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A Winkle in Reality

Reader mode
Peri is in a very bad place rn. And you know what. Bruno is being very patient with him. Peri doesn't understand this now. But he will. And there is a chance that it will be more than enough for him to turn him around.

We can even say that Peri is Bruno's disciple if this goes for a bit.
 
Chapter 59. New
Thank you for reading. Hopefully you enjoy. If you REALLY like it, I have a P-a-t-r-e-o-n, under the same name, where you can read 5 chapters ahead.
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Koga Fuschia stepped around me. He was light on his feet, but not anywhere near as much as I'd thought the Ninja Pokémon Master would be, the sounds of his boots against the stone audible. Coming to an open spot – a feat considering the amount of Pokémon strewn about – he sank smoothly down into a lotus position and reached up to pull down his scarf. The soft smile on his lips took me by surprise, but even the wrinkles at the corners did nothing for that empty pit that lurked in the back of his eyes.

"You're early," Bruno grunted. The Elite Four was still shoveling food into his mouth at a prodigious pace. Looking between the two men, the difference was staggering. Bruno was a massive specimen of humanity, while Koga was of average height, if obviously in good shape.

And yet, the two sat comfortably, in a way that spoke of long familiarity.

"I managed to make some time," even without the scarf muffling him, Koga was quite soft spoken, voice even and pleasant. "You didn't inform me that we would have company."

"Lance and he had a confrontation. He is growing strong fast, so I hit two Pidgey with one Rock Throw."

"And Grant is fond of him as well." Koga's dark eyes regarded me in a way I imagined was supposed to be kind. "Most people don't get a chance like this, especially not so young. You are a lucky young man, in multiple ways." His gaze darted between members of my team, and I tensed even further. While it was only natural to be impressed by such awesome Pokémon, it rarely ended well when strong Trainers got too curious.

One thing that was becoming more and more clear was that for all of the Pokémon world's advancements, it still operated on a 'might makes right' principle when you really got down to it. That was why Lance was the Champion and not someone not-assholy.

"Yeah, lucky. That's me." Koga chuckled warmly at my sarcastic tone. I didn't buy it for a second.

"Yes, I suppose it doesn't seem like it from your perspective, but there are those who have suffered more than you and have significantly less to show for it. Most who have encounters like yours would be lucky to escape with only a single loss." Leaving me to stew on his words, Koga turned back to Bruno. "Why did you call for me? I doubt it was just to meet your young friend, potential or not."

"You heard my speech. It's the same for you." I started at the words, looking between the two men. What did that mean?

"Is it?" Koga quirked his head, soft smile widening a fraction. "But I am already a member of the League. I hardly need recruitment."

"You might not, but what about the rest of you?"

They looked at each other for a bit before Koga tilted his head towards me.

"Should we be having this conversation here?"

"He's involved with the Clans already," Bruno spoke up for me, "and some transparency will go far in regaining his faith in the League."

Koga chuckled softly while I stared at Bruno. "Truly, you are terrible at this, my friend. I don't know if faith was kind or cruel to make you our dear Champion's moral compass." The Gym Leader studied me for a moment more before shrugging nonchalantly. "I suppose it's not that much of a secret. Tell me, young Periwinkle, how much do you know about the history of Indigo?"

"There was a guy named Indigo who conquered everything?" I replied, thinking back on what I'd learned when researching Giovanni and Viridian. "He was from Viridian?"

"That's correct. I am pleased Professor Oak teaches as much. He is not the biggest fan of our traditions." And Koga did look pleased, even if I didn't believe him.

"He doesn't. In fact, he barely talks about how the League is formed or run." I didn't feel too bad about throwing Oak under the bus after our last encounter.

"Is that so?" That was all the reaction he gave, though his pleased demeanor did fade. "I suppose it is to be expected. Still, you know the general story, and that is all that matters." The Poison-Type Master looked into the fire, while Bruno – having finished his fourth portion – started putting out bowls of food for my team. I thanked him as it would've been a challenge to do it myself, noting that he was adding something from a large bag to the mixes I'd bought.

Seeing my look, he tilted the bag and showed me the small, yellow-green blocks inside. "PokéBlocks." He grunted. "Sitrus, Oran, and a general resistance mix. It's in our food too."

"Thanks. I've been meaning to look into berries more," I said with gratitude.

Waiting for the larger man to sit back down, Koga picked up where he'd left off, accepting a bowl from Bruno with the same smile as always, though he placed it on the ground.

"Indigo made his way through the Clans, debating and battling them all. Some, like Cerulean and Fuschia, had to be beaten into submission. Others were of a similar mind as the Champion, joining voluntarily. As you said, in the end, he returned to Viridian and challenged his brother. It's said that they met in the Silver Mountains and that their Rhydons wrought the very mountains themselves apart, sundering them with their might. After his victory, Indigo chose the place of the battle as the site for his new government, a League of all the Clans, united under one banner."

"So that's why the League headquarters are there." I'd wondered about that, if it had started as a Kanto exclusive thing.

To my surprise, Koga shook his head.

"More likely that it's a fanciful story. The Silver Mountains are a great staging point for future excursions into Johto."

"Indigo was planning on invading from the start?" I didn't know that. In fact, I couldn't remember how Johto ended up in the fold in the first place.

"Why not? He had already conquered one region. How hard could it be to take another with all of Kanto at his back?"

"But that's not how that went." I knew that much, at least.

"Success breeds confidence," Koga nodded, "and confidence can be a scary thing, whether too much or too little. Few things do as much damage as not understanding your capabilities. Even the greatest among us can fall to this, or perhaps especially the greatest. Indigo thought that getting the Clans to join the League was the hard part. Instead, the stories tell that he spent the rest of his life struggling to manage the politics and infighting among the Clans. The single attempted attack on Johto fizzled out when half the Clans just said no."

"Things were different back then," Bruno added.

"They were," Koga agreed. "The Clans had a monopoly on strong Trainers that Indigo simply couldn't match, so in the end, he was forced to bow to many of their whims. It was only after the Acorn Ball – but especially the PokéBall – that the League began to get enough power to actually challenge the Clans. As I imagine you've experienced, few are happy with the increased control."

"Does that include your Clan?" All I got in response was the brightest smile yet.

"Certainly not! The Fuschia Clan's loyalty is beyond question!"

"Uh-huh," my tone was almost as blank as the look Bruno gave me when I shot him a glance.

I was starting to feel a little bad for the guy, if that was what his self-appointed job as peacekeeper was like.

Oh well, better him than me.

"That's enough talking for tonight," the Fighting-Type Master said and stood up alongside his Pokémon. "You were up early," he said to me, "is that normal?"

"Yeah, it is." I tried to stand on my own, only to wobble when my quads gave out. Ah. It might be a night under the stars.

"Good." Bruno nodded, satisfied. "Then we begin training at dawn. If you're smart, you'll convince Koga to help you out as well."

I glanced towards the Gym Leader, only to blink in surprise and look all around when I found him gone, not a single sign he was ever there. Even the dirt was perfectly undisturbed.

How the hell…

—----------

Whoosh!

I exhaled with the motion of my punch, a spray of sweat glinting in the rising sun for a second before the droplets hurled towards the ground. On my left, Hercules did the same, the Electabuzz much fresher than I. My lungs heaved like billows, my knees shaking with the effort of keeping me standing, my arms burning like I'd fisted the sun.

"Left hook."

I bared my teeth and brought my right arm back to my side, a strained grunt escaping me as my other hand shot forwards. 8 others followed, with varying degrees of difficulty. Bruno's dark eyes scanned each of us, tapping my foot with his own to realign my footing, and making some adjustments to the rest of the line. He lingered on Siren for a second longer than the rest, an appreciative glint in his gaze as the Feebas forced herself to spin clockwise, swinging her tail towards an imaginative enemy. Her small body was trembling like a leaf, yet there was no give in her, forcing herself to continue the exercise that definitely wasn't meant for her. She had even managed to outlast Vulpix, though Sol was doing the best of my team by far.

After a moment, the Fighting-Type Master nodded and turned towards his Pokémon standing behind us.

"Level 4."

Chansey hummed happily, giving a little wiggle and raising her hands higher. In response, the air itself shook, the light pink filter that engulfed us intensifying. Rocks embedded deeper into the earth, slowly burrowing their way beneath the surface, dirt covering my bare toes as they sank as well. The sparse amount of grass was flat against the ground, a rogue bush falling apart as all its branches snapped.

I was getting lightheaded, my vision blurry. I had to lock my knees to stay upright. The Gravity Chansey was channeling pressed down on us like the hand of god.

"Right hook."

I couldn't do it. My legs buckled, knees slamming into the ground, and forehead dropping towards a large rock that threatened to crack my skull open. At the last second, a large hand – palm so filled with callouses it felt like a glove – grabbed me by the shoulder and nearly wrenched it out of the socket.

"Enough."

I groaned weakly in relief when the pressure dropped, my heart no longer being pressed against my intestines.

"Good warm up." I wanted to cry at Bruno's words. "You have a minute to rest. Poliwrath, take Feebas, Vulpix, and Electabuzz," the ice fox whined weakly, but didn't struggle when a massive white glove-like hand picked her up by the scruff of her neck.

Poliwrath was a blue, bipedal, amphibious Pokémon with a round, top-heavy body and muscular arms. Bulbous eyes protruded from the top of its head, and a white and black swirl covered its belly.

Vulpix had tried to ignore our temporary teachers the first day and had been punted a hundred feet for the attempt.

She hadn't tried a second time.

"Primeape-"

BAM!

Primeape hoo'd and hollered, smashing the ground with its large hand and breaking it into pieces as Betty sailed off into the distance with a furious screech at the sucker punch. Beating its chest furiously, the tan monkey Pokémon leapt after her, distant crashes and roars of anger filling the air.

"... good." Three days wasn't anywhere near enough to learn how to read Bruno, the most stoic of stoics, but I disagreed nonetheless. Betty had been beaten unconscious the last two days by Primeape and had only barely been able to get up in the mornings, only for it to repeat. Bruno continued. "The rest of you-" he suddenly glanced over his shoulder, nodding with a grunt and letting me go without warning, "-the rest of you are with me. We'll regroup with the stronger Pokémon."

A thin arm curled around my waist to stop me from hitting the ground, the corded muscles easily lifting me and placing me over a slim shoulder like a bag of potatoes.

Forced to watch the narrow hips and ass shake, it was easy to identify Koga.

"Training until you physically cannot move might be taking it a little far, young Periwinkle."

"No, it's not," was the best mumbled reply I could come up with. Koga wasn't wrong, but I didn't know how long I was going to have Bruno around. I had to make the most of it.

Besides, I'd be able to stand and rejoin within a couple of hours.

