A Winkle in Reality

[The Radiance's Follower]

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.

 

[ApiLol123123]

Thanks for the chapter, eager to read the next one!!!

 

[HankPankylol]

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.

 

[The Radiance's Follower]

we'll look for a Milotic scale to evolve you.

Click to shrink...

Is this a known info ? A lot of fics treat it as an undiscovered way to evolve a Freebas into a Miliotic. If it is unknown. Is Koga currently there stalking our guy and he just nabbed the info ?

 

[HankPankylol]

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.

 

[Jeff]

Awww i wanted the fairy one

 

[The Radiance's Follower]

Awww i wanted the fairy one

Click to shrink...

He needed a psychic on his team tho. Espeon is not a bad choice.

 

[ApiLol123123]

Thanks for the chapter, eager to read the next one!!!