get out of the slog that was working in a damn Pokemart and start a podcast that spoke about trainers throughout Sinnoh— and possibly the world, if he got that big. He was inspired by Poketracker: Spotlight on Future Champions and wanted to do the same thing, but better. Archive wanted in on it too, but for now, they needed to save money before they could take the plunge.

He knew they were good enough to do it. Andrew hadn't simply garnered the reputation he had on the forums making in-depth analyses of battles, trainers' fighting styles and their teams because it was fun. That was a part of it, yes, but his reputation could possibly kickstart his podcast if they could get enough listeners on day one. Archive was less known, but he was just as good at analyzing battles or even better. They wanted to do everything. Analysis, live commentary, tips and tricks, tracking rising stars… the list went on and on.

And they would start it all at the Conference this summer.

---

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 226

"Okay, just a second! The timer isn't ready yet— okay, you can go!"

Honey grunted, and his voice distorted into crackling thunder as he blurred forward, leaving a trail of electricity behind him. I stuck out my tongue as the smell of ozone stuck to my throat, and Angel kept my hair down behind me with a vine. As soon as Honey reached and touched the wall (the same wall he had destroyed the first time he'd used Thunder), I stopped the timer.

"That's 3.76 seconds!" I cheered, pumping a fist. "This is actually possible, I think!"

Honey flashed a smile, giving me a thumbs up. It had been three days since my battle with Denzel, and I'd gotten my team back yesterday night. I considered giving them a little break, but they were all too excited to get on with training again, especially when I told them that Lauren and Cece had been training together while they'd been out of commission. I considered joining them today, but I actually needed to work on theory crafting and being alone worked better for that. While Buddy finally finished ironing out Water Spout and Angel finished learning Solar Beam, everyone else was working on custom techniques that I'd come up with while they were in the Pokemon Center. I was actually planning on transitioning from Poison Sting to Acid and from Absorb to Giga Drain. I'd taught the Fire Pillar TM to Sunshine and he was having a lot of fun showing off with it. He needed it after getting humbled by Craig's Typhlosion.

Speaking of Craig, Denzel couldn't stop gushing about having been taken under his wing. It wouldn't be for long, but he was making the best of it. Most of their training wasn't even Pokemon related but on the trainer side of things. I was glad he was finally having his breakthrough. Knowing someone like Craig would come in handy for his career, even if you ignored the skill he'd gained throughout these seven days.

During my battle with Denzel, Honey had left a trail of electricity behind him every time he ran at full speed. Originally I had thought that it was just a side effect of him just being so into the battle that he'd leaked electricity, but I realized soon after reviewing the footage that the electricity was actually speeding him up. When I asked him, he'd told me that it hadn't even been a conscious thing, but I decided to hone in on that and ask him to reproduce it.

And it worked flawlessly. Now all we needed was to refine it. The act actually drained him quite a bit, but it was basically a faster electric type Quick Attack that would hurt anyone he rammed against. It could also be combined with other moves like the elemental punches to pack even more of a punch. The attack would finally enable him to step up as a true speedster like Cece's Talonflame and not just a fast Pokemon.

"What should we name it?" I asked the electric type. "Denzel suggested Flash Step, but that's kind of lame."

Honey nodded, pensively crossing his arms as he thought of a name. Angel wriggled his vines in anticipation, suggesting a bunch of names that were a lot too simple for my taste.

"Electric Hop? Come on," I scoffed at the grass type. "We can do cuter than that."

Electabuzz protested, saying he wanted a cool name and not a cute one.

"You're right, it's your move, you pick," I said.

The electric type sat cross-legged on the rocky ground and lay there deep in thought until his eyes widened. At last, he roared out a name.

"Radiant Leap?" I muttered. "If you want to. That sounds more like a move that uses light, though. Like what Jasmine did with Skarmory."

He shook his head and grunted, saying that his choice was final and I reluctantly agreed.

"Okay Angel, feel free to start training again, okay? Then if we can get you to learn Solar Beam before Volkner, we'll get started on Solar Blade. I want you to stab things."

The grass type happily nodded as he waddled toward Sunshine, who was helping him with the move just like Angel had helped him with Sunny Day.

While Power Whip had been enough to anchor him to the ground during the battle to keep him from getting swept away by Surf, that tactic had still almost failed. Solar Blade would be quicker, and it had potential future applications. Since he could detach vines and keep them infused with TE for a good while now, he could potentially send Solar Blades flying around, and that sounded like a lot of fun both for him and for me. It wasn't only applicable to Knock Off. It worked with Power Whip as well, but less since there wasn't the usual force that he put in the move whenever he detached a vine, and I assumed Solar Blade would have the same problem, but that was just another thing to work on.

I also wanted to get him a lot better at spore attacks afterward and for him to be able to coat his vines in them. That way, he could potentially stab a Pokemon and deposit them directly into their bloodstream. The effect would be instant, and if they didn't escape quickly, then it would basically be game over for that Pokemon.

Of course, that wasn't it. Trapping opponents and forcing them into a melee battle with Ancient Power like we'd done with Lopunny was something that I thought should stick around. And if that didn't work, well, there was always the detaching trick.

"I can't wait," I muttered. "Honey, you keep working on… Radiant Leap. I'll check in with Princess and Sweetheart."

That name would take a while to get used to.

The electric type nodded and waited for me to get to a safe distance before he began to crackle again. For him, I wanted to push his Static ability further after he mastered the move. Doing what Volkner did— the Static Field— was still far beyond our reach, but what if we could create an aura of Static around him? It would basically be like armor. Approach him, and you ran the risk of being paralyzed. It wouldn't be useful against Volkner since his Pokemon were all electric type, but long-term? Both this and Radiant Leap would be a boon to his melee capabilities. They were somewhat lacking since we'd focused on Thunder for so long, and I wanted him to be a balanced fighter capable of doing both.

Steal, Jasmine had told me. Where else to get inspiration for electric type custom moves than Volkner himself? I just hoped he'd be flattered instead of annoyed if I recreated a smaller version of his move. Maybe it'd make him see potential in Honey and hand over his evolution method. I made my way toward Princess and Sweetheart, who'd been far off in the distance because of the destruction the rock type was yielding. Pupitar propelled herself into the air and then slammed into the ground at full force, creating fissures all across the plateau and causing the ground to shake so much I struggled to stay upright even when I was this far.

"Guys! I'm coming, so take a little break!" I yelled, cupping my mouth.

I wanted her to work on a proto-version of Earthquake. The move was far too powerful for her to use before she evolved, but Stomping Tantrum wasn't doing enough for what I wanted her to do against Volkner. Princess lazily rearranged the plateau as well as she could, as she had done each time when Sweetheart had used Earthbreaker, which was a name she'd chosen herself with Sunshine's encouragement. It would only be usable while she was in this form, but it would help a lot with the transition to Earthquake.

As for Princess? Well, there was a reason she was on field-clearing duty. She was so good in Ancient Power that she'd figured out how to implement our idea in two hours. Placing a Pokemon in a cube and exploding it inward— a variation of Shrapnel. Of course, what she would mostly focus on in the coming days was still moving lava around and attempting to speed up how quick she could charge up a Moonblast. Flying moves like Air Slash were on the list, but they wouldn't be of much use against Volkner aside from maybe catching him off-guard.

Sweetheart clamored at me, asking if I'd seen her super cool attack.

"I did, baby," I said. "You're looking good. Keep working hard, alright? I promise you that you'll be the star of the show against Volkner."

After all, there had been a slight change to the lava plan that would make full use of her fissures. The rock type cheered, asking for headpats and I quickly rubbed the little spot in-between her head spikes. She'd been angry she hadn't seen much use against Denzel, but things would be different against Volkner. She was not only a rock type, but a ground one, and she would be until she evolved. That meant she'd be immune to most of his attacks and his field-control capabilities.

Since I'd use her, Volkner pulling out his Lanturn was almost guaranteed, so that was one Pokemon I knew he'd use. Four to go. I wanted to try predicting which Pokemon a Gym Leader would use against me even if I would still plan for every possibility. It was just for fun.

Sunshine was next, and he was even further than Sweetheart and Princess. Not because he was doing anything destructive today, but because he hated to let the team see him fail over and over again when he knew that he was a role model for half of them. Sweetie, Honey and Princess, despite what she might have pretended, all looked up to Sunshine and desperately wanted to surpass him. The dragon stood proud and tall despite his series of failures and loomed over me with an expectant stare. All this time, he'd been practicing with Shell Trap and desperately trying to improve his mobility, and there was progress. Slow, incremental, agonizing progress, but it was there.

And yet, it was too slow for us.

"I've got something for you," I said, snapping a finger. "Rapid Spin."

The dragon type huffed at me like I was crazy. Yes, it was one of his only ways of traveling… relatively fast. Slower than Angel was in the sun. But it was still his best way of going quickly. Sunshine doubted what I was saying, but he asked me to continue nonetheless.

"You combine Rapid Spin and Shell Trap," I explained. "You've got the momentum from Rapid Spin and you get height."

Turtonator let out a series of grunts elaborating the many problems with my idea. One, he couldn't see when he used Rapid Spin since his head retracted into his shell. Two, he'd need to hit his shell against something to trigger his Shell Trap. And finally, three, he'd be oriented wrong.

To go up, he'd need to be upside down.

"You can do all of that," I declared. "It's a challenge. But you can do it. Imagine this. You're fighting against some pesky Pokemon that likes to keep their distance— let's just go with Zachary's Vespiquen. You drop on your back and start spinning. You propel yourself with a series of explosions and fly into them like an Arceus damned missile, and by the time you're there, it's like 500 degrees Celsius around you and rising. They fucking spontaneously combust and burn to a crisp. Doesn't that sound awesome?"

I saw the faintest hint of a smile, and Sunshine said my enthusiasm was contagious.

"You bet it is. Come on, this sounds awesome but we've got to put the work on. First, you need to get used to spinning on your back. Go on."

I heard him say that he'd look stupid, but that didn't stop him from listening. The fire type got on his back and started using Rapid Spin. He struggled to balance himself and spun into one of the mountain's facades, but he was spinning, and spinning fast.

My vision was possible. It would be long-term like I had said before, but it was possible.

Training continued on until late in the afternoon when I decided to call it a day. I had to call Mira on the phone so she could send Alakazam to get me back to the city. After I recalled my team, the psychic type Teleported me in front of my Pokemon Center, and I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.

"Melody. Good afternoon," I said as I picked up. "I'm getting in an elevator— you know what, I'll take the stairs for you."

"Thank you. I'll keep this short, since getting a hold of you's been tough these past few days—"

"You called?" I frowned.

"A few times after your battle with Denzel Williams. Good job on that, by the way, the people upstairs loved it. That's what I'm calling you about, actually."

"Uhuh. Go on," I said.

"It took a while for this to sink in, but it is the board's understanding that the livestream had more than a hundred thousand people watching and that you were wearing your Poketch Watch."

"Yeah, I always wear it," I said. "Can't hurt to be seen with it."

Although I rarely used it at all. I preferred their phones, all things considered.

"Large companies are always slow to adapt to things. It's a thousand different moving parts, departments and people that have to agree on a single idea," Melody said. "But in short, more people watched that battle than any tournament or Gym Battle you've been in by an order of magnitude. The company wants to see more of that if possible."

"More livestreamed battles?" I scoffed as I jumped up the Pokemon Center stairs. "Maybe they should shoot Denzel a sponsor. I'm not going to start streaming. That's not my thing. Did you even see the chat? I don't want to deal with those people, they'll make me want to stab something."

"Well, that isn't the company's position. All they're saying is, cooperate with Denzel Williams and get yourself out there. The demographic for streams is overwhelmingly young, and that's our main target, as you already know. There are news about X Technologies wanting to take a bite out of our market share."

"X Technologies?" I asked.

"The company that makes the Xtransceiver. Their profit margins are booming and they want to go international, and it's making the company nervous, especially when they were planning on doing the exact same thing soon. X Tech is getting here first and is forcing us to play on the defensive. It's extremely popular with Unova's younger generation and… if I can speak candidly here, they just make better phones at the moment. Hell, even their watches are better. The only thing we surpass them in is laptops, and don't even talk to me about the mad rush for VR."

"Huh," I said. "Can I extort you, Mel?"

"What?"

I placed the phone between my ear and my shoulder as I opened the door to my room and waved at Cece, who was already waiting for me with my new electric keyboard.

"Can I extort you?" I repeated. "Well, not you. The company."

"I am a part of the company."

"Okay, so I'm extorting you," I said. "My bonus. The idea I floated in Veilstone. I want it, and I can guarantee you more of these streamed battles. I might even just go on Denzel's stream to chat, even. They just can't complain if I lose those battles."

Melody paused for a few seconds. "I can probably sell that, but it'll definitely have to wait until you win against Volkner."

"What? That doesn't have to do with anything we were talking about."

"Grace, this is how it works," Melody sighed. "You have to make them feel like they're getting something out of you. The idea of a fifteen— sixteen-year-old extorting them won't really make the members of the board happy. If we make this more of an equivalent exchange, then it can work."

"Great. And tell them that if they're planning on going international, I'm probably going to Unova next year, so it'd be best if they kept me well-fed, warm, and happy," I smiled. "We can plan a whole launch and expansion with me being there. Without me, they won't have legs to stand on."

"I will get right on that," she said. "What's with the confrontational attitude, though? Not that I mind. I mean, I'm here precisely to smooth messages between you and the board over."

"Well, to be honest, Mel, I've been wanting a Shiny Stone the entire year and I don't exactly appreciate the fact that they keep asking more of me without giving anything in return. I'm their flagship, right? They should treat me once in a while."

"Okay, I'll tell them you'd appreciate it if the partnership was more equal too," she said. "Anything else?"

"Well, try to emphasize the fact that I'm friends with Craig and that I obviously want nothing else but the Poketch Company's success," I said. "Other than that, I'm alright. Thanks as always, Mel."

"Have a great evening," she said.

I felt bad for her, having to speak to a bunch of old people in suits that definitely didn't understand anything about the intricacies of Pokemon battling, but so long as their numbers went up, they'd be happy.

"Important business call, I presume?" Cecilia asked with a smirk.

"Yeah. You'd think getting money from the Poketch Company would be easy," I joked. "Sorry for being late."

"Come sit. It's about high time I teach you how to play piano."

I followed suit and plopped myself down next to her. She placed the keyboard on my lap and grabbed my hands, gently placing them on the keys.

"We aren't playing yet. This is just the proper hand position, okay? Relax your wrists and fingers. My old instructor used to say that your hands should flow like water when playing."

"I'll try to relax."

I hadn't touched one of these since we'd been in Hearthome, and that felt like a lifetime ago.

"I already taught you notes, so I wanted to teach you about clefs, time signatures and note values, but I think you'll have a better time learning in a more… loose manner. Freer," she said. "So why don't you try to play whatever comes to mind. It doesn't matter if it's bad. Just let your hands do the work and find a short rhythm you like."

"Okay… okay."

I softly pressed down on the first note and went where the music took me.

It wasn't great. I wasn't sure I'd even be able to recreate it, but I was doing it.

I was finally playing the piano.

—

A yawn escaped my mouth as I slowly got up from my bed the next morning. I checked my phone while brushing my teeth and smiled when Melody told me the deal had gone through. Now, obviously I would have to uphold my side of the deal, but it was nice to get a win regarding my sponsorship for once. I felt like that hadn't happened since I had signed with them. Unfortunately, Denzel was with Craig day and night, so any stream-related activity would have to wait.

"Want some breakfast?!" I yelled at Cece.

"I'll go get it for us both!" she answered. "They're making hashbrowns today!"

"Sweet!" I celebrated. "Want to get started on that Cynthia autobiography tonight, by the way?"

"Sounds good to me. How many hashbrowns do you want—"

"Six," I said, opening the bathroom door.

She came back soon after that, and we stuck together until we decided to go train. I'd still be doing it alone today, and I would until Sweetheart and Honey had mastered their custom moves. Then, I'd go back to the one-on-ones. I had to think about who to battle on stream. Cece or Lauren would be my best bet, since I trained with them the most, but maybe someone I knew little about like Chase would be better. He'd trained just as hard as us, even if he preferred to do it alone and without Teleporters. I had heard rumors of him terrorizing some kids on route 222 from Erin, and people knew not to even come close to him. Either way, I had time to decide, and I was still focused on Volkner.

Jasmine sent me a message during my training session that afternoon, saying that she wanted to talk over a drink right away. Now, normally I would have refused, but when a Gym Leader asked to hang out, it was very difficult to say no, and I could always come back this evening if I had time. I Teleported back to the city and quickly rode a bus to the boardwalk, expecting Jasmine to be three beers in already, but I was pleasantly surprised to see she was actually drinking sparkling water. She greeted me with her usual smile and gentle wave.

"Hi. Are you alright?" I asked.

"Good afternoon, Grace. I'm very well, thank you for asking."

Things with Volkner must have picked up again, then.

"Great. What did you want to tell me? I was training, but—"

"Grace, if you were training you should have said no. I'm sorry," she said. "Don't let powerful people walk all over you, that's a bad habit."

"Well, you made it sound urgent," I said, sitting down. "I thought you were getting drunk again."

"No, I was just excited to speak to you. It's come to my attention that Craig took Denzel under his wing."

"That was days ago," I nodded.

"Oh, I don't keep track of the news, and that paranoid fellow never tells me anything he doesn't think is necessary, even if we're friends," Jasmine sighed.

"So? Do you want to one-up him?" I asked excitedly. "Train me and see who's the better teacher?"

"Not exactly," she said. "I know you told me you wanted to evolve your Electabuzz by impressing Volkner. I put in a good word for you and your friend Lauren, so it's a lot more feasible than before."

"It wasn't feasible before?" I asked.

"It was, just exponentially harder," she shrugged. "Even I don't know the method despite asking numerous times and I've been dating him for months, but then again it might have been different had I owned an Electabuzz. I think you'll like what I did, but it's going to be a surprise. I saw your battle with your friend. I want to train your Electabuzz specifically and help him get where he needs to be. As you know, the electric type is my second passion."

I beamed, tapping my feet against the floor. "Awesome! He'll be ecstatic! What are you going to teach him?! Can we start today?!"

With each question, I leaned further and further toward Jasmine until I was barely sitting on my chair. The Gym Leader leaned against a palm and responded with a lazy smile.

"Hold on, now. If you agree to this, you'll have to keep it from Volkner. It isn't necessary, but it'd be awkward for us if it got back to him. I am technically helping the trainer he dislikes for having screwed up Maylene."

I shrunk slightly. "Do you think that'll—"

"Make him keep the evolution secret? No, that's not how Volkner is," Jasmine shook her head. "There are two kinds of Gym Leaders. Those who are trainers first and those who are politicians first. Cut Volkner and he bleeds trainer. He's too nice not to help a kid that gave an Electabuzz a chance— after testing you, of course. I don't really care for all this Maylene drama, but I'm still his girlfriend. He'll probably become a grouch if he figures this out. So no leaks to anyone that isn't trustworthy."

"I'll keep it a secret," I nodded firmly.

"You know what I noticed beyond all the tactics in your battle, Grace? Beyond what went wrong or right for both you and Denzel? I noticed that you love to fight using rocks."

I blinked and leaned back in my chair. She was correct. Whether it be Princess, Angel, or Sweetheart, I enjoyed using rocks to battle a lot. After all, the possibilities were endless there.

"Have you heard of railguns, Grace?"

I frowned and thought for a few seconds. "Railguns? Uh, no, but it rings a bell."

"Do you want to fire rocks using electricity?"

"Like Volkner does sometimes? I've seen it, but it isn't that effective, no? I mean, why do that when you can just throw Thunders or Zap Cannons at people."

Jasmine shook her head. "Because when the technique is mastered, it can do a lot more than just hit people with rocks, and it's also faster than Thunder— but still slower than Zap Cannon. Volkner hasn't actually mastered it. Amphy can't do it, but I have two Pokemon that can. Magnezone and Electrode. There are times when the attack is a lot more useful than any Zap Cannon, trust me."

"Obviously I trust you," I said. "Can you help with some custom moves I'm working on with him too?"

"Oh, we'll do the whole song and dance," she said, waving a hand dismissively. "Of course, you won't master it by the time we're done, but it'll at least be usable and you'll be able to practice it on your own. The railgun technique will also help with your Electabuzz's electrical control. Something he dearly needs."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The way you battle is wasteful," she said. "So much energy wasted. Your Thunders go all over the place instead of being focused on one target. Sure, that's good if you want to break up the field, but if you just want to hit your opponent as hard as you can, it isn't ideal."

"But it makes them easier to hit," I said.

"It's a bad habit you two need to cut," Jasmine chided. "If you ever want to create advanced electric type techniques, the control Electabuzz will learn here will be sorely needed. Power isn't the only thing Volkner wants to see. As it stands right now, he would be… satisfied by you, not impressed."

"Okay, I get it," I said. "Any other wasteful things we do?"

"Your electric type attacks, mostly," she said. "But none are as bad as Thunder."

I chuckled to myself. "It's the first time someone's ever said that power is a waste to me. It feels weird. My friend Lauren would disagree with your principles like her life depended on it," I said.

"I can't help it. It's how I battle," Jasmine said. "Not one movement or moment wasted. Craig and Volkner like to call me a rapier, which is a nickname I enjoy. I find fulfillment in sophisticated, clean battles."

"A rapier…" I muttered. "That's pretty cool. I hope people have a nickname like that for me one day. Something that makes people quake in their boots whenever they hear it. You have to let these things come naturally though."

"Pfft. Naturally? When I get back to Johto I'll be calling myself the Rapier of Olivine day and night until it sticks. Now, let's have a drink, and then we can get started— Johnny, a beer please! Amber!"

The fact that she called the waiter here by his first name wasn't lost on me. She came here a lot.

"I thought you weren't drinking," I said.

"I was just waiting for you. Don't worry, it'll only be one," Jasmine said. "You have something too. Johnny, can we have some garlic bread?! They make the best garlic bread here, you'll see."

And thankfully, it actually was only one this 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, creativityfails, Spartanstoryteller

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 227

After Jasmine finished up her beer, she took me to the isolated part of the beach we liked, but we were surprised to see some kids there. Not trainers, even, just eight civilians that had found the place and were using it to hang out. At first, I thought we were going to find another spot to Teleport from since she didn't want Volkner to realize she was training me, but Jasmine didn't seem to care. She tapped one of her eleven Pokeballs and released Metagross. The hulking steel type's clawed feet dug into the ground as they creaked with every movement. Their deep red eyes settled on mine and stared for a single instant, as if that was what they needed to assess me. The waves gently crashed against the steel type's feet for a split second until an invisible barrier started blocking the water.

Needless to say, the teenagers left pretty quickly. Jasmine hadn't even told them to leave, just pressured them with Metagross' presence. I couldn't lie, they even made me nervous.

"Thank you, Metagross," Jasmine said.

"Was that alright?" I asked. "I mean, it's not like us Teleporting together's a big giveaway for anything."

"What's the point of power if we don't use it?" She asked before placing a hand on Metagross' cold steel skin. "They'll be fine. Metagross, why don't you greet Grace for a little bit? Get to know her?"

"Uh. Hello," I hesitantly waved. "You can talk to me via telepathy, by the way. I'm used to it."

We salute you, Grace Pastel. It is our understanding that Jasmine has taken an interest in you, but we will refrain from wasting any time. Let us pretend that we had a wonderful, full conversation so we can finally get going. Say 'thank you for the compliment,' and 'I'm sure Jasmine will be a great teacher.' We have calculated that the conversation will end right away if you say those exact words.

Their voice was loud, but I was surprised to see it was actually only one. Reneucleus had two brains and two voices, but Metagross didn't share that trait despite having four. It also took me a few seconds to understand that they were only speaking into my mind and not Jasmine's.

"Thank you for the compliment. I'm sure Jasmine will be a great teacher," I repeated.

The Gym Leader beamed. "What did they say? Did they compliment me too?"

We said she was in good hands, Metagross said.

Jasmine crossed her arms as a smug expression stretched across her face. "Right. We should get started before someone else comes. Metagross, could you take us to…"

The location we battled Craig Goodwill in seems appropriate, Metagross said. What do you think?

She nodded. "Well, you're never wrong. We haven't exactly been to most of the Sinnoh routes, so that'll have to do."

"If Metagross can Teleport, why didn't they use it during the battle?" I asked.

The psychic type answered before Jasmine could.

It would have only delayed the inevitable. Eelektross was going to catch up to us regardless of where we Teleported and was continuously speeding up with a constant Agility. We figured it was better to cut the confrontation short in order not to waste any time. From the start of the battle, we had calculated that the odds were not in our favor. Fifty-six percent chance of losing if we stayed in place, but a sixty percent chance if we spent energy Teleporting around and being chased around the arena until Eelektross landed a Crunch on us. None of the attacks we could have sent would have worked for long. It would have been a battle of attrition that we would have lost regardless. Craig Goodwill's Pokemon are too powerful. The draw we obtained was the most favorable scenario. The chances of victory were under six percent.

Midway through his sentence, Metagross whisked us away to the mountains Jasmine and Craig had battled in.

"Are you done?" Jasmine asked. "See how unfun battling is with them? All of the mystery, the chaos of it all, it's gone. Replaced with a percentage."

You ask us never to tell you anything regardless. Perhaps we appreciate someone finally being willing to listen to us.

"Come on," she rolled her eyes. "You love when I don't listen to you."

I would not constitute that feeling as love. More like a fondness of how stupid you can be at times while being extremely smart in others. I would even call it endearing. Cute, perhaps. Like how you humans find babies cute.

"See? They love me," Jasmine smiled. "I'll recall you for now, or you'll ruin the fun.'

If you must.

The Pokeball absorbed the steel type and Jasmine coughed into her fist.

"They're a lot of fun, even if they pretend not to be," she said. "One of my oldest Pokemon."

"Not your oldest?" I asked.

She laughed. "Oh no, my oldest is Magnezone. Steelix is my second oldest and also my ace. The tip of my sword. Metagross was picked up in one of the few colonies they have in Johto when they were just a Beldum. My father thought it'd be a nice gift, and it cemented me as his successor."

"Did you ever go on a journey?" I asked, shivering from the harsh winds. Jasmine was in her usual sundress, but she didn't seem to care one bit.

"I did. No one in Kanto-Johto can become a Gym Leader without going on a journey at least once. You'd be ridiculed and branded a coward. No one would respect you," she said before pausing. "Let's get started."

The Gym Leader released an Electrode and Magnezone out of her Pokeball while I sent out Honey, who was very confused about being on the same mountain as before.

"Sorry to spring this on you Hon, but Jasmine and her electric types are going to tutor you about your electric type attacks. Is that alright with you?"

He flashed a toothy grin and agreed without a moment's hesitation. When he waved at Electrode, the electric type slowly rolled back behind Jasmine while Magnezone screeched in annoyance.

"Electrode's a shy fellow," she explained. "But he's one of my best fighters. If I ask him to Explode, he will get you, and it'll be a clean kill. It was a very good tactic against the Rockets."

I hummed as I nodded. The smile the electric type was famous for wasn't there. Instead, his mouth was flat and unopened as he silently stared at me. It was hard to imagine that this meek Pokemon was as powerful as Jasmine made it sound, but I knew she wasn't lying. Magnezone was a lot more social, and his magnets twirled around as he greeted Honey. He was smaller than Mira's, but I could still vividly remember the all-powerful Zap Cannons that he could repeatedly use.

"Thank the Legendaries, I can tell you'll be very good at this," she sighed in relief. "You're even better than my Gym Trainers."

"Huh?" I frowned.

"It's about attitude. You've got the right amount of crazy in you. I tried training some of Volkner's Gym Trainers when he asked me, you know? They all get squeamish when I talk about killing, it's honestly sickening. I heard western Sinnoh was a lot better in that regard, but I couldn't handle how soft they were and I stopped pretty quickly."

"I don't think that warrants calling me crazy," I sighed.

"Come on, Grace. Like I told you, you need the crazy if you want to be any good," Jasmine gently said. "You haven't realized how you look to people on the outside, haven't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Arceus, you're the perfect student. Kanto-Johto would fit you like a glove."

"Well, my intention is to go to Unova…" I trailed off when her face fell.

"Goodness," she said. "Sorry, I just thought it was a waste of opportunity, that's all. You'd grow faster there. Unova's Gym Leaders, well— never mind. This isn't what this is about."

I knew her biases against safer regions. That was where we mainly differed. While she thought I might be able to fit in with her clique, I actually didn't mind safer regions. In fact, I'd probably prefer them depending on what they did to the wild Pokemon to reach that point. If it was a set of deals like what Cynthia had done to Hatterene, it would be preferable to just paving a road in the middle of a route.

To my surprise, Jasmine released Ampharos as well.

"Amphy can't create railguns, but she's there for moral support. She's the most positive Pokemon I know," she fondly said. "Also my newest member of the team."

The electric type affectionately bleated, lowering her head so Jasmine could pet her. Electrode seemed a lot more comfortable with Ampharos around and he muttered a greeting to Honey.

"So, Grace," Jasmine started. "Most rocks don't contain enough magnetic materials to be moved using a magnetic field, but Pokemon can break the rules a little bit, just like when Magnezone over here stopped Craig's Gyarados. Do you know why?"

"Type energy," I immediately answered.

"Yes! Most rocks will contain at least traces of magnetite, hematite, maghemite or other magnetic materials. Ordinarily, this isn't enough to be moved by anything created by humans, but it is enough for Pokemon. Granted, most arenas do have a high content of iron, and Volkner's even more so, but when Electabuzz gets good enough, he'll be able to move most rocks."

Honey and I nodded, listening to her attentively.

"Let's start with a little demonstration. Electrode, if you will?"

The electric type grunted as he rolled forward and Jasmine motioned us to stand back. Sparks of electricity more powerful than Honey's Thunderbolt erupted around Electrode, breaking up the ground into chunks, but the rocks that flew up never fell down. Instead, they levitated around him as electric currents flashed to life and danced around Electrode and the rocks.

Then, there was a low hum and I heard a boom, feeling a shockwave pass through my body. All of the rocks flew forward so quickly that by the time I actually realized what had happened, they had flown off the mountain's peak and fallen toward the steep slopes. Honey stood in awe at the move's speed, and he could barely sit still.

"That was a lot quieter than I expected," I muttered. "Well, except for the shockwave bit."

"It's magnetism, not an explosion," she said.

"So the electricity moves the rocks?" I asked, tilting my head.

"No. The more powerful an electric current is, the stronger the magnetic field that forms around it will be. Electrode uses those magnetic fields to control the rocks. The electricity is just a byproduct of that. Now, Electabuzz, I'm going to need you to pay attention. You have to know how this works to start training."

The electric type hurriedly nodded and leaned forward.

"When you use electric type moves, rocks fly everywhere, both from the force of the attack and the magnetic fields themselves," Jasmine said. "The first step in your training is stabilizing the forces of the fields. Normally, it's proportional to the force of the current, but again, Pokemon cheat. When you can keep rocks floating around you like your teammate Togetic—"

"Sister," I interrupted.

"Sister Togetic," Jasmine corrected, not missing a beat. "We can move on to the next step, which is electrifying the rocks."

"You can do that?" I scoffed.

"Of course. You can inject electric TE into the minerals and give them magnetic fields of their own. Then it's all about pushing and pulling to get what you want. You know how magnets work, right?"

We both nodded.

"For the Railgun technique, you essentially want to push as quickly as you can. You know how sometimes, two magnets come together but others they're repelled? That's essentially what we're doing here. You put two same poles together and they repel—"

"By pole, you mean like, north and south pole?"

"Yes. Every magnetic field has a pole," she added. "In the third and final steps, you need to push on rocks by using the same poles on each other. Eventually, when you get really good at it, it'll be like breathing to you, but right now it'll seem impossible. Give it a try, will you? Magnezone and Electrode will observe and give you some pointers."

Honey took a deep breath as electricity crackled through his fur. Unlike Electrode, that simple display wouldn't already rip up rocks from the earth. Instead, he shone bright, using Thunderbolt on the ground around him. Rocks erupted from the ground, and then he grunted in a desperate attempt to at least keep them floating.

Instead, they barely levitated at all and quickly fell to the ground. Some were even ground to dust as he desperately tried to force them upward with a more powerful current. Electabuzz didn't even sigh. He immediately got started on another attempt as Magnezone advised him and Electrode whispered something barely audible. Amphy added a cheerful bleat as her tail swayed from side to side, lighting up at different intervals.

"This technique essentially requires an incredible amount of multitasking. Every single rock has to be micromanaged to perfection. It'll take a while for Electabuzz to master the technique, but its uses are virtually limitless, and if he can do that he can basically create any electric technique he wants due to the amount of minute control he'll have over electricity," Jasmine muttered with her arms crossed. "Our goal is to at least make it usable for your fight with Volkner. I know it seems tough now, but don't forget his arena has a higher concentration of metal, so it'll be easier. I can bring you there in a few days after the Gym closes so Electabuzz can feel what it'll be like. It'll be our secret— I'll break you in!"

"Don't get me in trouble, please," I hesitantly shifted.

"Oh please, live a little! Even after that, it'll be another tool for you to use. Variety is important. We'll move on to your other electric type moves in a few hours."

"Thank you, Jasmine," I said. "I appreciate the help."

"Teaching people like you is fun, so I don't mind," she shrugged. "You don't play the game."

"The game?"

"You don't harass me when I try to teach you lethal techniques," Jasmine explained. "You don't pretend that this is all a game where you have to play nice. If I want to shoot rocks at my opponent at the speed of sound, I should be able to, damn it."

"I feel like you have some very strong views about safety concerns," I muttered.