"Ah, touche. I had not thought of that. What a convincing counterargument." The creepy feeling the Gym Leader gave off hadn't faded, even if he'd revealed a surprisingly snarky sense of humor under his kind and gentle exterior. "Truly, wisdom often comes from the mouth of babes. Keep going like this, and your wit will surpass Bruno's within the week."

"Fuck you, train me." Taking Bruno's advice, I'd been asking him every time the Ninja popped up.

"No." I groaned again as he dumped me on my sleeping bag, though unlike most adults I'd had the displeasure of encountering, he at least did so gently. Eevee shifted and sniffed next to me. The Normal-Type had been moving around more and more, and hopefully, it wouldn't take long for her to wake up.

"Why not?" I questioned, abs and shoulders protesting as I forced myself into a sitting position, accepting the bottle Koga handed me with a grateful nod. I grimaced at the added Sitris and Oran juice, plus whatever supplements Bruno insisted on adding to literally everything.

"Why would I?" He asked, looking towards the back of the cave for a second before turning back to me. "My family has spent generations developing our methods. Hundreds of years of fine-tuning techniques, honing our skills with both Pokémon and our bodies." Moving my bag closer to me for some reason, he turned to leave while saying his last piece. "As I said a few days ago, you've been lucky, in both Pokémon and teachers. Grant showed you Pebble secrets because he is a lonely man, and you filled a hole in his life. Walter was the same, though he was at least smart enough to mostly keep his silence. You have resources and information through your connections with Bill Masaki and Professor Oak. However," he looked over his shoulder, perpetual smile still on his face while his eyes were like holes in reality, dark and empty, "I owe you no such thing. Many have sought the secrets of Fuschia, and many have failed."

"How do you know so much about me? Why?" Even beyond his vaguely threatening words, that was the part that bothered me the most. It wasn't necessarily hard to learn all that, but judging by our first conversation, Koga had known before we even met.

"Oh, that's hardly surprising," he waved off, leaving for real. "You have been the talk of the town amongst the more shady aspects of our society since the S.S. Anne. Anybody who cares to listen has heard of the child who's been causing so much trouble for Team Rocket and getting away with it. I would expect more unscrupulous Trainers to want the reward on your head. 25 million is quite a lot of money."

"25 million!?" I gaped, partly outraged, yet oddly proud.

"For your whole team, plus yourself, yes. Price goes down from there. I wouldn't worry about it too much as long as Bruno is nearby. There are no bounty hunters in Kanto at the moment brave enough to fight him for you. Speaking of your team, though." He pointed to my side and was gone.

I followed his finger just in time to see Eevee's eyelids flutter and slowly open.

"Eevee!"

The fox huffed weakly, trying to lift her head, yet failing. The inability upset her, and she started to struggle.

"Hey, stop, stop. Calm down, I'm right here," I put a hand on her side as gently as I could, feeling her heart hammering against her ribcage. Her brown eyes were wide and unfocused as they rolled around to look up at me. "Shhhh, it's okay."

She stopped moving, but her breath still came in pants, her heart rate sky-high.

"You-" My head darted towards the back part of the cave, eyes scanning the darkness. The tension slowly left me when I saw nothing. Could've sworn I heard something, like the scraping of claws

"I've gone crazy worrying about you," I whispered. "You were injured, remember? During the fight with the bounty hunter. You-" My voice cracked, and I cleared my throat, "you were hurt really badly by a Ninjask and have been unconscious for 5 days. We're with Bruno now. He has a Chansey, let me go get her-" She started struggling again at the mention of me leaving. "Okay, okay, I'm right here, shhhhh. "It's okay."

A shadow fell over us, something blocking the light from outside. I turned my neck to see the egg-shaped Normal-Type that I'd just been talking about waddling into the grotto with a cheerful smile.

You know what, screw his creepy eyes and overly nice facade, Koga wasn't that bad after all.

I was forced to keep a hand on Eevee throughout her checkup as she would start freaking out as soon as I let go. Chansey didn't seem to mind, thankfully, singing a little tune to herself while running glowing hands over my Pokémon.

"Is she okay-MMHH!" I was muffled by Chansey's stubby hand pressing against my mouth, the other continuing her check-up.

Finally satisfied, Chansey moved up to Eevee's forehead. Her eyes fought against it, but there was no winning against the healer, and my fox quickly fell asleep.

I removed the hand from my face and tried to protest. "Hey, she just woke up-!" Quick as a whip, Chansey turned around to point at me, her other hand shushing herself. Despite the smile remaining the same, it suddenly reminded me a lot more of Koga.

I crossed my arms, definitely not pouting as Chansey attended to my sore muscles, chugging down more of my water.

At least she was kind of awake.

—------------------------

"You never answered my question."

"Hmm?" I grunted, turning my head but keeping my eyes fixed in place. "What do you mean?"

"What are your plans for the future?"

I snorted, yet didn't dismiss him out of hand like the last time. Instead, we sat side-by-side for a while in silence – except for the sounds drifting up from beneath us.

Sol snarled, patches of fire flickering and moving along his fur. Crouching low, his whole body tensed, leg muscles quivering and bulging, before he pushed off with an explosion of stone shards. He was little more than a blur, the air shimmering from the heat of his slipstream. He sped up, legs pounding even faster as a cone of air gathered in front of him as he neared his target-

Who stepped to the side with ease, the Arcanine yelping as he tried to stop, sliding along the ground.

The Fighting-Type chirped, amused, as a large yellow fist passed by its face, thanks to a quick tilt, the beige feathers at the back of its head swaying with the motion. Quicker than I could follow, it had turned around and blocked Herc's next punch with a raised, red knee, showing no signs of pain from the weak tongues of fire coating the fist. Instead, its yellow, three-toed foot snapped up and struck the Electabuzz in the chin, sending him flying upwards, one, two, three, four dozen feet into the air.

At the same time, Sol was back for round two, a proper inferno of orange and yellow covering his massive body. He was still slow with his fire, but the ten days of non-stop training and fighting had at least made him able to run and use Flame Wheel without instantly falling – though real Extreme Speed was yet out of reach.

Not that the coat of flames mattered since his opponent was of the same type. Without even turning, the Elite Four Pokémon kicked backwards, catching the dog in the chest. Following through with the motion, it did a standing split and then bent even further, sending Sol flying overhead at the exact moment Herc was coming down from his trip.

Blaziken chirped again with its hooked beak as the two Pokémon rolled away, V-shaped crest shaking. The avian humanoid's featherless, grey arms were crossed over its chest as they had been the whole fight – if the asskicking could be called that.

Looking away as my Pokémon slowly recovered, I answered Bruno's question.

"I'm gathering eight Badges and going to the Indigo Conference."

"A common goal, though no less worthwhile for it," the large man nodded, his quick eyes following each blow as Gallade and Honedge dueled with metallic clangs, "but also an immediate one. If you won't work with the League, what will you do afterwards?" I opened my mouth to give the obvious answer, only for him to beat me to the punch. "Presuming Team Rocket is dealt with."

I went to speak, but found no words. Blinking, I looked down on my Ghost-Type as a greyish-silver energy slowly flowed over his blade. I'd usually been proud of seeing the Metal Claw, but my eyes saw right through the two Pokémon.

That… huh.

Fuck, what was the plan?

If I won the Conference, and the Rockets were gone, then what? I'd always said something along the lines of 'being the strongest' or 'best Trainer' or something like that. But when I really thought about it…

What did that mean, exactly? Was I going to hang out in the woods, training day in and day out? That wasn't necessarily a bad life, but again, it wasn't really an actual plan. The strongest was synonymous with being the Champion in the Pokémon world, but that wrapped all the way back around to joining the League.

"I… I want to travel," I mumbled, looking down at Eevee in my lap as she groomed herself in between glances down below. "AH! No biting!" I put my finger in front of her snout, stopping her from nipping at her wound. She growled softly but relented, reclining in my arms without a hint of apprehension.

If there was any upside to her injury, it was that the last week of babying her had removed the last apprehension she felt towards me touching her. Something that would normally have me jumping with joy, yet, seeing the still red strip of skin parting her fur, I'd take day one Eevee any day.

She was steadily recovering, but it would be a few more days before she was ready to join the others and start training, much to her dismay. The appreciation for being waited on constantly had worn off by day three.

"Another fine idea," Bruno nodded. "I believe you would enjoy Hoenn, and there's always Johto." He looked at the side of my head while I pet Eevee, letting the insistent Vulpix crawl up beside her. "You don't have to answer now. You're young. You can make up your mind and change it a hundred times yet. Just think about it."

His piece said, Bruno stood up and casually stepped off the cliff, dropping 150 feet and landing with a thunderous boom! down below.

I ran my fingers through Vulpix's fur as the man nonchalantly strolled out of the dust cloud, uncaring for the literal crater with a pair of footprints embedded into the stone he left behind. Feeling her flank, I could count each of her ribs with how thin she'd gotten. Despite Eevee waking up, Vulpix wasn't improving as I'd hoped.

'Just think about it'. And yet again, the list of shit I was avoiding grew.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The cave's rocky ceiling was dark and hidden as I slowly blinked the sleep from my eyes.

Something was wrong.

Lifting my head as well as I could, I looked around with a frown. I was buried under a pile of fur, brown and icy blue covering my chest, bright yellow and black wrapped around us, with Sol's nose resting against my cheek. Hercules was resting against the cave wall opposite Machamp, Betty was smushed between Sol's chest and my side, and Honedge was in my shadow.

But where was Siren?

It took several minutes to slowly shift Vulpix and Eevee down from my chest and onto the sleeping bag, and I probably only managed it thanks to their weakened states. I brushed my hand through Vulpix's bangs, my heart clenching at the grimace on her face. Her deterioration had slowed down since Eevee woke up, but her strange illness persisted to Chansey's frustration.

If she didn't start showing signs of improving soon, I was heading to the nearest PokéCenter, Bruno be damned.

Hercules opened an eye when I passed and refused to stay, though I didn't try too hard, the bounty hunter fresh in my mind. I somewhat hoped Bruno's Machamp would wake as well, but the Master-level Pokémon simply snored obnoxiously.

The night air was cool on my shirtless torso, a refreshing change from the humid day. Looking around the rocky terrain, bathed in ghostly silver light from the crescent moon above, I didn't see Siren anywhere. Before I started getting too worried, a faint noise reached my ear from nearer, where Bruno's stronger Pokémon sparred to keep the rest of us safe.

The stone was even colder beneath my feet, Bruno's disdain for footwear extending to making me take mine off as well. It had taken some getting used to, and the occasional jagged rock still made me wince as we traversed, but it was getting better by the day.

