Like No One Ever Was (Pokemon SI)

[AshKing]

Nice chapter. I am almost surprised that her dad hasn't offered to get a roto mecha appliance or something ridiculous like that

 

[Skyfyre]

"Use Arm Thrust, Osu!" Dendra called out for her Hariyama, a slight sheen of sweat covering them both. Her, for the workout we had done before in martial arts class, and him in trying to hit my slippery snake.

"Slither around it and Hyper Drill!" It was my counter and one that Dun followed perfectly. With his new body segments, he was able to twist himself around the repeated palm strikes before placing the tip of his tail on Hariyama's belly and spinning fast.

The Fighting Type recoiled backward, clutching at his gut. Dendra's eyes flashed towards it, doing some quick calculations. "Looks like we need to kick it up a notch. Bulk Up!" Not Belly Drum, smart, I would have taken out Hariyama if she committed to such a Move here.

While not literally bulking up, Hariyama took a lower sumo stance, making him appear bulkier.

Dun wasn't stopping just because his opponent did, quickly firing off a few slashes of air at Hariyama of his own accord. The Flying attack caused Dendra's Pokemon to wince, and I knew that this was my opening. We're gonna win!

"Gigaaaa…" I began, raising my hand high.

"Detect!" Dendra called out in a panic, trying to avoid Dun's strongest Move

"Hyper Drill!" I shouted, dropping the hand down. Dun had caught on to my signal, knowing not to use Giga Impact, so the Hyper Drill was already charged and spiraling towards Hariyama.

Even still, an unexpected Move wouldn't usually be enough to connect with the precognitive insight granted by Detect, but Hyper Drill was different. Dun's long body could twist as Hariyama tried to lean out of the way, redirecting the hit into him and sending him flying back.

Hariyama gave a loud groan, stumbling back two more steps before collapsing into the hedge on the property's edge. Meditite at the side raised their arm, announcing us as the winner. "We did it!" I ran up to hug Dudunsparce while Dendra recalled Hariyama.

"Osuuuuuu!" She cried out. "What a passionate battle! You did excellent, my pupil." She declared proudly. She really likes this whole Sensei thing, huh? Makes sense, she'll be a great teacher someday.

"Thank you, sensei Dendra. I appreciate all the training you've given me and my Pokemon." Dun warbled out an agreement too. It's the first time he fought Hariyama since he's evolved, and the first time he's won.

On the whole, I tended to win more than I lost against Dendra (Pokemon wise at least - in terms of sparring, while I was approaching her level of technical proficiency there was little I could do to make up for the gap in our sizes), but our Pokemon teams were often at uneven power levels. My strongest beating her strongest is a tipping point training-wise.

"Perhaps you need to consider other training partners?" A new voice suddenly came into my mind. Blinking I turned to face the Meditite who was staring at me.

"Oh, I didn't realize I said that out loud. Ahh," I gave a slight gasp as I shook off the pain. It felt like my head had been in a vice, but only for a second, the pain swiftly fading.

"Sorry about that, Meditite is trying to practice his control when speaking Psychically to others," Dendra said. "What did he say?"

"No problem. Honestly, that's the first time anyone has spoken to me Psychically at all, so his control is impressive." From what I've read, everyone feels a bit of pain when first communicating that way, but after that very skilled Psychic Types can communicate as easily as talking. "Meditite was just saying I might want to look into other people to battle. Again, I really like training with you, but-"

"You need to face other foes, otherwise you get complacent," Dendra finished for me.

"Exactly, don't want to grind in the same patterns that won't help with other battles. That Detect you've been using was new, when did you learn it?"

"We practiced it for my sixth Gym Badge, osu! That new leader Iono, can pack a powerful punch. I was surprised that a streamer was so tough!" Looks like we're inching ever closer to canon. Iono being a big celebrity was making quite the news in Paldea as our newest Gym Leader.

"Are you going to enter the tournament again?" Dendra's words snapped me out of my thoughts and left me confused.

"What?"

"The Junior Tournament! It'll be happening in two months again. You got ripped off last time, but this time you'll win for sure!" The League was showing more transparency and had a greater deal of protections in place to ensure an embarrassment like last time wouldn't crop up again.

"... No, I won't."

"Os- whuh!?" Dendra spasmed, as she cut herself off mid-cheer recognizing what I said. "Why not???"

"Wobuffet," I said with a straight face, causing Dendra to put her hands on her hips and glare down at me. Laughing I said "Okay, okay. But seriously? Because of what you said: 'I'd win this for sure.' And I would. There's no challenge involved." She frowned and I added "That might sound arrogant, but it's just the truth. I have a badge won from the equivalent of a five-Gym battle, and beat you who won your sixth Gym badge. I might not have any official badges, but is there realistically any chance I face a challenge from people who are at their second Gym badge or below?"