"Oh, how did you guess?" She joked. "It's a lethal technique I'm teaching you, Grace. You won't be able to use it to its full potential unless you fight some truly formidable Pokemon. Even at the Conference, it'll be too lethal to use until you reach opponents like Craig or someone with Pokemon with extremely tough hides. Or ghosts. These kinds of things are heavily regulated here."

"And it isn't in Kanto-Johto?" I asked.

She grinned, and suddenly the quiet, thin girl was no more. Instead, the monster that dwelled within revealed itself for an instant. It thirsted for adversity, for struggle, and for a second, it felt like a sword was pressing against my neck and I could barely breathe.

"Iron sharpens iron," she simply said.

We paused for a few minutes as we observed Honey struggle over and over. I wasn't worried, of course. These last few weeks had given Honey the boost in confidence he sorely needed and it had all culminated during my battle with Denzel. I knew he'd be able to get back up over and over now.

"Since the rocks are infused with electric TE, does that make it an electric type move?" I asked.

"Well, yes. It's actually an electric type move, not a rock type move," Jasmine explained. "Even with moves like Rock Throw or Slide, the rocks are infused with TE. Moves with no TE are like a cannon without gunpowder."

"Cool," I grinned. I figured I could trick a lot of people with that.

I heard Jasmine absent-mindedly laugh while she stared at Ampharos teasing Electrode.

"Why can't Amphy use Railgun?" I curiously asked as I stared at the tall electric type.

"She's quite scatterbrained," Jasmine said. "She doesn't have the focus needed for it."

"She's cute, though," I said.

"The cutest."

Jasmine placed her hands behind her back and smiled at her Ampharos. The electric type had joined in and tried to lift some rocks for fun too, although her results were even worse than Honey somehow. We both laughed at that pitiful display, but she was having fun.

"I'm glad she can do things like this now," she quietly spoke. "Amphy used to be quite sickly."

"Really?"

"Hmhm. She wasn't mine originally. She was the lighthouse keeper's, and she worked at the top of Olivine's lighthouse. It was a few years after I started my tenure and things with Team Rocket really started ramping up in Johto that she got sick. So sick even the Nurse Joys couldn't do anything. She was so weak she couldn't even move. I stayed up there with her for hours and even forwent my Gym Leader duties for a little bit. Lance got extremely angry at me," she muttered before pausing. "He said that the Indigo League couldn't appear weak in such an important moment. I let him trample all over me back then."

"Really? I can't even imagine you like that," I said.

"Oh, I was quite meek and quiet at your age. I was a shy little girl that mostly kept to myself until Team Rocket sharpened me," Jasmine said. "It was hard not to listen to Lance himself, especially with his forceful attitude. The man can't even entertain 'no' for an answer.'

"And yet you respect him," I said.

"Yes."

The conversation stopped again, and I observed the mountain's surroundings. Maybe the fact that she'd been bullied by Lance was why she wanted me to not to be pushed around by stronger people. A powerful gust of wind caused me to shiver.

"I should have worn something warmer for this," I sighed. "How did Amphy get better?"

"Well, I was waiting for a special remedy to be made for her in Cianwood. It's this little town by the sea on an island," she explained. "I couldn't go get it myself because of Lance's orders, so I asked a particularly talented trainer to go get it for me. That Gold person I briefly spoke to you about."

"That was nice of him," I said. "I'm glad Amphy's all better now."

Jasmine nodded. "She was blessed. The nurses gave her a month to live, and yet she pushed on until the remedy came. She got better over the course of a few days and started up her job again and I visited her every week or so, but she decided to come with me after Eichi— the lightkeeper— died at sixty-eight. She still misses him."

I stayed silent, not knowing what to say. She'd been quite saddened when I had explained that Sunshine's trainer had died before he joined me, but I had thought it was just a normal reaction to have. I knew now that it was because she empathized with us and she knew exactly how it felt. The only difference was that Eichi died of old age while Kamaile was taken early. I clenched a fist and my nails dug into my palm as I struggled to keep my breathing still.

"So there is a blade in you," Jasmine noticed. "It's just sheathed the majority of the time."

"Huh?"

"I've never seen you angry. It was interesting," she said. "Sorry to bring back bad memories."

"It's alright," I said. "My fault."

"No, no, Grace. It isn't your fault."

"Right. But I did mean it when I said it was alright," I said.

"How did you meet Electabuzz, if you don't mind me asking?"

"He came up to me," I explained. "He yelled and demanded to be caught. I was very confused at the time, but I'm happy he did it. We definitely wouldn't have met otherwise."

Jasmine nodded as I spoke. "Not many trainers like to catch them, even in my region. It's the same for Magmar."

"Because they don't know how to evolve them," I guessed before recalling that Denzel had told me the exact same thing when I'd shown him Honey for the first time.

"Yes. It's incredibly shortsighted, but it's unfortunately how it works. Even when they're in their second stage, Electabuzz and Magmar can fight at the elite level. It just takes more work to get them there," Jasmine said. "Volkner respects you, you know?"

I excitedly blinked. "He does?!"

"He was in the same boat as you are right now. An Electabuzz for an ace until he became Gym Leader and the higher-ups at the League that hoard the knowledge like dragons told him how to evolve him. He's rambled to me for hours about how he was doubted and underestimated for having an Electabuzz."

"I've never had that," I said.

"Why do you think?" She smiled. "Volkner proved them wrong and made it to the Conference finals that year, although he lost to Flint. The stigma's died down here thanks to his influence, but it's still well-alive everywhere else. Few people own Electivire and Magmortar. Blaine owned a Magmortar, but no one remembers what he was like as a Magmar. Plus, he fucked off into a volcano after he died. Hasn't been sighted in three years."

My eyes widened slightly at the quick change in tone and cursing, but I paid it no mind. Jasmine and I spoke about my travels and how they differed with hers. She only went on the Circuit in Johto once and didn't even make it out of the group stages there, but what she told me about the routes and caves in Johto didn't leave anything to be desired. Kamaile had Oranguru to keep him and his team protected and Jasmine had Metagross— who had only been a Metang at the time, but trainers without barriers were in extreme danger most of the time outside a few safezones. Of course, not every route was as intense as Eterna Forest, but some were. Multiple. And of course, they had forests of their own as well, like Ilex.

Around an hour later, Jasmine called Electabuzz again and asked him to show her his custom moves. He started with Radiant Leap, which was his favorite since he'd named it and Static Shield was still only a concept that we had very little idea of how to implement. The electric type surged forward, leaving behind only a trail of electricity as he pushed himself as fast as he could. Jasmine looked very pleased.

"That was great, although it could obviously use some work. Volkner has a similar move with his Electivire— although there are a few different quirks. He calls it Quick Step."

"Quick Step? Why is he so bad at naming things?" I asked. Honey, even through his panting from all the training asked the same question. I had noticed that Jasmine was intrigued by my ability to talk to my team, and she had been ever since I had Sunshine speak with her, but she hadn't asked anything about it yet.

Jasmine rolled her eyes. "I know right? I like Radiant Leap," she smiled. "You're essentially using magnetism to push yourself subconsciously while Volkner's Electivire uses electricity like a motor to speed himself up."

"His own electricity?" I scoffed.

"Yes. It seems quite unfair, doesn't it? The longer a battle goes on for, the more of a threat Electivire becomes, but there is a bottleneck you can reach to exhaust him. Most trainers never see that moment, though. If you want to beat him, it's better to do it quickly before he can ramp up."

"Arceus… that's so awesome."

"His Jolteon can do something similar as well by turning himself into electricity instead. Now obviously that is beyond even my capabilities to teach. I'm no electric type master, just a hobbyist."

"If you're a hobbyist, then what am I?" I asked half-jokingly.

"You're a child learning how to crawl," she answered. "We'll go step by step. What was the second move you spoke to me about?"

"Static Shield," I said. "It's like what Volkner does… that thing he calls Electric Terrain Two, but only around Honey and not the entire field. We've been looking to improve his melee capabilities, and I think we can use his ability Static to help."

"Using Static is the right approach, little thief," Jasmine said with a nod. She was proud I was taking her advice to heart. "You know abilities can be trained, correct?"

"Well yes, but I haven't gotten into that at all yet."

"It's time to start, then," she said. "To practice Static, you'll have Amphy. She has the same ability."

The electric type let out a happy cry and her tail thrashed around excitedly. Electrode had already rolled out of the way, as if he had known what was coming, but Honey got caught in the crossfire and tripped. Ampharos bleated, ignoring what she had done while Electrode and Magnezone profusely apologized in her behalf and Honey kept reassuring them that it was okay.

I hadn't known that her tail was that powerful.

Training continued until Electabuzz was too exhausted to continue, which took hours. Before that, though, Jasmine had him practice Thunder in order to keep the move under control. His problem was that since he needed a crap ton of energy to actually use the move, he mostly focused on actually getting it out and not actually controlling it. For Thunderbolt, it was just about habits and cleaning up deficiencies. If we managed to make his moves as efficient as possible, he'd last even longer in battle and our current limit of three Thunders would turn into five. It would also basically catapult him as one of my Pokemon with the most stamina and he'd be tied with Angel.

Of course, it'd help with his two custom moves too.

So much knowledge acquired and progress made, and this was only the first day. There were so many facets of Pokemon battling I hadn't even scratched the surface of, but today did make me realize something that had been at the back of my mind since Princess trained with Hatterene.

Having a teacher a lot better than you made all of the progress we'd made beforehand look so small. I'd need to seek those out a lot more if I wanted to speed things up.

---

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, creativityfails, Spartanstoryteller

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 228

Two days had passed since Grace had gotten a mentorship from Jasmine, and even more since Denzel had gotten his from Craig. Cecilia stretched, getting up from her bed as Slowking greeted her with his usual, slow nod. The side of her bed felt empty without Grace here, but she and Honey were giving it their all, so she always left as soon as Jasmine called her. That could be five in the morning, midnight, or in the middle of the afternoon. The steel type Gym Leader had no schedule to speak of and just called on a dime.

Good morning, my lady, Slowking said.

"Morning," she yawned. "Today is…"

Training with Lauren, and watching over Erin, he spoke. Perhaps some experimentation with Future Sight and work on Disable and Yawn on my side of things. We have been neglecting those moves too much, and utility is always a good tool to have, especially when three of us are going to be weak against Volkner's electric types.

"Very well," Cece nodded as she got up.

She glanced outside her window and opened it without a moment's hesitation. No longer did her fear hold her from keeping it open. It had been months since Abel had broken in, and no one had heard of him since Mira had almost captured him.

"It's somewhat hot today," she muttered.

The water type nodded as he stood next to her and spoke, Spring is coming.

"I will shower, and then we can be on our way. Text Lauren for me, please."

Of course.

As Cecilia stepped into the hot shower, she wondered about her future. Things with her Pokemon were progressing smoothly even if she was still looking for her sixth and starting to worry about that. Even if she caught them now, it would take the rest of the Circuit to get them caught up to an adequate level. She had heard Croagunk were easy to find in the swamp near Pastoria, but that was so far away, and she had had no luck with Mienfoo so far even though she went on route 214 nearly every day. Still, she was set in her choice. It would be one or the other.

Cecilia was looking forward to this year's Conference, but she already looked beyond that. She needed to, if she wanted to succeed next year. But even before Unova, there was a slew of things she would need to finish up in Sinnoh. Grace's Poketch Company gala in Jubilife, her request to Cynthia about Spiritomb, visiting the Battle Frontier at least once, and her fated, private battle with Sinnoh's Champion where she would no doubt lose.

She at least wanted to take down one Pokemon if possible, but even that was probably a pipe dream despite the fact that she'd be much stronger than she currently was at the end of the year.

And she was already thinking about an eighth member of her team, but that would actually wait until she made it to Unova. She didn't want to overwhelm herself when she would most likely have a murderous ghost on her hands to take care of. Grace still disapproved of that choice, but the power a Spiritomb brought to the table couldn't be denied.

Cece stepped out of the shower and thanked Slowking when he told her that Lauren was already ready for her. Due to Mira having forgone much of her training to plan for Grace's party, she actually needed her psychics these days, so they never stayed for long after Teleporting them to route 214. Alakazam bid them goodbye as he Teleported back. Cece was interested in him possibly teaching the move to Slowking at some point instead of spending the money on a TM. She was relatively rich, but the TM was so expensive that even she would have to think twice before spending that much money.

"Are you ready to start?" Lauren asked more upbeat than usual. "How about Mags against Talonflame. It'd be a nice rematch from our battle in Veilstone and Mags' been wanting to fight her. He loves trying to take down fliers."

"Why not? But we have to do Golett against Seismitoad next. I want to see how he would fare against a water type Pokemon since Wake is next after Volkner."

"Sounds good. By the way, do you know if… um, if you could teach me how to do that dark type thing you do with Scyther?"

"Lauren, come on. You look like I'm holding a gun to your head," Cecilia sighed. "Of course I'll teach you. We're friends."

They had gotten much closer since they spent so much time together these days. Lauren wasn't one to start a conversation beyond anything regarding Pokemon battling, but Cecilia had found that if she led their talks, her friend could actually be quite the conversationist. Yesterday they'd spent nearly an hour talking about Canalave city— her and Craig's home town and everything there was to do there.

Slowking brought up the psychic barrier and they both released their Pokemon. For a while, Talonflame just circled overhead and easily dodged all of Magmar's blows and pestered him from afar. She was too fast now to be caught off-guard by Fire Pillar or some of Lauren's other moves, but this was training, not a battle, so she dove down at the fire type, who looked on with glee as he squared himself and clapped his hands, sparking blue flames all over his body.

Cecilia had heard about the plan to evolve Magmar. His personality was already almost unmanageable. He disliked any Pokemon that wasn't on his team and liked to mock the ones he won against in fights. She couldn't imagine him as a Magmortar. His evolution would no doubt accentuate those traits.

What Talonflame currently lacked was ways to hit from afar. Yes, Air Slash and Heatwave was well and good, but Cecilia wanted more. Flamethrower and Razor Wind would make perfect additions to Talonflame's arsenal while Cecilia thought of custom moves to give her beyond Air Burst.

Magmar grabbed onto both of her wings and became fire itself, engulfing both Pokemon in blue flames that stretched high into the sky, but Cecilia called out for Air Burst and they all disappeared for an instant and sent Magmar flying back. Her smile widened as they cornered the fire type and relentlessly struck at him from every angle with Air Slash. After exhausting Magmar, Lauren conceded and gave her the win.

After healing the fire type up and recalling him, Lauren was visibly upset. Before having spent entire days together, Cecilia would have thought it was because she lost, but she knew better now. Lauren was never upset when she lost. Instead, she kept her head down and asked for a rematch.

"What's on your mind?" Cecilia gently asked, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"I feel like I'm not progressing fast enough with Mags. Like he's hitting some sort of bottleneck," Lauren said. "I don't know how to get past it. He used to be my most powerful Pokemon besides Rhydon, but his progress has slowed, even if it picked up again with this training. I don't think it's enough for our plan to evolve him. To impress Flint."

"Well…"

Cece was no fool. She knew that a trainer was the best person at assessing their Pokemon's progress, and if Lauren said Magmar wasn't doing so as fast as her others, then she was most likely correct.

"It's okay," Lauren muttered. "I'll get through this slump. It's just slower without a mentor, and Grace keeps talking to me about how awesome Jasmine is."

Cecilia winced. Her girlfriend could be a little… enthusiastic about things, and she probably hadn't figured out that Lauren was somewhat jealous of her circumstances. Hell, even she was jealous to some extent. Who wouldn't be envious of someone having a trainer as good as Jasmine or Craig teaching them? Grace had actually asked Jasmine to help Cecilia as well yesterday, but the Gym Leader had vehemently refused.

"Sorry about her," Cece said. "She doesn't mean any harm, she's just genuinely excited. You know you can tell her to stop, right?"

"I don't want to be mean. I'll deal."

"You're right about one thing. Masters won't fall from the sky to teach us," Cece muttered as she felt Talonflame's warm Pokeball on her palm. "We have to make it happen, and the opportunities are rare."

Cecilia didn't state the obvious: that Craig would be fully onboard to teach Lauren if she ever asked. She knew that was off-limit and a sensitive topic. Cece had Mark, but he wasn't at her beck and call and had only said he would help with Zweilous once they evolved, and tutoring on the phone would be a lot less effective than in person.

"Keep your chin up, Lauren. Eventually it'll be our turn in the sun," Cece said. "It's up to us to step out of the shade once the moment is right."

The raven-haired girl smiled thinly. "I'll try. Mags is going to be pissed."

"He's always pissed when he isn't fighting something, is he not? Now, let's move on to Golett against Seismitoad. Go hard on us."

"Are you sure? We have the type advantage—"

"Yes," she interrupted. "I am sure."

Cecilia released Golett, and the ground type's head rotated toward her. She crouched next to him and held out her hand. Golett did the same and felt at her fingers. His hand felt rough, like a mixture of rock and hardened clay. The soft hum of machinery rang out from inside of his body and smoke hissed from his neck, legs and armpits.

He was growing more aware. More sentient. His personality had grown tenfold since visiting Lake Valor. He had likes and dislikes now, and even though Slowking couldn't translate what he said, Cecilia knew that he tried to speak often. A mess of beeps and hums that were impossible for other Pokemon to understand, as if he was screaming into the void.

It must have felt lonely.

"Hi, Golett. Are you up for a battle again today?"

Cece rubbed her thumb against his palm, and his eyes lit up with joy. Golett liked a lot of things. Playing with Zweilous, battling, punching rocks to see what would happen, and he liked to make music.

It had surprised Cecilia, Slowking and Talonflame so much the first time they'd heard that they thought their brains had played tricks on them, but no. Golett used the machinery inside of his body to make music sometimes. Clangs, clicks, hisses— everything at his disposal. It wasn't very good, but it was still wonderful to Cecilia's ears. It was hard to believe this was the same Pokemon she'd caught at the lost tower who had barely been able to move without her voice commanding him.

Now, Golett stopped to look at the flowers. He stared at the sky in awe at the size of the world. He had food that he hated. Pokemon he wanted to spend more and less time with.

He was alive.

Today was his. She could feel it in her bones.

Cecilia recalled him and sent him out inside of the barrier again, and Lauren sent out her hulking Seismitoad. The water type had grown since their battle in Veilstone, as had everyone's Pokemon, but the difference with her was how quickly she was growing. Golett looked like a little kid in front of the water type. Lauren liked to think she was in her growth spurt. Slowking counted down into their minds and the battle began.

"Prime, get up close and Water Punch!" Lauren snapped.

Cece knew that they were at a type disadvantage, but the fact that Golett was a construct meant that much of Seismitoad's arsenal was useless. Supersonic, Uproar, Hyper Voice, Toxic, all of those would be heavily weakened or useless. Water leaked out of Seismitoad's feet, mixing with the earth to become mud as the water type slid across the ground. More and more water slipped out of her mouth and began to flood the arena. All of their techniques with Scorching Sands to keep opponents away wouldn't work against Prime.

"Resonance!" Cecilia yelled.

Something loud boomed from inside Golett, and a purple pulse reverberated through the battlefield. Seismitoad froze in place once it passed through her, and Cecilia snapped her fingers.

"Phantom Force and Shadow Punch!"

The ghost type disappeared, flickering in the wind as he slid into another plane. He reappeared seconds later in front of Prime, shadows screaming around his fist as he punched her right in the gut. His already massive strength was compounded by his Iron Fist ability and sent Prime flying back, but dirty water rushed to cushion her fall.

"I guess you really meant it when you said go hard," Lauren said. "Muddy Water!"

This time, Prime flooded the entire field. Brown water gushed out of her pores, and an Aqua Ring formed around the ground type. Cecilia didn't want to use Stomping Tantrum, especially when they had nothing to fix up the mountain now that Grace wasn't here, so her mind quickly raced to find a solution—

Too late. The water already reached Golett and hammered into the little ghost type like a truck. Seismitoad swam at full force, catching a ride from the current as she rushed toward Golett.

"Ice Punch!" Cecilia yelled.

A light shone from below the water as ice formed around Golett's fists, but the attack wouldn't be enough for him to create a floating island. What it did do, however, was use the Muddy Water around him to create an absolutely massive block of ice around his fists. Cecilia didn't exactly see what happened, but she heard Seismitoad slam against Golett and slam him against Slowking's barrier to her left.

Damn it, I should have called for Iron Defense, she thought to herself. "Resonance!"

The ghostly pulse was much weaker now, but it still allowed them a moment of respite. Golett slammed a fist against Seismitoad, freezing her stomach over. Resonance was a move she'd come up with after listening to Golett's music, and it was what happened if he infused it with ghostly TE. The energy would make a Pokemon freeze for a few seconds the first time, but once their opponent grew used to it, it would have very little effect.

That meant that she'd probably just used it for the final and last time.

Prime grunted as she wrapped a sticky hand around Golett's arm and kept the Muddy Water going at full force.

"Toxic!" Lauren yelled.

Seismitoad spat out noxious liquid that caused the water itself to evaporate, and it clung to Golett and dripped inside of him. His eyes dimmed a little, but the move only slowed him down. A Shadow Ball appeared in front of his face and directly exploded on Seismitoad.

But it wasn't enough.

Water burst from the surface as Prime punched Golett with a Water Punch, and the light in the ground type's eyes turned off as he sunk to the lowest depths of the Muddy Water. Cecilia blinked as her hand wrapped around his Pokeball. She waited, waited and waited until thirty seconds had passed.

Nothing.

She sighed as she recalled Golett, and Lauren did the same with Seismitoad. Cecilia released Talonflame so she could Heat Wave and evaporate all of the water before Slowking pulled down the barrier.

Once she got to see Golett up close again, she realized that the poison did actually affect him more than she had thought. He just hadn't shown it because of the way he functioned. It had slowed down his inner mechanism and weakened him severely. Cece had thought Toxic to be in the same realm as Acid since Prime had just learned the move yesterday, but it was way above what she had expected. Only slightly weaker than Roserade's poison, by her estimation. It was truly an attack worthy of a poison type despite Prime being water and ground. Slowking washed away the poison with a powerful jet of water, but there was still some left inside of him.

Golett slowly popped his head open, exposing a gaping hole that led to his insides, and Cecilia poured an Antidote inside of him and sprayed him with a potion. The ground type's eyes 'blinked', repeatedly flashing as he let out a sad hiss of machinery. She'd learned to recognize his sad, happy, angered, and many other sounds.

"You did great," she smiled as she rubbed his arm. "It's hard to counter attacks like Surf and Muddy Water. We'll work on your ground manipulation soon. Scorching Sands isn't enough. You need something to stop sweeping attacks like that. Even Stomping Tantrum wouldn't have been enough."

There are many applications to sound, Slowking mused. Perhaps we can pulls from Electabuzz's screech with his music. Only Golett has no lungs, so no limit on how long he can emit the sound for.

"Screech did work for Sludge Wave," Cecilia said. "What do you think, Golett?"

The golem answered with a slow thumbs up.

"We'll get started on that as soon as you're ready to battle again. Take a break for now," Cecilia said as she grabbed his Pokeball. She stopped when the ground type grabbed her sleeve and pulled on it. "What's wrong?"

His words confused her, and yet he was desperately trying to say something. It was at times like these that Cecilia wished Grace was here, but alas, she was busy. Cecilia could tell he was growing frustrated.

"Are you ready for the next battle?!" Lauren loudly asked.

"Hold on, just one second!" she yelled back.

Golett pointed to Zweilous' Pokeball, and at least Cece could understand that. She released the dragon type, who both licked her hand affectionately. Golett pointed to Zerst, and then to Sol, alternating between both at different intervals.

"Do you want to speak to them alone?" She asked. "Battle them? Just stay with them?"

Each time, Golett answered by shaking his head. It wasn't until five minutes later that Slowking finally understood.

He wants a name, Slowking said. He wants you to give it to him.

Cecilia's eyes widened. "Is that… is that true?"

Golett's head spun around as he let out a happy hiss that released more steam in Zweilous' face. Both heads tried to drink the steam, and they grinned as the moisture stuck to their tongue.

A name? Cecilia hadn't even thought about it. She had never been one to nickname her Pokemon, and the only reason Zweilous had one was so that the two heads could distinguish between themselves when she called on them. She was planning on merging them when they evolved because she'd grown attached, but…

If Golett wanted a name, then she would give him one.

"Lehmhart," she whispered. The ground type's eyes dimmed for a few seconds. "Do you not like it?"

Cecilia frowned when the dimming didn't stop. And it wasn't only his eyes. It was the rune at the center of his chest as well. Soon enough, he had completely turned off, which never happened unless he fell unconscious.

How strange, Slowking said. Maybe he exerted himself too much during the battle?

"I don't think so—"

A barrier immediately appeared in front of her, but it was for naught. Slowking had thought Golett was malfunctioning, but it was just light.

Lehmhart was— Lehmhart was evolving.

He stretched, stretched and stretched until he topped thirteen feet tall. His hands became massive, and so did everything else. Old wood wrapped around his ankles and wrists while the one rune at the center of his chest had become four, with two being on his hands and the other two on his shoulders. His chest wasn't bare, however. A crack brimming with a bright yellow light was covered in a thick layer of wood that barely contained the power within. He was so tall now that Cecilia couldn't even see his face properly. She turned toward Lauren, who was watching with her hands in her pocket and a slight smile. Zweilous snarled— but it was one of their happy ones, and they tippy-tapped on their feet as Lehmhart finished evolving.

Golurk shifted in place, and the hum of the machinery inside of him appeared twice as loud. A constant sound in the background that kept the ground type going. Lehmhart slowly lowered himself, and just that sent a small gust of wind flying into Cecilia's face and caused her hair to go all over the place. She held onto her hair as the golem held out a hand toward her.

She silently did the same, wrapping a hand around a single one of his fingers. He gently grabbed her and placed her into one of his hands, lifting her up to his face.

"I don't think you'll fit inside of the Pokemon Center rooms any longer, Lehmhart," Cecilia said with a nervous chuckle.

That, he will not, Slowking said.

The ground type lowered Cecilia to the ground back again as if he was handling porcelain and terrified to crack the precious glass. He handled her with so much care that even Cecilia was moved. Lehmhart fixed up her hair with two of his fingers and stood back up at full height.

It hadn't been battling that had pushed him over the edge.

It had been learning to become an individual.

"Can we test something?" Cecilia asked. "Why don't you try to use Hammer Arm on the side of the mountain—"

I do not believe that to be wise.

"Come on. We need to limit test this," Cecilia said. "Lauren, get Sirris to create a barrier around you!"

"Got it!"

"Slowking, you do the same," she continued.

Golurk seemed just as eager as she was for this. He quickly turned toward one of the steep slopes and trudged toward it. What she hadn't expected was for him to trip and faceplant into the ground, creating a mini-earthquake.

He was not used to being this big yet. And they hadn't even tried out his flying capabilities yet!

Lehmhart picked himself up, stumbling as he did so, and he finally got close enough to use Hammer Arm. His four runes lit up and energy leaked out of the large fissure on his torso. Power hummed out of his very being. He slowly raised a fist that shone bright white, and with a swift, earth-shattering motion, his hand descended upon the mountain—

A deafening boom echoed across the mountain and a flock of Pidgeys escaped in the distance. The surroundings shuddered in response to the attack. Cracks formed against the facade and the ground like an Ariados' web and fragments of stone flew in every direction, some crashing against Slowking's barrier. Even through the psychic bubble, Cecilia felt the shockwave ripple through her body. Dust and debris quickly filled the air like a chaotic storm of destruction.

When the dust settled, a large part of the mountain's facade had collapsed, becoming rubble at Golurk's feet. Deep cracks sprawled across the surface like shattered glass, and a large crater had formed at the center of the web. Golurk still stood there, his fist still pressed against the mountain as he stared at his newfound power.

"One hit of that, and it's hard to see something surviving," Cecilia muttered with a smile so wide it hurt. That was power. "You're amazing, Lehmhart."

Golurk finally lifted his fist from the zone of impact and stared at his own hand, flexing and clenching it repeatedly. He turned to Cecilia and gave her a thumbs up as his inner mechanism reached a crescendo of excitement that she had never heard from him before.

Should we call Grace to fix this up when she's free? Slowking asked. I don't think it's responsible to leave the mountain in such a state.

"Are you kidding? I'm going to show this to her. She'll be over the moon," Cecilia quickly answered. "Arceus, I can already imagine the look on her face! Maybe I should keep it secret until we go on our date."

Cecilia hummed as she turned back to Lauren, and their training session began anew. She had no mentor, but she would not fall behind.

None of them would.

---

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, creativityfails, Spartanstoryteller, Peter D, Bum

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 229

"His name is Lehmhart?" I muttered. "He's… so big now, it's kind of incredible."

I stared up at the massive Golurk before me, and Cecilia could barely contain her excitement. As soon as today's training with Jasmine had finished, she'd called me over and plastered my face with kisses because of how happy she was. She was so excited to show me in fact, that she had released him in the middle of route 222 because we were waiting for Erin here and Golurk flying in a city wasn't allowed. So we were on route 22 In the middle of the afternoon. This meant that numerous trainers were either keeping with distance and glancing at the golem in fear or watching in awe. The ghost type waved at me in a motion more fluid than I remembered and touched my head with a single finger.

"He evolved as soon as I gave him the name," she said. "He's been very vocal ever since. Could you help me translate?"

"Sure thing," I nodded. "Lehmhart? Anything you've ever wanted to say to Cece, feel free to say it through me."

He immediately let out a deep, humming sound that took a bit for me to decipher.

"He loves you and your team," I said. "And he's happy you taught him how to live."

Cece gently caressed the golem's body, and he let out a pleasant sound at the touch.

"I wanted to see if we could try out his flying…" Cecilia muttered. "Maybe just his arms for now? Lehmhart, do you think you can do it?"

Golurk answered with a thumbs-up and a few low-pitched beeps.

"He's saying it's like second nature now," I said. "The act of retracting his arms and legs, not the flying bit, I mean. He's got no idea how to fly."

"It would be better if we get him acquainted with flying before entering Flight School," Cece said. "Go ahead, Lehmhart."

The process of retracting his arms into his body was slow, and it seemed he couldn't even do both at the same time yet. After two minutes, his forearms were gone, having been replaced by a gaping void. Lehmhart told us to get back while Slowking raised a barrier around us, and jets of flames spewed out from the hole in his arms. Cece had his Pokeball in hand, ready to recall him before any accidents could take place.

The earth rumbled as the ground type slowly rose from the ground and into the air. The sound of his engines sounded like a jet engine on an airplane—

And Lehmhart lost his balance, going off into the distance and toward the sea before Cece hurriedly recalled him. It would have been very ugly had he crashed on the poor trainers.

"Yeah, I definitely shouldn't practice this here," Cece said. "But it's still great! I can't believe I'll be able to fly soon."

"He looks really goofy when he flies, by the way," I snorted. "Anyway, where's Erin? She's usually never late."

We stayed there and waited, and Cece told me she had some kind of surprise for me that I'd love. The answer to my question came soon enough, however. Erin strode up to us fifteen minutes later and dropped an absolute bombshell.

"My Gym Battle is in two hours."

I blinked, thinking it had been a joke at first, but she was dead serious.

"Why didn't you tell us?" I stammered. "I mean, I think you're ready, but—"

"I signed up yesterday on a whim and they said they could slot me in today," she interrupted. "I thought that if I didn't do it now, I never would because I'm so afraid of failure… it was like ripping off a band-aid. Now I'm scared, but I'm confident I can do it. I know I can."

"You can," Cece reassured, looking at the time on her phone. "You said… two hours? That leaves us one hour to train. Nothing straining, of course."

Erin beamed. "Thank you. I— I actually had a question about Comet's Rollout…"

—

As I'd seen on video, Volkner's battlefield didn't appear that different at first, but when you looked closer and focused on the ground and rocks, a particular red tint revealed itself— or maybe more of a reddish-brown. That was because of all the iron he'd placed inside of the rocks and ground. I had no idea how he went about replenishing it, but there was probably a steel type capable of doing so when combined with the usual ground type that fixed up destroyed arenas.

I felt pride swell in my chest when Erin confidently stepped onto her podium, her Pokeball already in hand. She had come looking her best, her hair stylized in a complex-looking bun and wearing a beautiful yellow dress I'd never seen her wearing before. She'd definitely taken after Cece, who always did the same thing whenever she had an important battle. The Gym Trainer facing her was a young-looking girl who actually looked very happy to be there. It probably wasn't often that she got any experience battling on the big field. Gym Trainers mostly battled each other to improve with the more experienced ones giving them pointers. Sometimes, the Gym Leader would even lead a training session if they had the time, but Volkner definitely wasn't the type of guy to do that—

I blinked and leaned forward. I thought I was imagining things at first, but Volkner had stepped out of the waiting room and he slowly trudged toward the Gym Trainer, dragging his feet on the ground. He yawned, placing a hand over his mouth. The Gym Leader was wearing sandals, joggers, and a plain white T-shirt as if he'd just gotten out of bed.

Murmurs and gossip ran through the bleachers as Volkner grabbed his Gym Trainer's shoulder, pulling her back slightly.

"Volkner, what's—"

Her microphone cut out, and I didn't hear the rest of what was said. What was happening was obvious, however. Volkner was taking her place for this particular battle when he hadn't battled all day. I honestly thought he'd be hanging out with Jasmine right now, but here he was. My eyes narrowed at the Gym Leader and a smile stretched across my face. This was only a first badge battle, but it'd still help seeing him battle in person at least a little, and I knew Cece was thinking the same. Then, my vision drifted toward Erin, who was trembling like a leaf. Her battles with the Gym Trainers had been relatively close, even if she had lost, but Volkner had crushed her completely.

I thought back to my Gym Battle with Roark. If he had won a dominating victory and sent me packing, then I definitely would have been nervous the second time, especially since I had self-esteem issues with my skill as a trainer back then. It was the same with Erin.