Coming to a large recess in the ground, I looked over the edge and sighed when I spotted the source of the noise. Turning to Hercules, I didn't have to say anything before he nodded and sat down on the edge while I slid down the side.

CR-CR-CRA-CRACK!

"Nice," I said, hands in my pockets while a flurry of frozen Water Bullets shattered against a boulder, each one cracking the tough rock before erupting into a cloud that sparkled in the moonlight. Siren froze where she hovered, recognizing my voice. "Out for a late night stroll?"

She didn't respond, but also didn't move away when I came over and sat down next to her.

"Is this the first time you've done this?" Still not looking at me, she slowly shook her head – or her whole body since she was a fish – making me sigh. It was a testament to Siren's insane dedication that I hadn't even noticed a drop in her performance, despite Bruno forcing us to our limits.

I wasn't sure if he was going to be furious or happy when he found out he could've been pushing the Water-Type even harder than he already had.

"I've told you not to work yourself so hard. Overtraining can do more harm than underdoing it."

Few creatures could deadpan quite like a Feebas, the Water-Type hardcore judging me for my hypocrisy.

"Fair, but I'm only doing it while Bruno's here. You'd rip yourself apart if I didn't keep an eye on you." I argued, and she averted her eyes, embarrassed.

As the self-appointed disciplinarian of the team, she hated it when she was the one causing problems, especially when it was a recurring one.

It was far from the first time we'd talked about her training too hard.

"I know you're frustrated, seeing the others get ahead of you, but you're limited in ways they're not. You'll see, as soon as you evolve, you'll be right up there with the best of them." She still didn't look at me, making me sigh and press a kiss to the top of her scaly head.

Compromise, then.

"How about this?" I started lifting her so she had no choice but to face me. "I've got that TM I've been holding onto." That got her attention. "I'll make you a deal. We all go super hard while we're here, and when we're done training, we'll look for a Milotic scale to evolve you. Shit, worst case we'll get Bill on it." Her eyes sparkled at the thought, "BUT! It might take a bit to get a hold of one. Neither Cerulean nor Celadon had one for sale, and those were my best bets. You need to promise that you'll take care of yourself in the meantime, or at least allow me to do it for you. So, what do you say?" I held out my free, open hand close to her body. "Do we have a deal?"

"Feeeeeeeee." If a fish wheezing could sound determined, then Siren managed it, 'taking' my hand with her little fin and 'shaking' it – so more of a wet slap and wiggle motion.

"Alright, the deal has been struck. The bargain is sealed." I intoned with faux solemness before standing up with a groan as my knees cracked. "Oowww. I can't handle Sol's fat ass jumping on me constantly. My knees feel like they're 80."

Siren gurgled angrily at the thought of the canine. I laughed as Hercules joined us, whirring approvingly at the fish for her work ethic, making me slap the Electric-Type on the shoulder playfully.

"Oh, we'll get him back, don't you worry. For now, though, let's get back before the others wake up, and I have to spend an hour making them go back to bed. Unless Bruno just beats us unconscious. For a guy that insists on getting up with the sun, he's real fucking grumpy in the morning."

—-----------------------------------

And so the training montage begins. It's probably going to be similar to all the way back at Oak's, with smaller scenes that catch us up on what's been going on.

And something's wrong with Vulpix. Hmmmmm.

Thank you for reading. Hopefully you enjoyed. If you REALLY liked it, I have a P-a-t-r-e-o-n, under the same name, where you can read 5 chapters ahead.
 
Chapter 60. New
Thank you for reading. Hopefully you enjoy. If you REALLY like it, I have a P-a-t-r-e-o-n, under the same name, where you can read 5 chapters ahead.

It had been a minute since I had a routine, or at least one that didn't involve mostly walking.

Actually, that wasn't true. It had been less than three months since I left Oak's. Hell, there were still seven months until the Indigo Conference started.

I felt old.

Regardless, a routine was established and then maintained with a nearly religious zealotry found among top-tier gym rats and their God-King, Bruno, formerly of the Pebble Clan.

The man had never deviated from the structure a day in his life.

Wake before dawn and get hosed down by our Water-Types, which counted as our 'bath' most days. Not with warm water either, since the Elite Four member needed the freezing temperature to snap him out of his drowsiness. Afterwards, a huge breakfast with tons of carbs and some sugar to get us through the day – though it almost sent Betty and me back to sleep in a food coma.

Then it was time to 'warm up', also known as more physical exercise than most Fighting-Types did in a whole day, all cramped into two hours.

Two weeks in, I still couldn't get through a whole session. At least I'd stopped throwing up. Bruno just made another portion and forced me to eat it.

I swore I'd gained close to 15 pounds with all the Mew-damned food. If physics weren't schizophrenic, Bruno would be as round as a ball.

Meditation followed the workout, which would've been a nice break if it weren't a nightmare to get everyone to sit still for an extended period.

A little elemental warm-up, then a protein-heavy lunch. Repeat until the sun had set and dinner was ready.

I groaned after having chewed my way through the flavorless lunch, feeling powder stuck between my teeth. It was a rare day when we skipped the second round of physical conditioning and hand-to-hand practice to give our bodies a chance to rest for a minute.

I'd taken the chance to check the PokéNet, usually being too tired to look up anything that wasn't training-related once the day was done.

"-recent events in Celadon have inflamed tensions. As we, and everyone else, have covered over the last two weeks, a major hidden base for the terrorist organization Team Rocket was revealed under the Celadon Game Corner. Both the Celadon Gym's – or the Gardener Clan to be more specific – ownership of the Game Corner, as well as the massive amounts of stolen Pokémon and chemicals taken from the Gym and various businesses working with it, have raised questions regarding Gym Leader Erika's ability to lead the Gym and Celadon as a whole. This adds to the long-running debate about what exactly the old Clans' roles ARE in an increasingly modern, more unified world. Our reporter, Susan, has been in Celadon and spoken with some of the locals."

The screen cut to a heavy-set man who looked to be in his sixties. Behind him, the colorful flowers and water fountain definitely put him in the Rainbow City.

"It's a complete travesty!" He was saying. "That girl is supposed to protect this city, not fund terrorists! It was this sort of behavior that lost them so much territory in the Rebellion, and rightfully so, the cowards! The Gardeners are all but gone, and what remains clearly isn't up for the task! Why, I remember a time-"

The man rambled on for a while longer about the good ol' days before eventually switching mid-sentence, cutting to a much younger woman standing in what I was pretty sure was the field surrounding the Grass-Type Gym.

"I mean, it's not great, I'm not saying that, but surely we're blowing it a little out of proportion. Team Rocket attacked the S.S. Anne for Celebi's sake! What was a single girl and her few cousins supposed to do about that? No, I'm much more worried about the League not doing anything about these criminals! Champion Lance's speech didn't say how they were planning-"

A frustrated wheezing noise drew my attention away from the PokéDex, making me look up. I hadn't realized a wheeze could have emotions behind it, but the fish version of a scowl on Siren's face made it obvious it had underplayed it.

"You got it. Nice and easy," while a lot of training was figuring out the mechanics behind the moves and how best to teach or twist them, a fair amount of it was also just being the hype man that believed in them.

Case in point, Siren's lips tightened, her tailfin swinging determinedly. Her face slowly turned blue as she pushed herself, eyes bulging. I went to tell her to calm down before she exploded, yet that's when I saw it.

The tiniest little spark dancing across her scales before vanishing.

Hidden Power was interesting. I had absolutely no idea how it worked, and even the PokéNet couldn't agree, but it was interesting. Somehow, even beyond a Pokémon's actual Type – which was essentially the flavor of their Aura – Hidden Power was based on the Pokémon's personality, or 'soul' as the more poetically inclined called it. You could have two of the same species, born to the same parents and twins in every way that mattered, and the Type expressed by Hidden Power would be wildly different.

It marked Pokémon as more than just their Type, more than just an energy-spewing animal. There was a uniqueness to each and every one.

It wasn't terribly surprising that Siren's was Electric, though my money had been on Fire or Dragon, given her… spicy temperament.

"Hey, you did it!" I cheered as she collapsed to the ground, exhausted yet clearly pleased with herself. The watching Poliwrath applauded as well, the spiral on its stomach spinning with excitement as it helped Siren up. Wasting no time, the dual Water/Fighting-Type held up a large, white 'gloved' hand that was quickly hidden under a tempered and condensed Thunder Punch so thick it almost looked like Fighting-Type energy despite the yellow color.

The two Water-Types had hit it off quickly, bonding over both being idiots and training their asses off. Poliwrath had taken to Siren's revealed extra energy with gusto, leaving the fish to be carried back to the cave at the end of every day.

Not wanting to interrupt, I leaned back with another sigh, trying to get comfortable against the rock.

"You know I can see the bag moving, right?" I seemingly asked the thin air. In response, my backpack fell over, the open bag of food spilling everywhere as something invisible scampered off in a panic.

I shook my head, but didn't follow up on it. It hadn't taken that much brain power to connect the weird sounds that seemed to follow me around with the invisible Pokémon that had helped me out with Petrel in the Game Corner, and then the bounty hunter.

If it was the shy type and just wanted to hang around, it had more than helped enough for that. As long as it stuck to eating my food and didn't bother the others too much, I'd told them to leave it alone.

"Training even during your break. How commendable," the quiet voice from behind made me freeze. Slowly, I craned my neck around and met the eyes of Koga as he looked down at me. "It will warm Bruno's heart to see such dedication. In fact, let me go get him right now."

"No, wait!" I struggled to my feet, swaying for a moment as the food threatened to come back up, before I stumbled after the Gym Leader. "Koga, hold up. Is this because I called you creepy? I take it back, you're perfectly normal! Koga!"

"You have an interesting problem."

"You have a problem, the asskicking we're about to give you!" I rocked back and forth in the lotus position I'd been forced into, frustrated both at being unable to help and being kept from the fight.

Bruno snorted in a rare display of emotion. "You've gotten even more arrogant if you think two weeks is enough to reach us."

Before us, his words proved prophetic.

A blizzard blew across the ground, a gale of sub-zero wind and water freezing everything in its path. Behind it, a frozen sea was born, the ground covered in jagged ice that resembled waves. From the left, a massive spray of orange flames melted the very edges of the cold storm into steam; a slightly smaller plume of purple fire matched it from the right; and, finally, from behind came a crackling blast of lightning.

And in the center of it all, the cornerstone of Bruno's team stood, holding them all off. A small hut of thick slabs of rock had sprouted to shield him from a masterful usage of Rock Tomb. The rock froze, then shattered under the heat, the rapid fluctuations blowing up the shields and letting the Shock Wave slip through.