Slowly, Dendra nodded, sighing. "Guess that's fair. Oh! But you should enter a martial arts junior tournament!"

Smiling, I nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like fun. And I think I have an idea for a challenger to face again. I battled against them once while training for the Junior tournament last year, and they were one of the most skilled foes I ever faced…"

***

Once again I found myself face-to-face with the Terastalized Leafeon, atop the cliffs slightly to the north of my house. There was a difference in the energy of this meeting this time. While not making any hostile moves or the like, I could see something in his eyes as he registered me as a… potential threat, at least. Is it because my team is that much stronger? Because I've unlocked my Flying Aura, marking me as a danger to him as a Grass Type, even if he still vastly outclasses me by being a Pokemon? Or something else, like just being older, and no longer some random, dumb child that wandered into his territory.

In any case, I decided to lightly press on. "Hello again," I said with a slight bow of my head. "I'm looking to challenge Riolu again." He cocked his head to the side and I clarified "Any of them that are willing to fight, but in particular, the one that Dun fought in the final round last time."

The silence stretched on between us, the guardian of this land simply staring at me with inscrutable amber eyes. Eventually, I blurted out "I brought some berries as well!" Slowly, I lifted out a few Sitrus and Lum berries from my pouch causing Leafeon's eyes to widen.

In a flash, they were directly in front of me, causing Miles floating beside me to startle for a second. Before either of us could respond, he had grabbed the berries out of my hands with his tail, eagerly holding onto his prize. Turning around, he strutted back to his territory, a glance of his head as if to say 'You coming?'

Following, I jumped down the first hill I was on to the meadow below, the other Pokemon gave me odd looks, but most quickly returned to their own business after seeing that Leafeon was fine with my presence. There was a small pack of Rockruffs playing about, a Clodsire surrounded by Woopers, and I thought I even saw the brief flash of yellow of a Dunsparce head before it tunneled beneath the earth. I wonder if Dun knows that Dunsparce are living here?

The pack of Riolu was my main objective, and the one I was looking for was the first one I saw after rounding the corner of a hill. She was standing up, arms in a ready but loose battle stance.

The empathic abilities they have are strong, she must have sensed my coming. Given how the other Riolu behind her looked surprised at my appearance, I guessed that it was a talent she in particular had honed.

"Greetings. Dun and I were hoping for a rematch, to see how far we've grown." I said respectfully to Riolu.

She barked out "Rio."

With a chuckle, I responded. "I'm sure you've grown too. But I think Dun might surprise you." With a flash of red light, I released Dun from his ball, eliciting a series of gasps from the rest of the Riolu. Dun, like the drama queen he was, reared up his top two segments and head, giving a loud roar as he flapped his wings furiously to create a 'dramatic breeze effect,' as he called it.

Our opponent stood stock still for a second before shaking her head. "Olu, ri." She scoffed, but I could tell she was surprised by his evolution. We moved over to a larger clearing, this time gathering the attention of many other surrounding Pokemon. I even spotted an Altaria and Scyther watching from nearby clifftops.

"Same rules as last time? Battle until the first one is out or a surrender?" She nodded, taking a flexible stance twenty meters away from Dun. "On the count of three, we'll begin. "Three, two, one… begin!"

The canine-like Pokemon sent forth a Vacuum Wave immediately, trying to set the pace of the fight. Unfortunately for her, Dun and I had gone over plans, and for any battle where I would do a count in, his first Move was Protect. He was easily able to conjure the barrier well before the Fighting Type attack could hit, letting it harmlessly wash over him.

She made the bold strategy of trying to get in close, to which I responded with "Air Cutter!"

Dun's six pairs of wings beat in unison, creating scything gusts of wind that cut across the battlefield. Riolu proved to be no slouch, ducking, weaving, and sliding under most of the attack. One blade still managed to clip her shoulder, eliciting a screech of pain, one that rattled my head.

No, that wasn't pain, or maybe it was, but that was a Move! I realized as Dun gave an uncomfortable shudder. Riolu had also, even through being attacked and dodging most of it, greatly closed the distance between them.

"Body Slam," I called out, hoping to let Dun use his weight to roll over on her. He tried to do so, but she once again surprised me with her speed, landing a palm heel with her left palm into Dun's side before jumping away. He grunted in pain, but with his long body, was able to stretch out and swing around, impacting her.

"Hmm, less damage than I thought…" I wondered out loud as I eyed the impact on Dun's side. Her Force Palm had broken scales and would likely leave a nasty bruise, but considering the Type Weakness and the Screech beforehand, was less impactful than I thought. Did she use some sort of pseudo-Agile-style attack? It would explain the speed and decreased power.