"She will prevail," Cecilia declared. I felt her hand wrap around mine, the coldness of her ring clinging to my skin.

"You say that, yet you're as scared for her as I am," I teased. "I believe in her. We trained her well."

"I know, I know, it's just…"

"I get it," I said. "She'll be fine."

Volkner sent the Gym Trainer packing, stealing her microphone in the process. He had the worst posture I'd ever seen, slouching forward and with a permanent half-crouch where his legs were never stretched to their full extent. He shoved his hands in his pockets, testing the microphone with a few words and then sighed.

"Three-on-three. One switch. Understood?" Volkner listed.

That was it? Where were the rules about no killing or him being able to use whatever Pokemon he wanted? He really was slacking off.

Erin clenched a fist around her dress and nodded. "Yes."

"Good. That was firm," Cecilia said. "She'll keep that up for the battle."

Volkner called out for Erin to send out her Pokemon, and she did so with trembling hands. Her Bidoof appeared in a flash of red, and he was immediately alert and grinding his teeth together threateningly as he stared Volkner down. Volkner sent out a Pichu with a little bow on one of her ears, and a bunch of awww's echoed through the arena. The referee, who looked to be used to Volkner's antics by now, simply shrugged and started the battle.

"C—Comet, use Rollout!" Erin snapped, pointing at Pichu.

Comet pushed himself forward, jumping a foot in the air before bunching up into a ball. He began rolling and picked up speed as he approached Pichu.

"Thundershock," Volkner said.

Tiny sparks of electricity sparkled around Pichu before surging forward and hitting Comet. The normal type grunted in pain, but he kept rolling and speeding up.

"Nuzzle."

"Growl!" Erin yelled.

Pichu resigned to taking the hit, but more electricity surrounded her, this time jumping in a pattern instead of erratically. A scream from Bidoof made her waver for a second, and he rammed into her at full force. The electric type cried out as she crashed against one of the many raised spires of Volkner's gym, creating a small indent in the rock. Bidoof hadn't gotten off scot-free either, however. I had warned Erin about Nuzzle, but she seemed to have wanted to deal damage to Pichu regardless of the danger of paralysis. The normal type's Rollout stopped as he struggled to move.

Pichu slowly got back on her feet, sporting a scowl I never thought I'd see on such a cute Pokemon. She wiped her dirtied ribbon as she awaited Volkner's next order.

"Keep using Thundershock, but stay far away," the Gym Leader said.

Pichu began her assault, although it was severely weakened due to the Rollout she'd taken. Multiple rays of electricity flew at Bidoof, who countered them as best he could by either dodging or kicking up Mud Slaps to weaken the attack, but the majority of them hit. Erin needed to either attack or switch, not play on the defensive—

"Yawn!" She yelled.

Bidoof opened his mouth, and Pichu blinked as she wobbled and struggled to stay up. Yawn was the move they'd trained the most, and I knew Erin had wanted to keep it hidden for Volkner's second Pokemon. Another two Thundershocks rocked Comet, but he was Erin's most resistant Pokemon for a reason. His fur smoked, and he struggled through the paralysis, but he still stood.

Pichu fell to the ground and started to snore.

"Now, Tackle and Bite! You've got all the time in the world!" Erin said.

I could see in Volkner's eyes that he resigned to his loss immediately, although he obviously didn't care one bit. I would have done the same. Swapping out a sleeping Pichu would be a waste, and this was probably his weakest of the three Pokemon he'd use. Comet took twenty seconds to reach Pichu, but once he did, he rammed into her and bit her arm. Volkner still waited, not pulling her out of her fight on the off-chance that Pichu would wake up, but the electric type fainted soon after.

The Gym Leader recalled her with a fondness I hadn't expected from him and sent out an Emolga right after. Erin's shoulders sagged. She had already lost a battle to this Emolga, and defeatist thoughts were already swarming her mind. The girl slapped her two cheeks until they were red and smiled.

"Yawn, Comet!"

"Gust."

Emolga beat his wings, summoning a small tornado around Bidoof that stopped him from using Yawn.

"Now Charge and Thundershock," he continued.

"Tackle to dodge!" Erin barked out.

Emolga took five seconds to charge up his Thundershock, and that meant Comet had ample time to react. He pushed himself to the left, and the electricity only grazed his tail.

"Water Sport!" Erin yelled.

Bidoof's fur dampened, and the normal type flew, ejecting as much water from his mouth as he could. Volkner didn't even flinch. Emolga lowered himself, easily dodging the last-ditch attempt to hit him and finished Comet off with another Thundershock.

Water Sport to propel a Pokemon? She hadn't told me about this, nor had she told Cece. I placed a hand on my chest and smiled. I could almost cry with how proud of her I was.

"Erin, you're amazing," I muttered.

Sat came out of her ball next, since she was the only other Pokemon capable of taking down flying Pokemon. The normal type yawned and stretched on the red-tinted rocks as she sized up Emolga with a bored stare.

"Quick Attack! Get under it!" Erin ordered with no hesitation.

"Attack and keep your distance," Volkner said.

More Thundershocks sparked out of Emolga's body and toward Glameow. The normal type made herself small, practically prowling against the floor as she ran until she was right under Emolga. Her tail straightened for an instant, and then coiled again as she slammed it against the ground and sprung up. Her claws extended and shone bright white as she slashed at Emolga's wings. The flying type cried out in pain, but Volkner didn't miss a beat.

"Follow it and Spark."

Electricity burst through Emolga's skin, and the flying type rushed toward Glameow who was still in the air. She had no way to maneuver, and Emolga rammed into her right before she landed. The normal type rolled on the ground, kicking up dust until she stopped herself by digging her claws into the floor.

"Thundershock."

I leaned against a palm as I observed Glameow dodge a series of Thundershocks as she progressively approached Emolga. The fact that this was a low-leveled battle meant that variety in tactics was severely lacking. There were no custom moves, and the moves that did get used were few. I did notice that Volkner was leaving her a chance, however. He kept Emolga to a level where Glameow could reach, only ordering the electric type to get only a few more feet in the air.

Even if he was bored out of his mind, he was a good Gym Leader.

Sat tricked Emolga into thinking she was coming for him by slamming her tail against the floor, but one whistle from Erin and she rushed forward instead, jumping on a rock with incredible dexterity and pushing herself from there. The electric type was caught off-guard and grunted as Sat clung onto him this time, determined to drag him down with her. She snarled, biting and clawing at Emolga while he electrocuted her over and over until they both crashed on the floor. It was at this point that I wondered if Volkner would switch, but he didn't. He let Glameow finish off Emolga with a Fury Swipes and recalled him.

I hummed when he sent out a Pikachu last, and he had the same ribbon on his ear Pichu had. Were they siblings? Friends, maybe, and one had evolved sooner than the other.

"Quick attack and Electric Tail," Volkner called out.

"Fury Swipes!"

Pikachu blurred— and that was important, because no Pokemon at that level were that fast. He rushed toward Glameow, who barely had time to react and put up her claws. She slashed across Pikachu's flank, drawing blood while electricity instantly came to life around the rodent's tail and he slammed her away.

"Again, Spark," he continued.

"Quick Attack!"

The electric type ran, electricity sparkling out of his cheeks until it overtook his entire body. Glameow yowled, scrambling back to her feet before she did the same. The two Pokemon butted heads, both grimacing in pain, but only Pikachu was left standing by the end of it. Sat's limp body lay on the ground, and her body was burned and smoking. Erin thanked her as she recalled her. Thanks to her and Comet's training, she'd finally overcome her roadblock. Pokemon capable of flight were no longer an obstacle.

She sent out Spinda last with a grin. All of her anxiety from earlier had melted away, giving way to a joy for battling that matched Cece and mine. Swirls stumbled, barely managing to stay upright while Pikachu circled him on all fours and shared the same scowl Pichu had. They were like two peas in a pod.

"Spark," Volkner said.

Pikachu suddenly cut in, blurring as he brimmed with electricity. Swirls—

Swirls stumbled and tripped out of the way. He faceplanted on the ground, dodging Pikachu's attack by a hair. The electric type turned back, circling him and aimed for Swirls again, but he kept dodging by mere inches, always falling over when he did. Volkner didn't call out for Thundershock either. It seemed like this Pikachu was trained for fighting up close while Pichu had been the opposite.

"Electric Tail," Volkner called out.

"Dizzy Punch, Swirls!" Erin barked.

Pikachu's tail sparkled brightly, and he zigzagged toward Spinda in an attempt to catch him off-guard. The normal type's fist shone, and both Pokemon hit each other at the same time. Spinda's attack was stronger, however, and Pikachu flew back into one of the spires.

"Body Slam!"

Spinda stumbled toward Pikachu like a drunkard, but somehow he was speeding up. At one point, I was surprised he even managed to stand upright still. Pikachu grit his teeth and headbutted him with a jump, but Swirls simply slammed him with all of his body weight, ramming Pikachu into the same rock. Another Dizzy Punch to the gut finished him off, and Spinda bowed to the audience before falling on his back— nevermind, he was cartwheeling.

Cecilia and I stood, cheering and clapping as loud as we could. We did turn some heads. People weren't used to others cheering so loudly for a first badge battle. Erin was crying of joy down on the field, and she recalled Swirl with quivering lips.

She'd done it.

—

"Oh Legendaries, oh Legendaries, this is— this is real, isn't it? I'm not dreaming right now?" Erin cried, fanning her face.

We'd greeted her right out of the waiting room, and she'd come out a sobbing mess. I wrapped her into a soft hug while Cecilia rubbed her back.

"It's real, Erin," Cecilia said. "You won."

"We're proud of you," I gently spoke. "You were fantastic out there."

"I mean, I still have to— have to review the footage. I've gotten a ton of messages from New Wave already," she sniffled. "I can't believe it!"

"What TM did you get?" Cecilia asked.

"Shock Wave. And I also got a bunch of money I'm gonna save for the club," she said.

"Sat, Swirls and Comet can all learn it," I said. "It's one of the easiest electric type moves to learn, so a bunch of Pokemon can. I'm one hundred percent sure you can go for three badges this year if you want."

"Veilstone and Pastoria," Cece nodded. "Pastoria would be easier now that you have Shock Wave."

"Especially since Maylene's the fighting type Gym Leader and you only have normal types," I said. "But then again, if you want the easy way, then Maylene's on break right now—"

"You guys are looking so far ahead already," she spoke through a teary chuckle. "But if I do it, I don't want the easy way. Battling Volkner was— it was so much fun."

"Now you're getting it," Cece said. "Let's get you back to your club. I have an inkling they're all waiting there to celebrate with you."

"And they're probably pissed you kept the battle a secret," I chuckled.

"Can you guys come along?" She hesitantly asked. "It'd mean a lot to me if you were here."

I stared at Cece and smiled. "Of course. We'll hang out! If Jasmine calls, I'll tell her I'm busy."

Erin's eyes widened slightly. "Thank you. And I've decided, now. I'm going to be a normal type specialist."

Oh, I was sure Alakazam would squeal like a little girl at that declaration.

—

"Look at our little Erin all grown up," I said.

It was strange to be in the same room we'd held my party in. Only this time, it was filled with actual club members. Erin stood at the center, speaking to everyone and juggling what seemed to be a dozen conversations at the same time while she showed off her new, shiny badge. A few kids had already asked her to share her TM, and she'd agreed without hesitation since it was reusable. I had an inkling that Shock Wave was going to become widespread throughout New Wave soon enough. The few trainers in their club that had already owned one badge had disagreed to share the TM because trainers usually just didn't do that. We were taught to hoard them for ourselves to get a leg up on possible competition— well not taught, but it was what all the elite-level trainers did, and humans learned through repetition. Craig would never give someone the TM for Hyper Beam, for example.

Erin didn't care.

"The first badge is always a great boost of confidence," Cece muttered. "It's when you start thinking you might actually be able to do this. Go all the way."

"Well, in her case, it won't be all the way, but yeah," I agreed. "This'll do wonders for her."

The party had been going on for a few hours at this point, and the sun had already set. I sipped on some soda while chatting to Cece about anything that came to mind, and I cringed at myself when she told me to stop telling everyone I knew about Jasmine, especially the people that… didn't have a Gym Leader to tutor them.

"Lauren's feeling left out? Shit, that's… yeah, that's my bad," I sighed. "I honestly thought—"

"Don't worry, you two are good," Cece said. "I know you were just excited about it. You can tell me about your training, if you can't contain it."

"You won't get angry? I'm feeling kind of self-conscious now."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course, I'd be lying if I wasn't wishing I had the same opportunity, but it'll come," she said. "Right now, I'm mostly happy seeing my girlfriend gush about Pokemon training. And even though I don't have an electric type, I do find some tidbits useful."

"You're the best."

"Mhm," she hummed.

I stared up at her. "Seriously, I don't deserve you."

"Don't give me any of that now," she scolded, wrapping an arm around my waist. "Do you—"

She stopped when another kid came up to us, looking to speak. Even with us here, Erin was the center of attention, but that didn't mean we were completely alone. We stayed at the party until it finished at midnight, and while we walked home, Jasmine was waiting for me in front of my Pokemon Center with a bottle of… something in her hand. I wasn't sure what it was except that it wasn't beer. Cecilia let out a quiet sigh, and I placed my head on her shoulder.

"I'll see you later?" I tentatively said.

"You go ahead. I was going to go to sleep anyway, I get it. I'd like it if you came to my room when you're done, though."

"Thanks. Sorry," I said. "I'll try not to wake you up."

Cecilia politely greeted Jasmine, who nudged her head at her. I was happy to see that she wasn't drunk, or at least not drunk yet.

"Grace. Tonight is going to be magnificent," she declared with a prim grin.

"What are we doing that's so special?" I asked.

The Gym Leader popped open her bottle and took a swig. I could smell the alcohol from here.

"Remember when I told you we were going to break into Volkner's Gym so Honey could try out magnetic manipulation there?"

I paused for a few seconds, registering her words.

"That's tonight?!" I scoffed. "Why?"

"No time like the present. You want something done, you do it," Jasmine said. "It'll be fine. We won't get caught. I did plenty of sneaking around back in my day."

"Don't say back in my day like you're seventy."

"I know I dragged you away from your girlfriend, so we'll make it quick and not go by foot like I originally planned. I feel bad for her," Jasmine quietly said. She grabbed Metagross' Pokeball and released the steel type. "Hello, my loves. I'd like for you to Teleport us in front of Volkner's Gym. We're going to break in."

For a second, I swore that I heard Metagross sigh and roll their eyes.

Do you have a plan for the cameras? The Gym Trainers patrolling the place twenty-four seven? Do you have a route planned to break in and back out? Teleporting inside of a Gym when it's closed is impossible, as you know. Dark type interference.

"Don't sweat the details. Volkner never checks the camera feed anyway and I'll silence any Gym Trainers on camera duty."

Silence? We certainly hope you don't mean kill or threaten. It would be in the Indigo League's best interest if you did not commit a drunken murder and embroil us into a diplomatic incident.

"Relax, Arceus! No, not murder. I just mean… you know, tell 'em to keep quiet as a favor. They love me at the Gym."

They hate you. Only Volkner loves you, and the fact that you're there distracting him by copulating and making eyes at each other has increased the average Gym Trainer's workload by 18%. They want you gone as fast as possible.

"Just Teleport us," Jasmine sighed.

Fine. Don't say I did not warn you.

"What's the worst that can happen? The word gets out that I was trying to break a trainer in, Volkner gets angry at me and I bring up the dozens of times he dropped the ball," Jasmine shrugged. While she spoke, we'd been Teleported in front of Volkner's Gym. "You know, you need to ease up a little and learn to—"

Metagross' eyes shone, and they entered their Pokeball.

"Did they— did they just recall themselves?" I stammered.

"They do that when they get tired of me," Jasmine smirked. "Let's go in."

A Gym at night wasn't something I'd ever seen from up close. Bright lights shone down on the small path that led to the entrance, but the lobby itself was completely dark. Jasmine slid a keycard in front of a sensor, and the glass doors unlocked for us.

"Girlfriend privilege," she said, sliding the card back into a pocket. "Come on, get in there."

"This feels so wrong," I muttered.

Jasmine sipped on her…

"What are you drinking, by the way?" I asked in a whisper.

"Vodka."

I nearly choked, but I stopped myself from making any noise.

"Doesn't that taste really bad?" I asked as we slowly walked through the lobby. "My dad says it does."

"Oh, it's awful," she laughed. "But if you want to get shitfaced, it's great. Don't worry though, I'm not going to get drunk while I'm teaching you. I'm just sipping. Vodka tastes great when mixed with other stuff if you ever fancy starting to drink."

"Whatever you say," I whispered.

We snuck through the lobby with no incidents, although I did see a hint of a flashlight before Jasmine pushed me toward a corridor. We circled what felt like the entire Gym, easily avoiding all patrols. We were lucky no one here had an electric type that was also psychic, or we would have been busted instantly. Jasmine gently opened a door I didn't recognize and my eyes bulged when I realized it was the camera room. The Gym Trainer dropped the phone she'd been looking at instead of the screens and nearly fell off her chair.

"Leader Jasmine? What are you doing here? Who is this—"

"Shhhh," Jasmine said. "Grace, close the door."

I listened to her and gently pushed it back.

"We're going to use the arena for a bit," Jasmine said. "It'd be great if you didn't tell anyone you saw us break in."

"Uh, I'm kind of obligated to report that trainer's presence—"

"Come on, Nancy. I'll talk to Volkner about that promotion you wanted. Isn't looking at cameras boring? You want to be an actual trainer, don't you? You weren't even paying attention to the footage."

The girl bit her lip, and after deliberating for a few seconds, she nodded.

"Fine, get out of here," she snapped, picking up her phone. "But don't tell him I said yes to this, or he'll fire me."

"I won't. I promise," Jasmine firmly said. "Thank you for your time."

We left her alone, and I was certain her eyes would stay glued to the camera footage for the rest of her shift now that she'd been caught off-guard. We kept circling around the inside of the stadium until we reached the waiting room— Volkner's waiting room. There were eight lockers here labeled 'FIRST BADGE' to 'EIGHT BADGE' with what must have been dozens of Pokemon in each. My eyes lingered on the six badge locker until Jasmine pressed a couple of light switches. A loud, industrial hum started as the ceiling lights wooshed to life. It felt weird to see the spectating area so empty.

"I hope nobody heard that," I muttered.

"Get Honey out of his ball," Jasmine said. "It'll just be him today."

I released the electric type and brought him up to speed. The fact that we were here illegally made him extremely nervous, but he pressed on. Honey getting a feel for the rocks here would prove invaluable during the actual battle. Instead of using Thunder or Thunderbolt to rip up some rocks from the earth, he used Thunder Punch to be as quiet as he could while Jasmine observed.

And she'd been right. It was easier here for him. We'd barely made any progress on the mountain on route 205 because of the low contents of magnetic materials, but all of the training he'd done showed himself here. The rocks floated around him and clumsily collided with each other as electricity coiled around him and crackled in his fur. He accidentally dropped some of them or pushed them away from his influence, but he managed to throw some away at a respectable speed. Not anywhere near what we needed to be, but we were at least halfway to the move being usable in battle.

"See how much easier it is?" Jasmine asked the electric type. "It's like going on a jog after trying to win in a triathlon. Much more manageable."

Honey nodded, but he didn't speak to keep up his concentration and tried again.

"We'll stick around for thirty minutes or so. Then we'll slip out. If another opportunity provides itself, then I'll bring you, but the experience he gains here will be crucial for your battle."

"Thank you," I said.

"Don't sweat it," Jasmine said. "This brings back memories. I used to sneak around the Gym when I was a kid and my father ran it."

"Really?" Why?" I asked. "Weren't you allowed to be there?"

The only reason she was hiding right now was because I was here, after all. I assumed that she'd been allowed to be in her father's Gym whenever she wanted just like this one.

"It was… complicated," Jasmine muttered. "And it's not something I'd like to get into tonight."

The conversation paused, and Jasmine took another swig of her bottle while Honey kept training.

"He had this liquor cabinet in his office that I'd steal bottles out of," she continued.

I scoffed. "How old were you, exactly?"

"Eh, twelve, thirteen or so," Jasmine said. "You know what he said when he figured it out?"

"He screamed at you and grounded you?" I scoffed, crossing my arms.

Jasmine snorted. "No. He said he was proud that I'd outsmarted him, but that when I wanted to do something, I had to make sure the job was finished. One of the Gym Trainers had ratted me out, and he said that I should have threatened him with Magneton and Onix, or said I'd get him to fire him if he tattled. Even if it had been a lie, it would have worked."

"Working at your Gym doesn't sound like a fun time," I said.

"Oh, that was back in the old days. My dad was raised by a generation that was molded by the Great War. He was a kid during the fighting," Jasmine muttered. "He used to tell me all about how Olivine kept getting bombed to oblivion by enemy naval forces and Pokemon. That even the bunkers weren't enough and sometimes collapsed in on the people taking refuge there because of the Onix that our enemies would send underground to collapse our more resistant buildings. That fishermen were hunted and our crops were destroyed by swarms of enemy Rattata so the entire region could starve. That sites of great battles were never cleared of their bodies so that ghosts could form, and how there'd be a second battle atop the corpses to capture the damn things. And a third. And a fourth. Over and over until the entire place was a sea of rotten bodies where the smell clung to your throat. We did it too, of course. All of it."

I stayed silent, not knowing what to say.

"But Olivine was not destroyed to smithereens. We weren't put down, nor were we captured by enemy forces. They bypassed us in hopes of capturing Goldenrod," Jasmine said. "We rose back from the ashes because they didn't finish us off. Growing up like that, it fucks up a human. My father's fucked and my grandpa was even more so when he was alive. He's old, bitter, and he keeps ranting about how he hates Kantoans and their allies for what they did to us and that we should never have united, but he's the greatest man I know despite… everything. He's the one that taught me to always finish the job. No loose ends. If you want to finish something, you go for the throat."

I didn't exactly know what this was alluding to, but I knew it was a lesson of some sort, so I nodded.

"I will."

The steel Gym Leader smiled. "Great. You're learning—"

"Jasmine…?"

I flinched, turning toward the source of the voice.

It was Volkner in some shorts, slippers, and a T-Shirt.

"I was working and I saw the lights turn on from my office. What's going on here?"

"I should have gone for the throat," Jasmine muttered under her breath. She pursed her lips and spoke up as she lifted her bottle. "Hey Volkner. Want some Vodka?"

---

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, creativityfails, Spartanstoryteller, Peter D, Bum, Zaire M

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 230

"Hey Volkner. Want some Vodka?"

The blond man frowned, his eyes drifting to Jasmine's bottle.

"No," he sighed. "And give me that."

He snatched the bottle out of her hand to keep her from drinking, or at least that's what I assumed. Jasmine didn't fight it at all and just let him have it. I could barely look him in the eye, let alone speak. I was too scared and embarrassed to say anything, so I opted to let Jasmine talk in my stead. Honey hid behind me even though he was bigger than I was, and he couldn't even bear to attract any attention to himself.

"Can you tell me why Grace Pastel is in my Gym, Jasmine?" Volkner asked in a semi-aggressive tone.

"I was training her," Jasmine answered. "I apologize for the transgression. No need to come up with an excuse, by the way. I know you weren't working."

"Perceptive as always," Volkner said after a pause.

"Nancy called you and woke you up as soon as we left the security room."

The Gym Leader nodded. Upon closer look, it was noticeable. The getup that looked like he'd just gotten out of bed, the barely open eyes, the slowness of his speech, the yawning and the subdued anger went beyond Volkner's usual laziness. He was tired.

And it was why Jasmine had lamented not going for that Gym Trainer's throat, whatever that meant in that context.

"She did," Volkner answered. "I know I've given you plenty of privileges, but you can't just do whatever you want, Jasmine. Do you realize how humiliating this would look for me if this came out? The last thing people want with Team Galactic running around is hearing that breaking into a Gym is this easy."

"Gyms don't have anything of importance beyond you," Jasmine countered. "All of the Gyms could be destroyed tomorrow and it wouldn't matter so long as the leader lived. The Porygon you made would delete all the important data, which is why you only have a bunch of kids guarding the place."

Volkner groaned, staring at the ceiling with his eyes closed. "It's not just about me, it's the kid too."

"I'm sorry," I spoke for the first time "I shouldn't—"

Volkner repeatedly snapped his fingers at me until I shut up. He was irritated with my mere presence here.

"She's starting to become a big name. Not only because she works closely with us, but because of her skill and her sponsor. This could have torpedoed her career, Jasmine. Training in a Gym Leader's arena before a battle is an unfair advantage, and that's not even counting the breaking and entering."

Jasmine sighed as she squatted. "Could have, could have, could have. And yet it will not. I don't work in hypotheticals, Volkner. Your government thinks her too important to incarcerate her, and you don't want to rustle any feathers or deal with the consequences of this. Plus, you've never been one to care that much about rules."

Volkner's lips went flat, and he tried to rebuke her, but he knew she was right.

"I apologize for breaking your trust, but her potential goes beyond mere badges or sponsors. I see it clearly, and she deserves all the tools I can give her."

"I'm taking away your keycard."

"That is fair," she said.

"How drunk are you? I thought you were doing better."

"Not much. Check the bottle."

Volkner lifted the vodka and saw that it hadn't been emptied much.

"Have you been going to your…" he stopped when he glanced at me. "Thing?"

For the first time since I'd met her, Jasmine hesitated when she spoke. She stood back up, her fingers fidgeting and her lips trembling slightly. She was like a child that had been caught hiding their report card, and I felt like it was a glimpse at who she'd once been.

"No?" She said in a meek voice. "But I only missed two meetings. Maybe three or four—"

"We'll talk about it later," Volkner said. He approached and wrapped her in his arms, kissing her forehead as he did so. "Sorry for not being there. Work's been a drag lately, and I was visiting Maylene too."

"Don't worry about it," she said.

"As for you," Volkner menacingly said when he turned back at me. "Your Electabuzz interests me, and I don't think children should be punished for the things adults rope them into. But, you still need to be punished in a way."

I bit my lip, bracing myself for the worst.

"Your assessment will start early," Volkner declared, all of his laziness and tiredness melting away, leaving way for the person that lay under: someone that lived for Pokemon battling. "Your Electabuzz will go against my Electrivire right now. Hit him three times with whatever attack and you'll win, even electric type moves. We won't strike back— or we will, but not in any serious manner. Electivire will focus on dodging and you'll have ten minutes to win."

"T—that's a punishment?" I stammered.

"Jasmine suggested the idea to me and I was going to do it after your Gym battle whenever your Electabuzz was ready so you would have had more time to prepare, but we're doing it now," Volkner said. "You can't refuse. Either you battle me right now, or you kiss Electabuzz's evolution goodbye. Don't misunderstand, though. This isn't a battle for your badge."

"I accept," I instantly said.

Volkner exhaled and reflexively shoved his hands in pockets that weren't there.

"Follow me to my office. I've got to get Electivire's Pokeball."

"Oh, uh, what about Jasmine?" I asked.

"Jasmine can wait here. It'll just be you and me," Volkner said. "Keep your Electabuzz here too."

Honey finally found his voice and protested, but I told him I'd be fine and to stick with Jasmine. Volkner motioned at me to follow, and I quickly scampered toward him while Jasmine mouthed an apology at me. She had probably genuinely expected for me to get off scot-free because she was dating Volkner. The Gym Leader let out a loud yawn as he stepped inside an elevator next to his waiting room. He pressed on the fourth floor and stared me down.

"So."

"So…?" I hesitantly muttered.

"How's the training with Jasmine going?" He asked.

"It's, um, it's going very well. Honey's been progressing leaps and bounds—"

"Good, good. I appreciate someone training an Electabuzz," he interrupted. Even when he was complimenting me, there was still lingering dislike in his voice, possibly due to what I'd done with Maylene. He had said he'd visited her recently too. "But about Jasmine. I heard that you brought her home drunk a few days ago… never mind, that was a week ago now. Thank you for that."

The elevator dinged, and Volkner's office was just in front of the doors. That was convenient when he needed to alternate between battling and paperwork, and that was probably why he'd battled Erin in what were obviously lounge clothes.

"Yeah. It was nothing."

"Jasmine's a great trainer, but don't let her string you along to whatever she wants," Volkner warned. "She's got a few problems. Her upbringing was rough, and it's pushed her toward certain ways… just watch out, alright?"

I silently nodded as Volkner emptied the vodka bottle in his trashcan, then grabbed a Pokeball from his desk. There were eight of them lined up in small, circular molds that fit them perfectly. He turned on the lights and then spoke into a big microphone next to the PC.

"Good evening, this is Volkner speaking. To all trainers on the night shift, there is going to be a battle happening. If there are any sudden noises or explosions, it is business as usual. Uh… Rika, would you bring one of the Kadabra downstairs to make a barrier? Thank you. And bring two battling microphones too."

"Thanks for hanging out with her though. She's drank less since she started training you," Volkner said. "We can head back down."

"Um, I actually have something to say really quick," I said. "My friend Lauren—"

"Ah, Craig's sister," Volkner said. "Magmar, right? Not much I can do about that other than send the footage of her battle to Flint. I'll try to nudge him in the right direction because I owe Craig a favor still."

I breathed a sigh of relief. By being tested now, I was kind of screwing Lauren over, but I had at least salvaged her an opportunity to evolve Mags.

Volkner spoke up again as he turned off the lights to his office and we entered the elevator.

"Flint's interested in her too," he said. "Only two people have a Magmar here, and Lauren's one of them. Can't guarantee anything, though, especially with how busy he is. Becoming an Elite Four member really sounds tiresome. So much work and so little battling… Arceus."

"Can I ask one last thing?"

"Shoot."

"My friend Erin Atwood—"

"Ah, the fidgety kid," Volkner spoke over me. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," I repeated. "I just wanted to thank you for battling her. She was over the moon about it."

The Gym Leader shrugged. "It was pure coincidence. I recognized her name and remembered that she was one of the people that couldn't take down fliers, so I figured I needed to test her."

"Well, she was very happy about it, and she's really passionate now, so thank you."

Jasmine was whispering some last-minute pointers to Honey when we walked back. Volkner swatted the air, motioning me away like I was some kind of pest so I could leave him to speak alone with his girlfriend. I didn't even try to eavesdrop. It would be a serious breach of trust and incredibly disrespectful with the chance I'd just been given.

"Nervous?" I asked Honey. There was still a way to go until we reached our side of the arena.

The electric type nodded, but he said he was determined to win no matter what. He asked me what strategy we'd employ given how strange this battle was going to be.

"It is strange. All we have to do is hit him three times and he won't seriously fight back— well, I say 'all' like it's going to be easy. It isn't."

The electric type agreed.

"Remember what Jasmine said? Your opponent is like an engine. The more the battle goes on for, the faster and more powerful Electivire gets until he… overheats, for lack of a better term. Us outlasting him is a pipe dream, so we have to go in quick and fast and hope to land our three hits before Electivire becomes unstoppable."

Honey grunted, saying that the Railgun attack wasn't advanced enough yet to hope to hit Electivire, but Radiant Leap would be useful.

"Yeah," I nodded. "And Discharge too. Attacks with a large area of effect that can maybe get to him and leave him no options to dodge."

We reached our side of the podium and kept talking strategy until a woman who must have been Rika entered the arena from behind me with a Kadabra in tow. Anger emanated from the psychic. He was pissed, and if I had to guess it was because he was working so late. The girl outfitted me with a microphone and did the same for Volkner after sprinting toward him to not waste any time. Honey quickly jumped into the arena before Kabadra could put up his barrier, landing with a loud thud.

And Volkner sent out his Electivire.

Electricity hummed around Electivire with each step he took. He dwarfed Honey's size, coming in at around eight feet tall. His two, red-tipped tails lashed out and whipped the ground, leaving behind scorched marks from all the electricity packed in them. Muscles bulged all over his body under his thick fur. Two red eyes looked right at us, alternating between me and Honey. Electivire was sizing us up, and he didn't like what he was seeing. We were weak.

"This isn't a normal battle, Electivire," Volkner started. He paused, sitting cross-legged on his podium. "Your only job is to dodge for ten minutes, but feel free to attack a little if you want. No electric type moves or electricity in general. No Protect. Rika, go ahead and start the battle."

No electricity, I thought. Did that mean no Motor Drive?

Electivire responded with a chortle, which sounded like an engine struggling to start. He thought us to be ants that he could crush. A fun way to pass the time at best. Honey whirled his arms around and began charging up electricity while Rika counted down. Even she was excited to see Electivire in action.

"Radiant Leap!" I immediately barked out.

There was a flash, and then Honey vanished, blurring forward with a trail of electricity behind him that burned the ground he walked on. Volkner didn't even bother ordering Electivire. The electric type answered our challenge with a jubilant scream and pushed a foot against the ground, creating a small crater where he had just stood.

"Discharge!" I yelled.

Electricity exploded out of Honey as soon as he was in range, but Electivire's eyes flashed—

And he Teleported out of range.

My eyes blinked, and I slowly realized what had just happened, but Honey was quick on his feet. He continued with Radiant Leap in a desperate attempt to reach and hit Electivire, but the electric type kept disappearing as soon as the attack got anywhere close. I'd known the Elekid line was capable of learning Teleport via TM along with the Magby line, but I hadn't studied Volkner's personal team at all. After all, I'd never expected to actually be in this situation.

Speaking of Volkner, he yawned while he was looking at his phone and Jasmine was silently rooting for me behind him. Honey snarled as he desperately tried to get a hand on Electivire, but his reaction speed was always just enough somehow, and he always dodged by a hair with Teleport as if he was challenging himself to do so. The electric type laughed as he hid behind a rock and Electabuzz broke it apart with a Cross Chop. Electivire tapped Honey on the shoulder, showing that he'd Teleported behind him, but he was gone before we could even strike back.