I clicked my tongue when the attack abruptly switched directions and slammed into the ground, right over a suspiciously smooth hole in the soil. Bruno's side eye made me refocus, while at the very back, Eevee was yipping at the others to get ready.

For all that Bruno was a Fighting-Type Master, there was no denying his Pebble heritage. The control his team had over rock and earth was specialized, yet honed to a razor's edge.

As evidenced by the spears of rock that began springing from the ground, massive pillars twenty feet high. They were blunted at the end, but that didn't stop it from hurting when Sol tried to outrun them and smashed headfirst through one right in front of him.

I was gratified to see that the ones near Eevee were slower. I'd been incredibly hesitant to allow her back in so soon, but eventually decided to trust Machamp.

It was rare that we got to fight a single opponent, and there was a learning curve to finding the right openings that wouldn't endanger a teammate, but they had enough experience to pick it up quickly.

My last unaccounted for Pokémon emerged from Siren's shadow, blade shining with Steel-Type energy. In a flash, the nearby pillars were bisected and slowly toppled over, breaking apart as they fell. As the ranged team moved, Honedge kept them safe, slicing the Stone Edge spears. It was a little scary to see how effortless it was to carve through ten feet of stone and imagine how effortlessly it would do the same to flesh.

I bit my lip to keep from saying anything when the rocks intensified around the sword Pokémon, slowing him down while the others got too far ahead.

Which meant that there was no one to help when a vascular, grey forearm emerged from the ground and grabbed Honedge by the hilt, the rest of Machamp popping out of the ground like a wack-a-mole.

Twirling the sword-shaped Ghost-Type around with obvious experience, Machamp raised it over his head, pointed towards my team with the scabbard held in his opposite set of hands.

"HEY! LET HIM GO YOU BITCH!"

"Focus."

A growl vibrated my throat, but I held it in. I could see Honedge's eye was squeezed shut, and I imagined he was sucking life force from the Elite Four Pokémon like a porn star, but Machamp didn't seem to notice. Instead, it dropped the hilt while holding onto the sheath and began swinging the Steel-Type in circles by the ribbon connecting the two parts. Dust picked up from the resulting wind, Honedge spinning faster and faster until his form disappeared and he turned into a fan, like a Beyblade of unwilling death.

At least he was inorganic, so he couldn't throw up.

"This is garbage."

"Your focus is garbage." Pushing, Bruno forced me to sit up straight. "As I said, you have an interesting problem."

"And what's that?" I asked.

"Most Trainers, once they get both strong and well-connected enough, come to a point where they have to adjust their training. They find themselves in more and more real fights rather than regulated battles and have to plan for such. You're on many ways the opposite," Eevee coordinated things so that Vulpix and Siren fired their attacks at the same time as Sol and Betty. The elements mixed explosively, erupting into a cloud of steam that obscured half the battlefield as it rushed over Machamp. "You've found yourself fighting for your life often, and your team reflects it. Conversely, you don't have as much experience being a Trainer as you should."

"And this is going to help with that?" The doubt in my voice was obvious, and I wasn't surprised when he shook his head.

"No, waste of my time. Best way to improve is to battle a lot, and you can do that without me."

CLAP!

The cloud dispersed violently, a massive shockwave blowing it away as Machamp clapped his two free hands together with a thunderous sound in his best Hulk impression. Far quicker than something that bulky should be able to move, it darted around Sol's Flamethrower and Siren's Scald. Honedge whipped around, deflecting the star-shaped Swift that Eevee was spewing like a machine gun, each one exploding as they were sent into the ground, or even towards my other Pokémon. Finally, the Fighting-Type was upon Betty, the Dragon-Type more than happy to meet the significantly larger and stronger Pokémon with a screech.

The flat side of the blade swung towards Betty's head like a club. In a move that only came from dozens of hours being smacked around with little to no effort, the Bagon focused and stomped heavily. A red light spread through the rock beneath her, before a small pillar rose from the stone to cover most of her body. The Rock Tomb she had learnt all the way back in Pewter wasn't anything compared to what Bruno's team could pull off, but it was a major improvement.

Honedge still smashed through it with ease.

The sheer force behind the blow would've been enough to knock Betty out, even with her monstrous constitution, but it didn't become relevant. Rather, at the very last moment, Honedge mustered enough focus to use Shadow Sneak, or at least the initial stages of it. Dipping into the border between realms rendered him incorporeal to the material world, slipping through Machamp's fingers like water.

And shooting off into the distance like a silver missile, perfectly straight and with no signs of slowing down, even as he vanished through a large cliff. He turned off Shadow Sneak, but that did nothing to help as he speared through the solid stone like a… well, like a sword through most things. Though he didn't have a mouth, I imagined I heard a sigh anyway.

I matched the feeling, imagining the hours of care it would take to make the sword presentable again.

He'd be back, though, once he landed. Just not in time to help with the fight.

"Your fangs are showing."

I ran my tongue over my canines to make sure he wasn't being literal, even as I snorted at his words.

"How am I supposed to keep calm when my team is getting crushed like that!? My Aura's all over the place!"

"It's your energy. Crush it and make it obey."

I stared at him. "That's your grand advice!? 'Just do it'!?"

"I told you, I'm no teacher."

My jaw quivered with the want to insult and rebuke, but I held it in, breathing deeply through my nose and slowly exhaling. It was hard to visualize with having to watch and pay attention to the battle, yet slowly, the gaseous purple 'core' I imagined my Aura as became clear, undulating with my agitation.

It felt like hours – though the fight was ongoing as well as the previous times we'd done that exercise had taught me otherwise – but the forcefield slowly came together and compressed it down, down, down, into a small ball.

Even as Machamp broke previous patterns and suddenly rushed towards where Siren, Vulpix, and Eevee were sniping at him, I forced myself to stay calm. Usually, Machamp was happy to hound Sol, Herc, and Betty, taking out the physically toughest first, before going for the ranged in a blatant display of his superiority. Him breaking from that habit was a compliment, if anything.

All four arms blazed with fire – a truly mastered Fire Punch coating the limbs all the way up to the shoulder in a blinding inferno Sol would've been proud of – were held aloft to shield against a storm of frozen Water Bullets, carried forth by an Icy Wind and Hyper Voice.

Frost clung to his lower body, puffs of cracked ice erupting with every movement, while the ice bullets hit the arms with a hiss of steam as they broke against the iron-like skin. Despite not being cold-blooded as their reptilian-esque appearance suggested, the chilly coating should still have slowed the mighty Fighting-Type down.

But nobody seemed to have told him that. Quads thicker than my body pulsed with explosive power as he pushed off the ground, stone exploding both as he set off and when he landed. It was less of a run and more a series of leaps and bounds, muscles so strong and dense he outpaced even Herc's Quick Attack and left the Electabuzz behind. With a grunt of effort, he jumped even higher, soaring up through the air while the Fire Punches faded, and he raised his arms, ready to bring them crashing down on the trio.

But he wasn't the fastest on the field.

A massive shape slammed into him from the side, sending them both tumbling. Like a reverse meteor rising from the ground, Sol's Flame Wheel hammered into him. The two Pokémon hit the ground like a falling star, devastating the area. Sol's maw opened wide, fire swirling around as he bit down on Machamp's shoulder.

Even as they rolled, another yellow-and-black blur rushed towards them, cloaked in bright white. Machamp grunted as a sparking fist joined the assault, much weaker than Hercules' usual Thunder Punches, yet if someone were watching closely, they'd see the lightning be absorbed into Machamp's thick hide.

Thunder Wave was a tricky move that relied more on electric control than pure capacity. It basically screwed with a Pokémon's natural bioelectricity and nervous system, throwing it out of whack and making it much harder to move. The finesse necessary to do it properly was still outside of Herc's reach, unless he used his ability Static as a starting point. His fur naturally generated a weak Thunder Wave and allowed him to cheat a little.

While he was punching, anyway, but he didn't mind that part.

A roar of pain escaped the Fighting-Type before he cut it off as Sol's blazing fangs painfully slowly sank through the inch-thick, steel-hard skin.

"HAH!" I cheered as Betty quickly joined in, beating the downed Machamp as if he owed them money. Being so close to the Superpower Pokémon was a serious risk, but as long as they stayed near the back, his limited mobility would keep them safe. I turned to rub it in Bruno's face, high on our first win and all thoughts of control forgotten. "How's that for arrogant, you fuc-are you smirking? Wh-"

"MAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!"

BOOOM!

I snapped back just in time to see an enormous dust cloud mushroom up into the sky, only to suddenly swerve sideways due to something hurling through it.

My jaw dropped as Hercules' limp body hit a rock, smashed through it, through the next three, and embedded deep into a cliff. From the other side, Sol came running with Betty hanging from his mouth, sprinting like Giratina was on his tail.

Which was not far off.

As the dust cleared, Machamp became visible, though I doubted it was him at first. His grey skin looked red, the veins pulsing angrily beneath the surface. His already huge muscles had swelled to grotesque proportions, pecs so wide his arms were forced almost straight out from his body.

With another madness-induced roar from the normally calm Pokémon, he crouched down and jumped. The earth exploded like a bomb had exploded as he took off like a rocket, shooting hundreds of feet into the air. I stared in disbelief as he hung, silhouetted by the sun for a moment, before plummeting down to earth like a comet.

Not earth, I realized with a sinking heart.

Siren, Vulpix, and Eevee.

The three fastest recalls of my life snatched them right before the maddened Machamp impacted.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

I clung to a nearby boulder as the earth quaked. Stone shattered like twigs, rock crumbled to dust, and the cliffs came tumbling down. The whole enclosed training area shook and wobbled under Machamp's fury, cracks as wide as trees spreading out like a spiderweb and ripping the ground asunder.

In the end, the somewhat heavily breathing Machamp ripped himself free from where he'd been entombed up to the groin and shoulders, leaving only half of his massive back exposed. The red faded with an exhale, and the Fighting-Type started climbing its way up.

And up. And up. And up over the sundered stone and the new, fifty-foot deep crater he'd made, stretching so far I gave up trying to measure it.

"HOLY SHIT!" I gaped at the destruction.

"Superpower," Bruno said in an insultingly mild tone. "Well, Superpower, then Earthquake and Giga Impact for the… impact."

"HE COULD HAVE KILLED THEM!"

"Nah, he's got full control. He's just playing."

Turning back to the Pokémon in question with disbelief, I couldn't help but find Bruno's words true. Despite seemingly losing his shit, Machamp looked remarkably calm as he dusted himself off. He even looked to have steadied his breathing already, like he didn't just wreck the world.

And then he disappeared under a white-tinted Flamethrower that melted the ground the Pokémon had been standing on and turned it to glass.

Sol cocked his head, confused, when the Flamethrower cleared, revealing nothing but smoke and melted soil, the rocks glowing as small droplets of slag cooled and froze.