I didn't have time to waste wondering about that, as Riolu had gotten back up from where she had fallen, growling as she did so. She's standing gingerly on her right side, and those twitches her body is going through means Dun likely Paralyzed her as well.

"Hyper Voice, no more dodging." The horrendous cacophony from Dun brought Riolu to the ground, clutching at her floppy ears for a second before she gave up on that and just began throwing out wild Vacuum Waves. Dun would dodge two out of three before being hit by the third. Maybe not as wild as I thought, those waves are inaccurately apart, but together form kill boxes where Dun has to be hit by at least one. Impressive, while disoriented and Paralyzed. Of course, that only works on a 2D battlefield.

"Earthquake." Dun shifted immediately at my order, slamming all three segments into the ground once. The earth wildly shifted, rising and falling all around the field, and while my vision shook a bit, I thought that even some of the nearby cliffs were shaking too.

Riolu was tossed violently into the air, giving out a cry of pain. "Riolu!!" She called out, and for a split second, I thought she was defeated, until I saw a red flash from her eyes as she began spinning around in the air, her momentum shifting and increasing as she rocketed towards Dun, leading with her good leg.

"Protect," I called out, not wanting Dun to get hit by her High Jump Kick. She impacted the barrier, but even that powerful Move couldn't defeat Dun's ultimate defense, and she eventually rebounded, flipping off of it to land on that same good leg. I followed up with "Hyper Drill!" Not wanting to give her the chance to make another strike.

She tried to dodge, but there was no avoiding Hyper Drill as Dun proved, whipping around even as she tried to Detect around it. Riolu had one last desperation Move, aiming a Karate Chop at Dun's big soft head, even as his drill tail twisted towards her… only for her strike to fail to connect. My starter was just faster, and the strength of his blow was strong enough to knock her out.

After a glance to make sure my Pokemon was fine, I ran over to apply some medicines to Riolu, getting a pained groan from her as she woke up. "Hey, you doing okay?" I asked.

"...Lu," she mumbled out after a moment, gingerly sitting up. Dun slithered over, preening in his victory, which just caused our foe to pout harder.

"Thank you for the match," I said, giving her a small bow, and clasping my fist in my other hand. "We learned a lot from it." I'm used to using Dun's bulk and taking hits to dish them out if need be, but we haven't had much practice dealing with someone else doing that. "Dun, Roost, and heal up." He nodded, curling around and settling his wings, the Flying Type energy seeming to course through and out of him, healing his wounds. Riolu watched from where she was seated with wide eyes, emotions rapidly flying by her face that I was too unfamiliar with to place.

"Anyone else up for a fight?" I asked, but rather than eager, all the Pokemon of the valley stepped back. Even the powerful Scyther and Altaria turned away, not seeing themselves as a match for Dun. Huh. That's… a little disappointing, honestly. I'm going to have to look for new places to get challenges.

Riolu suddenly stood up, barking at me. "Riolu! Ri ri!" She said, holding up one claw and circling a hand around it.

"One circle? One sphere?" I guessed, trying to figure out what she was pantomiming, not getting it until she pointed at the sun. "Oh, one year! You want to do this again in a year?" She nodded, fixing me with a serious gaze. "Alright, let's do this again next year."

Riolu let out a satisfied breath and began marching off, sitting on her favorite moss-colored rock that I had spotted her on last year, and began meditating. "Alright Dun, let's go home." She's likely already planning out for our next battle, and we'd best do the same.

***

"Welcome, to the Rotom Phone Company!" My father declared proudly to the three of us. "This is the place where I work and I'm so eager to show it to you," my father practically squealed with joy.

I'd like to think it's just me he's so eager to show this off to, but Billy is a pretty exuberant guy. Amethio and Arven at my sides looked pretty impressed. Arven because he was a bit younger, and Amethio… Hard to say but I think he just doesn't get out enough.

"Impressive, isn't it? Dad had it shaped like a giant Rotom phone after being inspired by Uva Academy." Honestly, can't say that it looks that bad here. Admittedly, there is a vast difference between a Pokeball being shoved atop a historical monument and a company adding a neat paint design.

Entering through the large doors at the front of the red building we were presented with a fairly normal reception area. Some plush seats and a desk at the front, beige painted walls, and a small TV in the corner playing Rotom Phone advertisements. As we carried on through the 'employees only door' (with special lanyards given out to us three kids) the space transformed into a factory. Fluorescent lighting above our heads, gray concrete floors, and walls, with many doors branching off from the hallways.

Dad took us through a few of them, showing us first some of the office rooms and staff lounges and then the factory itself. It was fascinating to see all the machines and conveyor belts functioning together to make the final product of a Rotom Phone. From the catwalk above we saw dozens of them being made and placed in red cases. There were also hundreds more cases of a multitude of colors and patterns made here, placed off for sale separately.