We had no dark type moves to work with to stop him.

"Railgun!" I ordered.

Electricity coiled around Honey, and the rocks from the destroyed spire began to float around him as they glimmered with electricity. Even though his hold on them was clumsy at best, Volkner's eyes widened slightly. Some bumped around each other, fell on the floor or were accidentally pushed outside of Electabuzz's orbit, but at least half of them stuck around. Honey grunted, crushing the rocks in smaller shards until they were mere pebbles and he rushed forward with Radiant Leap and carried them with him. His sheer speed made him drop some more, but it was fine.

"Push!" I yelled with all my might.

He'd noticed as I had that even though Electivire could Teleport, he was no psychic. His range was pitiful. Just enough to get out of Discharge's range if he really pushed himself. Long distances were too much for Electivire, even after probably having trained with the move for what was most likely years and he was too far away from any spires to take refuge there.

The electrified rocks burst outward all around Electabuzz, and Electivire grinned. His eyes flashed once and a thin barrier appeared around him. Honey bared his teeth and immediately sent out a Thunderbolt forward. It was a crisp ray of electricity with barely any energy wasted, and it barrelled toward Electivire with the electrified rocks.

The barrier stopped the Thunderbolt, but it weakened it enough for the barrage of electrified rocks to break through. The barrier shattered like glass and the pebbles slammed into Electivire's chest. Since we weren't great with the move yet, the damage had been a joke, but a hit was a hit. Volkner's Electivire was a true threat, but they had handicapped themselves so much that hitting them was actually possible.

Two more.

"Electric Swift!" I grinned.

Honey summoned a dozen stars, infusing them with electricity before he brought an arm forward and sent them flying toward his opponent. Electivire Teleported—

No, he wasn't Teleporting. He was just moving quickly. So quickly that I could barely track him save for the blur of yellow and dark fur. He was slower than with Teleporting, of course, but that didn't mean much considering he was faster than Honey was using Radiant Leap with no moves and no electricity. He easily outran the stars and led them to crash into one of the spires.

Yeah, that would have been too easy, but I thought I might have been able to catch him off-guard. Honey let loose another Thunderbolt that Electivire easily sidestepped, and then he rushed toward us immediately after.

"Discharge—"

Electivire blinked forward and placed his huge hand around Honey's face. He threw him in the air, and the Discharge only activated when Honey had been halfway to landing. He crashed into the ground, rolling until he reached the barrier. I was about to protest and say that he'd said he would only be dodging, but that hadn't been what Volkner had said. He had said no electric type moves and that all that was required of Electivire was to dodge.

Electivire had other ideas. He was having the time of his life.

Honey scrambled back to his feet, and I ordered him to gather enough rocks for Railgun again. He zipped toward one of the spires, his hands glowing with Cross Chop—

And Electivire reached it before he did, even with Radiant Leap and him not actively speeding himself up with electricity. This was his base speed. The Motor Drive ability that Jasmine had spoken to me about wasn't even in play.

Honey immediately unleashed a Discharge, but Electivire blinked behind the Spire to hide. Then, he Teleported back and threw Honey toward the center of the arena. Honey grunted in frustration as he landed face-first into the ground. Red dust from the shattered rocks clung to his fur like glue.

"Just Thunderbolt the ground!" I ordered.

He executed it before he had even stood up. The electric energy broke the ground apart, creating shards of rocks that levitated around Honey. The electric type grunted as he stood, then rushed toward Electivire with Radiant Leap.

"Don't use them yet!" I yelled. "He can just hide behind the spire. Break it apart with another Thunderbolt!"

Since Volkner had said no electricity, he'd be forced to dodge the attack and let us destroy the small spire. If he had a non-electric type move to counter us or used his half-baked barrier, then we'd just move on and destroy every single rock formation he could hide behind. This would just be a distraction.

My theory materialized when Electivire stomped a foot against the ground with gleaming eyes and another barrier appeared. Since they weren't the most defensively-minded battlers, their barrier was actually quite terrible. Worse than Princess' or the other psychics I had seen. It was comforting in a way to see such a powerful Pokemon still have holes and flaws. The barrier struggled against the Thunderbolt, but it didn't break through.

"Thunderbolt every other spire," I said. "Use Railgun or Discharge if he approaches."

Electricity instantly shot out toward all of the rocks jutting out of the ground, and Electivire simply observed with the same grin it had sported the entire battle. He was using the last remaining stone as an anchor, and he would never abandon it, because if he did the same tactic of combining Railgun and Thunderbolt would break through his barrier. I leaned against my knees and contained a smile.

"Radiant Leap back."

Honey spun, turning in less than a second, and he blurred back until I signaled him to stop. This distance… was perfect. If one attack could break through the barrier on its own, it was this.

"Thunder everywhere," I ordered.

Electabuzz whirled his arms, gathering so much electricity that he lost control of the rocks orbiting him. He charged it faster than before, and more energy crackled through him and caused his fur to stand on edge. Honey let loose the massive Thunder, and it looked more like a Discharge than anything else. Electricity flew everywhere, lashing out against the world.

A focused Thunder would have dealt more damage, but all we needed was a hit. Electivire put both of his hands up and the screen shimmered and cracked under Thunder's weight.

"Keep it going!" I yelled.

It would tire him out, but we needed to force the barrier to break. After six seconds of struggle, it finally did. The electricity singed Electivire's fur, but another electric type would feel very little from an electric type attack, especially at our power disparity. The spire had broken down, and Electivire had nowhere else to hide from Swift. All he had left was his psychic barriers.

One more hit.

"Electric Swift," I continued as sweat dripped into my eyes.

More stars barrelled toward Electivire, whose smile widened as he waited until the last second to sidestep Swift. He rushed toward Honey, who quickly countered with a Thunderbolt. Electivire blinked to the left, easily avoiding the move. The Swift slowly drifted back and began to chase down Electivire.

"Discharge! Keep him away!" I yelled.

I almost celebrated when the electricity engulfed Electivire, but bit my lip when I realized that he'd simply plunged inside Discharge with a barrier surrounding him. He clasped Honey's throat and threw him up in the air. Before Electabuzz could land, Electivire kicked him toward his own Swift. The stars rammed into him, and he groaned in pain while he tumbled into the sharp rocks.

"Thunder again!" I quickly said.

Honey got up, pushing a hand against his knee as he gasped for air, but Electivire blinked forward, leaping across the floor and grabbing a handful of rocks across the way. He threw it at Honey at full force, knocking the electric type back and knocking him off his feet and back on the ground. The rocks shattered against Honey and blood started seeping out of his shoulders, torso and legs, but he didn't stop. The Thunder hummed and exploded out of Honey thanks to all of our training, destroying everything around him. Electivire narrowly backstepped and jumped to get out of the attack's range. As Jasmine had warned, an unfocused Thunder was not only not as powerful, but the range was also a lot worse.

I was fighting for my life here and Volkner wasn't even looking at me. He was speaking to Jasmine instead and had deactivated his microphone.

Look at me! I internally screamed.

If we wanted to win, we'd need to combine everything we had at our disposal. I didn't know how much time was left, but I was certain at least five minutes had passed by now. Honey gasped for air as he awaited my next command, and my eyes narrowed toward the grinning Electivire.

He had speed, Teleportation and barriers to avoid getting hit, although he'd largely stopped Teleporting and was mostly just running quickly now. Throwing rocks or throwing Honey himself was a way for him to reset the tempo in his favor.

"Swift," I muttered.

Bait him into either being forced to run or gunning for Honey to use him as a shield. Of course, he had his barrier too, but I had noticed that Electivire was having fun here. He wasn't fighting optimally, even by barely using any moves. I supposed that the restrictive parameters of the fight were something new for him and it'd be unfair if he didn't give us at least a chance.

Honey lifted an arm, and fifteen stars shot out toward the electric type all at once. Electivire let out a gleeful, engine-like laugh and ran forward. I waited for a single second, and he had already closed half of the distance.

"Give me a constant Thunderbolt!" I said.

Electricity crackled through Honey's fur and rose toward his hands until it flew at Electivire, who simply side-stepped to the left. Electabuzz tracked him with the attack, and Electivire kept circling around him, sliding under or jumping over the Thunderbolt when needed.

"Railgun!"

Nearby stones shook against the ground until they rose and flew toward Electivire in an attempt to cut him off. We finally forced him to put his barrier up, and the rocks simply slammed against it. Electivire suddenly cut in and beelined toward Honey, having decided that he was done playing around. Perfect. Now I could finally reveal our trump card—

"Screech!" I snapped.

Electabuzz gasped, his chest doubling in size until he bellowed it all out. Electivire squinted, and his barrier faltered. I didn't even have to speak. Honey immediately used Thundershock so the attack could come out as fast as possible.

My heart sank when one of Electivire's tails instantly wrapped around Honey's ankle. At first, I'd thought the contact itself meant that he'd been electrocuted, but the outer, black part of Electivire's tail was apparently made of some kind of insulating material because even when Honey's Thundershock turned into a Thunderbolt, it had no effect on the electric type. I quickly ordered him to use Discharge, but his electric type attacks were all being channeled inside of Electivire's tail.

Not a move, I thought through gritted teeth. Just biology. Electivire's tails were longer than they looked, and Honey was out of range of any punching moves.

"Screech then Swift!"

As soon as Electivire heard Screech come out of my mouth, he slammed Honey against the ground like a rag and then threw him back again. Somehow, his tail threw harder than his arms and Honey slammed against Volkner's side of the barrier. He struggled back to his feet with ragged breaths, and erratic sparks of electricity danced through his fur.

Electivire didn't stop there, however. His muscles bulged as he threw rocks with both his hands and tails. Honey put up a Protect, and the green barrier shimmered as he slowly trudged forward. All of his Radiant Leaps and Thunders had tired him out. Only Angel would still be able to keep going at this point, and yet Honey was still standing.

But what else did we have in the cards? Static Shield wasn't ready yet, and I wasn't sure it would even constitute a win.

"Thunder," I muttered.

It was a gamble. Everything else had failed, and this was the last hope that we had. A focused Thunder that'd be able to catch him off-guard. All of our Thunders so far had been unfocused. The kind that Jasmine hated. They struck in a wide range, but they were slow enough for Electivire to react and step away. He hadn't seen our quick, focused attack yet. It was faster than the other and I hoped that it would be enough. Honey let out a few raspy breaths as electricity coiled around his arms. Electivire snorted, opting to run in again.

Good. The only way this would work was if we were underestimated.

Stones rose and fell around Honey's feet, and he let out a defiant roar before unleashing the Thunder. The electricity rushed toward Electivire in a straight line faster than what he'd gotten used to.

The electric type's eyes widened, and he…

He sidestepped and barely dodged. It was so close that Electivire's hair puffed up.

Honey was already unconscious, with no way to keep going. I bit my lip and recalled him, and satisfaction radiated out of Electivire. He had a lot of fun with this battle, and he let Volkner know vocally, yelling so loudly that my eardrums shook.

I clenched my Pokeball and sighed.

It had been so close. So, so close.

Volkner motioned me to come back, and I followed suit, dragging my feet across the ground as I did so. Extra training might have made the difference in that fight, either through Railgun being stronger, Thunder being faster or Honey being able to last longer in battle. As it stood, I would have an easier time in the Gym Battle thanks to Honey experimenting with the rocks here, but that didn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

"You lost," Volkner declared.

"I did," I said.

He paused, looking to Jasmine and then frowning. "You're not going to ask me for another chance?"

"A deal is a deal," I said. "I feel terrible about it, but you can't change it after it's been forged. I'll be… I'll be okay, I think."

"Jasmine, show her to the door," Volkner said, waving a hand as he recalled Electivire. "I'll wait for you so we can talk about your stuff."

Jasmine nodded and pushed me forward. We walked in silence toward the lobby, and then outside the Gym. It felt a lot colder than it had been an hour earlier despite me knowing that it wasn't the case.

"Grace," Jasmine said. "I'm sorry for putting you through this. You know, I'm an alcoholic."

The declaration came out of nowhere, and I turned toward her. I had suspected it, but she hadn't drunk since starting to train me until tonight, so I thought that I was just being paranoid.

"I've tried to swear off alcohol, but I can't," she said with a sad smile. "Every time I walk near a bar or a restaurant, every time I see someone else drinking, it gives me to urge to do it too. I've never gone longer than a week and a half without drinking. It was my escape. It still is. Even Metagross say it's impossible to keep a bottle away from me, and trust me they've tried."

"I'm… sorry about that. I was wondering if you were or not," I said.

"I met Volkner at a support group meeting for addicts, actually," Jasmine said, leaning against the Gym's steel walls. "I was hoping to use this vacation to rid myself of my addiction. There was never enough time with my work."

"He's an addict?" I asked, not hiding the sheer shock in my tone.

"No, he used to be one. Smoking addiction," Jasmine said. "He was giving the meeting to help others. At first, I thought it was Sinnoh's way of spying on me, but he was just a genuinely good guy. He's my rock, you know. He keeps me grounded at my worst. I was making progress again, but I relapsed today… and I made you do this."

I nodded. "What's done is done. I still appreciate all your help. Honey would be nowhere near as strong as he was without you, and there are other ways I can have him evolve."

Although begging Cynthia for help would not make me happy, and Honey would be extremely disappointed in himself.

"It's not over, Grace," Jasmine said.

I stared at her, and for a second, it was as if she glimmered in the moonlight.

"Volkner never expected you to even land a single hit, let alone two," she said. "You actually managed to get him to run out of Teleports and showcased Railgun extremely well, even though it's still barely useable as it is right now. He was impressed. I convinced him to give you another chance during your Gym Battle. That means yours will be a four-on-four with Electabuzz vs Electivire as the final act if you agree. Even if you win the four-on-four Volkner won't give you your badge if you lose the last fight. It'll be the same parameters, except he upped the ante. Four hits instead of three. Will you take up the challenge?"

I beamed. "Yes! Yes, we will!"

"Good. My heart feels like lead no longer," she smiled. "Go on, now. We've kept your girlfriend waiting long enough. I'll give you some pointers in two days if you're willing to take them. I'm going to be busy with Volkner tomorrow. He's probably going to take the entire day off to make sure I get to my support group."

"I am interested," I said. "If I win the battle and you go to your meetings, you'll be forgiven."

Jasmine chuckled. "Good. I was beginning to think that you'd forgiven me already, and that wouldn't do."

"Well, you said it, right? Don't let powerful people walk all over me," I shrugged. "If I catch you drinking again, I'm snitching to Volkner and never seeing you again, by the way. I know you like me."

"Going for the throat, are you?" Jasmine grinned.

"Good night, Jasmine," I said after a short smile.

No matter what region you came from or how invincible or put-together someone seemed at first glance, humans were still vulnerable and flawed. All of them.

Another chance had been provided for me, and I wasn't going to squander it. We were close. All we needed was to iron things out, and a win would be possible even if it took four hits instead of three. I hopped on one of the nighttime buses and made my way back to the Center, handing Honey's ball to a tired Nurse Joy. Even though Electivire had barely fought, Honey had still fainted. The power disparity there was still mind-boggling. Had he used Motor Drive, he would have been impossible to hit.

I slowly opened the door to Cece's room and saw that she was scribbling on one of the notebooks I'd given her with her hair was tied back, exposing her neck. When she heard me come in, she turned toward me and beamed and shot up. Slowking was sitting in his usual corner and snoring while he slept.

"You're not sleeping?" I asked. "It's one in the morning."

"I was coming up with some custom move ideas and waiting for you to come back," she said. "How did training go?"

"Good and bad," I slowly muttered as I shuffled toward her.

My hands wrapped around Cece as I closed my eyes and she responded in kind, not minding how sweaty I was at all. She gently ran her hands through my hair. I probably needed another haircut soon with how long it was getting again.

"What's wrong?" She whispered.

"I'm recharging," I said.

I stayed there, hugging her and nuzzling my head in her neck for a good five minutes before I went and showered. When I came back in my pajamas, she was back to writing on her notebook. I stepped behind her and placed my arms around her neck, and she affectionately grabbed my right arm and caressed it. She'd written a bunch of moves for all of her Pokemon, but none for Zweilous.

"No love for Sol and Zerst?" I asked.

"They're too unfocused for the concepts I came up with," she shook her head. "When they're a Hydreigon, I'll try."

My eyes glanced over a name that caught my attention.

"Requiem?" I muttered.

"It's an idea for Lehmhart. A constant song that makes enemies take damage. Sort of like Sandstorm or Hail," Cece said. "Ideally, we'd reach a point where we'd be able to knock out low-leveled Pokemon en masse with the move while I stuck behind Slowking's barrier, which will absorb the TE while I only hear the song."

The fact that she'd also be able to kill non-protected humans in huge numbers with this was left unsaid between us, but it was understood.

"Woah. Tying it with his love for music is really cool, I'm sure he'll love it," I smiled. "Uh, I have to tell you about something important. Don't panic, okay? Everything worked out in the end, even though it almost didn't and it was a terrible idea to begin with."

"Now you're worrying me."

I explained how Jasmine broke me into the Gym and everything that transpired there, and she stayed frozen the entire time, only contributing through groans and sighs that progressively got more pronounced as the story progressed.

"So yeah," I said. "That almost went terribly."

"Why would you even agree to this in the first place?" Cece scolded. Her voice was level, but stern.

"Well, I'm going to be honest, I thought Jasmine would manage to get Volkner to ease off— and I mean, she did, but there were consequences, I guess. I don't know. I guess she's great at battling, but her addiction is screwing her decision-making in every other facet of her life."

"Yes, that's how addiction works. You need to call me before doing this stuff," she sighed. "What if Volkner hadn't given you another chance? If he'd reported that you had broken in? Hell, what if a Gym Trainer smells blood in the water, goes against his orders and leaks it to the press? We're so elusive that they would just love some controversy, Grace."

"Yeah… my bad."

Cece exhaled. "I can't stay mad at you for long, but you almost flew too close to the sun tonight. You need to think about these things."

"Yeah…" I said again.

"Go to sleep, Grace," she said after a pause. "I'll finish up here and join you in a bit. I still don't know how you can sleep with the lights on— what? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Oh. Yeah, uh, I'll go to sleep," I muttered. "I'm exhausted. I'll tell the rest of my team about this when I wake up."

"Then let's sleep in tomorrow!" She cheerfully said. "I'll wake up first and bring you breakfast in bed."

I got into the bed and sneakily watched her ticks as she thought up of concepts for moves. Tapping her pen against her lips, staring at the ceiling, that muted, excited squeal she did every time she got a good idea in order not to wake me or Slowking up. The little things that made her, her.

It was always the little things, wasn't it?

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, 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, creativityfails, Spartanstoryteller, Peter D, Bum, Zaire M

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 231

I picked up Honey from the nurses the next afternoon because I'd stayed in Cece's bed the entire morning. She had not lied when she'd said that we would sleep in, but the truth was, it felt nice to catch up on some sleep and cuddle with her. I figured I would go train with her and Lauren later since Jasmine would be busy today. Hopefully it'd be the start of her alcoholism getting better. Last night still felt like a dream to me, but what I vividly remembered was Volkner's love for Jasmine. It was real. I was sure he would take care of her today, Gym duties be damned.

But before training, I had to catch my family up to speed on yesterday's events. With how everyone but Sunshine was still growing, it was starting to get very crowded in my Pokemon Center room even if fitting them all in was still possible, so I'd gone to the beach again. Buddy had told me during one of our talks that Jellicent grew their entire lives at an extremely slow rate, so his was negligible and he could resize himself to whatever he desired anyway so long as it was reasonable. According to him, there were some truly gargantuan Jellicent in the depths of the ocean that only came up to the surface to hunt, but he had never seen one of those sizes himself.

I released Honey last, and his head hang low and he apologized to me right away for losing. Needless to say, everyone demanded to know what had gone on last night, and although I was about to answer, Honey took over and explained everything himself. My Pokemon either weren't familiar with human rules or in Sunshine's case just didn't care, so they didn't see anything wrong with me breaking in. What they cared the most about was the battle, obviously.

Sweetheart clamored to Honey's left and her cocoon rattled as she demanded to know exactly how strong Electivire was while Sunshine sneakily listened from a few feet away, hiding his curiosity. Angel patted Honey's back with a few vines, but couldn't stop himself from wrapping more and more around him until he squeezed the electric type into a hug to cheer him up. Buddy was more silent, offering a comforting gaze and asking Honey if he wanted to prank him to feel better.

Honey finally laughed, saying that that wasn't how pranks even worked.

And of course, Princess offered to maim Electivire. She did not enjoy Honey recounting how much the electric type had laughed or mocked him during the fight. I hadn't understood Electivire's words since it was my first time meeting him, only felt the emotions radiating off of him, but he was apparently a devious trash talker that had tried to provoke Honey on numerous occasions. Thankfully the bait hadn't worked and Honey stayed cool-headed. It was interesting to see the contrast between Volkner's behavior and his starter's. Princess and I were very similar.

I had tried at least five times to get a word in to assuage Honey's worries, and I only managed to get everyone's attention by clapping my hands.

"We might have lost, but Jasmine negotiated another chance for us," I announced. Honey's eyes widened with a mix of disbelief and hope. "It'll be right after our Gym Battle. I still need to figure out if it'll be in public, and if it is, if the arena will be reset."

Honey screamed for joy, and Princess tackled him with a hug saying that she'd keep Electivire alive since he needed to be there for her brother's battle. Sweetheart demanded to be included in the hug too, and Angel dragged the entire team together in one big pile— including me and Sunshine, much to the dragon's displeasure. I heard him whisper 'children' to himself, but the barest hint of a smile was on his face. The different skin textures felt odd on my skin. Princess and Honey's thin fur, Buddy's liquid-like skin (he barely had a form from being squeezed down the middle), Angel's smooth vines, and Sunshine and Sweetheart's rough scales.

When he released us, I placed a hand on my chin and tapped a foot on the ground. I wanted the fight to be public for the simple reason that it'd look good for me, win or lose. I had almost created a PR disaster for the Poketch Company, but this was an opportunity. Even if Electivire held back, Volkner was still the second-strongest Gym Leader and was consistently compared to the Elite Four even though he was demonstrably weaker than them. Some people insisted that he was overrated when compared to someone with Byron's experience and that he was actually the third strongest, but that didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Any kind of battle with his starter would be a boon for what the Poketch Company thought of me. If I lost— and I wasn't entertaining losing, but if I did, then it wouldn't reflect badly on me at all. After all, who expected the girl with five badges to win that battle?

But if I won, beyond getting Honey to evolve, I would create another splash, and the Poketch Company loved when I was on the news.

I would text Jasmine asking for the details of the battle tomorrow. Right now, she needed to focus on more important things.

"Let's start planning," I declared.

Honey answered with a firm nod, and I could feel the determination bleeding off of him. Beyond his loss, he'd gotten a taste of what awaited him beyond this form and was hungry for more. I was certain that part of him even wished he'd seen Electivire at his full strength, but that battle would be decided before it had even begun. There was still a huge gap to close before we could even hope to win that fight. An evolution was a shortcut, but it wasn't the end of it all.

"What went wrong yesterday?" I asked.

It was tough to do my usual autopsy when there was no video available. Seeing myself battle in the third person always did wonders when spotting mistakes and improving upon them. Sweetheart chimed in, but Buddy gently told her to stay silent to let me focus and reminded her that she hadn't been there.

"It's not really a matter of what went wrong but what we can improve upon and what worked," I muttered. "Electivire will know our tricks next time, but do you know what a Gym Leader and their Pokemon's biggest weakness is?"

Honey stared around, hoping for someone to answer. Princess opened her mouth—

"Princess! No cheating," I said. "Just give it a try, Hon."

The fairy type let out a sad chirp and apologized to Honey. The electric type answered with overconfidence.

"No," I said. "Although Electivire will definitely be coming into that second battle underestimating us. The answer is stagnation. Once someone becomes a Gym Leader, they won't have much time to train with their personal teams beyond occasionally using them against powerful trainers that challenge them each year. Maybe they make them train on their own, but that's it. You become a Gym Leader, and you settle. You sacrifice progress to take care of your community and foster the growth of future trainers."

I paused, wondering if any of the current Gym Leaders beyond Fantina ever regretted that decision deep down. Even outside of Sinnoh, this problem still applied.

"Electivire will still be the same when we face him, but we will not," I said. "We'll be stronger."

Honey's mouth stretched into a toothy grin and I could tell that had fired him up.

"The three things that worked were— actually, let me get my laptop open for this," I said, grabbing the device from my backpack. Angel reflexively made a bed of vines for me to sit on so I couldn't get sand all over my clothes and I started to type. "The two things that worked perfectly were Thunder and Radiant Leap. Thunder breaks through Electivire's barrier instantly and Radiant Leap allows you to keep up with him, even if that's temporary— guys come sit. Reading lessons."

Sweetheart groaned at that, but she crawled at my side while Princess floated above my shoulder. Angel was already behind me and Buddy made himself as small as possible so he could fit. Honey sat to my right, while Sunshine lay in the sand with an open eye to listen to my strategizing.

"Pay attention to the letters," I said. "Buddy, pop quiz! What's that word!" I yelled, pointing to 'barrier'.

The water type hesitated, but he answered with the correct word.

"Good job," I smiled, rubbing whatever the hell he was. Some kind of squiggly star with his two red eyes piercing his pale blue skin. "Moving on, the thing that didn't work that well, but will work if we work on them enough. Discharge, Screech and Railgun. Discharge is an excellent zoning tool that can reset the tempo. Swift works for zoning too, but no need to work on it. I'd rather focus on other things."

Honey winced, probably remembering when he got kicked into his own Electric Swift. He had avoided that part of the story when telling his siblings about it, so I decided to keep silent not to embarrass him.

"Discharge can always come out faster, but if we train Railgun enough, it will be powerful enough to break through Electivire's shield on its own, and we can use it like Princess' shrapnel. Smaller, focused projectiles or beams of energy break through psychic barriers easier than wide attacks like Discharge."

The fairy nodded proudly nodded since she was the one that had helped Honey work on the concept for that attack.

"Screech is self-explanatory. No matter how strong Electivire is, he still has ears, but the problem is that he'll know to expect it now. Plus, none of that will be enough. The issues with Electivire are his speed and Teleportation," I started. "But thankfully it looks like even he has limits. He stopped using the move midway through the battle, and even Jasmine said as much while you were unconscious. The best strategy here would be to bait out as many Teleports as we can at the start until he runs out, and then we can start going in for real."

I stopped, at my hands hovered over my keyboard.

"Of course, we can always get a little bit innovative and refute that entirely," I grinned. "Go in while they least expect. That means countering Teleport in some way… you don't learn dark moves naturally and I can't spend anything on a TM right now, so I'll keep a tab on that for now. If I manage to figure something out, we can catch them off-guard, because that's how we win this. Both hits we got, we did because Electivire hadn't anticipated them. Next up, Static Shield."

Honey's fur stood on end, along with my hair and Princess' own fur as he reflexively charged up electricity until Buddy called out.

"We'll have to wait for Jasmine and Amphy to keep helping us with that one, but we'd need a more advanced version of the technique. Something strong enough to count as a hit and that would stop Electivire from actually touching you with anything other than his conductive tails."

That meant that the move needed not only to paralyze opponents that physically hit Honey, but to have electricity automatically jump at nearby Pokemon. My Pokemon all nodded, and I finished up my mini-report. It would have been ten times the length had I gotten footage of the battle, but we were done for now.

"So, Hon. While I train with Lauren and Cece, I want you to prioritize Railgun first and Discharge second. Tomorrow when we're with Jasmine again, we'll focus on Static Shield. That okay with you? Anyone else want to chime in with an idea?"

Aside from a few well-meaning but terrible suggestions from Angel and Sweetheart, no one had anything to say.

"Well then, let's get back to the Center. Now, now, Sweetie you'll get to swim later. You've got to work on Earthbreaker!"

—

Training went well for the next few hours. I mainly focused on getting Angel familiarized with Solar Beam against Lauren's Sceptile, since the grass type would be resistant to the attack. Even with all of our experience and strength, it was still only slightly smaller than the Solar Beam Gardenia's Sunflora had used against me, but then again, she had Solar Power, Growth, and a mastery of Sunny Day we still couldn't match to this day.

Lauren was delighted when I told her that Volkner was going to send the video of her battle to Flint. I skirted around the detail of what happened last night and only told her that Jasmine had helped, which was a twisted version of the truth. I knew Cece would breathe easier because of it. Speaking of Cece, Lehmhart was a real menace in battle and had won the first battle against Lauren's Seismitoad and nearly won the second, although Seismitoad wasn't used to fighting such a large Pokemon. Thirteen feet tall was nothing to scoff at, and it meant that her Muddy Water was useless at sweeping Lehmhart away. Volis had fared better, since he was so quick on his feet Lehmhart couldn't fight back that well, but the collateral damage from his Hammer Arms and Stomping Tantrums had severely damaged the Sceptile.

He'd fought Rhydon too, although the rock type had won thanks to his advanced strength. The fact that the rest of our Pokemon were catching up to both him and Sunshine was undeniable, however.

Before we finished for the day and left, however, I wanted to test my mettle against the ground type with Buddy. Cecilia stood opposite of me with Golurk already out in the field. Princess had fixed it up for what felt like the hundredth time. Slowking, who was tired from keeping up the barrier for so long, spoke into our minds and began the battle.

"Night Shade, then stay far away and Hydro Pump!" I yelled out.

Jellicent whistled sharply, and two shadows materialized by his side. Lehmhart's biggest weakness was how weak he was at a distance, but his size meant that it couldn't be easily exploited, especially when this arena was smaller than normal. Three thick pressurized jets of water flew out of Jellicent's mouth and his clones with a loud boom. Lehmhart lifted a hand, blocking one with his sheer mass, but the other two rammed into his tough exterior.

"Phantom Force and Thunder Punch!" Cece yelled.

Golurk disappeared into thin air, smoke evaporating from him until he slipped into another plane. The fact that something so large could just disappear like that was astonishing. The Hydro Pumps broke against the ground as if they were passing through the invisible Golurk, but I knew he was still getting hurt. Knowing that he could only be gone for around fifteen seconds at most, I waited for Lehmhart to reappear with bated breath…

And he did, dwarfing Buddy by a mile and with one of his fists wreathed in electricity. With surprising dexterity, he struck directly at Jellicent, but the water type narrowly dodged the attack and flew around his arm. The shades raged, denting Golurk's armor with a combined Hydro Pump.

"Aim for his knee," I ordered.

"Resonance!"

The Hydro Pump didn't stop. It simply slid down toward Lehmhart's leg, and Buddy added his own attack to the mix. Something within Lehmhart rumbled, and the sound of his engine bellowed erratically until it turned into a strange tune. A wave of ghostly energy exploded out of him and destroyed the shades in a single hit. Jellicent's body rippled, his eyes dimmed and he froze in place.

Cece's next order was obvious. A humongous Thunder Punch slammed against Buddy and sent him exploding everywhere. The shock from Buddy disassembling made him come to his senses and he quickly reformed.

"Stomping Tantrum," Cece continued.

Lehmhart jumped into the air, and the world held its breath. When he landed, the ground burst open and Buddy's fragments flew apart before most could reach the main body. The ones that did, however, reformed into a smaller, weaker version of himself. It would take a bit for him to gather everything again.

"The knee," I said again.

Night Shade was automatic to us now. Buddy formed two and sent another one crashing against Lehmhart for good measure, and a Hydro Pump washed against the ground type's knee. It was the thinnest and weakest part of his body. Golurk's knee buckled, slowing him down, and the ghost type leaned against Slowking's barrier for support. I smiled when we'd bought enough time for Jellicent to gather most of his body.

"Go in and Water Spout!"

Buddy screamed, propelling himself with Water Sport to rush toward Golurk's knee while his shades kept applying pressure—

"Phantom Force!"

And Golurk disappeared. Still, the attack went through. Water exploded out of every inch of Jellicent's head. Each jet was powerful enough to stab through steel, and the pain from the attack forced Golurk out of hiding. The ground type flickered in and out of reality and the water cut through his tough exterior.

Ideally, this was when Buddy would slip inside of his body and use Water Spout, but I didn't want to send Lehmhart to the Center for days.

"Hammer Arm," Cece said, crossing her arms.

Golurk lifted a glowing fist into the sky, slamming it against the ground with all of his might despite all of my attacks. The earth wept from the blow and Slowking's barrier shimmered as the psychic struggled to keep it intact. Shards of rock flew upward, destroyed the Night Shades and stabbed into Buddy.

This was the problem when facing Lehmhart. His evolution had taught him how to feel pain, but that didn't matter. He was too big and too strong for his simple attacks to be stopped.

"Resonance and Ice Punch!"

I clicked my tongue when mist coalesced around Golurk's fist next and formed into ice. The battlefield would be unnavigable to any Pokemon, but not him. He was just too big for it to even matter and stepped over faults or ridges like they were nothing. Lehmhart let out a pleasant hum as music played from his body, and another wave of shadowy energy passed through Jellicent. The effect was dimmed this time, but the water type still froze and Lehmhart's fist rammed into his face—

And froze him completely.

That was the disadvantage of being entirely made of water I supposed.

Cece breathed a sigh of relief. "My win?"

"Well, Buddy can barely move, so yes," I said, recalling the water type. "Lehmhart's a monster, huh?"

"His size is a blessing and a curse," she said as she recalled him. We both joined Lauren, who had been sitting next to Slowking and watching the fight. "In a real battle, I need to figure out a way to improve his defense. Something that will work multiple times, unlike Resonance. Iron Defense works for physical moves, but…"

"No one's crazy enough to fight Lehmhart up close except Volis," I said.

"He likes a challenge," Lauren grinned. "I'd like to say I could help with Lehmhart's moves, but I don't know enough about how he works yet."