I was a little proud when he recovered and searched for his foe, even looking upwards in case the Fighting-Type jumped.

Unfortunately, it was the wrong direction.

With a barely noticeable quiver as a warning, a sinkhole suddenly opened up right in front of Sol's legs, too close for him to see. By the time the miniature quake registered, it was too late to stop the rising fist – glowing with Fighting-Type energy so dense and smooth it clung to the hand like a white silk glove – from striking him under the chin.

Sol's eyes rolled back into his head, and he went slack immediately from the combined Dig and Focus Punch, Machamp doing a pivot in the air before he landed lightly on his feet, arms crossed and eyes closed as he posed, trying to look cool.

A stream of dragonfire tried to interrupt the Machamp's aura farming, but a small twist of the ankle had a large spear of rock shot up from the ground as a shield. Before the attack stopped, four palms smashed into the Rock Tomb, shattering it and launching the shards like a shotgun blast, the splinters still smoldering with purple not-fire.

Betty cried out when they struck her, but she was already mid-air and simply trucked through it. Another Rock Tomb had its top part destroyed by a Brick Break when she landed, followed by another leap straight at Machamp's face with a war cry.

She was easily caught, of course, but she seemed to have expected that. The purple and green light of Dragon Breath sparked at the back of her throat as she opened her mouth, the ember spreading to an inferno in the shape of a cone as it blasted over her teeth, a couple of feet from Machamp's head.

I straightened up at the apparent direct hit, only to slump again when I saw the bright green wrapped around the Fighting-Type's face.

"Making him use Superpower and Protect is a feat in and of itself. He's been trying to hold that back," Bruno remarked.

"Your face-!" I bit my tongue and breathed. Control. Awareness. "Thank you. I'm very proud of them."

"As you should be." Bruno nodded. "He had to put some effort in. No small thing."

I studied the Protect, knowing that there was nothing to do against the three Ice Punches slamming into Betty one after the other and finally putting her down. The hexagons that ordinarily made up the shields were hardly visible, if they were there at all. Instead, the technique clung to Machamp like a second skin before disappearing in a burst of green shards.

"I'm adding Protect to the list for Betty, Sol, and Siren, at the very least. Ideally, they'd all learn it, though." Bruno grunted in acknowledgment as I waved to his Pokémon, calling the Master-level – if not approaching Champion-level – Pokémon off before he revived someone for round two.

I sighed, looking down on my unconscious team as the last lashes of my Aura settled down. Not what I dreamed of, but definitely an improvement. Machamp was nursing the shoulder Sol had chomped down on, charred skin surrounding shallow teeth marks. The occasional twitch of the granite-like muscles showed that the Thunder Wave was still active, and I could see a dozen faint red marks across the grey hide.

Progress.

Betty screamed with joy, heels kicking furiously as she pointed forward dramatically. Below her, Sol groaned with every snap of her feet hitting him in the ribs as he slunk across the ground, carrying the 500-pound Dragon-Type. Occasionally, his eyes would dart over to me for help, but he got himself into the situation.

He could get himself out.

Instead, I continued to brush Vulpix's long fur carefully, making sure not to pull too hard on the knotted bits. Normally, the thought of matting would've been anathema to the vain fox, but between her illness and Bruno's training, she'd let herself fall to the wayside a little.

So, since Eevee had started easing into training again and didn't appreciate my mothering, I'd switched to a target that would. It appeared to be working, too. Day by day, Vulpix's coat was regaining some of its lost splendor, the glazed look in her eyes fading a tad.

We'd left the training area behind for the day. Bruno had some real work to do and had given me the day off, suggesting I spend it socializing. Agreeing with the idea, I'd tracked down a little lake surrounded by some flowers and Berry bushes, though no one cared about them. Food was the last thing on our minds.

A few of the ever-present Fuschia cliffs shielded us from the wind and left the lake a plane of sparkling crystal, occasionally shattered by Siren leaping from the depths to check on me. Despite her reservations about her strength, it had taken her minutes to establish control over the pond, and she ruled it with an iron fin. The few dissidents crowded the shores, fleeing before the Feebas' steely, half-lidded stare.

Near the cowering cowards – who were scared – Hercules proved my earlier thoughts a lie as he was chowing down on what I recognized as one of Bruno's protein bars, much to my horror. The dealer of said illicit substance reclined next to him, Poliwrath's massive upper body poking out of the lake as he rested. Bruno had thrown me the PokéBall, allegedly as a guard in case more bounty hunters showed up, but I was pretty sure he was just giving the Water/Fighting-Type some time off. Pooliwrath was the one who got along the best with my team, followed by the lighthearted Blaziken.

I was pretty sure Betty had sworn a blood oath to eradicate Primeape's lineage. That thing was savage, and if Betty could pick up just an iota of its directed fury, I'd be happy.

Beyond the training, though, Bruno was a great guy just for feeding my team for over two weeks. Sol's appetite after evolving would've left me destitute on its own, and I was internally crying at the thought of Hercules getting used to so many calories.

Looking down at the Ice-Type in my lap, I sighed while thinking about her specific training. Ice Shard hadn't been that hard to pick up, and we were narrowing her Icy Wind in preparation for Ice Beam, but that wasn't what I'd hoped to accomplish.

"I wish I knew more about Fairy-Types," I sighed, finding a spot towards the back of her pompadour that had one of her hind legs kicking. "I'm sure there are people out there who know about it – and in hindsight, Walter probably knows more than he lets on, given Koga's words – but I don't know how to make them tell us. I'm afraid we're on our own, little one. But that's fine. We'll figure it out. We've already learned some things, like how sensitive you are to emotions. You don't eat that much, even when you were feeling better, which my wallet is thankful for. Between you and Honedge, we can almost make up for Sol's fat ass, though Honedge lives off my Aur-" the word died on my tongue, the penny dropping.

I was a fucking idiot.

I already knew that Pokémon, especially the more esoteric Types like Ghost and Psychic, could need more than just food, like Honedge, and what was more esoteric than a Fairy-Type?

Vulpix's health didn't drop because of Eevee's injury, though I was sure that didn't help.

She got sick because I was a mess, between my departure from Celadon and almost getting Eevee killed, again. Plus…

Plus my reservations from Ra. My emotions were a negative shithole, and I'd been standoffish with her. Then, when I gave her more attention and care, she got better.

I did it. I was the one to make Vulpix sick.

The Pokémon in question whined up at me, feeling my agitation as an emotional sledgehammer hit me in the ribs. I clutched her tightly to me, feeling her cold snout against my skin and her much too thin stomach, making my own roll in discomfort.

"I'm sorry," I choked out. Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I'd known Fairy-Types were sensitive to emotions since all the way back on the way to Lavender. How could I have missed it?

"It's my fault you're sick." Vulpix was freaking out by then, nuzzling me and whining desperately. Her tongue left cold trails across my face and hair as I buried my nose in her fur. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Eevee, who'd been sleeping against my side, woke up from all the activity. Despite clearly being confused, she still stepped closer and brushed against Vulpix to try and calm her down, looking up at me with big, brown eyes.

My eyes lingered on the slowly fading scar across Eevee's flank and throat. Her shaggy fur and Chansey's assistance were doing a good job of hiding it, but the more knotted parts were visible.

That was my fault. Again.

"I'm sorry." The Normal-Type's ears twitched at my mumbled words. She was at a loss and clearly didn't expect me to be as bad as Vulpix. "It's my fault. It's all my fucking fault."

I'd been suppressing it since leaving Celadon, but it was the last straw. I'd pushed away my friends, Oak, and then, not only did I keep dragging my team into stupid, dangerous situations, but I was actively harming them.

It was my fault.

Eevee huffed at me, turning back to the then hyperventilating Vulpix, but once I got going, I couldn't stop.

"I got you injured. Again. I almost got you fucking killed, again, and, and, I've been hurting Vulpix too." She smacked my leg chastisingly, but I kept going. "The S.S. Anne, the Pokémon Tower. It's just fuck up after fuck up." My chest felt tight, and I swiped at my eyes to clear the moisture. I didn't deserve to feel sorry for myself.

I was surprised when she growled at my words, but I deserved it and so much more.

"You're not even my Pokémon." Her head fully turned to stare up at me, disbelief in her eyes. Even Vulpix seemed to calm a smidge, though still breathing heavily with eyes darting between Eevee and me. "I'd forgotten because I'm dumb and stupid and didn't think, but I promised to take you back to Cerulean if you wanted, and then I didn't even ask! I swear, we'll go tomorrow, and you'll never see me again-!"

Smack!

"Ooph!" The breath was knocked out of me as Eevee slammed into my chest, paws first, and pushed me over. Standing on my chest, she glared down at me with none of her usual calmness to be seen. "I'm sorry-"

Thud!

She reared up and stomped down on me, her light weight making it harmless. Again, she stood on her back legs and brought the front ones down on me, and then did it again. As she did so, I was surprised to see liquid start to leak down her cheek.

Especially when the tears started to shine, turning bright white.

I could only gape as, on top of me, Eevee's fur shape was consumed by a radiant glow, as if a star had been ripped from the night sky and brought onto earth. As I watched, her legs elongated and her paws shrank. The fur seemed to do likewise, moving as if alive as it retreated into Eevee's body. Said body grew in length and height, but not by that much, going from a little under a foot to a little over. On top of that, what was gained in size was lost in heft, her form slimming down as two massive ears grew from the top of her head and a long, thin tail with a forked tip swished behind her.

When the light of evolution faded, I was greeted by large, purple eyes looking down on me, white pupils dilating as they experienced light for the first time. The fine, short coat of fur was lilac, incredibly smooth, and soft, even through my shirt. A pair of large tufts grew right under the ears, framing the amethyst eyes – and right in between them, rested a red gem that pulsed with power.

Eev-Espeon reared up again and brought her legs down on my chest, eyes never leaving mine. As she did so, a foreign presence that felt so very familiar pressed against my mind. There were no words, images, or anything complex.

Just emotions.

Sadness. Pain. Worry. Anger.

I wanted to shut out the rush of negative emotions, feeling the tears pressing again, but Espeon didn't let me.

Hesitance. Longing. Reluctance. Acceptance.

She lay down on me, rubbing her head against the underside of my chin as she purred, the vibrations shaking my whole body as my left hand came up to scratch between her ears. Vulpix quickly climbed up as well and squeezed in next to the newly evolved Psychic-Type, still desperate for her own comfort.

Amusement. Happiness. Affection. Joy.

Contentment.

"I'm sor-" I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself even before Espeon's head shot up to glare at me. "No, you're right. Enough talking. Enough feeling sorry for myself and whining, it's all I fucking do. It's time to grow up." I looked down at my free hand and clenched it into a fist.