"I'll figure it out," Cece said. "Let's call Mira so Alakazam can send us home."

It was no use wasting potions now that we were done with training since all of our Pokemon were going to go to the Pokemon Center.

"I'll have Princess fix the damage in the meantime. People use this path sometimes."

Cece raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah. Denzel says that there are rumors about this spot going around because of how much we're using it. It might be best to switch it up tomorrow, even if I'm not here."

"Thanks for the heads up," Lauren said.

Princess groaned when she saw the state of the ground next to us, but she got to work and soon enough, we were back home.

—

Craig had left a few days prior, so Denzel's training had come to an end (and he was very cagey about anything he'd learned). That meant that we could hang out a lot more whenever he wasn't busy having his 'totally not a date' excursions with Emi. Of course, they weren't dating yet, but I knew from Sylveon they were trying, and that meant that they were spending a lot of time together, whether it be outside, streaming together or making videos together. Pauline wasn't jealous at all. In fact, she was encouraging this in very non-subtle ways.

The fact that I couldn't reveal this to Cecilia was annoying me. We told each other everything, but this wasn't my place. I did catch Sylveon giving me the stink-eye recently because I wasn't blowing up his trainer's nascent relationships.

Either way, it had been a while since I spent time with Denzel. He sipped on some boba tea while we walked Sunyshore's streets.

"Want to go ride the Ferris Wheel?" Denzel asked. "I went with Emi the other day, it was great."

"I'm saving it for later," I said. "For Cece."

"Ah, I get it," he said. "Let's just head back toward our Center for now, then. Are you sure you don't want any boba tea? It's really good."

"I'd have some if it didn't have those little… what even is that down at the bottom? Olives?"

Denzel nearly choked on his drink. "Olives? That's tapioca! Arceus, why would they put olives in this?"

I smirked. "I was joking, calm down. I'm not that oblivious, although I didn't know it was called tapioca. Anyway, I wanted to ask you something.

"This could either be really good or really bad," Denzel said.

"Have some faith, will you?" I said with a teasing smile. "You'll love it."

"Oh really? Are you finally going to use the gift I gave you and moderate one of my streams."

I stopped myself from grimacing. "Absolutely not. But it's even better, believe it or not— for you. For me, it might as well be the end of the world."

"Now you're just being dramatic. Spit it out."

"I need to come on one of your streams. The just chatting ones," I said. "Poketch Company obligation, I'm afraid."

My best friend's mouth opened agape, and he couldn't even find the words to respond.

"For real?" He stammered.

"Yes, for real," I said. "Then I wanted to ask if you could stream every single time I battled someone in our group—"

"I'm going to announce it right now so you can't back out," Denzel spoke over me. He grabbed his phone out of his pocket and opened up his Chatter app. He typed faster with a single thumb that I did with both. "Can we do this tonight?"

"Tonight? Absolutely not! I need you to prepare me! I don't even know what you're going to be doing."

"Fine, tomorrow," he groaned. "Emi will want in on this to grow her channel too. We draw from the trainer community, but she draws from the coordinator community. With the three of us, we can probably get like… sixty-thousand viewers. That's huge for just chatting. Top of the category in Sinnoh."

"Blergh. Words."

"I need ideas on what to do… oh, I know! We'll start with a Q&A. You have no idea how many questions people have been dying to ask you. I'll make another Chatter post asking people for their questions with a hashtag— actually, I need to cooperate with Emi for this."

"You do you," I said. "I'll just be hoping for the best in my corner."

"No, no. That's not it. I want to ask you something, actually. Remember Goalducc42?"

I looked into the depths of my mind, but no answers came up.

"A username?" I said.

"He's a friend. The guy that did that awesome analysis before the Solaceon tournament—"

"Ah, I remember now! The guy that didn't know Buddy had Water Absorb!" I snickered.

"Well, that was your fault," he said. "Anyway, he's been wanting to interview Cecilia… he's kind of a superfan. I was wondering if we could combine both ideas and turn it into a massive stream. I'm sure he'll actually interview you both if given the chance. He has this neat idea for a podcast and I want to help him get his name out there for when he starts it. Plus, it's good practice."

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" I asked.

"Because she'll say no if it's anyone but you," Denzel said before clasping his hands together. "Come on, please. It'll be great, trust me!"

"I'll ask, I'll ask," I sighed. "Is that it?"

Denzel finished his boba tea as he nodded.

"I'm not looking forward to this," I sighed.

Honey wasn't the only one looking forward to an evolution. All of it was for the Shiny Stone.

"I've been telling you that you're too offline, this is going to be great," Denzel grinned.

—

"He told me to ask you because you'd say no if it wasn't me. It's tomorrow— theres' no time set up yet, but definitely at night so it can be after my training with Jasmine."

Cecilia chuckled as she lounged with her head on my lap. I'd only been in her room for five minutes and I'd already broken the subject.

"Well, he isn't wrong," she said with a hint of a smirk.

"Feel free to say no if you want."

"Well, in an ideal world, I would say no, but I've got to be up there with you."

"I can handle it. Crowds don't make me that nervous anymore," I said.

"Oh, it isn't about your anxiety," Cecilia said. "It's about stopping you from saying something stupid."

I scoffed and tried to rebuke her, but I came up empty.

"Hm?" She teasingly probed.

I grumbled, "You might be right, but you didn't have to point it out that harshly. Fine, I'll tell him you're in, but don't complain!"

I quickly texted Denzel, telling him that Cece had agreed.

"This Goalducc guy is your superfan, apparently. If I'm being honest, it's kind of weird. Denzel showed me a lot of his posts and he gushes about you a lot."

Cece pursed her lips. "Are you jealous?"

"Well, no… I just feel protective, that's all. But Denzel says he's a nice guy, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt."

"Aw. It would have been cute if you were jealous."

I don't know about that, I thought to myself.

I rolled my eyes, but then a question popped into my mind. "You know, I've never asked. Have you figured out of you're gay or bi?"

"No, actually. Before you and the others, I never knew anyone that well outside of Amy," Cecilia softly said. She raised a hand, cupping my cheek, and I felt the cold silver of her ring. "I've never had a crush or fallen in love with anyone else and I don't think I'll do so anyway."

"You know your way around with… words," I blushed. "Thanks."

Cecilia raised her head until her lips met mine, her hand still wrapped around my cheek. Her other one gently pushed me down until she was on top of me and she smiled, her hair draping down toward me.

"You're like the sun," she whispered.

Another kiss, more passionate this time, and—

Someone banged on the door, and I recognized Denzel's voice.

"Guys! Open up, it's time for stream prep! Emi's here too!"

Cece sighed, parting our lips. "I wish you had delayed the fact that I'd said yes."

"Yeah… my bad."

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, 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, creativityfails, Spartanstoryteller, Peter D, Bum, Zaire M

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 232

Denzel and Emilia came into the room with both of their laptops and immediately started setting up. For a second, I had to remind myself that this would just be for practice and not the real deal because of how serious they were. Cece observed them with her arms crossed and lingering frustration that both of them were too engrossed in their technical talk to figure out.

"Ok, so we'll have these act as our two monitors, and this is how it'll look the day of except we'll be live instead of offline," Denzel said, presenting both computers to us.

One of them had some sort of streaming program opened while the others had his chat open on one side and his channel open on the other where we would see our delayed selves. Even while he wasn't streaming, his chat was moving at a slow pace with people talking about tomorrow's event since he had already announced it on his socials. I wasn't good at any of this influencer stuff, but I did know for a fact that Denzel knew how to build up hype for an event.

"Two screens? Is that the norm?" Cece asked.

"It certainly makes things easier when you don't have to repeatedly tab out. Some people even have more, but that's hard when you're a trainer that's traveling," Emi said, turning to her. "What's wrong, by the way? You look disappointed and we haven't even started explaining."

"Oh, nothing," she sighed. "We were just busy."

Denzel hummed a tune as he typed to his chat. A flurry of activity began as soon as his message came out. "Emilia's been talking about this crazy nose-piercing idea—"

"Only you call it crazy," she said.

"I did say it'd look good on you," he defensively told her. "Anyway, moving on! Here's the plan. First, we do a Q&A with the chat. The questions will come from Chatter and will pop up that screen. We've been going through them and filtering out the troll ones, but do you have boundaries you don't want to cross?"

I smiled. "This reminds me of my first pre-interview training with Mel and the team. Uh, it should be fine, right? Isn't this just going to be Pokemon-related?"

Emilia snorted. "Oh, Grace. They want to know much more than that."

"Like what?"

"Like League-related things, personal stuff, politics…"

"Why don't we just scroll through them during the event and you can pick which ones you want to answer? That's a lot easier," Cece said.

Denzel worked his jaw from side to side. "It's a lot less professional than I'd like, but if that allows us to avoid the annoyance of filtering out questions with one day to work with, sure."

Emi picked up from where he left off. "The Q&A will last an hour and a half, but we'll be talking between ourselves during the stream too."

"Oh. Do we have to be, like, entertaining?" I asked. "I'm not great at that."

"You'll do just fine," Emilia said. "Plus, Denzel and I are good at making sure there are no lulls in the stream, so all you have to do is bounce off of us."

My best friend nodded, releasing his Lopunny into the room. The normal type was pissed for whatever reason, but her anger instantly subsided when he threw her a phone.

"You got her one?" I asked.

"The day she got back from the Center after her battle," he nodded. "My chat was quite mean to her for a while, but I shut it down as fast as I could."

"That's always the problem with battle streams," Emilia shrugged. "People always blame the Pokemon when ninety-nine percent of the time it's the trainer who screwed up. No offense, Denzel, I mean I don't understand anything about battling anyway."

"You're good," he said.

Lopunny quickly started typing something on her phone before turning it toward us, showing us the opened Notes application. I already knew what she'd said because she spoke while she typed, which was really cute, especially with how broken her grammar was compared to the words she actually meant to say.

They say I loose to ceiling. Fucking anoying. Kick them in the balls.

"Oh. She's got quite the mouth on her," Cece noticed.

"Uh, yeah as it turns out," Denzel embarrassingly scratched the back of his head. "She's been translating what my team says and they're all quite, uh, talkative. Swablu's the worst of them. She can't say a single sentence without swearing."

"I thought she was a baby?" I said.

"Yes, which makes it worse. Anyway, when she learns proper grammar, I can hook her up with a text-to-speech program and she'll be able to act as my interpreter. She's very excited about it. Right?" Denzel asked, turning toward her.

Lopunny answered with this.

Fuck you. Lovingly .

The delayed response made it extremely funny and we all found it hard not to laugh at it.

"Lopunny will be on the stream too, but she'll take on more of a passive, off-screen role," Denzel said. "I've been looking into recruiting mods that can actually moderate my chat, and she's one of them for better or worse."

Lopunny brooded as she typed, What do u maen worse?

"I mean that you're still learning not to be biased," he groaned. "Pauline will be another, and I've got five other people that will be there, so the chat should be slightly less toxic. Last time it didn't matter since you weren't looking at it, but this time it'll be in your face all the time, and since you're both not used to it, it can be grating at first."

"The brain likes to focus on the negative," Emilia added.

"Don't threaten anyone, I'm pretty sure that could get my channel banned," Denzel said.

"Psht. Come on, I wouldn't threaten someone out loud. I'd make sure I'd threaten them in a way where no one but they know I'm doing it, I can't ruin my reputation."

Cecilia nodded. "I'll be here to stop any mishaps. There's a face she makes before she feels like murdering something."

"Ah, yeah, that thing where she stops blinking and her breath slows," Denzel said. "You're better at spotting it than I am."

"The blinking just stops when she focuses, it doesn't always guarantee violent thoughts. The key is that her body is perfectly still. Like a painting."

"Did you guys speak about this behind my back?!" I stammered with a twinge of betrayal in my heart.

"Oh please, it's common knowledge. There's a blink counter meme about you, and it's not just in my chat. It's everywhere online," Denzel said. "People count how many times you blink during battles."

"I blink plenty."

Although my eyes did always feel dry after, I thought to myself.

"Any other memes about her?" Cece asked with a coy smirk.

"Oh, so now you're interested," I groaned, putting my hands up in defeat.

"The blinking one's the most well-known, but you also have stabbing coming at a close second," Emilia said. "Third is how hard it is to get a hold of you—"

She stopped herself and laughed.

"Actually…" she chuckled. "Denzel has this really funny meme about you saved on his phone—"

My eyes darted to Denzel, and his tall frame somehow shrunk as he shot Emilia a disbelieving gaze. Lopunny, who had already claimed a spot on Cecilia's bed, seemed to be enjoying every second of this.

"It's stupid," he said.

"Show me."

As soon as he had his phone out, I snatched it out of his hand. Cece leaned toward me to look, and she let out a hearty laugh. It was a blurry picture of me… somewhere in Solaceon. It took me a while to remember that it had been taken in that clearing I trained my team in for the tournament. The picture looked to have been blurred on purpose and had the text 'LEGENDARY POKEMON SPOTTED' in all caps and bolded impact font.

"Where's the joke? Seriously, that's not even funny," I mumbled.

"It straddles the line between horribly on the nose and hilarious," Emilia laughed. "And for some reason that makes it even funnier."

"Ha, ha," I mocked. I glanced back down at Denzel's phone and noticed some other memes on his camera roll. "Wait, he has other memes in there—"

"That's enough of that!" Denzel yelled, grabbing his phone back. I tried to grab it, but he extended his arm up in the air until he was out of reach.

"Do you have memes about all of us saved?" I scoffed after giving up.

"He sends them all to me," Emi said. "I'd say at least fifty percent of them are funny."

"You just don't appreciate humor like I do," he shook his head.

"Send all of the memes about Grace to me," Cece spoke to Emilia.

The chestnut-haired girl nodded, and before I could even protest, Denzel spoke over me.

"Let's get back to the topic at hand! We got way too side-tracked. One hour and a half of Q&A. Do you all follow me so far?"

"It's hard to follow with all of this off-topic stuff, could you go over it again?" Emilia teased.

"I'll just choose to ignore you. Next, we have an hour and a half long interview with Goalducc42— his real name is Andrew Melendez. He'll be joined by his friend Archive, who doesn't want his real name out there."

"So it's not just Goalducc now, but this Archive guy too?" I asked. "Every hour it seems like you add new stipulations to the stream."

"A one-hour-and-a-half interview seems ridiculously long," Cece muttered.

"Okay, I get it," Denzel sighed. "You guys don't like it. It's not really an interview, it'll take the form of a podcast. For this section of the stream, Emi and I won't be speaking most of the time. It'll just be you two, Andrew and Archive in a call while we'll be sitting on the bed and joining in to moderate and observe. So we have a three-hour stream, and it'll probably last around ten minutes longer if we're generous. Does tomorrow at nine in the evening work for you all? Because I already said it would be at nine and it would be really awkward to change it now."

"Nine sounds about right, but wait, what are they going to talk to us about? Don't we get a heads up for the questions, to like prepare?" I asked.

"What? No," Denzel said. "That'd be ridiculously inorganic and staged. That's not how this is going to work. If there's a question they ask or something they say that's off-limits, let them know on the spot."

"I liked my prep for my interview with SGNC better than this," I grumbled.

"Relax, it'll be fine. These are two people just as passionate with battling as we are even if they're not in the Circuit," he said. "Cece, does it work for you?"

"If I must."

"Oh, and we'll split the revenue for the stream between the four of us," Denzel said. "It won't be that much, but it'll still be substantial, I'd say. I feel like it'd be a bit unfair if I took it all since you two will be the stars of the show."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense," I muttered. "Anything else—"

"Yes!" Emilia yelled. "You're making a Chatter and a DailyTube account. Both of you."

"I'll be fine, but Grace won't be able to post anything without explicit approval from the Poketch Company anyway," Cece said.

"Same Poketch Company who would love to have her be more active online? It's not much, but just her having an account will make her follower count skyrocket even if she never posts anything and it stops people pretending to be you two dead in their tracks."

"People pretend to be us online?" I asked.

Emilia smiled, focusing on her phone for a few seconds before showing the screen back to me. She had typed the name 'Grace Pastel' in the search bar and there were around a hundred people with variations of my name. It was the same for Cece.

"Grace_Pastel1, _GracePastel, Grace-Pastel, xGracePastel— Arceus, what the hell?" I said, blinking at the screen.

"You're both famous enough to get verified, so this won't be a problem when you make an account," Denzel said.

"Some of these are just fan accounts too," Emilia added. "Not everyone's pretending to be you."

I clicked on the culprit with the most followers, who had nabbed the name GracePastelOfficial for themselves. They had twenty-two thousand followers, which according to Emilia wasn't much, but it was still astonishing that all of those people had been tricked into believing that person was me.

"Really enjoyed my battle with my friend Denzel_Williams. Now I'm on my way to get an apprenticeship with Jasmine! Maybe I'll go to Johto with her next year— why in the world did ten thousand people like this?" I scoffed in disbelief.

"Well, people were high off the end of our battle and were looking for any kind of news from you, so they all converged on this post. It probably got boosted by the algorithm too," Denzel said. "See what I mean, though? At least claiming your spot online is important."

I sighed, blowing a raspberry. "Yeah. Arceus, why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

"I tried!"

Some more accounts that pretended to be me loved acting crazy too. Like, utterly unhinged, which I wasn't. Posting stuff about stabbing, saying that one day I'd snap and commit murder, and other things that made me cringe from the bottom of my heart. Thankfully as Emilia had said, most of the accounts were normal people that were simply my fans that had made fan accounts. Some of them posted news about me and what I was doing while others made montages of my battles. It felt odd to actually be face to face with their accounts. To this day, I had known I had fans but they were faceless and might as well have not existed save for the rare person that was brave enough to stop me on the street. I had Buddy or Princess out specifically to avoid those situations though, so that rarely happened. Denzel, meanwhile, couldn't go ten minutes without getting stopped.

"Should I put out a statement about it?" I said after making both of my accounts. I had already texted Melody about it, and she'd answered instantly with a thumbs-up emoji and said that this was great news. "To stop them from being weirdos?"

"No. The more attention you give it, the more people will do it," Cece said. "You're better off ignoring them."

"She's right," Emi nodded.

"I wish my fans were like yours."

Cecilia's fans looked sane in comparison. Sophisticated, friendly debates about her battles, tactics and Pokemon that reminded me of Denzel's early days before he had blown up. What was strange with Cece was that she was popular and yet her fanbase hadn't devolved into a mess. Of course, there was always the occasional nutjob, but that was a universal issue that plagued every famous person, trainer or otherwise.

"I mean, you do stab things a lot, and the fanbase often reflects the trainer—"

I glared at Denzel, and he innocently lifted his hands.

"I'm just saying…"

"It's not weird when I do it. Right?" I asked, turning toward Cece.

She wrapped an arm around me and kissed my cheek. "Absolutely not. It's very cute."

Emilia raised an eyebrow. "You guys are so weird."

Denzel and Emilia stayed for around an hour to tell us more about the stream, but the conversation often devolved into debates about online culture and fanbases. Denzel helped us ask for a verification checkmark and put us in contact with Goalducc and Archive. They didn't have much followers on Chatter, but he said they mainly focused on the forums, which he had told them was bad for growth if they wanted to do their podcast thing, so he was kind of acting as everyone's social media manager. Emilia kept stressing how abnormally nice he was being. Rare was an influencer of his size who still chatted and helped his fans so much. He even still answered his direct messages, although he had a horrible backlog that was growing by the day. She was quite famous in the coordinator side of the world, although less then we were, but her frequent collaborations with Denzel kept her growth steady and allowed her to act as a bridge between the two communities. And it made people start to talk.

They were together so much that there were rumors that they were dating. Of course, no one but me knew the truth.

Before they left, Lopunny asked to speak to me alone. Denzel found it strange, but he let her do so. Everyone left Cece's room, leaving me only with the normal type, who was still on my bed. Her relaxed, lounging pose was no more, however. She was tense, as if she had been preparing herself for this moment for a while now. She started to type on her phone, but I stopped her.

"You can just speak to me," I said. "What is it that they call you? Wench? That's really rude, honestly, I don't know how you deal with it."

Lopunny huffed, saying that she was proud of her name despite the negative connotations it had. I frequently heard her and the rest of Denzel's team speak with each other and it sometimes boggled my mind. Twig, Snake, Wench and Hog. Sylveon was no nickname, and I hadn't seen them speak with Swablu yet, but the fact that they liked these was still insane to me.

"So? What is it? You can always talk to me."

Lopunny took a deep breath and began speaking, first saying that Denzel had been too focused on the training they'd gotten from Craig and his… situation with Emilia and Pauline to notice the rot that was festering within.

Sylveon had tried to recruit her to destroy his relationship, and when she'd refused he called her a traitor and stopped speaking to her. Just like he had stopped speaking to me after I had the same reaction. He hadn't asked anyone but her, and Lopunny was sure than even Milotic wouldn't join in to help if asked, but this was creating a rift between her and the team because Sylveon kept her isolated from the others. At first, she was surprised that I even knew about this, but I explained that he'd done the same to me.

I bit my lip and exhaled, trying to find a way to put my thoughts into words.

"I have to tell this to Denzel," I said. "He has to speak to Sylveon. Didn't they already have a talk about this? In Hearthome?"

Lopunny didn't answer, instead saying that Sylveon had never expected Denzel to ever start potentially dating someone else, and he hated the idea of sharing. I knew fairy types were possessive and protective— hell, I felt it every day toward Cece even if I kept it deep within me, but if I let that side of me out, I knew I could turn into a horrible, controlling person. Princess was ready to kill and ask questions later if anyone ever threatened me, and Bella had put my friends through a trial to prove that they 'deserved' me.

But this went beyond that.

Lopunny continued, saying that Sylveon might have accepted one woman in Denzel's life, but the idea of dividing his time with two was too much for him to bear. She'd caught him crying on multiple occasions, hidden away from the rest of them. He was spiralling, and it was affecting his training too. New moves came slower to him than the others, and he wasn't as motivated as before.

"I can't imagine Sylvi crying…" I muttered with a twinge of sadness. It was hard not to think back to the little Eevee that I'd first met in Twinleaf. "We need to tell him about this now—"

The normal type furiously shook her head, her ears swaying wildly from side to side. She asked for one more chance to set things right. The next time they were all together, she would essentially stage an intervention with the entire team and reveal everything Sylveon had said.

"That can get ugly," I said. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

She shrugged as sadness emanated from her. She said that they'd always been more independent than my team, and she wanted to try to fix things their way first. She also feared that Denzel would stop his experiments if he heard what Sylveon was feeling. The fairy type had kept everything hidden from Denzel perfectly so far. If it didn't work, then she would talk to me again and ask for my help. I asked her three times if she was certain, and she said yes.

Part of me felt like I was doing the wrong thing for listening to her, but Pokemon were individuals. Going behind her back when she had explicitly asked me not to would feel even worse. One thing was for sure, though, if the intervention went badly and Denzel needed to speak to Sylveon, then I would need to be there with them.

Denzel tried to ask me what the conversation had been all about, but I told him I couldn't say, and I told Cece the same thing despite wanting to tell them. One question sprung to mind, however. Why had Sylveon not done anything himself? I was happier because of it, but he kept asking others to do what he wanted instead of doing anything himself.

Not that there was anything he could do anyway—

Oh. Oh.

He had asked for Lopunny's help because she had a phone and was literate.

—

I found it easier to focus the next day despite having struggled to sleep last night. Sleep had cleared my mind and managed to make me a lot more positive than I'd been. At the core of his being, Sylveon wanted Denzel to be happy. If Lopunny could communicate that along with the fact that Denzel would always have time for him, then she would succeed.

Melody had sent me new terms and conditions for whatever I wanted to post. She had to run every single post by her team before it was approved, and only then would I be able to upload whatever I wanted. I was also surprised to see that Cece and my account was already verified, and the news of our arrival on Chatter had made the rounds. It was only morning, but I already had passed eighty-thousand followers and I was climbing quickly. Cece was slightly above that, at eighty-six thousand. Melody had me put some Poketch Company corporate speak in my bio. I looked up Craig's account for my own amusement and saw that he had six million followers. Even Cynthia had an account, although she only posted government-related stuff. She had fifteen million followers, which was almost half of Sinnoh's population. Chatter was mostly a Sinnoh-based platform, and other regions used their own social media that was mostly disconnected from it. Denzel? He had two hundred thousand.

I'd already gotten a bunch of direct messages, but I got tired of looking at them really soon when I read the third message asking me to stab them and the second asking me to meet in Sunyshore and the countless number of creepy messages and I set my direct messages to friends only.

Thankfully, my teacher arrived as soon as I had enough of looking at the website.

Jasmine had messaged me the exact time she would pick me up and came at eleven in the morning on the dot.

"Jasmine!" I smiled. "Did you go to your support group?"

"Pinky promise," she said. "Feel free to ask Volkner. It wasn't… well, I can't help but think that I'm not like them every time I go there, but I've finally acknowledged that I am. Now it's a matter of putting in the effort… Arceus, let's just go and train. The further I am from a city the better it'll be."

I felt a pang of pity for the Gym Leader. "Will you be fine when you get back?"

"I'm going to be honest, I might need you to drop me off at Volkner's Gym. I don't think I can be trusted alone, Grace."

"Okay. Well, I'm free until… eight thirty, so I'll stick around until Volkner's off his shift."

"It feels weird having a teenager babysit me, but thank you," she said. "I mean it."

Jasmine released Metagross, Teleporting us away and I started to tell her about needing more help for Static Shield. Before that, though, I asked her about the battle with Volkner, and she said the fight between Honey and Electivire would be in a public and would be right after the 4v4. That meant that the changes we'd made to the arena would stick.

The afternoon passed in a flash, and soon enough, evening came. When I arrived in Denzel's room, he had already set everything up, and Emilia and Pauline were there too, although the redhead wasn't in the shot and away from any microphone. Yes, they had bought large microphones specifically for this, and a fancy face cam was mounted on the desk. Four chairs that had no doubt been brought from our friends' rooms had been arranged around the desk. I shot Lopunny a knowing look, and she shook her head, signaling that an opportune moment hadn't come quite yet. She returned to typing something to Pauline, who guffawed at whatever she had said.

"How are your nerves?" Cece asked, grabbing one of my hands. "Good?"

"I'm good, don't worry about me," I said. "You're here."

"What about me?" Denzel joked.

"You're irrelevant," I teased back. It felt weird to joke around when Sylveon's plea was gnawing at me.

"Ouch. Well, it's 8:50pm. Let's start the stream— and by the way, please refrain from showing how in love you are on camera. No kissing."

"Obviously. Who do you take me for?" Cece scoffed.

"Someone who can't go five minutes without touching or kissing her girlfriend," Denzel said.

Cece was about to fire back, but she realized she'd kissed me and reflexively placed one of her hands around my waist as soon as she'd seen me. Her hand slipped away, causing Emilia to laugh, but Denzel gently shushed her so he could start his countdown.

"You really need a 'starting soon' screen," Pauline said from the back.

"I've already commissioned one, it's on the way. No talking, Pauline."

"I don't want to interact with the cesspool that is your chat anyway."

"Shh! Three, two, one, start!"

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, 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, creativityfails, Spartanstoryteller, Peter D, Bum, Zaire M

 

[Soussouni1]

CHAPTER 233 - Debut

The atmosphere changed as Denzel clicked the 'GO LIVE' button. His and Emi's face seemed to shift, like they were more relaxed and natural somehow even though I knew for a fact that they were faking it— or at least performing for an audience. My body tensed, and I readjusted my sitting position, leaning back to appear more comfortable. The stream had just started and the viewcount was already above ten thousand and rising fast.

Denzel didn't exactly have a special introduction like I'd expected him to have. Even after all these months, I had seen him stream, but never actually seen him start one. He stayed silent for around ten seconds and then spoke.

"Hi guys. Emilia and I have finally managed to finagle Grace and Cece into a stream," he grinned. "Is the sound alright?"

I watched in awe as a flurry of agreements flooded the chat. It was like a hivemind, where a few repeating messages could cascade into a wall. Emilia and Denzel proceeded to explain the concept of the stream like they'd done for us for the viewers who had missed the announcement. Every time they spoke, their voices were upbeat. Not unnatural, but just slightly forced so they could be more entertaining.

"Okay guys," Emilia said, turning toward us. We were both sitting in the center and their chairs were flanking us. "Go ahead and introduce yourselves!"

"Grace Pastel. Pokemon Trainer."

"Good evening, I'm Cecilia."

"Come on, give it a little bit more energy before we jump in," she rolled her eyes. "Don't clam up. Here, if you had one thing you wanted to say to your fans watching the stream right now, what would it be?"

"Thank you for your support," Cece dipped her head. "I know I don't interact with the world as much as you would like, but I appreciate you."

Woah. That had been a lot more professional than what I had planned on saying. My mind scrambled for something to say as Denzel and Emi both turned toward me and the chat was filled with people awaiting my answer.

Of course, I memorized a few usernames of people who had trash-talked Cecilia while she spoke. They'd be swiftly dealt with after the stream.

"I think it's interesting to have different people rooting for all of us," I said. "Y'know, when I started all of this— this journey, the fact that I'd grow a following went completely over my head. It feels kind of surreal. But still, I'm a trainer first and foremost, so expect me to keep focusing inward. Denzel and Emilia are the group's influencers. We're just… people."

The chat flooded with hearts and other cute emotes, which I assumed people were spamming to support us. I let out the smallest sigh and my shoulders felt lighter.

"You saying we're not people?" Denzel joked.

"You know what I meant. We're normal, you're actually starting to be a celebrity," I said.

"Well, people here don't think you're normal," he shrugged. "Let's get into the questions. Originally this was just going to be a Q&A for Grace, but there'll be questions for Cecilia too. You won't believe what I had to go through to get her to agree to this stream…"

Denzel recounted our interaction, filling any dead air while Emilia scrolled on her Chatter page by using the hashtag Denzel had designated. I only caught a glimpse of the screen but those were a lot of questions that we wouldn't be able to answer. Through some nifty movements that I didn't understand, she put up Chatter on the stream and divided the stream between us and the website.

"So they're going to start answering questions now," Emilia said as soon as Denzel finished his story. It was like an unspoken signal had been given. They were completely in sync. "Feel free to pick and choose which ones you'd like."

"Oh? Does that mean we can just ignore them and scroll until the time passes?" Cecilia joked.

The community seemed to love that, spamming laughing Lopunny emotes. I had noticed a few others in the short time the stream had gone on. There was one for a happy Milotic, a disgusted Roserade, a disgusted Swablu, and a Sylveon with a heart, which was the one they'd used earlier.

"Look at you, getting into the spirit of the stream," Emi smiled. "Obviously no one can force you to answer things, but try to approach this in good faith."

"Fine," she said. "So… do we just go?"

"Yeah. Go ahead."

Cecilia hummed as she scrolled down for a few seconds. A lot of these were actually appropriate because Emilia had sorted the page by the posts that had been liked the most, and it didn't take long for her to settle on a question.

"Do you like this one?" She asked, mousing over the post.

I nodded. "Yeah. It's cool. Plus the stream seems to like it."

Sotaisei

#DenzelQ&A Is there a particular reason why the both of you stay out of the limelight so much? All the information we get regarding you is basically crumbs, and I think that's a real shame considering the talent you both have. You could be building a brand like Denzel.

"Do you want to go first? I feel like we have somewhat similar reasons," I said.

"Sure. It's not like I avoid attention on purpose, I just don't care about it at all," Cece said. "I'm taking this year to grow as powerful as I can as fast as I can, and I don't think I'd be able to do that if I split my attention too much."

"Her attention's mine," I smirked. "And her team's, of course."

I could tell that she wanted to answer and keep flirting, but Denzel spoke before she could.

"Guys…" Denzel muttered.

"Sorry," I raised my hands. "Should I answer now?"

The stream seemed quite satisfied with Cece's answer, although I saw glimpses of people who thought she was making the wrong move. Personally, I knew her true intentions were to start pushing for fame once we made it to Unova proper and not Sinnoh, but she hadn't revealed her intention to leave next year yet. Denzel motioned at me to answer, and I did.

"I mean, I'm kind of similar. I put in one hundred percent of what I have in Pokemon training, which is why I don't really care for fame."

"But you actively avoid it, unlike Cece," Emilia chimed in.

"I mean, I kind of do. It just honestly seems overwhelming. I imagine that Pokemon training and hanging out with Pokemon in general is a lot more fun than doing meet and greets, streams, brand deals, negotiations… yeah, it's just a hassle. Except with the Poketch Company, who thankfully lets me be."

I knew I definitely had a team of employees watching my every move, so it wouldn't do any harm to gas them up a little bit. After a pause where I ignored some people calling me a sellout, I continued.

"I'm a sellout for focusing on Pokemon training? How does that make any sense?" I scoffed. "I genuinely mean it when I say I'm thankful to the Poketch Company for letting me do my own thing. I'll remember your usernames, by the way."

"Okay, well let's calm down. Don't let the voices of a few get a rise out of you. Most people are supportive," Denzel said.

"Denzel does do both, but that's a lot of work," Emilia nodded. "I sometimes wonder how he can fit all of it in a day. Anyway, I suppose we can move on to the next question. Grace, why don't you pick this time?"

"Uh, okay," I said.

I placed my hand on the mouse and scrolled until one question regarding Sunshine caught my eye. This one was addressed only to me, so I glanced at Cece to ask if that was fine. She answered with a discrete nod.

Ope7re

#DenzelQ&A Many people have been curious about your Turtonator. You've owned him for months, and we still haven't seen him in a battle since Zachary, so I was wondering if he plans on cooperating with you any time soon? We all know how difficult gaining the respect of a dragon is, especially one that's a lot stronger than your other Pokemon. Is the relationship awkward with your burns and all?

I had done more battles with Sunshine in Veilstone, but those had been in private with Poketch Company lawyers making our opponents sign an NDA because they hated when I lost in public. What was important to me was clearing up his reputation. A lot of trainers had been burned or scared away during his multiple days spent grieving in Mount Coronet.

"Sunshine's an angel. Kind of grumpy, but when he opens up to you, he's the sweetest dragon ever— what's this emote? Doubt?"

"It means what it says," Denzel awkwardly said. "It's kind of incredible that you say that— not to me, but to most people! Seeing someone that was harmed so much by a Pokemon and calling them sweet just a few months later is kind of insane."

"And something I'll never understand," Emilia agreed.

"Well it… it was hard, but he was having a hard time too. An even harder time," I said. "Everyone knows his trainer died. It was in the headlines. No one's going to be thinking straight after that. If I had to choose, I'd do it all over again to save him."

Cece placed a hand on mine for support.

"Um, regarding the battles, you can expect him to fight against Volkner, so stay tuned for that, but seriously, he's a great person. I'm proud of all the progress he's made and I love him."

"There you have it," Denzel said.

There was a lot of hype for my statement about the battle but none for Sunshine's emotional state. That was streaming, I supposed. I leaned back to hide my annoyance, leaving the mouse to Cece and while she scrolled, Denzel spoke up again.

"It's not uncommon to find trainers with scars anyway," he shrugged. "The rest of us in our group mostly got lucky. Louis has one on his left cheek, Lauren has that small burn on her leg, Cece has those scars on her leg and it took a long time for her to be able to walk again—"

He paused, realizing that the public technically did not know why her leg had been screwed up like it had. The chat jumped on the opportunity, begging for him to reveal what had happened. It was honestly scary how so many people could unify like this and ask the same thing. The chat felt like a living, breathing hive mind.

"That's for another time," Denzel said. "But yeah, the thing is, with people with scars like Grace or Carlos— people know Carlos, right?"

"With how many times he was with Mira, yes," Cecilia said, still leaning toward the computer.

"The thing with them is that they tend to… well, die and not survive. You know that picture of the plane with all of the Pokemon attacks on it that Kanto used to figure out where they needed to reinforce their planes during the war that's become sort of a meme, but it wasn't telling the full picture because of survivorship bias? That's why you don't often see trainers with huge scars like them."

"I get what you mean. Grace is a tough girl, though," Emilia said.

"I'll take that compliment."

"I found a question!" Cece said with a devilish grin.

keepca1m_

#DenzelQ&A This might look weird, but when did the both of you start dating? There was no announcement, and that tends to be the case when two famous trainers get together. With you two, you kind of just started with the PDA out of nowhere around Hearthome, although some people say it was earlier. Nice rings, by the way.

Denzel groaned. "Are you serious—"

"It's a question, is it not?" She interrupted. "You said we could pick and choose. I think that's appropriate, especially when we won't be able to during the interview."

He sighed but resigned to his fate.

"It was Mount Coronet. As most of you know, I was in a terrible headspace back then, but… my friends came to save me. They pulled me out of that dark place and I'm happier now than I've ever been. Grace had just told me she liked girls a few days prior in Eterna, and I realized right then and there that I loved her. I told her when we met again in the mountain's depths and kissed her there."

"Knowing Grace, she would still be bumbling around if you hadn't," Denzel shrugged. "Let it be known that I was their wingman."

"I mean, they were basically dating even before that. I wouldn't call cuddling all night long something very friendly," Emilia mocked. "It's possible, but if you see two people do that, odds are, they're dating."

"Shut up," I mumbled.

My friend laughed. "You know it's true. You guys were like Deerling in headlights!"

"You didn't even know any better!" I yelled.

"I did actually theorize a little with Pauline when we were in Eterna, but I was convinced you were straight," Emilia said.

"H—how is that even possible?" I asked. "Like genuinely?"

"I don't know. I was still in the closet back then, so I guess I pushed my insecurities onto you? Pauline thought you had a crush on Cece, but she said it was better not to say anything."

"Let's actually segue into something else," Denzel said. "Unless you have something else to say, Cece?"

"I'm done, unfortunately. You can expect me to hone in on any relationship-related questions, by the way."

Denzel shook his head in disbelief. "There's no need to find a question for this one, this was one of the most asked questions that we got. Your Pupitar, Grace. People know you got her in Mount Coronet, but the circumstances of that are still basically unknown. You just kind of showed up with her on my stream one day."

"So should I say how I got her?" I asked.

"If you think that's appropriate, yeah."

"Well I first saw her in Mount Coronet, obviously. Her… her mother was fighting a Rhyperior, but she was losing terribly—" I paused as the stream exploded. People couldn't believe that we'd seen a Tyranitar and a Rhyperior in the wild and lived to tell the tale. "Tyranitar opened up a chasm in the earth and Denzel, Cece, Chase and I fell down to a lower level of Mount Coronet. Sweetheart stuck around with me for protection, but we ended up bonding and I caught her. I didn't want her to die. She was still really weak back then, even though she'd throw a fit before acknowledging that. She wouldn't have lasted a day."

More questions popped up in the chat, asking a flurry of different things that were mostly about Tyranitar and Rhyperior's capabilities. I bit the inside of my lip in annoyance, but Denzel shot me a knowing look.

"There are only a few known wild Rhyperior, and they're very deep in Mount Coronet, so they want to know if it's one that's been seen before," Denzel explained. "Behave guys, this is a sensitive topic."

"How many in total?" I asked.

"Six if we count Palmer's. Five without. The one's that's the most well-known has a nasty scar on his torso and is missing some of his orange stones there. He got it when he fought Craig a few years ago."

"I guess he does train on Mount Coronet," I muttered. "But honestly, I was way too scared to know if that was the one."

"I didn't see any scars," Cece said.

"It was another one, then. That'd make sense, since we were nowhere near the summit. Let's get back to the questions. Grace, feel free to pick," Denzel said.

I was starting to understand his strategy now— if I could even call it one. He wanted to go through as many questions as possible to satisfy his audience and in order not to bore them. The viewer count was at 53,466 now, which was a lot more than his usual number.

"You know, it is interesting that no one knows Rhydon's evolution," Cece mused while I looked through the cesspool of questions. "Not even the League. Palmer caught his as a Rhyperior, correct?"

"Uhuh. In Mount Coronet," Denzel said. "But it wasn't during his journey. He was already incredibly strong when he did so and he was… one year older than Craig, if I remember correctly? I'm not well-versed in Battle Frontier personalities."

"Well you're way better-versed than me," Emilia laughed. "I wonder what Lauren's going to do."

"Rhydon are powerful even when they don't evolve," he shrugged. "Blue Oak has one on his personal team and he's Champion level."

"I mean, most Pokemon can reach that level without evolving anyway, right?" Emilia asked.

"Yes. Evolution's a shortcut, but theoretically, a Bidoof could be that powerful. The diminishing returns would mean that it would probably take a century unless you were really gifted," Denzel said. "But Rhydon's basically as powerful as a full evolution anyway, so you don't lose out that much."

I subconsciously nodded, thinking of Mathilda. She was a Sinistea, and yet had been overwhelmingly powerful. I still was nowhere close enough to taking her or Ruth down even at my current level, although I might be able to get out of there alive if they both attacked me. Maybe.

"Are there any trainers that use non-fully evolved Pokemon at a high level?" I asked.

"Well, there's Temperance and her Dragonair," Emi immediately answered. "Even if she's a coordinator, she's strong. She says her Dragonair doesn't want to evolve because Dragonite's ugly."

Denzel scoffed. "I take personal offense to that. To answer your question, there are a few, but it's mostly because the Pokemon doesn't want to evolve, not some self-imposed challenge. Uh, there's… Declan Hornsby that has a Sneasel, and he placed top 64 last year at the Conference. Uh, Ali West still has a Doublade because he prefers their offensive style over an Aegislash which would be more balanced."

"Where did he place?" Emi asked.

"Group stages. But that was mostly because he got really unlucky and got put in with a bunch of older trainers."

"I got my question," I cut in. "Unless you want to keep going?"

"No, no, this is a Q&A," Denzel said. "Go ahead."

StarThomas

#DenzelQ&A Hey guys, I had a question regarding Gym Leaders for you and everyone else in the room. What was the favorite battle you ever had and why? Another question was, is there any particular reason you all skipped over Byron? I think he would have been easier should you have challenged him early.

"For everyone in the room," I repeated. It was a subtle way of wasting the runtime. "I'll go first. My favorite battle against a Gym Leader… definitely Gardenia. I still watch it over with my team sometimes for old time's sake. It's where I really found a style that worked for me, and Gardenia's my favorite trainer, so that's a plus. I look up to her a lot, and I'd love for her to teach me about body language one day."

"That was an insane battle," Denzel nodded. "That Solar Beam that she threw at you was so powerful that I thought the barriers were going to give. They probably had a weaker Kadabra on shift since it was a bunch of weaker trainers in a row. Cece?"

"Go first," she said.

"Okay. Uh, I'd say Maylene, believe it or not."

No one in the chat believed him, and it was easy to see that remains of the hate toward Maylene were still there and fresh.

"I'm not joking. In hindsight, I think it was sort of fun to play around her, and it was Milotic's first big battle too. He did awesome."

"I'll have to say Candice," Cece continued. "It was where Zweilous evolved and I managed to snap her out of whatever she was in. She was going way too easy on me at the start."

We turned toward Emilia, and she let out a nervous chuckle.

"I'm not a trainer, but I guess Roark? I mean, it's the only one I won against. It wasn't very fun, I just pushed through with Metang."

"Pauline?!" I asked, raising my tone. Denzel shot me a look. "What? They said everyone. We're doing Lopunny too."

"Fantina!" She yelled. "Beating her ghosts up was fun!"

I internally cursed when I realized she was keeping it short. "Lopunny?"

The normal type answered Gardenia by using her phone and said that it was when she got her first big boost of confidence. It was hard to remember how shy she used to be when Denzel had first caught her, hiding behind his legs with her scarred ear. The scar was still there, but it was a lot smaller and almost unnoticeable now that she'd evolved.

"Denzel and I were traveling together when we decided to skip Byron, but it was mostly because we were scared of his experience and we had a terrible team to deal with steel types. I had Togetic and Frillish while he had Eevee and Budew—"

"Sylvi did have Double Kick."

"And yet you were the first one to suggest skipping," I smugly said. "We decided to bide our time instead, and I don't regret it one bit. Keeping one of the strongest Gym Leaders for last sounds like fun."

"Good luck stabbing through a steel type," Denzel joked.

I paused, and I felt an excited shiver run down my spine.

"Watch me."

"For us, it was mostly because we were put on a pre-determined route by Louis' father," Cece shrugged. "There wasn't really a reason."

"Wait, what? This is the first I'm hearing of this," I said.

"We were meant to save Byron, Fantina and Volkner for last to impress people," she shrugged.

"That routing… is basically impossible unless you have a flying license or spend like two days in each city," Denzel said.

"Now you know why they were so shit in their planning," she smiled. "I hope Harvey's having a grand old time in prison."

I let out a small, surprised breath. Cece almost never swore, but when she did, she meant it.

"So you were saving the strongest for last? Or they were, I guess," I said.

"Hmhm. They wanted us in the headlines."

"Assholes," Denzel muttered.

Pauline yelled, "Hey!"

"Not your mom, Pauline. Your mom's fine. Kind of. Next question! Cece, go ahead and look."

Cecilia obliged him, and he kept going.

"You know, I wonder what— wait! Fuck!"

"What is it? Did I mess up something?" Cecilia asked, abruptly lifting her hand off the mouse.

"No, I just forgot to put on some background music. Sorry everyone," he sighed.

"Don't just scream like that for something so minor!" Cece angrily said. "I thought I screwed your setup."

Denzel quickly put on some copyright-free music, and Cece found her next question while we trash-talked his horrible music tastes.

"I don't want the stream demonitized," he said. "You'll thank me later."

Stripy2000

#DenzelQ&A This is a question specifically for Cecilia. It's getting pretty late in the year, and the seventh Gym forces you into a six-on-six, and you haven't caught your sixth Pokemon. I was wondering if you thought you were going to struggle to catch up whoever your sixth will be. P.S: I recommend an electric type, since you'll be fighting Wake and you lack one.

"Okay, well first of all please don't backseat which Pokemon someone should get," Denzel said with tired eyes. "We all hate it when it happens, and it's very annoying. Cece, go ahead."

"Well, I'll win five-on-six if need be, but what you say about the Conference rings true. I've given myself a limit. I won't allow myself to leave Pastoria without a sixth Pokemon with me. They will no doubt struggle against Byron, but alas, sometimes it's just the way the cookie crumbles."

"You know, the funny thing about that is—"

"Are you going to say something funny?" Emilia jokingly interrupted.

"No… not at all actually. You got me," he rolled his eyes. "This is a well-known phenomenon, though. The Five-Pokemon syndrome. Trainers are so unsure of who their sixth Pokemon should be that they spend way too long with a team of five and fail to win their eighth badge because of it. Sometimes they'll get desperate, catch something and realize that they dislike who they caught."

"So?" I asked, clenching around my armrest.

"Uh… so they release them. Or treat them terribly," Denzel said. "It sucks, but it's a symptom of forcing people into a six Pokemon limit before the eighth badge. People will always be assholes."

"You'd better hope I don't find anyone like that," I said.

Knife emojis flooded the chat, and Denzel didn't seem to like that at all.

"Uh, moving on!" Denzel panicked. "I will say that… wait, Cece, can I say this?"

"My sixth is already planned, and I won't catch an unwanted Pokemon or a Pokemon that doesn't want to come with me," Cece said. "Mienfoo or Croagunk. There you have it."

Denzel paused, looking at the screen. "Yeah, they seem happy about that reveal. Grace, your turn."

I nodded and got to work. Only ten minutes had passed so far. I would have to do more than one hour of this?

"Better be picky than catch a Pokemon you don't want and hurt them," Denzel continued. "Granted, people could technically call me a hypocrite since my Swablu was unplanned."

"Yeah, but you treat her right," I said. "If you hadn't, I would have yelled at you."

"Come to think of it, you don't really get angry at other people often," Emilia said.

"Oh, not with you guys," I said. "You're amazing friends. Oh, your chat knows about your casino stint, by the way?"

"They know. I was telling them all about it in Veilstone, and it ended with me shit-talking the Game Corner and making a video about how terrible gambling is."

"You could have become an addict," Cecilia chided.

"I think I was addicted, honestly. Gambling is fucking terrifying."

"Got one," I said. "Addressed to me, Cece and Denzel."

"Are you doing this on purpose?" He asked.

"No, I just think it's a really good question."

Philexusson

#DenzelQ&A This is a question for Grace, Denzel and Cecilia. If you make it past Byron, where do you think you're going to end up in the Conference? A lot of people have been speculating and it's basically impossible to know until the month of, but it'd be nice to hear your opinions.

"Well, top sixty-four would be nice," I said with a dreamy tone. The prospect of an incredible amount of battles with powerful trainers already had me excited even if it was still months away. "But my goal is to get out of group stages. Isn't that luck-based, though?"

Denzel spoke. "There's some luck involved. There are trainer rankings—"

"Rankings?" Emilia scoffed.

"Well, not rankings per se, but we're just put into different… power categories, for lack of a better term. It depends on previous performances, your team, your skill as a trainer, and things like that. We're all divided into four tiers, and they draw a number of trainers from each tier randomly and put you into a group."

"Tier one's Craig?" Cece asked.

"People like Craig, yeah, but even then he's a lot more powerful than the average tier one. Anyway, you'll basically be guaranteed to have at least one tier one trainer in your group. The goal should not be to win every match, but to win enough points to get past group stages."

"How many points gets you through?" I asked.

"That depends on the year, really," he shrugged. "In a year like this with a lot of people, you'll need more points to get past group stages and into the top 256. To actually answer the question, though, my goal is top 128."

"Top sixty-four for me as well," Cece said.

"You guys sure are ambitious," Emilia said.

"Well, what's life without a little dream or two?" I smiled.

The fact that seedings weren't completely random was something I welcomed, though. Arceus forbid some poor first-year was put in a group with a bunch of Craigs. Plus, no one would want all the top contenders to have a chance of getting eliminated that early. The Conference wasn't just a tournament to pick the potential next Champion, but a tournament that millions of people enjoyed.

But really, it was mostly because of companies. A boring Conference was a Conference with fewer viewers, and that meant less advertising.

"What really interests me the most is items," Denzel said. "That's a whole facet of battling we've never explored before. Berries that make type effectiveness matter less, rocks that make weather moves more powerful… it's going to be exciting."

"Items are kind of cool, but honestly I'm starting to think I'd enjoy battling without," Cecilia said. "Of course, when in Kalos, do as the Kalosian do. I won't put myself at a disadvantage."

"Since Pauline is here, why doesn't she answer the question?" I asked.

"No, no, we're moving on," Denzel said.

"I'm good," the redhead nodded.

Come on, where was your usual fiery passion? I internally screamed. This time, it only took a minute for Cece to find the next question, which meant we had very little room to speak about random things.

TR_Supersonic

#DenzelQ&A This is a question for Grace specifically. You've been hanging out with Jasmine Whitaker. Can we know what's going on there? A group of teenagers said she scared them off with her Metagross on the beach and that you Teleported somewhere. You being so close to a foreign Gym Leader is kind of insane.

Cece nudged her head at me, and I nonverbally thanked her for the easy question.

"Jasmine's my friend, and she's helping me train Honey to his full potential," I answered. "She's been a great teacher and he wouldn't have been anywhere near this strong if she wasn't there. Sometimes she goes on these tangents about her home, but I like it."

"Grace does have a knack for meeting important people," Emilia said.

"People in chat are asking how you convinced her to teach you, if you feel comfortable answering."

"Well at first we met completely randomly on the beach, and a second time when I met Craig in a bar. After my battle with Denzel, she said I was interesting."

"She called you unhinged, more specifically," Cece said with a slight huff. I had already told her all about how Jasmine had said that every trainer at the top had some degree of strangeness to them, and she vehemently disagreed.

Cece and Denzel were pretty normal, and I was too, so her point didn't really stand.

Or at least that's what I believed until a bunch of 'TRUE's were spammed in the chat.

"Guys, no one here is crazy, alright?" I sighed. "Jasmine's just very opinionated."

"You two are crazy," Denzel said, raising his hands. "I'm just a guy."

"Sure, dude," I shook my head. "Anyway, Jasmine says my temperament is already there, and all I need is the skill to back it up, so she was helping me get there. And don't start acting crazy in front of her just because I said this, okay? She has a lot on her plate already, and she might go for the throat if she's angry."

"Go for… the throat?" Emilia asked with a deep frown.

I had apparently confused the viewers too, because they seemed to think that meant kill.

"No, no, not murder. It's… well, it's hard to explain, she's a lot better at it."

"Guys, she's dating Volkner and killing a trainer would start an international incident, okay? You're all safe— how did we even get here? Cece, I thought you were going to stop Grace from bringing this stuff up."

My girlfriend innocently tilted her head. "Hm? She didn't say anything wrong, though. She just brought up something Jasmine said."

Denzel pinched the bridge of his nose, and Emilia gently rubbed his arm. I didn't miss Pauline smiling at the contact, although she immediately stopped when she noticed I was looking at her.

"Sorry, I was just relaying what she said," I apologized half-heartedly. "But we're good, right? I mean, this isn't even in the top ten of worst things I've said."

"There's a top ten?" Emilia asked with a raised voice.

"I don't know, I just assume there is. There are a lot of misunderstandings about me. Why else do you think stabbing became a meme?"

"Because you stab things."

"Yes, but that's because it's effective in battle. I haven't stabbed anyone personally."

"Well yeah, thank the Legendaries," Denzel said, slightly out of breath.

"I mean, what would I even do it with? I don't have a knife. A pencil? Scissors? Those always have rounded tips anyway, I paid attention to them a lot when I was in school. It's technically possible, but stabbing is a lot harder than it looks, and I'm not that strong anyway."

Denzel blanched. "Goodness, let's just move on from this topic— chat do not say 'not yet!'"

Cece nudged her head at me, and I nodded.

"This was all hypothetical. I don't condone stabbing or anything of the sort, this was all purely hypothetical since the topic came up," I said.

"Grace," Denzel pleaded. "You brought it up."

"What? Doctors stab you a bunch during surgery, and you don't say anything to them. Hell, I was stabbed in the arm multiple times when they had to do that skin graft on me!"

"Next question!"

"Wait, what does 'based' mean?" I asked.

—

The one-and-a-half hour of questions had passed agonizingly slowly, and Denzel looked exhausted by the end of it. I had mostly picked Pokemon training questions, answering about my process to analyze my mistakes after each battle, how I trained, how to come up with custom moves, and funnily enough, someone had asked me how to budget. I was technically the best at budgeting in the room. Cece had her leftover money, and she would for a while. Pauline and Emi were billionaires, and Denzel had blown all of his money on multiple occasions without even having an emergency fund. The favorite question I had answered, however, came from a trainer with a Togetic of her own. She'd even posted a selfie after the picture, and she asked me how to get as good with Ancient Power as we'd gotten. Needless to say, I rambled about it for ten minutes until Denzel himself had to stop me.

Some strange person called Grace's Twin kept sending donations saying that we were meant to be together until they were banned, but they came back with alternate accounts eleven times, just adding numbers at the end of their name until they stopped.

We were already segueing into the interview section with Goalducc and Archive. Denzel had only muted the microphone for a few minutes.

"There's no break? You look like you need a break," Cece said.

"A break means losing traction. People's attention span is fickle nowadays," he said as he stretched. "Try to keep yourselves under control for the interview, please— ah, they're ready to start. We'll be on the sidelines for this one. Be nice."

"We're nice people," Cece said.

"And remember that these will be a lot more invasive than the others because you can't just scroll past the ones you don't like."

Denzel dragged his and Emilia's chair out of the shot, and he launched the call with Goalducc and Archive.

"Hello? Is the sound alright?" A voice rang out. It was deep, but smooth.

"Yes. Who is this speaking?" Cecilia asked.

"Oh, where are my manners. This is Archive. Thank you for giving us the opportunity and for joining us here tonight. Andrew?"

"Y—yeah. We appreciate it. Do you have any questions before we start?"

That was Goalducc, then. His voice was shaking like a leaf while Archive seemed confident.

"We can start if you're ready," I said. "Cece?"

"Go ahead, gentlemen."

"Okay! We have a list of topics we want to approach if that's not too much to ask for. Andrew, take it away."

Goalducc cleared his throat. "Let's start with a question that's been on everyone's mind. And we saw you scroll past these, but it's about your closeness with the League, along with your friends Mira Compton and Chase Karlson, who unfortunately aren't here with us. You've been known to speak to Champion Cynthia on multiple occasions, have ACE trainers as guards and you even refer to her by her first name. Could you go into that at all?"

He had stammered or hesitated multiple times, but he'd gotten his question across. I stared at Cece and wondered what we should say. We could technically answer with no comment, but I wanted to see what she thought.

"Well, we can't really go into it that much. We're in the LTIP, so we're somewhat close to the League that way," Cece said, exuding confidence. "I know first-years are never admitted into the program, but there are always exception to the rules, isn't there?"

Archive jumped in when his colleague seemed too out of it to answer. He was probably fanboying over the fact that Cece had just spoken to him.

"That doesn't explain everything, though. LTIP members don't just speak to the Champion, and you've done exactly zero jobs for the League so far. It seems that everyone else would have been kicked out for inactivity by now. There have been a lot of strange events surrounding you since the Darkest Day in Solaceon."

"I'm afraid we can't answer," Cecilia said.

"Would you say it's confidential information, then?"

"She said she couldn't answer," I interjected. "So we won't answer."

"Okay," Archive said. "Grace, something happened to you while you were in a park in Veilstone. This is all second-hand accounts, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but you were attacked by… something? Some people say an Abra, others say Pikachu or Sandshrew. It happened so quickly that no one really had a good look at it. ACE trainers intervened and saved the day, but we can only theorize that you're being targeted by… someone."

"No," I shut down. "Let's move on, now."

"I just want to let you know that you being quiet on the issue creates countless conspiracies and that clarity would help a lot," Archive said.

I bit the inside of my cheek and imagined countless ways I could blow up this computer.

"I don't appreciate this questioning, Archive," Cece said. "I thought this was a friendly podcast."

"Well, we just wanted to start with the heavy questions first," he laughed. "This is on everyone's minds, but fine. Next up, we have a question for you, Grace. People say that you can speak to Pokemon. Like, understand the literal words that they say, not just guess off of bonds and body language. Would you confirm whether that's true or not?"

"I'm just close to my team," I said.

"Are you implying that people that can't understand their Pokemon after a few months with them aren't close to their teams?"

"No," I said, restraining a groan. "I just have a talent for it, that's all. Some people will be better at things than others."

"But rumors say that you can understand every Pokemon, not just your team."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Archive?"

The man paused. "Yes?"

Not worth it, I told myself. "I don't feel like answering the question."

"Let's switch topics, Archive," Andrew said. "Sorry about that. We did say we'd let you have boundaries. Uh, the next thing we have on the list is for Grace. It relates to your battle with Maylene and your more… sadistic leanings. Do you have any regrets of how you fought her? As you know, she's taken a one-month break while her Gym Trainers and her Lucario run things. Do you plan on battling everyone that isn't a friend that way?"

"I have some regrets, but I guess I never did address that battle," I sighed. "I think it was a net good as a whole, but I could have gone at it in a different way."

"You preventing the Infernape switch was pretty egregious," Archive said.

"I mean, it is taboo," I nodded. "It's not something I think I'll do much more of. To answer your question, I will pull back on that way of battling for the most part. I won't just spare my friends. Plus, Maylene was the only one it would work on properly anyway, Gym Leader wise."

"Do people say Grace is sadistic?" Cecilia asked.

"Sometimes they do. Like, for example instead of using Air Cutter repeatedly against Denzel's Roserade, she stabbed her in the gut and shoulder," Goalducc said.

"That was mostly to shake off her focus. Constant, sharp pain is good at that. Air Cutter wouldn't have done well enough and Princess would have fallen faster. It's not that I like inflicting pain, it's that inflicting pain is good to win battles."

"See, a lot of trainers wouldn't really say that out loud," Archive said.

"It is true. We all know it," I shrugged.

"I guess this is a good segue into your different battling styles, then," Goalducc said. I internally sighed in relief now that we were finally getting back to normal topics. "C—Cecilia, you use wide destruction and speed as a weapon. Where do you see your team at their apex?"

"It's hard to imagine something so far away," Cece muttered. "But I have two kinds of Pokemon I want. The heavy hitters that can alter the terrain in many different ways and the speedsters or fliers that can easily navigate what I pick. It's not just about strategy, though. It's also about taste."

"Could you elaborate on that?" Archive asked.

"Isn't destroying things just a lot of fun? I dream of the day I can flatten a mountain and point at it, saying, that was me. I altered the face of the earth forever."

"Well, there are regulations against that type of thing," I interjected. "But I get what you mean."

"Seeing my Pokemon destroy the environment just fills my heart with so much joy," she smiled fondly. "Well, not as much as I get when I'm with Grace."

I couldn't help but grin while Archive and Andrew stayed silent for a few seconds.

"Okay. So you like destroying things. Is that final?" Archive asked.

"Yes."

"Did she stutter?" I said. "You better not call her weird for it."

"Erm, okay. What about you, Grace?" Archive asked. "Where do you see your battling style at its apex?"

I hummed, tapping a finger against my lip. "I think it's all about field control and psychological tricks for me," I said. "Of course, using out-of-the-box tactics sounds like fun too, like the pain thing we were talking about."

"I thought you said you wouldn't do psychological tricks anymore after Maylene?"

"Oh, there's a difference between what I'm capable of and what I'll actually do," I said. "I have a bunch of ideas that are too rude, disrespectful, or taboo to use."

Like making trainers flinch by attacking them directly, or completely obstructing their view with a giant wall, or subtly trash-talking in the middle of a match, and many other ideas that never made it past the conceptual stage.

"But there's a difference between ideas and reality," Cece quickly added. "Grace respects what it means to be a trainer."

"I mean, it is sort of arbitrary, but yes," I said. "I don't want to be an asshole."

"Thank you for the answers," Archive said. "You're quite the pair, aren't you?"

"Next up, we have plans after this year's Circuit," Goalducc said. "Denzel has already said he plans on going through Sinnoh again and we assume it's the same for you two, but some people aren't sure. Would you be willing to share with us today?"

"Well, we'll most likely have a lot of things to do this summer, so we'll be in Sinnoh for… possibly all of July and some of August," Cecilia said. "But after that…"

She looked at me, and I nodded.

"Unova's the plan," she said. "We want to go through the Circuit there— well, I wanted to, and Grace agreed, which I'm still very thankful for," she continued, grabbing my hand.

People in the chat were not happy about that, and even our friends were surprised. We had floated the idea of going to Unova to them a few times, but we'd never actually confirmed it to them, so this was new for them as well.

"Interesting! Why Unova in particular? Is it just because it's Cecilia's home country?" Archive asked.

"That's mainly it, yes," Cece nodded. "And we think that taking on the full ten Gyms might be fun."

"Plus, traveling through an entire new place is nice," I said. "Going through Sinnoh again would probably just be me flying around cities and beating the Gyms there."

"Will you not fly in Unova?" Andrew asked. There was a hint of sadness in his voice, and knew it was because it was going to be way harder to track us abroad. I pushed down the jealousy that was rearing its ugly head. How was I jealous of someone Cece didn't know anyway?

"We were thinking about walking through the region for the most part," Cece said. "I may be Unovan, but I never walked through the routes themselves."

"Exploring and camping is fun," I nodded. "Plus, the routes are apparently super safe, so there are no drawbacks, really."

"That is something Unovans like to boast about," Archive nodded. "Okay, Andrew?"

"You all traveled as a group before, but you've splintered into smaller and smaller ones as time went on," Goalducc said. "Is there a reason for it? Some people think there was a falling out."

"A falling out?" I scoffed. "We're all still amazing friends."

"We all had different things we wanted to focus on," Cece said. "Groups are malleable. We don't even know how we'll travel to Pastoria. If the group will reform, or split further… we don't know."

"Well I was thinking I could go with Emi and Pauline?" Denzel said. "Because it's not often that Emi can travel on a route, I mean."

Liar, I thought. "Fine by me, even though I'll miss you."

"So you're still friends, then?" Archive asked. "No drama?"

"Do people not see us hang out and talk every time we're in a city?" I asked. "I mean, come on, people."

"People just like to look for drama where there isn't any," Cece shrugged.

"That is true," Goalducc said. "People were theorizing that you broke up when Grace went and traveled to Veilstone on her own."

You would have loved that, wouldn't you? I internally huffed.

Andrew spoke again, "Continuing, we have a topic that's… kind of related to a question that's on everyone's mind and might be somewhat controversial and is related to something that was already asked during the Q&A. At this moment, between all the trainers in your group, who do you think is the strongest currently, and who do you think will make it the furthest in the Conference."

"I don't know," I said, tilting my head. "I'm currently stronger than Denzel, I guess, but he did get this super secret training with Craig that he won't tell anyone about."

"That's because Craig doesn't want me to say it," Denzel complained.

"Shush now," I teased. "You're not in the stream. I guess… hm, it's hard to quantify. I feel like Lauren's the best currently, but the gap isn't as wide as it once was."

"I agree with that assessment," Cece nodded. "What about you and I?"

"Well… I'd say bar Sunshine, we're pretty equal, no?"

"Saying that you're equal is kind of copping out," Archive said.

"Well it's what I feel," I said. "I think that depending on the day, I'd be able to win or she would."

The chat flooded with demands for a battle between us, and Goalducc and Archive asked for the same thing.

"Well, I wouldn't want Honey in a Center for multiple days currently, but we might after my Gym Battle," I said. "Regarding who has the best shot of making it furthest in the Conference… it's impossible to know before we get there."

"Come on, give us an answer, at least," Andrew sighed.

"Me."

"Me."

I turned toward Cecilia and we both laughed. Even Archive chuckled, which did a lot of work to break the ice. The podcast continued in a more friendly fashion. Goalducc's nerves calmed down, Archive grew more understanding of questions we couldn't answer and dare I say it, I kind of had fun. Denzel bid his viewers goodbye, listing all of his sponsors before ending the stream.

"That wasn't that bad, was it?" Emilia said. "Rocky start, but we made it."

"It peaked at around 80,000 viewers," Denzel nodded. "Thanks for participating, girls."

Pauline stretched. "Arceus, I'm tired and I wasn't even talking. I must have banned at least sixty people, if we don't count that crazy Grace's Twin guy."

Lopunny nodded, not even bothering to type on her phone. She only grumbled that her fingers were tired. Being a moderator was hard work, it seemed.

"How much money did we make?" I asked.

"You have a one-track-mind, don't you?" Denzel said. "DailyTube takes a pretty large cut, but the stream made around 120,000 Pokedollars in total. Split it four ways, and you have the number. Payout takes around three to five business days, so you'll have to wait.

"30,000 in three hours isn't bad," I said. "Why doesn't everyone just do this streaming stuff?"

"Why don't you do it?" He jokingly said.

"It's annoying."

"You've got to realize I'm in the top 1% of the 1% of streamers," Denzel shrugged. "The majority of people are stuck at 1 viewer the entire time."

"How lonely," Cece muttered.

"Well, that's that!" I smiled. "Denzel, I have a list of usernames for you to ban."

My best friend stammered. "What?"

"People that were rude to Cece. Cursed_Meowth_Images1, ReticentoneWNs, ShmokerChain1028, RoorooR, aDELAIDE—"

"Wait—"

"—DetectiveDylan, Nashetovich, Defeat4t… and Dreamville. I can write the names down for you if you want."

"Thank you, Grace," my girlfriend gently said.