"For all of us."

In hindsight, I should've set up Vulpix's situation earlier and drip fed it, but there was a lot going on at the time. Not terribly unhappy about it.

Pretty happy with Espeon's evolution though.

Thank you for reading. Hopefully you enjoyed. If you REALLY liked it, I have a P-a-t-r-e-o-n, under the same name, where you can read 5 chapters ahead.
 
Awww i wanted the fairy one
 
Chapter 61. New
Thank you for reading. Hopefully you enjoy. If you REALLY like it, I have a P-a-t-r-e-o-n, under the same name, where you can read 5 chapters ahead.

As overwhelmed as I was feeling, between the realisation of Vulpix's problem, my own breakdown as everything caught up to me, and Espeon's evolution, I didn't get much time to collect myself before we were surrounded.

The evolution of a teammate was a big deal. While it wasn't a hard rule – looking at you, Pikachu – evolving was generally something all Pokémon looked forward to. Like the instinct to mate, hunt, and survive, reaching their final stage was deeply embedded in their genes. Not only would it give strength, but some first stage evolutions couldn't mate at all.

So, with it being my third time, I kind of knew what to expect when reintroducing Espeon to the rest of the team, though it was a little awkward with the way she refused to let go of me, forcing me to carry her to each Pokémon myself, Vulpix squeezed between us.

I wasn't keen on letting the fox go anytime soon.

Sol could not believe his eyes, pressing in close to sniff, only to dart back when Espeon's eyes and the focusing crystal in her forehead glowed a hot pink warningly. Evolution seemingly hadn't changed her low opinion of the unserious Arcanine.

It did little to change Sol's awe. The idea of evolving and still being so small was mind-blowing to him.

Hercules likewise seemed a little confused about the lack of muscles and general fragility of the Psychic-Type, but was smart enough to know there was more to combat than hitting it hard.

He just didn't agree.

Speaking of combat, though, I was curious about what changes Espeon had gone through, which led me to whip out my PokéDex for the first time in a while, with mixed feelings.

But I wouldn't let that affect my team anymore.

"Espeon, the Sun Pokémon. Espeon is extremely loyal to any Trainer it considers to be worthy. It is said that this Pokémon developed its precognitive powers to protect its Trainer from harm. It uses the fine hair that covers its body to sense air currents and predict its enemy's actions."

"This Espeon has the ability: Magic Bounce, and knows the moves: Tackle, Growl, Tail Whip, Sand Attack, Quick Attack, Baby-Doll Eyes, Swift, Hyper Voice, Detect (egg move), Confusion."

There were different levels of comprehension; Sol clearly was not getting it, while Espeon herself preened from her description. Other than the Ability – which we'd explore – and the flavour text, the main difference was her getting Confusion. The only Psychic-Type move anyone else had was Sol's Agility, and that had been a nightmare to get working and still wasn't mastered, so I wasn't sure how to go about it, but-

Mid-thought, a slight crunch! from a dry leaf had Espeon's head darting to the side, eyes and focusing jewel shining the warm pink somewhere between her eye and fur colour. The Psychic energy built swiftly, seeming to reach a limit before being unleashed.

A shockwave blew through the plains, grass being flattened and bushes ripped from the ground under the pink wave of telekinesis. The air wavered and undulated in a weirdly non-uniform way, twisting and distorting space as it rippled over the landscape, dust and the top layer of soil blown back under the wide Confusion-

All except for a small patch where the debris seemed to hit something and fall to the ground, as if an invisible wall had stopped it. Despite the uncontrolled blast, the invisible spot remained unmoving, unaffected by the Psychic energy and began moving sideways through the shockwave. It had almost left the area affected, where we'd lose sight of it as it left the dust, when a black patch shot up in front of it, Honedge rising from the shadow to stop the interloper.

"STOP! Let it go!" I shouted, freezing the ghost and allowing the invisible Pokémon to run around it, any signs vanishing as it fled. "That's the one I told you about. As long as it doesn't turn hostile, it's earned some privacy. It probably saved Ee-Espeon and my lives against the bounty hunter."

There was a faint, foreign feeling of embarrassment that was quickly squashed as Espeon pressed her head back against me for some attention as we all wound down.

The options were narrowing for what our invisible friend could, and it was getting exciting. I'd read up on the possibilities on the PokéNet since noticing we were being followed. Being completely unaffected by the Confusion almost guaranteed Dark-Type, and while there were several that could learn illusions, few specialised in it enough to use them so well without training.

But that was for another time, when it either felt safer or I could find it without the whole team staring it down. Until then, things returned to welcoming the 'newest' teammate.

Honedge… I don't know what I expected, but the sword's single, blue eye briefly glancing at Espeon before hiding in my shadow again wasn't surprising. Espeon likewise didn't seem to care, crawling up to try and lie across my shoulders. Even though she wasn't that much bigger, it was still a little awkward and would need getting used to.

I'd take indifference. I'd feared worse given their respective Types.

Scanning Espeon reminded me that I never got around to doing the same with the Steel/Ghost-Type, prompting me to do so.

"Honedge, the Sword Pokémon. Apparently, this Pokémon is born when a departed spirit inhabits a sword. It attaches itself to people and drinks their life force. If anyone dares to grab its hilt, it wraps a blue cloth around that person's arm and drains that person's life energy completely."

"This Honedge has the ability: No Guard, and knows the moves: Tackle, Swords Dance, Shadow Sneak, Shadow Claw, Metal Claw, Slash."

The only unexpected thing was Swords Dance, but Honedge was literally a sword, so it made sense.

Beyond that, I was genuinely surprised that he'd managed to get Slash down in the month of training. Metal Claw seemed to come naturally, but Normal-Type energy was the furthest thing from Honedge's nature, and I'd figured that learning to channel it would take a long ass-time.

Probably had something to do with his dual Typing. Honedge had bonded with an object from the material world, existing in between the two realities.

Still strange, though, like a fish flying through the sky.

Or like me using Fighting-Type Aura, I suppose, after having dipped in the Distorted Realm for a second and or century.

Someone else whose reaction I'd been worried about, however, was Siren. The Feebas stayed uncharacteristically far back, allowing the others to greet Espeon first, rather than trying to lead by example as she usually would.

The Water-Type's blank look and listlessness were concerning. The talk we had towards the beginning of our stay had worked for a while, but I wasn't dumb enough to think it was gone, or even necessarily lessened. Put to the side, for the time being, but far from over.

And Sol had been with us – unofficially – since his birth. Espeon had joined us two months before and had already achieved Siren's obsession.

But the fish heard the PokéDex, heard 'Dexter' talk about Espeon evolving because of me, and deflated subtly, the blankness replaced with weariness and a sad sort of acceptance. She gurgled softly, getting a mewl in return, which was more feline than it had been as an Eevee.

We'd need to talk about it sooner rather than later, before it festered, but for the time, I settled for scooping her up before she could leave, looking like a weird hunchback as I tried to juggle three Pokémon.

All in all, everyone accepted the change in the end, keeping their less charitable thoughts to themselves, if nothing else.

Well, almost everyone.

"BAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!"

"Betty-" I sighed, but couldn't get further before being cut off.

"BAAAAAAAAARGH!" Soil was blown back, the underlying rock chipping and breaking from the dragon fire that washed over it. The surviving material shuddered and quaked under the stomp, a boulder shaking and crumbling as her bony skull left indents.

"BETTY!" I tried to call over the racket to no avail. Reluctantly, I placed the Pokémon I was carrying on the ground to approach the tantrum-throwing Bagon – or attempted to, as the newly evolved Espeon refused to let go of me.

Resigning myself to the Psychic's presence, I moved closer, ignoring the few bits and pieces that unintentionally hit me. Espeon took offence, however, and sent out another uncontrolled Confusion that helped rip the previously nice area apart, leaving me way more covered in shit.

At least it got Betty's attention.

"EEEEEEEIIIIHHHHHHH!" Behemoth shrieked at us, pupils a thin line surrounded by bloodshot cornea. Drops of drool dripped from her fangs as she heaved for air, so lost in the sauce she barely remembered to breathe.

Espeon whined low in her throat at the aggressive sound directed at me, but eased under my soothing fingers.

"Betty, I get that you're upset, but we can't do this every time-"

"BAAEEEIIIIHHHH!" She didn't even look at me, furious gaze locked on Espeon, who looked back a little smugly under my scratching fingers.

"Betty, loo-"

"BEEEEII!" A Flamethrower reduced a shrub to ash.

"Bet-!"

"BAEEEEIHH!" A Dragon Breath ripped a rock apart and sent the pieces flying, several almost striking the watching Water-Types, to Poliwrath's grunting displeasure.

"Dammit, will you listen to me-!" Frustrated, I waded through the destruction and reached out my hand to grab her, uncaring for her mood.

In hindsight, that was a mistake.

There was no hesitation or recognition to be found in her, only rage and envy. When the tips of my fingers graced her skin, she whirled around, jaws wide open and fangs as long as my fingers snapping down towards my hand. I jerked back instinctively, feeling the razor-sharp edge grace me-

WROMPH!

A blast sent the Bagon flying back, the strongest Confusion Espeon had managed yet, destroying the landscape as surely as Betty herself had. The Dragon-Type tumbled backwards, screeching the whole time, brain bouncing around inside her skull from the random twists and turns of the Psychic technique. Using her weight and legs, she managed to stop herself, eyes swirling around in her head.

So she never saw the steaming Scald that could bore through rock before it hit her in the chest.

Or the massive yellow canine before it bowled her over and pinned her down.

"ARRC!"

Barking straight in her face, Sol's usual easy-going nature was nowhere to be seen, fangs bared with small bursts of flame between and a deep growl vibrating his chest while he held his best friend to the ground. Behind him, a murderous Siren floated closer as fast as she could, Honedge leaving Shadow Sneak and coming down in an overhead swing meant to part her head from her shoulders-

"ENOUGH, ALL OF YOU!"

My words and hand around Honedge's hilt made them hesitate, but Siren ignored my words and kept going. Reluctantly, I returned her to her PokéBall, clenching tightly around it as it shook and tried to burst open.

"Get off her!" Nobody moved anywhere near fast enough for my tastes. "GET OFF HER!"

That did it, Sol slowly stepping off the smaller Pokémon and Honedge letting me pull him back to my side, rather than hovering over Betty's neck.

The Bagon in question stood up hesitantly, blinking rapidly as the blood-haze left her. Her eyes were still a little unfocused from the Confusion, but I could see the realisation in them as they flew over the others before locking with my own.

Then she spun around on her heel and ran, sprinting away as fast as she could.