"Okay, relax," he sighed. "We'll look at their chat logs."

"Thanks!"

"And you're going to Unova? That's confirmed?" He asked.

"It is," I said. "Sorry you found out like that. I guess it never came up."

"Please keep me informed," he sighed. "I already feel like I'm out of the loop—"

"I know. It was just plans between the two of us, though, not League stuff," I said. "Are we okay?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Well, I'm going to shower, change clothes and then we can hang. It's been a while," I said.

—

Melody Summers felt like she was out of breath as the stream finally ended. Multiple times, she thought she would have gotten a panic attack from the way Grace had behaved, but she thankfully never stepped over the line. She still couldn't believe they had wanted to market her as a relatable, everyday girl. She was anything but normal.

That comment about scissors? That had been weird. Incredibly weird. Melody liked Grace as a person, but she couldn't deny that there was a lingering worry for her there. Still, the members of the board hadn't minded too much, especially when she'd spoken well about the company multiple times, worn her watch and had said that she found the Poketch laptop great to take notes on when someone had asked about tips for training during the Q&A section. They also loved that she was going to Unova. In fact, it was what they were the most excited about. Melody closed her own laptop and sighed as she stared out of her window in her apartment in Hearthome.

"Looks like there are no fires to extinguish today," she muttered to herself. "Thank the Legendaries."

Melody was basically Grace's manager at this point, even if the girl didn't know it. It was her that coordinated her appearance on the front trainer magazines (and they were still using pictures from that one photoshoot they had), that asked people in different news network to bring her up and talk about her during their sections about trainers and that constantly shielded her from the board's ignorance. Next on the list for her? Another photoshoot for new pictures and as soon as she got a flier and time to swing by Jubilife, a meeting with the board itself, face-to-face to plan their launch in Unova and talk about the rivalry with X Technologies.

Of course, that meant that she needed her Shiny Stone. The bonus had already been agreed to, and now all she needed to do was beat Volkner, but even that wasn't an obligation any longer. Not with the text she had sent two days ago.

Honey's going to fight Volkner's Electivire during our Gym Battle for reasons that I can't really get into, so you can warn the board ahead of time.

Melody had wanted to ask a thousand questions, but the most important one had been how? How the hell did she do things like… that?

The only answer she could muster was okay and good luck.

And now, she was probably going to Unova with her and would have to get approved for hormones there. The Unovan medical system was a hassle. Hopefully Grace would mellow out with age, because between the League and her antics, Melody felt like she had aged ten years in the few months they'd been working together.

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, 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, creativityfails, Spartanstoryteller, Peter D, Bum, Zaire M

A/N: No chapter tomorrow, I'll be playing Armored Core 6

 

[Soussouni1]

INTERLUDE - HAYSTACK I

Louis Bianchi stared at his Bisharp, who was sitting on a fallen tree diligently sharpening his blades on a triangle-shaped rock. Bisharp had grown a lot since his evolution, and he was now half a head taller than Louis was. His blades were so sharp that Louis had once accidentally touched the ones below his chest and cut his arm. The steel type had profusely apologized and offered him his rock in return, but Louis told him it wasn't his fault. He had a lot on his mind that made him not pay attention to his surroundings sometimes. Still, this rock wasn't one he recognized.

"Where did you put your old rock? Is that a new one?" He asked.

Bisharp offered a curt nod, but he was too engrossed in whetting his blades to do anything else. He had owned at least ten favorite rocks since Louis had caught him, and this one made eleven.

Route 222 was quite a nice spot. Not to train— he and Maeve used the arenas for that, and she was currently spending time with Pauline and Cecilia— but to simply stick with his team. Plus, newer trainers left him alone like he wanted. Louis wasn't famous like his friends were. He had his time in the sun, but he was in the background now. Most people knew him as that person whose father tried to betray his country for a quick buck. Part of him wanted to see his dad again and ask him why, but he knew the answer. Pure and simple greed. Regardless, the maximum security prison at the Lily of the Valley Island didn't allow public visitors or calls, so it wasn't like he could go there or communicate anyway. If Louis had to guess, his father would be placed back into a normal prison on the mainland after the remains of Team Galactic was dealt with. It wouldn't be long now that their bases in Veilstone had been raided.

Empoleon stood behind him, always standing guard even when it wasn't needed. Louis had tried to get him to go to the beach, but his dislike for swimming still lingered, even after reaching his final evolution. Combee lazily buzzed around his head like usual, occasionally bending honey around themselves, which was supposedly a telltale sign that the evolution into Vespiquen was near. The three heads would fuse into one mind and form one being.

Louis had teared up multiple times at that prospect, but always in secret, hidden away from Combee. He didn't want them to hold themselves back for him.

Ninetales and Gabite were currently arguing about something, which he didn't know what. The dragon snarled at Ninetales, sending spittle all over her fur, and she was not amused. She retaliated by blowing a puff of flames into his face, but a grunt from Empoleon stopped them both. The fire type huffed, turning her head away from Gabite while he slammed a claw against his chest. Really, the issue was that they'd never really loved each other. Gabite was too violent for Ninetale's tastes.

Gabite did enjoy Bisharp's company and begrudgingly respected Empoleon because he'd known him the longest. With Combee, he basically ignored her, finding her too weak for his tastes, but Ninetales coddled the bug type like she was family. Bisharp found her cute as well despite pretending otherwise, but he was quiet when compared to the rest of his Pokemon. Louis' research had said that Bisharp tended to be loud and boisterous because they led, but he was the polar opposite of that.

Either way, his team wasn't… well, it wasn't a family like Grace's, nor a unit like Maeve's, Lauren's or Cecilia's. It was a hodgepodge of different personalities that often clashed.

And yet, they persevered.

"Gabite."

The tall dragon shot him a prideful look, but begrudgingly offered Ninetales a half-hearted apology, or at least that's what Louis thought he said. Ninetales, for her part, smiled smugly and seemed pleased with herself, giving Louis a slight dip of her head as thanks.

Gabite had come far since his early days as a Gible, but he had a ways to go still. Part of Louis dreaded the inevitable Garchomp evolution that would no doubt bring a slew of problems, but that was still far away. Louis sat next to Bisharp and he consciously forced himself not to make his leg bounce. He linked his hands together and pressed them against his mouth as he thought.

Where was Justin?

He'd become obsessed with his old friend, desperately scouring the Gym's website to see if he'd fought Volkner, but he hadn't. This felt odd. Wrong. Grace had told him that Justin would eventually come to find him, but had she been wrong? He'd hoped that her acquaintance with Type Energy would help her understand him, but that didn't look to be the case.

Louis blinked as a cold flipper tapped him on the shoulder. A tough, metallic hand covered in rock dust touched his own. The buzzing around his head quieted down. A soft, tuft of warm golden fur rubbed his back and his dragon's piercing yellow eyes softened for a second.

"I'm fine," he muttered. "I'll be fine."

He couldn't help but feel like he'd failed Justin every step of the way. He should have followed him after Solaceon like Maeve and Mira had done to him when he'd been struggling. Instead, he let Justin do whatever he wanted because he'd asked— demanded it, even. Then, he'd lost that battle in Veilstone and gotten utterly crushed. If he'd been more skilled, then all of this could have been fixed.

No… that wasn't it. Louis had been scared as well. Justin had changed so much that Louis had preferred to look the other way and to keep him as far away as he could because loss was terrifying to him. Loss of any kind of relationship. Fear had made him a terrible friend. He'd found it easier to look the other way and to tell himself that it would all be fine if he waited.

And so Louis had waited, but there was nothing there. No progress had been made.

It couldn't be just left like this. It would feel wrong. Like a page left unturned.

"Is everyone ready to head back?"

Nods and grunts of affirmations ran through his team. He recalled all of them besides Combee and started his long trudge toward the city gates.

Arceus, each step felt so heavy. Like a thousand stones weighed his ankles down. Like he was pushing a boulder up a hill with no end. Like he was walking in quick sand and sinking with each step. If there was one thing Louis sometimes wished he had, it was a dash of his old ego. At least that way, he would have been able to bear through this with his self-esteem and confidence unburdened.

Louis took another step. And then a larger one. Soon enough, he was jogging to Sunyshore.

He would endure.

—

"Hey my brother!"

Denzel waved at Louis from the gate with a huge smile that he couldn't help but instinctually return. From what Louis understood, Denzel was doing great for himself these days, especially with his huge stream yesterday. Louis approached his friend, who wrapped an arm around his shoulder and dragged him toward Sunyshore.

"Heard you were feeling down from Maeve," Denzel said. "I came to cheer you up, since I'm not training today. I'm trying to negotiate to create merch and it's a real hassle now that Craig isn't here to help, but I'll deal. What's wrong?"

Louis frowned. What was wrong? The answer was obvious!

"Justin."

Denzel's lips went flat. "Ah. Yeah, he's just gone. Like a ghost. Finding him would be like finding a needle in a haystack. There isn't much that we can do."

"I know," Louis muttered. "I'll deal with this, no need to bother yourself—"

"Come on. We can hang out for a little bit, right? All of the girls are together and Chase and Mira are training. I don't want you to go through this alone. You can talk to me."

"Where would you have us go?" Louis asked.

"Anywhere. Got a favorite spot here? You must have been to Sunyshore plenty of times."

He nodded. "I did. Uh, I used to go to the beach with my… well, I wouldn't call them friends. Children of my father's connections, mostly."

"You don't see them anymore, huh?"

"Not since the start of the Circuit, no. And now that my father went to prison, is a pariah and our— his company got nationalized, they have no use for me."

Denzel patted Louis on the back.

"Why don't we go to the beach, then?"

"It's cold around this time of year," Louis answered.

"It's hot today, and I see plenty of people go in every day," he shrugged. "I know you have a lot on your mind, but why don't you relax a little?"

"I can't—"

"You don't think you deserve it," Denzel said. "I've gone through… a similar thing before. Well, not exactly, but it was back in Eterna."

"What happened? Sorry, I was mostly focused on myself and my so-called prowess as a trainer back then," Louis said with a dry chuckle. "I hadn't gotten my wake-up call."

His friend paused. "You're a good trainer, Louis."

"Nonsense."

"You've got four badges, dude. In your first year. And you're going to get more. If you solve your flier issue or use Pauline's Braviary after Pastoria, you've got a real shot at making it to the Conference."

Louis stopped himself from rolling his eyes.

"I mean it," Denzel shrugged. "But let's return to my story. I used to have self-confidence issues that stemmed from the fact that I wasn't progressing as fast as Cecilia and Grace, but that was compounded with the fact that they had all of these problems that my life couldn't hold a candle to. That made me think that every single complaint, every time I felt tired, angry or sad wasn't warranted. That my feelings were invalid because, I mean, what the hell was I even worrying about?"

Whereas Louis felt like he couldn't afford to rest or feel happy because of what Justin was going through.

"I guess that is somewhat similar," he nodded.

"I try my best," Denzel said. "So just come to the beach with me. Pauline bought this beach volleyball that she stuck in my room so we could play. Spend a day between friends where you can breathe."

Louis let out a long breath. "Very well. What do I have to lose? Every time I've looked, it hasn't made a difference."

"Now we're talking," Denzel smiled.

"Plus, I wanted to ask Pokemon training-related questions, so I suppose it could be nice."

"Sure, I'll help out. Let's head to the Center and get changed."

—

March was in full swing, and each day, Sunyshore's long beach had more and more people. Louis' feet shifted in the sand as he squared himself, and he sent the volleyball back toward Denzel. For all his friend's height and build, he was actually quite bad at sports. His dexterity just wasn't there. Denzel hit the ball, and it slipped off his wrists, softly bouncing onto the sand. They had no net to speak of and they weren't even counting points, but Louis had to admit it felt good to be playing sports after so long. His father had forced him to play a multitude of them, including golf (which he hated), but volleyball was among his favorites along with badminton.

"Damn, my bad," he awkwardly said. "Pauline said this would be easy."

"Pauline played volleyball in school," Louis said.

"What?!" Denzel scoffed. "She never told me any of that!"

"She probably wanted to keep it a surprise to dominate you during your match," he shrugged. "Emilia knows. She's definitely in on the plan."

Louis had noticed how close all three had grown, but it was nothing he paid much attention to. Subgroups had formed within their friend group, and that was just life sometimes.

"That sounds like her. Thanks for the heads up," Denzel said as he pushed the ball upward. "So. What were those questions you wanted to ask me? I'll do my best to help out."

"Field alteration. It is what I need to take the next step, and yet I'm stumped. I can't think of anything that would help my team as a whole—"

He cut himself off to send the volleyball back.

"You're thinking too big," Denzel said. "It doesn't need to help your entire team. That's incredibly hard to do when you aren't a type specialist. Helping even one or a few Pokemon is fine so long as it's not permanent. Hell, even if it's permanent, it might be worth it if you have a lead, but I know you don't like to play risky."

"Not at all," he shook his head.

Louis hated taking unnecessary risks during battles, which was why he tended to stay on the defensive and react most of the time. It was a far cry from who he used to be. Back when he'd only owned Gabite and Empoleon and only thought to attack. Despite working better, his newfound strategy had cost him multiple battles against Maeve, but he knew there was a way to make it work with tweaks and experience.

"That's fine, not everyone's going to battle the same. Plus, it works kind of well with your team, I feel like."

"How?"

"Well, it's kind of slow. Stalwart, for lack of a better word. It works better defensively than offensively save for Ninetales, but even she battles your way. Plus, you know about Kingambit, right?"

Louis nodded. "How could I not?"

Kingambit was Bisharp's final form, and they always fought twice as hard whenever they were the last Pokemon on the field. Scientists said that it was instinctual since they were the leaders who needed to fight for that final inch when their army had fallen and they were the last Pokemon standing.

"But getting a Bisharp to evolve is… complicated, and I don't have that much time," Louis continued. "I would have to go back to that cave I found him in and find his old group."

"What is it that they need to evolve again?"

Louis paused. "Triumph. The ultimate victory that proves them to stand at the apex of their species. They need to beat an army of Pawniard and Bisharp by themselves and live to tell the tale. It's… dangerous."

"Well, I'm not saying you have to do it. I'm saying it fits you. You know, I admire you, Louis."

"How is that even possible?" Louis froze. The ball dropped to his feet and rolled onto the sand.

"Don't look at me like that, I'm serious. You're a tough guy. Probably the toughest guy I know."

"It isn't enough," the blonde said.

"I should have been there for you more, y'know?" Denzel muttered. "I'm sorry."

"There are only so many hours in a day, you don't have to drop everything for me. I know how busy you all are."

"But you're dropping everything for Justin. Shouldn't I be doing at least a fraction of that?"

"Well, you're doing it right now," he said after a pause.

"I am. Want to go grab a late lunch after this?"

"I don't see why not."

"Come on, give it a little pep!" Denzel exclaimed.

"Sure!" Louis yelled. He hadn't yelled in so long that it hurt. He pushed the ball back toward Denzel, and they began to play again.

"Hear me out, Louis. I've seen your battles with Maeve, and what you lack right now is confidence."

"Ha!"

Denzel caught the ball and smiled. "You laughed."

"No, I didn't!"

"You did. Damn it, I should have recorded this, the others won't believe me when I tell them this. I haven't seen you laugh since… since…"

Denzel stopped, and his smile suddenly disappeared like dust in the wind. He cleared his throat and continued.

"Like I said, you're a good trainer, but you behave like a kid that's going through their first Gym Battle every single time. Even with Maeve, despite being a lot more comfortable with her. You can be reactive and confident… although we don't really have any reactive battlers in our group. I could tell you about some random trainer I know off the top of my head."

"Go ahead."

"Jules Mantle, half ice type specialist and half water type. As you can guess, they can do a lot of nifty things with freezing water. They mostly react to whatever's being thrown at 'em. Last year during the Conference, they got up to the top 16 by slowing down battles to a halt every time."

"Slowing…?" Louis confusedly asked.

"Yes. They'll slow their opponents' Pokemon down to give them time to react and counter things either with ice or water moves. The point is, they're reactive, but they still have an active strategy that they employ. You just wait for things to get thrown at you. Sometimes that works, sometimes that doesn't. You need strategy that complements your style."

Louis attentively nodded, listening to every word.

"Granted, you don't want to get a big head either."

"I'm the last person you need to tell that," Louis said.

Denzel chuckled. "At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what strategy it is. Just have something you set out to do. Flailing around in a battle won't work, or at least it won't get you to eight badges. You'll have a decent team against Candice, but types will only carry you so far."

Louis blinked, looking up at the volleyball that Denzel had lobbed at him. His body tensed, and he felt compelled to go for the ball, jumping and arcing his back until he spiked it right at Denzel's feet.

"Yeah, confidence like that. Sheesh, go easy on me."

"I appreciate the advice, Denzel," Louis said. "And that was me going easy."

A group of girls suddenly interrupted their game, asking Denzel to sign autographs on their Pokeballs and a selfie. He apologized and told them he was busy helping a friend, much to their displeasure.

"You didn't have to do that," Louis said. "I could have waited."

Denzel chuckled as he shook his head. "How's Gabite doing recently? He still causing you problems?"

"He's doing alright. I'm mostly worried about when he'll evolve."

"I'll lend you a hand if push comes to shove," his friend nodded firmly. "I said the same thing to Cecilia, but she's determined to do it on her own. Your Gabite's pretty rowdy as far as they go, so you might need help."

"That… that reassures me," Louis sighed in relief. He would rather have help than not.

"I mean, what are friends if they don't help out, right? You doing alright with Cece?"

"We haven't spoken to each other much in Sunyshore, but yes. The awkward atmosphere is gone these days."

"You over her?"

"Yes," he said, not missing a beat. "The time away helped."

"Glad to hear it. Don't worry about romance, I'm sure you'll get a girl soon. Maybe she's even closer than you'd think."

"I don't think I'm in the right… headspace for a relationship right now," Louis said. "It wouldn't be right. I don't even know what a relationship is. My time with Cecilia, it was all fake. I mostly spent it flaunting her around like a thing and forcing her to have one-sided conversations while she answered with hums and nods. I don't want to slip back into bad habits."

Denzel paused. "Fair enough."

They played volleyball in silence until Denzel tried to spike the ball—

And failed miserably. That gave Louis a good chuckle.

—

"This isn't as fancy as you're used to, eh?" Denzel said as he chomped on some ribs.

They hadn't gone far. They were in one of the multitudes of restaurants that lined the boardwalk. Louis had basically been peer pressured into ordering ribs as well, but he did enjoy them very much even though Denzel made fun of him for using a knife and fork.

"You make it sound like I haven't eaten those pre-packaged meals for trainers," Louis said.

"Oh yeah, those are terrible," Denzel laughed. "I heard Grace and Honey cooked for Mira, Chase and Cecilia when they were traveling, though. Homemade food while traveling? I'm kind of jealous."

"Why don't you ask her to cook for you?" Louis asked. "Knowing her, she'll jump at the opportunity. She's quite… motherly."

"We should ask her, then," Denzel said. "And hell, she won't be limited to ingredients she can conveniently carry since we're in a city."

"If she agrees, I will be there," Louis said.

"So, Louis," the teenager said, dropping a bone on his plate. "What's next for you after this year?"

Louis froze at the question, not knowing what to answer. He'd been so focused on first surpassing Cecilia and then saving Justin from getting himself killed that he'd never taken a second to think about himself.

"I think it's an important question."

"It is. I know it is," Louis stumbled over his words. "I don't really know yet. I mean, I do have a long-term goal in mind, but it isn't currently achievable."

There was no more company for him to inherit, but even if there had been, he wouldn't have been interested any longer. The last thing Louis would have wanted was to turn into his father. He kept telling himself that they were different, but the sheer amount of wealth they'd had… that corrupted people.

"So you want to build yourself up for your long-term goal, then. Wanna tell me about it?" Denzel asked.

"This is somewhat embarrassing…"

"I bet you it isn't."

"I want to open a Pokemon sanctuary for abandoned Pokemon, both by their groups in the wild and by trainers," Louis muttered. "I don't really have any plans in place other than the location—"

"Dude."

"What?"

"That's so fucking awesome," Denzel breathed.

"Is it?"

"Yes!"

"Well, the planned location is Floaroma since there's a lot of space and it's close to Jubilife. That's where the majority of newer trainers come from and they tend to abandon their Pokemon the most," Louis said. "But I would have to have enough money to buy the land. Even with the money I currently have, it isn't enough. Plus, Floaroma's zoning laws are awful."

"Floaroma's a great spot," Denzel nodded. "You thinking of that field up north where the tournament was held, aren't you?"

"Exactly!" Louis exclaimed a little louder than he wanted. "It's the perfect area. There's nothing there aside from… well, flowers and a bunch of honey trees. So Pokemon training is somewhat temporary, which is something I'd have to sell to Gabite if he's still that aggressive whenever I try this project."

"I can try to help. I've got a lot of online reach, and I'll have even more whenever you get started. Of course, you need money."

Louis nodded.

"And you've been spending so much for us?" Denzel exclaimed in an incredulous tone. "That thing with Jerry Heo in Solaceon, all the parties you've paid for—"

"It's fine," Louis said.

"No. You need to think about yourself more," Denzel scolded. "I'm going to help you with this."

"You don't have that much. No offense!"

"In the future, obviously. Hopefully by then I'll be rich, but you should look into ways to make money too."

"Like what? I'm… good enough for a mid-sized sponsor, I suppose, but that's it."

"How will you run this sanctuary? Financially, I mean," Denzel asked as he leaned back.

"Hopefully through donations, but that probably won't be enough, especially when I might need employees if the project grows big enough."

"Hm. You know business."

"I can't just start a business out of thin air. I don't even have the capital for it," Louis said. "That was basically a nonstatement."

"This is all long-term. I'm not telling you to monetize your sanctuary. Obviously that would be an awful thing to do, but maybe have some services on the side? Like, you could make use of all that experience you're racking up as a trainer to offer training courses."

Denzel grabbed a napkin and called a waitress over.

"Excuse me, do you have a pen?"

The woman nodded, and after two minutes, she brought the pen.

Denzel grinned. "Let's brainstorm this. We all know that the best ideas were born on a napkin in a restaurant."

Louis cracked a smile. "Sure."

—

It was evening when Louis and Denzel went their separate ways. The blond teenager had multiple napkins in his pocket full of notes that he'd need to transcribe on an actual book or computer. Maeve would surely hand him a few. He grabbed his phone as he slowly dragged his feet through the boardwalk, and he noticed that she'd texted him multiple times already asking for his whereabouts and if he was okay.

Louis answered right away, apologizing for the tardiness of his answers. He turned toward the darkened beach and watched the people filter out now that the sun had set and the temperature had lowered.

Suddenly, a glimpse.

He blinked and caught himself. Surely he was seeing things. Louis pushed past a taller man as his breaths grew rapid and uneven. He'd recognized that light brown hair and pale skin anywhere.

Was this fate? Pure chance? Was Justin looking for him? Or perhaps something else entirely.

Justin wandered onto the boardwalk with his hulking Arcanine at his side. Louis clenched his teeth and broke into a run.

Somehow, he had found the damn needle in the haystack.

---

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, 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, creativityfails, Spartanstoryteller, Peter D, Bum, Zaire M, Tina M

 

[Soussouni1]

INTERLUDE - HAYSTACK II

No longer did his feet feel like they were tied down with lead. With the wind at his back, Louis ran as fast as he could. Every time his leg touched the ground, his body felt lighter, and his eyes never left the back of Justin's head. Arcanine figured out that he was here first, turning his head toward him and growling slightly. People recoiled and avoided the fire type in response out of fear while Justin stopped in his tracks.

"Justin," Louis said.

His old friend slowly turned, facing him fully. Louis blinked, desperate to chase the tears that were already building up. He didn't even know why he was crying. His tears meant joy, sorrow, regret, but most importantly, there was hope. The feeling ballooned in his chest and made Louis stand just a little straighter. Just a little taller. More confident. He stared into Justin's eyes and found nothing.

"I've been looking for you," Louis continued. "We have unfinished business."

Justin kept silent, simply studying Louis, who did not retreat or flinch away from his empty yet piercing stare.

"Grace told me you were going to speak to me," he said. "Where were you?"

"I never told her that," Justin finally spoke, his body unmoving. "In fact, I stayed silent when she asked."

"I know. Your demeanor was apparently very shaky, so she thought differently. That doesn't matter now. Justin, I'm here to talk. Just… come talk to me."

"There's very little to talk about. We've been through this song and dance before," Justin said. "You will disapprove of what I set out to do, and I will simply disagree. We will butt heads, and no one will change their mind. Why waste time?"

Louis dug his nails into his palm in frustration. This couldn't be a repeat of what had happened in Solaceon where he'd desperately tried to convince his friend not to leave, but how? Was he—

Was he ready?

He sharply inhaled and his chest tightened.

"What are you doing right now?" He asked.

"Arcanine wanted to enjoy some fresh air."

"Isn't that what you would constitute a 'waste of time'?" Louis frowned. "After all, you aren't training right now."

"My Pokemon have needs, and I supply those needs," Justin said. "A cohesive unit that enjoys themselves will progress faster than a ragtag group of personalities that keep clashing and doing whatever their trainer wants at all times. You of all people should know."

Louis took the comment in stride. He had been hit a thousand times before, and he had gotten back up each time. Tonight was no different. It was like someone pouring hot oil on him after being set on fire and having his nerves destroyed.

"You care, Justin," Louis said. "You care about Arcanine. About your other Pokemon. Isn't that proof—"

"I do care, but care takes many forms," the boy shrugged. "Are we done?"

So he did care. That was one foot in the door.

"We aren't."

"You have nothing to offer me, Louis. I've beaten Volkner already. All that remains is me getting my flying license, and I will be able to fly to Victory Road. It is a shame that there aren't any ferries to go there. I suppose the League uses it to stop inexperienced trainers from getting themselves killed."

"So like you?" Louis said. Justin didn't even deign to answer.

Still, that made Louis hesitate. Justin had five badges already? Despite having scoured videos of Gym Battles online, he hadn't found Justin's anywhere, which meant that he must have asked for the recording to be turned off. And a flying license? That must have been his mysterious sixth Pokemon. Still, that meant that Louis had no more time to prepare. And if he let him go now, who knew if he'd see him again before he left the city?

Could he even do this?

"I do have something to offer you. A battle—"

"A battle that we both know I will win, so what is the point? You wouldn't challenge me."

"No. I'll give you the battle of a lifetime," Louis said with a sneer he thought he'd lost a long time ago. "I'll show you that you can't hold a candle to me."

Gone was the soft-spoken tone that had become a part of him throughout the months. Vocal chords clicked into place, confidence slipped through his pores and the edges of his fingers tingled in excitement. He hadn't spoken like this in months.

"Victory Road? Don't make me laugh," Louis scoffed. "If anything, the one going there should be me. I've got what it takes, and you don't."

Talking this way after so long was like desperately grabbing onto any kind of plank after a ship had sunk in the middle of the sea. He fumbled around, flailing around the water until he found something to support himself on. Memory.

"Don't tell me that you're too terrified to respond," Louis jeered with a tone so obnoxious he made himself want to puke. How easy it was to slip into old habits. How comforting. Like drawing on a well that was almost empty. "I'm talking to you. Or will you ignore me? Louis Bianchi?"

Arcanine shot Louis a glare, but a pat from Justin stopped him from going further.

"Your efforts to get a rise out of me are pathetic. Your family name holds no power any longer."

"You think you'll be able to run Pherzen like this? Pariah I may be, but pariah you will become. A recluse like you could never run a company that size. You need to go above and beyond. Do things that aren't rational or needed, like speaking to people and doing them favors. You need to be social."

"Nonsense."

"At the end of the day, that's what this is about, isn't it? Pherzen," Louis pressed, taking a step forward. "Does Patrick agree? Does he know the extent of how warped you've become?"

"He knows."

"He knows the condition, but he doesn't know its extent," Louis said with a smug huff. "You haven't spoken in months, I'd bet. If he actually sees you, who knows how it'll change? You think you'll still be his successor? Nothing was signed. It was a mere verbal agreement. It's all dust in the eyes of the law."

This time, something shifted in Justin's eyes.

"Everything I do, I do for humanity's medical advancement," Justin muttered.

"You'll advance nothing like this. You'll be put in a division away from the public eye where you can't embarrass him, and you'll have to answer to someone else once he retires. How does head of manufacturing sound? Or head of PR—" Louis stopped himself from guffawing. "Nevermind. Someone like you couldn't do PR."

"I'll make you eat those words."

Louis smiled. Prodding at Justin's goal was still something that could trigger something in him, because in the end, it was all for Pherzen. Victory Road, the isolation, the training. All to inherit a company. He had a one-track mind.

"So you agree to the battle, then," Louis said, waiting for Justin's nod. "Good. I want it in writing."

"What?"

"In writing. A contract. If I lose, you may do what you wish. It's not like I could stop you regardless," Louis spoke. "If you lose, you travel with me and Maeve. If it is legal counsel you want, I still have a few lawyers I could call, and I'm sure I could at least find one in Sunyshore at this moment. The name Bianchi is toxic, but it still has weight."

"What's in it for me?"

"Oh? Is that doubt?" Louis smiled. "I thought you were going to win. But as a gesture of goodwill, I won't tell any of the others you're here."

"Fine. You're a sorry excuse for a trainer regardless."

"Keep them coming. I've lived in a state of emotional agony for the past five months."

Justin might have been inflicted with darkness, but was still a teenager. Prod and talk down his ambition, and he would respond in kind. The hints of his former self that he'd seen in Solaceon and Veilstone had made Louis realize that he couldn't beg for a change of mind.

He had to force it out of him.

No one could be truly emotionless, surely.

—

"So let me reiterate, Mr. Bianchi. A five-on-five with three switches for each trainer, and these are the correct conditions?" Mr. Murphy asked.

Louis crossed his arms and nodded. "Yes. That is correct."

A five-on-five was not ideal, especially with Combee, but it was the only way Louis had gotten Justin to agree. A four-on-four wouldn't satisfy him, and Louis had even hidden the fact that Combee hadn't evolved yet out of fear that Justin would have changed his mind. He wanted a fight. The stout Mr. Murphy adjusted his glasses and handed to contract to his equivalent— Mr. O'Brien, who was Justin's own lawyer.

"Are there any loopholes?" Justin asked.

O'Brien eyed the contract from side to side. It was a short one, barely a page long that stipulated conditions for loss and victory. Justin had added the condition that a loss from Louis would make him have to stop 'bothering him' for a period of five years. It was essentially a restraining order without having gone through the legal process. Not only that, but tonight would have to be a secret. Louis wouldn't even be able to tattle to Maeve.

Louis already knew that having to carry this burden alone would crush him.

And yet, it was now or never.

Damages for breaching the contract included Louis speaking well of Justin to his father (it seemed that he'd gotten on his nerves there) since Louis and Patrick used to be acquaintances thanks to his father, and he would value Louis' words. There was also monetary compensation that would cost Louis an arm and a leg and would bleed his metaphorical coffers dry.

"No loopholes," O'Brien said with a gruff voice. "Irontight."

The lawyer handed Justin a pen, and he signed. Louis did the same.

Their verbal agreement was now legally binding.

—

It was the dead of night, and the arena Louis and Justin stood in was completely empty save for the employee working the graveyard shift and the League-employed Kadabra.

Louis had used the precious time with the lawyers to desperately come up with a strategy— any strategy. Not only had he found himself in a five-on-five when Combee was still weak in battle, but Denzel's words from this afternoon rang truer now than they had when he'd first heard them. He didn't want to leave a battle like this to chance. That was essentially what he'd done his entire career as a trainer. To blindly go into a battle and hope for the best was to set yourself up for failure.

So here he was, desperately trying not to drown as he grabbed his first Pokeball. Louis' fingers twitched until he tightened his hold over his Pokeball. He had no idea what Justin would start with or how far his old friend had progressed, but he knew enough about types to know what Gabite was his safest bet. Justin had no ice nor dragon types— unless his sixth was a dragon, but Louis doubted that.

"Ready?!" He called out.

Justin answered with a silent nod. Louis counted down.

Gabite appeared in a brilliant flash of red and roared mightily once he realized he was about to battle, exposing his triangular, sharp teeth. The dragon's eyes narrowed at his opponent. His body was covered in dull, burgundy scales save for the white ones on his belly and the dark ones interspersed at different intervals. His eyes were darker than night, his snout had doubled in size and teeth as sharp as Gabite lined it like a razor. Krookodile.

Gabite squared himself, pressing down on the hard, rocky ground of the arena—

"Sand Tomb and Dig," Justin said.

The ground under Krookodile's feet turned soft, and the dark type sunk beneath it with an eerie silence. The Sand Tomb traveled with incredible speed toward Gabite, seemingly following Krookodile's trajectory underground.

"Bulldoze!" Louis snapped.

With a snarl, Gabite stomped a foot on the ground, causing it to shake uncontrollably. Unable to bear the pain, Krookodile jumped out of his Sand Tomb early and clawed at Gabite, raking away a few of his scales and exposing the tough, pink flesh below.

"Scary Face and Torment."

Sweat began to accumulate on every inch of Louis' body. Krookodile's face seemed to grow larger, more sinister. He opened his mouth, revealing rows and rows of teeth that could cut through his arm like butter and he emitted a low growl that made Louis shiver and his breathing quicken. Even Gabite, who was about to retaliate with Dragon Claw had to stop. Something else— something small shifted in Krookodile's eyes, and Gabite's own seemed to grow darker in response with the dark type's. The ground type buried again, and Krookodile sank into the sands. Louis called out for another Bulldoze, but Gabite seemed incapable of using the move.

So Louis went for the next best option.

"Earth Power!"

The ground bubbled all around the Sand Tomb and then exploded. The burst kicked up sand, dirt and rocks into the sky, and Louis heard a low-pitch hiss come from somewhere else underground.