"Let her go," I sighed when everyone else jerked, unclenching my hands and letting the furiously gurgling and wheezing Siren back out. I wasn't sure where Betty was going, exactly, but it was the general direction of the training area, so I wasn't too worried about her legitimately running away.

I looked at the tiny, tiny dot of blood on my middle finger before beginning to calm down the others.

I should've seen Betty's freak-out coming, but I was caught up in my own rampant emotions, once more too far up my own ass to care for my team the way I should.

And yet, contrarily, the incident made me feel… not better, far from it, but gave me something concrete to focus on. A small voice in the back of my head said that it was another distraction, but I crushed it with the undeniable truth that Betty's evolution-envy needed addressing, fast.

I really thought training with Bruno would do the trick, yet even though her bone crest had extended so far she'd soon have trouble tilting her head backwards, she remained a Bagon – if a monstrous example of the species.

I was certain she had the strength, and she definitely had the desire.

All she needed was exactly that – a need.

The month of training had done a lot for the team and for my own personal fighting skills. Just having an instructor that could communicate with me was a wonder, as was not being blamed for only having two arms.

That being said, the actual moves themselves weren't all that different. It was clear where Bruno had picked up his own style, and I sometimes had to tell myself that he wasn't a Machoke in a human costume.

But for all that, we hadn't spent that much time on it. Most of it had been helping me get a handle on my Aura and not letting it affect me.

But the process felt good. And I did my best thinking when fighting.

Thud!

My bones screamed as I crossed my arms to catch a casual punch, holding my groan as I slid back a little. Bruno didn't follow up, allowing me to make the next move, something I did eagerly.

It was an hour or so after Espeon's evolution and Betty's tantrums. Heading back immediately, I wasted no time grabbing the already returned Bruno and throwing punches at him, explaining the events in between grunts and suppressed pain noises. Most of my team were semi-nearby, hurling themselves at Bruno's Pokémon to get their aggressions out, with Vulpix and Espeon watching me from the sidelines.

"Dragon-Types are considered some of the hardest, if not the hardest, Pokémon to train. Ghost and Dark-Types are up there as well, but Dragons have their reputation for a reason, and their Trainers with them. You've met Lance, and you're no exception yourself." The Elite Four's monotone voice explained.

"Don't compare me to that asshole!" I groaned, lifting my foot to allow a rare low sweep to swing under it while throwing a two-three combo, Bruno effortlessly deflecting them all.

"It's the truth. You share many similarities, though there are differences. Lance is quick to anger and holds a grudge for petty reasons, while your emotions are as fickle as the wind." Bruno's breathing might have gotten even slower than normal for all the strain he was experiencing, poking a nerve in my elbow when my form slipped and lightly tapping me in the stomach, nearly sending my lunch back up.

"That was almost poetic. You should write a book." I tried a high-kick I'd picked up from watching Blaziken, only for Bruno to lift my ankle higher and tip me backwards into the dirt.

"Do not deflect from your problems with snarkiness. It won't avail you."

I sighed from the ground, acknowledging the point. I already had an idea, I was just avoiding it.

"What do you think?" I asked, hoping for a different answer.

"Don't know." My hopes were dashed with heartless bluntness. "Don't have a Dragon-Type. But you can't let it linger. I know that much."

A large hand entered my view, and I took it, letting him pull me up so hard I left the ground.

Bruno let me stew in my thoughts as we moved on to the second part of training. Side-by-side, we lined up in front of a cliff face, spreading our legs shoulder-wide. Syncing my breathing with his, I felt for my Aura and directed it as best as I could up my chest, past my collarbone, down my arms, and into my hand. Bruno gave me the time I needed, despite his own ability to do a hundred times better in an instant.

Then, at some unconscious signal I must have given, our fists flew and smacked into the stone.

Thud!

THUD-BOOM!

I'd given up being jealous when Bruno's hand embedded up to his forearm, and my own didn't leave a noticeable mark. Comparing myself to the martial artist would've led me to hurl myself from the very cliff we were punching, and the fact that I wasn't bleeding from punching solid rock was a big deal anyway.

Besides, I thought as I retracted my fist and the smallest little stone-chip flaked off, we were getting there.

Eventually, we took a break to let my hands rest before I broke my wrist, sitting on a pair of rocks across from each other to drink some water.

"I will have to leave soon." Bruno didn't sugarcoat it, stating it as bluntly as he did anything else. "I won't push my responsibilities onto Koga and Will any longer."

I nodded, surprisingly sad. The last month had been good to the team, and I'd come to appreciate Bruno's simple, yet earnest nature. He was an honestly good person, and that counted for a lot.

But the last month of training had also been an escape, a place to hide and avoid my problems. As I promised Espeon, that was over.

"Before you go," I spoke slowly, rolling the bottle between my hands. I wasn't comfortable with the decision I'd come to, and everything in me screamed to stop. "I need your help with something."

But kindness could be as harmful as cruelty, and it clearly wasn't working.

We had to move forwards.

Behemoth sat on a cliff, head down and back bent as she brooded.

She wasn't sulking. She wasn't.

She was going to be the strongest Dragon, and the strongest didn't sulk.

She flinched instinctively at the thought, Mother's words making her think of the human.

Stupid Mother. Stupid flight. Behemoth was the strongest, biggest, and best. How dare they not recognise that? How dare they attack her? Clearly, it was the others' fault that she hadn't evolved yet, taking up all of Mother's time, time he could've spent on Behemoth.

Instead, she got left with the stupid, stupid, Rage-Punch-Teacher, who did nothing but beat Behemoth up!

It was their fault. No, in fact, it was Mother's fault. It was he who had filled Behemoth's head with thoughts of evolution and then failed to provide.

Except…

Except that wasn't true. The others were starting to evolve under Mother's teachings, even Small-Furry-Not-Prey. Bright-Punch was one thing, and she would even allow Fire-Flightmate because Behemoth was nice, but Small-Furry-Not-Prey had only just gotten there!

If they could do it, then it wasn't Mother's fault.

It was Behemoth's.

She growled, flicking a rock off the cliff and letting it fall as she remembered Mother's face when her fangs were about to tear into her front foot. Behemoth hadn't known he was there because why would she be? If he wasn't strong enough that it was safe, why would he come close?

She sighed, a rare sound for her, and tipped forwards. Her heavy head overbalanced her, and she slipped off her seat, plummeting down towards the ground.

Normally, the feeling of wind on her skin was her favourite sensation, but for some reason, it didn't give her the same high as usual.

BOOOOM!

She lay in the small crater of her own making, letting the dust slowly settle and reveal the sky to her. It was a pretty colour, the sunset painting it pink and orange, a few fluffy clouds drifting by. She wondered how it felt to soar amongst the hues, how the clouds would taste on her tongue and how high she would have to fly to catch the sun.

Normally, Mother was with her in those fantasies, but now Behemoth's back was empty, with no one to speak of her greatness, no one to witness her glory.

Until a shadow stepped in front of her, blocking her view of the sky.

Betty growled at the stupid, smug face of Rage-Punch-Teacher, not in the mood for her mentor's hands-on approach. For perhaps the first time in her life, she felt no desire to rip and tear and kill.

Instead, she just wanted to lie there-

Rage-Punch-Teacher apparently disagreed, grabbing her by the head with his strange, glove-like hand and throwing her through the air with an incoherent scream of anger. Betty matched the roar with her own fearsome one, truly pissed as she flew out of her hidden nook and skipped across the ground. Tumbling, she slowed with each bounce and finally came to a rest in the middle of the training field, the Punchy-Human who had been teaching the Flight for the last moon standing over her.

Despite her hate, Behemoth had to admit that Rage-Punch-Teacher had impeccable aim.

"We have grown short on time," Punchy-Human said. "As such, your Trainer has asked me to do him, and you, a favour." Punchy-Human pointed over to the side, and Betty jerked when she saw Mother watching with crossed forelegs, Small-Furry-Not-Prey and Cold-Not-Prey next to her.

"Today, you evolve."

Behemoth snorted, turning away from Punchy-Human. Did Punchy-Human think she hadn't been trying? If it were that easy, then-

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

Behemoth didn't know what happened. One second, she was about to walk away from Punchy-Human. The next, something hit her from above harder than nearly anything she had ever felt, and everything was suddenly dark.

It took her a second to understand, but understand she did. She was attacked.

Who had the audacity?

A hand wrapped around her leg and pulled her out of her hole, and she struggled to believe her eyes when she was dangled in front of Punchy-Human by the man's own hand.

"As I said; today, you evolve. It wasn't a suggestion."

Disbelief warred with rage, but the victor of that battle had been decided at Behemoth's birth.

Dragon fire flared to life in her chest, and she prepared to show the human his mistake when she was suddenly airborne again. The Dragon Breath burned the heavens uselessly, but on the upside, she wasn't flying long.

BOOOOOOM!

All the air left her lungs as a large fist punched her downwards, something in the side of her chest snapping with a wet crunch as she again found herself in a crater. Above her, Rage-Punch-Teacher smiled – snarled, really, but that was as close as the monkey got – and raised another boxing glove hand.

Shielding her head with her arms, Behemoth tried to summon the green shield thing that Mother called Protect. The hexagons flickered into life, transparent and ghostly, but existing.

Rage-Punch-Teacher's fist broke through it without delay and hammered into her torso. Spit, bile, and blood erupted from her mouth in a small geyser, painting the white-furred face in her fluids like warpaint as the monkey flung her through the air again. She hit a cliff hard, face-first, feeling a tooth snap before she fell to the ground. She wheezed for air, every breath bringing a sharp, stabbing sensation from her chest when her lungs expanded, while slowly getting up and facing the approaching Pokémon.

Despite herself, Behemoth smiled a bloody grin as the adrenaline flooded her body, the pain fueling her.

It had been too long since she had a real fight.

Her Dragon Breath washed over a massive slab of sediment as Rage-Punch-Teacher hollered and smashed the ground with both hands and raised the rock. Before it could fall to the ground, it shot towards Behemoth, tilting forwards and threatening to crush her.

Growling, she focused and pulled on the breaking energy, letting her front foot light up with the power. A large section of the rock broke apart under her awesome power, revealing Rage-Punch-Teacher right behind it.

Putting the horrible Pokémon's 'lessons' to use, her foot shone with a different energy. Purple leaked from her skin as she tried to pull her fire to her hand. Building as much power as she could, her flames ignited, and she punched at the same time as Rage-Punch-Teacher.

Their fists met, each powered by their respective energies. A small shockwave was a testament to the strength behind her attack, which was good, since her foe didn't seem to notice. Her wrist bent under the larger appendage, the bone straining and then breaking as it continued and smacked her in the face.

Everything went black for a second. When she came to, her jaw felt numb and crooked, and her face was pressed against the ground. Dazed, she struggled to get up, swaying before she found her balance. Noise drew her attention to Rage-Punch-Teacher approaching again. The ape held up a hand, showing a small scratch with a drop of blood leaking from it, the only evidence of their clash.

Behemoth shrieked distortedly, defiantly. Rage-Punch-Teacher grinned nastily.

Her gaze darted towards Mother. He was clearly stressed and tense, but he wasn't interfering the way he usually would.

No help would come. Behemoth was on her own.

She was feeling warm. Hot. Her inner fire was stoked and billowed with bloodlust, her blood like fire and her core like magma. Her heart was pounding, shooting crimson liquid from her wounds, but she didn't care. There was no one to save her, no one to pull her away, because it became too much.

Only her and the fight.

Kill or be killed. Eat or be eaten.

And she wasn't ready to be eaten.

Trickles of blood ran down my biceps, my nails digging into the skin and muscle beneath. Every fibre of my being screamed at me to do something, anything, when Betty was bashed into the ground again, left eye so swollen she couldn't open it, blood leaking from her mouth in a constant stream. I could tell that her right lung was likely collapsed, based on her breathing, and her right arm was definitely broken.

But I remained where I was. Even though it was killing me.

Betty was my baby. I'd raised her since hatching, and I hated seeing her in danger.

That had done her a disservice. She was made for combat, made to hurt and be hurt.

I'd meant well, but that didn't change the fact that Dragons weren't meant to be coddled.

BOOoooom!

A tremble under my feet as she was punched through another boulder, smashing it to pieces. If she showed the slightest sign, the tiniest bit of hesitation in rising – or Mew forbid, stayed down – I was ready to use the PokéBall I'd hidden against my chest. Fuck, I'd jump in there and fight Primeape myself if she needed me to.

But she didn't. Even as her bones snapped, her eyes lost focus, and her teeth were knocked from her broken jaw, she got back up.

Again. And again. And again.

I had to close my eyes, my teeth threatening to break under the strain of my jaw. The sounds still reached my ears. The thud! of flesh on flesh. The shrieks and groans of pain. The splat! of blood and stomach acid hitting the ground.

The sudden stop.

The light shining through the darkness.

I hardly believed it when I looked and saw Primeape jump back towards us and away from the brightly glowing shape across from it. A high-pitched whine rang in my ears as the molten starlight swelled and compressed, undulating and swirling. In the beginning, the shape of a Bagon was evident, but it soon vanished under the ballooning energy as it grew and grew and grew.

It took a long time, much longer than the others had. It was also much more forceful, a physical wind picking up from the radiating energy. Dust picked up and swirled around in an accidental sandstorm, hiding the evolution from our eyes. It felt like it went on forever.

But it did eventually end, the light dying within the dust cloud.

"SSHHEEEEOOOOOOOO!"

A deep, foghorn-esque sound echoed over the mountainous area, and I realised with a start that it was Betty's new voice, so very different from her old, shrill shrieks.

I hadn't even realised that I was moving before I was suddenly face-to-face with my second evolved Pokémon of the day, the dust settling around us.

Though there were some obvious differences from Espeon.

Towering over me at nine feet tall and the same wide, Shelgon was a sight to behold. Six white plates, each nearly as long as Sol's body – made from the same substance as the bone crest on Betty's head – wrapped around in a spherical shape, the three top plates each featuring a ridge running along their lengths. Protruding from between the bottom plates were four stubby, grey legs with short red stripes on the inner surfaces, each tipped with thick, yet blunt claws. I said stubby, but each of them was as long as my own legs and as thick as my torso. On either end of the steel-hard cocoon, a hexagonal section was missing, the back to allow her to do her business still.

And the front, facing me, had a pair of triangular, yellow eyes as big as my head, which were staring me straight in the soul, set in a grey face mostly hidden by the shell.

I didn't know what to say. In the previous evolutions, I'd appealed to previous affection.

But none of them had been Dragons.

Primeape saved me from having to come up with something. The Ape Pokémon hued and hollered as it leapt through the air, fist cocked back to continue the fight. A beam of red struck it mid-air, Bruno recalling it to its PokéBall, but it was enough to set Betty off, a roar tearing at the heavens.

"Enough, Betty!" If Team Rocket could bottle whatever I was smoking, they'd take over the world, I thought while raising my voice at the massive Shelgon.

But it was Betty. Fuck my fears, fuck the warnings. It was my baby.

The Shelgon turned back to stare at me, the glowing eyes narrowing. My heart pounded, and my brain screamed at me to run, but I didn't.

Instead, I took a step closer, even as a warning vibration rumbled through the Shelgon.

Seeing that she wasn't instantly attacking, I took another.

"SHEEEEE!"

My hair blew back from the force of the roar, ears ringing as something popped painfully in the left.

But I stood my ground, with narrowed eyes

"Enough. You did it. You did it!" I chuckled in disbelief, itching to reach out but knowing better than to do so before she'd accepted me. "You finally evolved!"

"SHEEOO!"

"Yeah, you're a big girl now!"

The words seemed to make her realise what had happened, and her eyes lowered to look at herself, or at least as best as she could. She struggled to see, turning around on the spot with deep grunts and huffs as she had her first experience with being stuck inside a 4000 pound bone-ball.

Then she kicked her legs out and dropped to the earth with a groan. A tremor that could rival a minor Earthquake rippled through the area, taking me off my feet and forcing me to steady myself against the white shell.

My eyes widened as we both froze. I hadn't meant to touch her.

Our eyes were locked again, and for a moment, I thought that was it. I'd pushed too far, too quickly, and I was about to be killed.

However, she huffed instead, and her eyes disappeared into the darkness within her shell, evidently closed.

I chuckled in disbelief as I ran my hand over the carapace, feeling the smooth texture beneath my fingers. I couldn't believe how big she was. I'd known she would grow, but it was absolutely ridiculous. Her eyes were in the middle of her body, and we were damn near eye-level!

A deep, earthshaking growl left the humongous Shelgon, accompanied by the sounds of footsteps behind me.

"Congratulations." There was no mistaking the owner of the blank voice, nor the sheer balls it took to approach a large van-sized Shelgon.

"Thanks!" I turned around with a wild grin, which fell when my eyes landed on the enormous backpack strapped to Bruno's back.

Oh.

"Oh. Uh," I stammered a bit, caught-off guard, "damn. When you said 'soon', you meant it."

"I did." He reached his hand out, which I wasted no time gripping and shaking. "I've mostly enjoyed the last month, but there is work to be done. I hope it proved worthwhile for you."

"Definitely!" Worthwhile was an understatement. The improvements we'd seen had been greater than anything since the early days, when we'd just left Viridian and the basics had come easily. "Not enough to take you up on your offer to join the League, but still, it's been great. Thank you, seriously. I…" I pushed through my discomfort. Bruno wasn't a sensitive guy, and we hadn't exactly been touchy-feely, but he deserved the words. "I was in a real bad place, and I guess I still am, but… it's been good having a distraction, even if I know that I need to stop hiding now and figure out how to move forward."

"That's all anyone can ever ask of you," he nodded. "That being said, I would be remiss if I didn't leave you with some advice."

"Lay it on me." I braced myself. When Bruno thought his words were worth sharing, it was ones he meant.

"You're a moody child, Peri. Rude, quick to anger, arrogant and yet brooding."

"Tell me how you really feel!" I snorted to hide that Bruno's words hit a sore spot, echoing many of my own thoughts as of late. I tried to pull my hand from his to no avail; his grip remained firm.

"But," he let the word linger until I looked at him again, "but, you're too harsh on yourself." I blinked at the sudden switch-up. "We all have flaws. You wear yours on your sleeve more than most, but you're young and have been through a lot. That is not permission or forgiveness, but neither is it condemnation." He put his other hand on my shoulder, a massive mitt wrapping around my shoulderblade and tricep. "The past is the past, the mistakes we've made set in stone. Never forget them, but don't let them dominate your future either."

I broke eye contact, unable to look at his earnest face. "... it's been a month already. Every day that passes makes it harder."

"Then don't let any more pass." With one last knee-bending shoulder pat, he let me go and let Gallade out of his PokéBall. The Fighting/Psychic-Type bowed deeply to his trainer, and graced me with a slight tilt as well. "I know I failed to convince you to join me in my mission, but I haven't given up yet. I have high hopes for you, Peri, and a fair amount of faith, even if you don't. I will see you at the Indigo Conference."

And with that, he was gone.

I was nonplussed at the abrupt departure, but it was extremely in character, and to be fair, I had things to do.

Turning back to Betty, I saw that while I was talking to Bruno, the others had emerged from where they were hiding nearby. Sol had come sniffing. The Arcanine was unusually cautious, slowly slinking closer. He was just about to touch Betty when she lurched forwards, making the Fire-Type jump back.

BOOM!

Betty thudded back to the ground, groaning in dismay that her new bulk ruined her prank.

"I warned you," I chuckled as the others took the joke as permission to slowly come over and have a look.

There was still tension in the air, nobody forgetting the incident earlier in the day, but they appeared willing to take the small jest as a gesture of good faith.

Except Siren, Espeon, and Vulpix, it seemed. The three of them kept their distance, though the Ice-Type was clearly being affected by the emotions in the air.

Taking the chance while everyone was distracted and I had the motivation, I moved a little away and pulled out my PokéDex with a heavy sigh.

I didn't know what I wanted to do with the Oaks or Green. Part of me was still so angry – particularly at the aforementioned grandfather and grandson – and couldn't just move past it, while another part was scared.

What if they didn't pick up? What if they did, but everyone was too mad, and it all just became worse?

But there was one person who definitely didn't deserve my anger, or having gone ignored for so long.

The PokéDex rang for a while as my heart thudded in my ears. I felt slightly sick, and my fingers spasmed with the desire to hang up, but I forced it down.

And then, it was too late, as the call was picked up and my breath was stolen.

"... hey, Peri."

"... hi, Misty. Sorry it took me so long to call."

Back-to-back evolutions, whoo!

I like trying to tailor each evolution to the Pokémon in question, beyond just how they evolve in game (like Espeon's friendship evolution happening outside of combat, Hercules when he needed strength). Betty's was always gonna be while bathed in blood and getting her shit pushed in.

Strap in for her being a Shelgon, though, cause that's gonna last for a minute.

Also, Honedge technically can't learn Metal Claw, only Metal Head, but call it an AU if you will. I'll mostly keep it to the official move lists, but sometimes, reason must prevail.

And the Rule of Cool. Can't forget that.

Thank you for reading. Hopefully you enjoyed. If you REALLY liked it, I have a P-a-t-r-e-o-n, under the same name, where you can read 5 chapters ahead.
 
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