"Again!"

Louis' leg bounced on his podium. He leaned in, awaiting another Earth Power—

And nothing happened.

He flinched when a massive burst of sand wrapped around the arena with a deafening howl. It wasn't a Sandstorm so much as it was a localized burst of sand, sped up to such a degree that even Gabite grunted in pain from the wind. The dragon type dove into the Sand Tomb as if he was jumping headfirst into a pool and buried to get away from the blast and chase Krookodile. Louis' mind raced, desperately attempting to explain Torment. Two times, he had ordered to use a move, and twice it had failed after the first attempt. Either it was a more powerful Disable that would prevent Gabite from using moves after using them once—

"Get back up and Bulldoze!" Louis quickly ordered.

The ground burst open, and Gabite forcefully dragged Krookodile out of the floor with a claw digging deep into his gut. The ground type's teeth grew dark as he Crunched at Gabite's neck, puncturing his scales and digging deep into his flesh. Gabite brought the ground type into the air with his proto-flight and then slammed both himself and his opponent into the ground as they brawled, forcefully creating a Bulldoze. The floor shook, and Krookodile's powerful Sandstorm ceased at once.

So he couldn't use the same attack twice in a row, Louis thought.

"Scary Face and Foul Play," Justin said.

Once again, Louis flinched at Krookodile's horrifying face. A maw that could swallow him whole opened, and he bit down on his tongue to force himself not to scream. To Gabite, however, the attack was less effective than the first time. He still slowed, allowing Krookodile a moment of respite. Darkness gathered around the Pokemon's fist, and he slammed a palm right into Gabite's chest. The impact knocked all the air out of Gabite's lungs and sent him tumbling back right into an already-formed Sand Tomb that he sunk into. At this point, the entire arena was covered in Krookodile's Sand Tombs. Anyone other than Gabite would never be able to beat him.

This had to stop now.

"Rush in!" Louis screamed. "In close quarters, you'll win! You can't use an attack twice in a row!"

An Earth Power propelled Gabite out of Sand Tomb, and he clumsily flew toward Krookodile as fast as he could. Often, he nearly stumbled out of the air or had to push himself back up with his legs.

"Scary Face and sink," Justin countered.

The third time was basically a blip on Gabite's radar, and the dragon rammed into Krookodile before he could retreat underground again. Gabite's claw shone turquoise, and a Dragon Claw dug deep and raked across the dark type's chest, followed by a close-quarters Dragon Breath and another Dragon Claw. Justin stood completely still as he recalled Krookodile, and Louis breathed a sigh. It was as much relief as it was worry, because he knew Gabite was needed to finish off Krookodile. The ground stopped shifting and solidified, although it was now horribly uneven due to the permanent Sand Tombs Krookodile had created. Justin sent out his Audino, who eyed Gabite with a suspicious tint.

"Yawn," Justin spoke.

Audino opened his mouth wide, and Louis felt compelled to yawn as well. The drowsiness only lasted a second, however. Louis was determined to use the little time Gabite had left to deal damage before recalling him.

"Bulldoze and Dragon Claw!" Louis snapped.

Audino's skin wasn't tough like Krookodile's, and they needed to exploit that weakness. Gabite shook off the lingering pain from the fight with Krookodile and blurred toward Audino—

And slammed head-first into a psychic barrier.

"Misty Terrain," Justin continued.

Pink dust emanated from Audino's body. Little by little at first, and then overwhelmingly until the battlefield was nothing but pink. It was so bright Louis found it hard not to squint. Not wanting to have a dragon fight on a terrain designed for fairies, Louis recalled Gabite and immediately sent out Bisharp instead. The tall steel type stared around in confusion. Finding Audino in this terrain was almost impossible. The normal type's pink skin bled perfectly into the pink light. The dust had clung to Gabite's scales, but it perfectly slid off Bisharp's metallic skin.

"Swords Dance and Night Slash! Tear through the barrier" Louis ordered.

Bisharp's body moved in a rhythmic motion, and he finished the dance by striking a pose. His blades glinted and sharpened. With a grunt, he ran toward Audino, who waited patiently for the steel type with an unwavering, gentle smile. Darkness enveloped Bisharp's hand, and he slashed across Audino—

Who disappeared, transforming into pink dust.

From the other side of the arena, a fireball slammed into Bisharp's back. It was weak— far too weak to actually deal a large amount of damage, but the flames were still painful to the steel type. Next, grass knotted around his ankles, keeping him still until pellets of mud struck him from another direction. Blades grew out of Bisharp's legs, cutting apart the grass, but the dark type was just as confused as Louis was.

Where was Audino?

Justin simply observed, his face still unmoving as another fireball was hurled toward Bisharp. This time, the steel type dodged, but a beam of ice got him in the leg. These attacks were all so varied, but they were all weaker and slower than they should be. Not only that, but they formed anywhere Audino wished. There was no way the normal type was traveling that fast. Louis would have loved to know what was happening, but he had no time to waste.

"Metal Sound," Louis said.

Bisharp whetted his blade across his own body, creating a horrible sound that made Louis wince. A small, painful squeal from Audino revealed his location, and Bisharp rushed toward the source of the sound. His hands once again grew dark, and this time, he slashed across the real body. The Night Slash tore through the barrier and across Audino's chest. Blood seeped out of the wound, seeping onto the pink ground. Justin ordered Audino to Yawn, and he did before disappearing once more, somehow vanishing into thin air.

Had that been the real body, or an illusion? The fact that Louis didn't know scared him, and now he was on a timer again. He told Bisharp to use another Metal Sound, but Audino didn't let anything slip this time. Bisharp cried out in pain as a dozen attacks slammed into him from all sides. Streams of flames, beams of ice, electricity, mud— anything he could possibly conceive. He recalled Bisharp before he could fall asleep or take too much damage.

Audino reappeared as soon as he was the only one on the field, the wound on his chest having been half-healed and progressively knitting itself back together as dust coated the gash. Bisharp specialized in one-on-one battles where he could see his enemies, and Louis had expected him to be able to fully take advantage of that against the slow-moving Audino. Whereas Audino had been a mere healer before, he was now possibly the most annoying Pokemon to face. Illusions, barriers, healing, Yawn, pulling every move under the sun? What Louis needed to beat Audino were wide attacks. Firepower. He released Ninetales, who curiously smelled her surroundings.

Flames enveloped her right away, coating her fur and protecting her from the dust's potentially malignant effects. Her tails lashed, her eyes flashed, Drought bore down onto the battlefield and Louis swept his arm.

"Burn up the field!"

Ninetales let loose an eerie howl, and flames spun around her wider and wider each time until they enveloped the entire arena. Audino slung more mud at Ninetales, and this time a jet of water. Ninetales shook off the pain and finished burning up the field. The Misty Terrain began to waver, and it was only a matter of time until it collapsed completely. Ninetales' eyes flashed once more, and her head snapped toward her left. She knew exactly where Audino was.

"Will-O-Wisp!" Louis yelled.

"Yawn," Justin said.

If they could somehow get Audino to be permanently burned, then they'd be in a good position. Louis internally swore as another Yawn took effect, but he couldn't afford to use his last switch here. Ninetales was the only Pokemon who could take Audino down or at least weaken him. Another jet of water hit Ninetales in the chin, but it was even weaker this time, as if it was tied to Misty Terrain's condition. Wisps crawled into the plane of the living kicking and screaming and rushed toward Audino.

"Encore and Magic Coat."

The blond trainer blinked as the Will-O-Wisps died in agonized screams as they slammed into a multi-colored barrier. At the same time, Audino twirled, and his eyes shone with a dull grey.

Ninetales would now feel compelled to use only Will-O-Wisps. Her hold on her flames collapsed, and they now ran wild across the arena. Her coat of fire dissolved into thin air, and another Will-O-Wisp floated toward Audino. The normal type again used Magic Coat to cancel the attack.

Louis bit his lip. Yawn was ticking, and Ninetales would be stuck using Will-O-Wisp longer than it would take for the move to take effect. Audino couldn't exactly hurt her that much either, but he didn't need to.

The short of it was, he'd been completely fucked.

Louis couldn't afford to lose Ninetales here. He unclipped her ball and with a heavy hand, recalled her. His dilemma grew more manageable when the Misty Terrain did not rebuild itself, however. Instead, it appeared to be stuck in its half-broken state.

A pragmatic person would have sent out Combee as a sacrifice. A way to reset the tempo of the fight and to get Ninetales back in right after.

Louis… couldn't.

"It's up to you," he whispered as he sent out Bisharp again.

Audino was possible to track now, and so long as they overwhelmed his healing factor, than victory was possible. Like clockwork, Justin ordered him to Yawn, and he did so right as Bisharp pushed against the ground with a darkened hand. Grass tied around his feet, but Audino's attacks were weaker now, and he easily tore through the Grass Knots by running.

"Disarming Voice."

Tears formed around Audino's large, blue eyes and he let out a harrowing scream. Bisharp hesitated for a split second, allowing Audino to sling another fireball at him. It was only now that Louis understood what was going on. The fire, the water, the grass— everything had formed from Audino's will.

It was glamour powered by the Misty Terrain. Or maybe the terrain provided the glamour itself? And yet, Audino was a normal type!

Bisharp silently tore through Audino's psychic barrier. He brought another hand forward, this time cutting with Slash. More blood and dust gushed out of the wound, but Bisharp did not stop. He was locked in, and kept shredding Audino apart.

"Life Dew," Justin said.

The wounds healed, but a lot slower than they appeared. By the time Bisharp had cut ten times, only one had knitted back together. Justin wanted to buy some time, but he had none. Louis expected him to use one of his switches, but he did not. Instead, the Misty Terrain began to collapse in on itself and Audino's attack turned into a continuous Disarming Voice that bought him a precious few seconds.

"Wish."

A light appeared above Audino's head and rose through the ceiling. It was Audino's last act. The normal type fell, bloodied and unconscious. Bisharp neatly shook his arms, throwing the blood off his blade in one go.

Since Wish had been used, it was obvious who would come next. Krookodile materialized onto the field, and the ground instantly began to shift once more. Bisharp immediately sunk into a Sand Tomb, but Louis had been ready for it.

"Metal Sound!"

The sudden screech surprised Krookodile, and the shifting sands stopped for a second. Bisharp jumped out, continuously using the sound to buy himself some more time.

"Metal Claw!"

With newfound stamina, Bisharp ran toward Krookodile, who violently shook his head to focus. A burst of metal from under Bisharp's feet helped him jump above the ever-increasing amount of Sand Tombs, and he let out a reverberating scream as his hands shimmered bright white—

And Krookodile buried, hiding safely from the attack. An expected, development, but annoying nonetheless. Even worse, the Yawn finally took effect, and Bisharp stumbled until he fell asleep.

It was over.

The Sand Tomb swallowed him whole, and Krookodile finished him off below ground where Louis couldn't see. Bisharp was spat out from the earth like a rag, and Louis recalled the steel type. He of course sent out Gabite once more, and the dragon was eager to continue the match with his arch-enemy.

"Torment."

Louis clicked his tongue, but the move was more annoying than debilitating. Krookodile's eyes drew in Gabite's gaze, locking him into non-consecutive moves.

"Dragon Breath and go in," Louis said.

Blue flames danced in Gabite's mouth, and he spat the attack out with a roar. Krokoodile did not bury this time, because Justin knew that would just prompt an Earth Power or Bulldoze. Instead, he took the attack head-on, using his bulk to resist the hit. Gabite flew forth, and Krookodile snarled, squaring himself to prepare for impact. Gabite slammed into his chest with a loud crash, and Krookodile slid backward.

"Foul Play."

The dark type threw a darkened fist at Gabite's chest, and scales flew out like shrapnel out of a grenade. The dragon delivered a vicious Dragon Claw to Krookodile's nose, and the two Pokemon entered a terrible melee. All discipline vanished into thin air. They clawed, bit, headbutted, anything that would get one to dominate the other. Louis bit his lip when Krookodile threw Gabite back with a powerful gust of a Sandstorm and his sheer bulk, and the Wish re-entered his body.

Scales quickly rebuilt and reappeared. Cuts mended. Blood evaporated. Krokoodile grinned.

Gabite drew on tired breaths.

"Earth Power," Louis said.

They had to keep their distance now. The Wish had ensured that Krookodile would beat them up close. The ground under the dark type's feet exploded with boiling earth and singed Krookodile's scales.

"Thrash," Justin said.

Krookodile's eyes glinted— this time with fury. He sank into the ground, but left his upper half exposed as if he was a Feraligatr swimming through a swamp. He was faster than he'd ever been, going as fast as Gabite could fly. The earth seemed to liquefy and push him forward like water currents.

"Alternate between Bulldoze, Earth Power and Dragon Breath!" Louis yelled. "Then run!"

The ground shook, earth burst open with deafening booms and the concentrated stream of draconic energy all hit Krookodile, who looked like he couldn't even register the pain. Gabite jumped to fly away, but Krookodile emerged from the earth with a wave of mud at his back. It clung to Gabite and kept him grounded, allowing Krookodile to get his hands on him.

Another melee began.

This time, Krookodile was clearly dominating. He slammed every single body part against Gabite. So much so that Louis felt like he was hurting himself. Something in his hand crunched when it hit Gabite's flank, and yet the onslaught continued. Krookodile savagely bit Gabite's arm and tore. The sheer violence made Louis flinch, but Justin didn't even react. All of the sophisticated strategies had been thrown to the wayside. Gabite fought back as best he could with Dragon Claw, Metal Claw and Slash.

And yet, this battle could only go one way.

Krookodile stood over Gabite's unconscious body with tired heaves, but he did not celebrate with a roar. Instead, he stumbled around and kept fighting the air. Louis quickly recalled Gabite before he could get caught in the crossfire, and Krookodile ran forward, slamming his head against Kadabra's barrier at full force and hurting himself in the process.

Louis took a deep breath and sent out Empoleon. The steel type instantly got into an alert position, but he blinked confusedly when he saw Krookodile's mental state. Louis thought Justin would recall him, but he did not. He was probably too tired to hope to use without Audino's Wish.

"Brine."

Clouds instantly materialized above Krookodile, who was still clawing at the edge of the arena. They stabbed into Krokodile, denting and peeling off his scales until the ground type fell unconscious. Louis was sure of it now. He'd been Gabite's explicit counter. Audino wouldn't have had the firepower to deal with the dragon. Justin silently recalled Krookodile and sent out his next Pokemon.

A human-sized Pokemon emerged from the red light. He had beige fur, duck-like lips and a green lilypad for a hat. Ludicolo began to dance to a non-existent rhythm as soon as he appeared on the field. Water and Grass meant that Empoleon's water moves would basically be useless in this fight, but they had other levers to pull. Louis waited for Justin to speak first.

"Rain Dance."

For Swift Swim, Louis instantly thought.

"Ice Beam!"

Shards of frost formed around Empoleon's mouth until they started to shine. Three arcs of ice barrelled toward Ludicolo, who opted to take the attack in order to finish off his move. Small bolts of electricity shimmered in the clouds and droplets began to fall.

"Again!" Louis barked.

"Teeter Dance."

Ludicolo's dance grew more vigorous, and Empoleon's Ice Beam fired off before it could be completed, missing entirely. Empoleon was swayed into the dance and started following Ludicolo's every move.

"Leech Seed," Justin continued.

Ludicolo spat out a set of seeds at Empoleon, all while keeping up his dance. They landed on the steel type and immediately burst open. Thorny vines wrapped around Empoleon's body and slowly began to suck his energy.

"Now Mist."

It took a few forced coughs, but a thick mist slid out of Ludicolo's mouth just as the Teeter Dance grew weaker and weaker. Empoleon blinked as he snapped back to reality, but Ludicolo was already gone, having slipped into the mist. All that remained was a terribly loud storm overhead, the accumulating water and the mist.

And they were on a timer.

"Icy Wind and Aqua Jet!" Louis yelled.

Empoleon honked, and water instantly surrounded him. Aided by the rain, he jumped and flew like a bullet. Ice formed at the edges of the attack, but that wasn't what they were looking for. Instead, the constant spinning from Aqua Jet created a perimeter of cold air that would harm any Pokemon near them, and now that Empoleon had a constant supply of water, he would be able to use the technique until he fainted. Somehow, every time the Leech Seed froze, it glowed neon green, unthawing itself and continuing to drain the water type's energy.

Empoleon traveled across the arena, sweeping the entire battlefield with ice. Frost enveloped the floor, and the water that had accumulated began to freeze over into a thin sheet of ice. Once Empoleon reached the end of the arena, Ludicolo let out a displeased croak.

They hadn't expected Empoleon to be this good. Louis smiled, but it disappeared as soon as Justin spoke.

"Sunny Day."

Everything disappeared. The stormy clouds, the rain, the thunder, it all evaporated in mere seconds. A second sun formed high ahead in the arena, and both Empoleon's Aqua Jet and Icy Wind lost in volume. It wasn't all that bad, however. The Sunny Day made the mist thin, and Ludicolo's shadow could be seen dancing—

"Grass Knot."

"Freeze it!" Louis yelled.

These weren't the little vines that Audino could use. Instead, they were massive and were capable of grabbing Empoleon's entire body. Empoleon exhaled, letting out another Icy Wind that froze the vines that attempted to wrap around him.

"Energy Ball. Keep up the pressure," Justin continued.

There was no vegetation to be seen anywhere except the Leech Seed, so instead, Ludicolo drew the energy from himself. A small part of his hat withered away, forming into a green ball of glowing light. With a confident cry, he sent it forward, and it seemed to curve and follow Empoleon wherever he went. It wasn't the only Energy Ball either. Ludicolo sent out more and more until he looked like a dead plant—

And then, he regenerated everything with Synthesis.

"Ice Beam! Just hit them out of the sky before they get to you!" Louis yelled.

Empoleon nodded, and weakened rays of ice intercepted each Energy Ball, causing them to explode mid-air. Grass grew wherever they did so, cracking and growing through the thick sheet of ice that Empoleon had created.

Louis' tongue pushed against the back of his teeth. He had enough information now, and he had strategy. Waiting around would be the death of him. He had to rush in and overwhelm before the Leech Seed caused too much damage.

"Slide and Metal Claw!" Louis screamed.

Aqua Jet might have been weakened, but Empoleon could still make use of his biology. He launched himself on his stomach, using his flippers to slide on the ice faster than a car. Ludicolo twirled, and sharpened leaves emerged from his beige fur and flew at Empoleon, cutting the softer parts of his flesh. On a dime, Ludicolo croaked and the weather changed again, and rain began to fall. Weaker than the first one this time, but it allowed him to slide away as if he was on an ice skating rink, constantly harassing Empoleon with hit-and-run tactics using Razor Leaf and Energy Ball.

The steel type didn't flinch. Instead, another Aqua Jet formed around him and he blurred, ramming into Ludicolo. He slashed across the water type's fur and skin with Metal Claw. Ludicolo grunted in pain, but his hands stuck to Empoleon's skin and glowed neon green. The steel type's eyes wavered, and Louis soon realized more of his energy was being drained.

"Ice—"

But Empoleon was already on top of it. Three arcs of ice sprayed Ludicolo across the chest, mouth and face until the grass type finally let go. Empoleon squawked, hitting him with a Metal Claw before escaping away, and another wave of Energy Balls flew toward him. Justin wasn't switching, Louis noticed. He wasn't switching because nothing could take down Empoleon like Ludicolo could.

"Synthesis," Justin spoke.

And there was also that. But each subsequent Synthesis would be weaker than the last. Ludicolo wasn't like Denzel's Roselia. He could only draw on the move a few times before exhausting himself. Louis' heart shook in trepidation as Empoleon formed into another Aqua Jet fused with an Icy Wind.

"Take the hit," Justin said.

"Stop—"

Too late. Aqua Jet was too fast, and Empoleon once more rammed into Ludicolo's chest. The grass type slid back onto the slick ice, straining against Empoleon's sheer weight.

"Tickle."

Pushing through the pain, Ludicolo's hands shifted under Empoleon's armpits. The steel type began to laugh. A strange, uneven honk combined with short breaths. At the same time, Ludicolo's hands shimmered green once more and Empoleon fell. Not because he fainted, but because he just laughed so uncontrollably that he couldn't stand.

"Ice Beam! Empoleon!"

No orders went through. The draining attack combined with the Leech Seed proved too much for Empoleon. The water type fainted, and Louis clenched a fist.

This was bad. Extremely bad. But Louis took a breath. He couldn't let panic get a hold of him. Not all was lost.

Ninetales came out of her ball next, and she growled in displeasure at the rain. Thankfully, Drought counteracted much of the Rain Dance, and much of the clouds dissipated until only the only rain left was a little patter that was barely noticeable. That meant Ludicolo would be slower, his water moves would be less effective and Ninetales would almost be at her full potential.

"Will-O-Wisp! Burn up the field again!" Louis barked.

Five spirits from another world materialized around Ninetales in a circle and rushed toward Ludicolo. Then, she clad herself in fire. The ice instantly melted below her feet, turning into water, and that water subsequently turned to vapor before it could even have an effect on her. Ludicolo spat out a powerful jet of water toward the wisps, but it had no effect. Instead, they only screamed in rage and each one entered the grass type's body. A purple flame enveloped him and shone brightly.

"Disable!" Louis snapped without missing a beat.

He'd seen Grace's Jellicent enough to recognize a Hydro Pump, and knocking it out of his arsenal would be key to winning this battle. Ninetales' eyes flashed grey, and the water cut out like someone had turned off a faucet in a sink.

"Water Pulse," Justin said instead.

Ludicolo found his voice, and a ring of water barrelled at Ninetales.

"Inferno!"

Flames spluttered and exploded outward, and Ninetales' eyes shone bright pink. She picked up the flames, molding them however she wished and formed a barrier that evaporated the Water Pulse before it could reach her. The blue flames formed into an elongated spear and they slammed into Ludicolo, lighting him on fire— real fire this time.

"Synthesis through it and approach to Tickle," Justin said.

The Synthesis was half-baked, but it bought Ludicolo some precious seconds. The water type slid across the little water that remained liquid, but Louis wouldn't let him.

"Imprison!"

Ludicolo slammed against a psychic wall and soon realized that there was no way out. Ninetales' eyes flashed, and the fire intensified. It burned everything to smithereens until Ludicolo's body was ashen and smoking, running through all of the oxygen that had remained in the box.

Justin recalled his Pokemon. The sheer brutality of this fight was far beyond what Louis was used to from his training with Maeve, and yet he knew he had to push on.

"I see your Ninetales has improved," Justin acknowledged.

Louis opened his mouth, but he didn't know how to answer. It was the first time in the fight that Justin had actually spoken a non-order. The Drought finally reached its full potential now that Ludicolo was gone, and the fight for influence had been won.

"She has," Louis finally said. "She's my ace."

"Let's see how she fares against mine, then."

Justin released Arcanine, and Louis drew a sharp breath. Ninetales' flames were just as useless against him as they were against herself, and both fire types intensely stared at each other. Louis was surprised that Justin hadn't sent Toxapex. He was probably keeping her for last since he didn't take Combee seriously, and the poison type wasn't exactly the best at actually utilizing water type moves and moving around. Or maybe… it was sentimental? Still, this was… perfect, wasn't it?

The training with Maeve. Constantly throwing Ninetales against her Infarnape. Fire type against fire type.

"Nasty Plot!" Louis yelled.

Ninetales' eyes darkened, and Louis always liked to imagine she dreamed to burning Gabite to a crisp. The flames around her and Arcanine shone with a brighter, more intense blue, but that wasn't the point. The goal was to power up all of her other moves.

"Hypnosis!" Louis added.

"Agility and Play Rough," Justin said.

Ninetales' tails straightened and weaved together into a half-circle as she stared down Arcanine with the intent to put him to sleep. Arcanine's body loosened, and he blurred with that speed his line was famous for. He might have been on land, but he was almost as fast as Cecilia's Talonflame and that was without Extreme Speed. The canine was bigger than Ninetales, and he slammed into her barrier. He opened his mouth, his teeth darkened, and he Crunched through the quickly erected shield.

Just as his eyelids closed, he rammed into Ninetales, breaking her focus and snapping out of his daze. He continued beating her up with every body part he could manage. Paws, his head, teeth, or just hurtling his body at her. Ninetales desperately countered with shields, blocking wherever she could, but they couldn't stay on the defensive. They had used a setup move.

"Extrasensory!" Louis yelled.

Arcanine's teeth stopped mere inches from Ninetales' already-bloodied throat, although the flames had vaporized most of the remaining blood, and he began to whine as the fire type ransacked through his brain. She lifted him up in the air and slammed him head-first into the ground—

"Roar."

There was a certain twinge of something to Justin's voice. Not excitement per se, but something. Arcanine bellowed out, and Ninetales repeatedly blinked, not understanding what had happened before the fire type sent her flying with a Take Down, shaking his head to bear through the recoil.

That move was an actual problem. Combined with Arcanine's speed, Louis was convinced that this was the move they needed to take away and not Play Rough.

"Disable!" Louis yelled as soon as Ninetales got back on her feet.

Another flash of Ninetale's eyes, and Arcanine growled in frustration.

"Flamethrower."

Louis contained a smile. The flames would do nothing to Ninetales. Arcanine breathed out a huge stream of flames powered by Drought. They merely tickled Ninetales—

Arcanine broke through the flames and bit one of her forelegs with Crunch, dragging her as he ran at full speed. They'd used the flames to hide themselves and lower their guard! Louis' leg bounced and his heart was clamoring in his chest, but there was a way to react here. An opportunity.

"Confuse Ray!"

"Let go—"

The light was faster than Justin had expected. It shifted as it entered Arcanine's body, and the fire type's teeth snapped tighter. Ninetales shrieked in pain and Louis heard her foreleg snap. Arcanine let go and kept running, ramming at full speed into Kadabra's barrier. Ninetales' foreleg was a bloody mess, bent the wrong way and clearly broken. It dangled over the floor as the fire type desperately stayed conscious.

"I—I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he stammered as tears welled up in his eyes.

Louis grabbed her Pokeball with a trembling hand, but Ninetales' head whirled toward him and she glared. At first, he thought that she blamed him as well. Confusing a Pokemon that had a hold on her had been reckless, and Louis had been too lost in his own adrenaline to realize that, but when the glare intensified as soon as he aimed toward her, he realized it was because she wanted him to fight.

But then, something buzzed in his mind. Like the static noise of a television.

…wet blanket and fight!

Louis winced as the headache spread through his head, and his vision blurred. Arcanine was running through the arena, using Flamethrowers on what he must have thought was Ninetales.

"Sorry," Louis said again. "Go in and Hex."

While his vision recovered, Ninetales painfully hopped forward. Being down one foreleg meant that she was a lot slower than before. Justin simply waited for Arcanine to snap out of his Confusion in silence, not even offering a word of support. Ninetales' eyes shimmered, and smoke emanated out of Arcanine's body. The fire type yipped, writhing on the floor in agony as the Hex worked through his body. Louis realized that the confusion's effects were tampering out, however.

"Hypnosis, quickly!"

Ninetales' tails formed into a circle, and she stared down Arcanine with an intensity never before seen. Louis' jaw clenched when fifteen seconds passed and the Hypnosis hadn't finished off. Ninetales' focus was fraying with her leg in such a condition.

"Reversal," Justin spoke.

He'd somehow known that Arcanine was good to go before Louis had. The fire type's muscles tensed, and he blurred toward Ninetales, who cried out in pain as her broken leg was once more caught in the crossfire. Louis already knew that Reversal dealt the most damage when a Pokemon was on the brink of fainting.

Ninetales did not get up.

But Arcanine was on the brink, barely able to stand. He struggled back to his feet as the Drought died out and the flames that had been swarming the arena turned to a dull red and then vanished. Louis' ears were ringing. If he hadn't spent so long apologizing to Ninetales or trying to get her out of the fight, then it would be her standing right now and not Arcanine.

He stood there, frozen as he blinked. The ringing in his ears grew louder and his heartbeat slowly calmed as the adrenaline left his body. His fingers relaxed, he swallowed and moistened his lips.

What now?

Combee was the only one left.

"I'm waiting for your fifth. You have ten seconds left," Justin warned. His voice was distant now. Far away.

Louis blinked and the ringing in his ears reached a crescendo. He sent out Combee, who took flight as high as they could.

"And I thought you were finally taking me seriously," Justin said. "After this long, she's still a Combee? What a waste."

Combee was the weakest member of his team, but she was no longer useless. She'd trained with Maeve's Gligar a multitude of times.

"Flamethrower. Finish it off," Justin said.

"Shield yourself and Air Cutter!" Louis yelled.

Honey leaked from Combee's carapace and slowly formed into a wall in front of them. It burned up, turning into a dry, darkened mess, and Combee cried out from the burns. Still, they beat their wings and the air sliced up Arcanine's flank. The canine wavered, but another order from Justin snapped him back awake.

"Fill his mouth!" Louis continued.

Honey clumsily flowed around Combee and then floated toward Arcanine, who slowly opened his mouth. Flames appeared deep in his maw right as the honey entered and coalesced inside.

The Flamethrower burned as much honey as it could, desperately trying to break through, but another Air Cutter sliced up Arcanine and finished him off. Even Justin was surprised at that, although it was only on his face for a second. Wasting no time, he sent out his last Pokemon.

It was a huge raven that dwarfed Combee, although it was still smaller than Pauline's Braviary. Around seven feet, if Louis was right. Its plumage was covered in steel, and deep red eyes set upon Combee like they were prey. With one flap of Corviknight's wings, he took to the air.

This was bad.

"Drill Peck."

Corviknight spun, warping the air around itself until it appeared like a huge drill. It flew toward Combee, whose Air Cutters only tickled the steel type. Gust didn't fare any better. Corviknight was too heavy to be knocked off-course. Louis barked out an order, and the honey formed into another wall.

The flying type's beak easily broke through and stabbed into Combee, sending her tumbling toward the ground. The honey fell as well, now lifeless and Combee crashed into the arena with a dull thud. Louis' arms went limp to his side, and the world seemed to grow just a little darker.

"I will not lie, Louis, your first four Pokemon were impressive," Justin said. "I am satisfied with this match."

He grabbed his Corviknight's Pokeball—

Combee's wings fluttered.

Then they glowed and grew, as did the rest of their body. Evolution, Louis thought. He sucked in air through his teeth and covered his eyes as Combee grew into a full-fledged Vespiquen.

The first thing Louis noticed was the buzzing. It filled his ears and overtook all of his thought. A weight pressed down his chest and he found it difficult to breathe, having to consciously suck in and expunge air. His heart began to beat so loudly that it was almost painful. Tingles continuously ran up and down his spine and he wanted nothing more but to run out of here. Things crawled out of Vespiquen's skin and began secreting massive amounts of honey, healing the wound from the Drill Peck that had carried over at the same time. Louis nervously clenched a fist, and realized he was sweating buckets. It was like he'd dipped his hand in water.

Even Corviknight seemed intimidated. He no longer eyed Vespiquen like prey, but an equal. A threat. Justin stood there, his face unmoving.

Louis' mind raced, but all of his thoughts were consumed by the buzzing. Vespiquen sprung to action without his command, bending honey around her and throwing it forward.

"Drill Peck again. We have the advantage," Justin said.

Corviknight squawked. The sound was metallic and screech-like. It would have been unpleasant to listen to had Louis been able to focus. Vespiqueen screeched, and her honey clung and solidified around the steel type. Its rotation meant that the majority of it was continuously flung away, but it slowed Corviknight and forced him to abandon his attack. Vespiquen could control it so well now. As if it had come to her instinctually, and Louis supposed it had. Vespiquen were supposed to lead hives.

"Steel Wing," Justin continued.

Louis could only stay silent. Honey crawled all over Corviknight, whose wings shimmered bright white. The flying type's huge wingspan slammed right into Vespiquen's abdomen, but she used the close range to infiltrate his armor with honey. While Corviknight was covered in steel, they needed their feathers to fly. The honey solidified, and Corviknight fell to the floor with a loud crash, as did Vespiquen. Yet, that didn't stop the constant, debilitating buzzing. Louis placed his hands over his ears, but even that didn't seem to work.

The bug type screeched, snapping her pincers together. A bridge of honey still linked the two Pokemon, and more and more things crawled onto Corviknight. Shapeless, horrible things that Louis couldn't even begin to describe. The bird squawked as the grubs infiltrated past its armor and past its skin. Honey began to leak from his beak and its eyes as it furiously thrashed on the floor. His squawks turned into gurgles and horrible coughs that kept spitting out more and more honey.

Corviknight was drowning, Louis realized.

"Vespiquen! Stop, you're killing it!"

He could barely hear the sound of his own voice through the buzzing. Louis quickly grabbed his Pokeball, and just as his finger hovered over the return button, Justin recalled Corviknight. Louis looked at Justin and saw something he thought he would have never seen again.

Genuine worry.

He'd been terrified of losing his Pokemon.

In front of them lay what remained of the battlefield. Honey-soaked, full of potholes, water vapor, chunks of ice at its edges, grass, scorched earth.

Louis' legs felt like jelly.

"You— you win," Justin huffed. "You got me."

"No! No, I lost!" Louis yelled. He clicked his tongue and recalled Vespiquen. "This was terrible sportsmanship from me! I should have recalled Vespiquen right away—"

"I was too scared. I— It's been so long," he said, stumbling back. He collapsed and sat on the ground. "I didn't know I could be scared any longer."

The blonde's lips quivered. "I'm sorry."

Louis had won. Justin would travel with them, and he'd potentially saved a friend from killing himself in Victory Road.

And yet, victory tasted like ashes in his mouth. All this time, he had worried about Gabite's evolution, and Vespiquen was the one whom he should have watched out for. He was a failure. He'd failed Justin, Justin's team, and his own Pokemon.

He'd won, but at what cost?

---

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