"Why are there so many Ghosts patrolling around here?" I asked, glancing over at the Haunters, Houndstones, and a Mismagius. To be fair, five isn't a huge number, but they're all evolved and are keeping an eye on the perimeter only. There were plenty of people and a few other Pokemon in the factory, but they were all working on things, not guarding it. "Is this because of the incident?"

"The incident?" Amethio asked, and I explained what had happened.

"Some employees tried to steal stuff from here, chased my Dad around a bit, then got beaten by the Rotoms."

"Gah! Not bombastic, how very un-Glitterati of you!" My father winced and I rolled my eyes.

"We don't have time for all the details, we still have a tour to go through."

"Being prudent with your time, that's Glitterati brilliance for you." This time, all three of us rolled our eyes at my father's antics. Arven was the first one to giggle, and soon me and Amethio joined him, though the eldest boy tried to pass his laughter off as coughing after Billy answered my original question. "Not exactly. While we have upped our internal security, they were always here. They make sure that none of the Rotoms try stealing a phone. Only the Rotoms on their best behavior get chosen from the farms to be a Rotom Phone."

"What happens to the others?" Amethio asked cautiously.

Billy blinked. "Well, they stay here until they can be proper Rotom Phones. Or they decide to leave on their own, without a phone. That's fairly rare, however." Is it rare because they were raised here their whole lives and have little idea of what the rest of the world is like, or because they're just naturally inclined to behave that way?

The boys didn't comment on it, happy to continue the tour. We entered another factory room, this one a bit different than the one before. For starters, the machinery here was far heavier duty, giant presses exerting tons of force on thick sheets of metal. The assembly lines were each far more unique, with more direct human and Pokemon involvement, checking each finished product carefully.

"This is our Rotom Catalog factory. Our best minds have created some of the finest designs for the wonderful people looking to battle with their Rotoms." Dad beamed at me and I couldn't help but blush. Their best minds, huh? I had some ideas on alternative forms and upgrades, but will they be any good? These people have been designing these things for years.

Amethio noticed my worry and said, "Hey, snap out of it." I whipped my head up to face him and he followed up saying "I want to battle you after this, so make sure you're at your best."

A smile broke out on my face. Pretty sure that's Amethio for 'Are you doing alright? Please feel better!' I don't think the Explorer's secret headquarters are a great place for him, but there's nothing I can say to convince him to leave. A fact likely compounded by the fact that I didn't think he had anywhere but the Explorers to turn to. While my family could have supported him easily, like we were starting to do more and more with Arven, Amethio's pride likely wouldn't let him accept, even if he wanted to leave.

"We make other accessories and tools here," My father continued, oblivious to any of my self-doubts. "Including…" Dad led us by a table covered in a cloth, tearing the covering off.

"Tada!" He exclaimed proudly, revealing…

"A stick?" I asked, looking at the red and white pole sitting on the table. It looked like it was made of metal with segments that could extend out. Like a collapsible baton, but too thin and the wrong shape for that. Plus there's a weird attachment at the end.

"Not just any stick, but the Roto Stick! With this, you can take a selfie from farther away. Watch," he said eagerly, taking the stick and using the four-pronged attachment on the end to connect to his phone. He gathered us all together, then flipped his phone around so it faced us while extending out to get all of us in the frame. "Say Chansey!" He told us (Arven was the only one who said it) as he pressed a small button on the end of the Roto Stick and his Rotom flashed, taking a picture.

"Selfies are becoming very popular, so I came up with this idea to capitalize on that. What do you think?" My Dad asked, beaming proudly and I felt my throat constrict.

"Uhh, I think people will buy it," I eventually said. My feelings were too obvious as Billy's smile faded away, replaced with a frown.

"You don't like it," he stated and both of the boys beside me winced. I shook my head.

"It's not that, it's just… I don't get it. Like, here: Miles?"

"Yes, bzzt?" They said, floating out of my pocket.

"Could you take a photo of all of us? Try to get a landscape shot with all of us in the frame without much extra space." I asked them.

"Bzzt, of course," They hovered out a few meters away, asked us to reposition slightly a few times, then began clicking rapidly then floated back. "Here are the photos, Young Miss," they said, showing me a quick slideshow of them. "I particularly like how number three came out, bzzt."

"Yeah, I think that one's my favorite too." Mostly because it's the one where no one is looking dumb in it. For god sake Arven, don't pick your nose while your photo is being taken! Ahh, calm down, he's just a kid. "Did you do something to make the background fuzzy and us in focus?" I know there's a word for that in photography, my mom- first-life mom - used to love it, even if people weren't her main photography focus.

"Yes, bzzt. I fiddled with the aperture until I got the right field of focus. What do you think?"

"I think they're great." Then, turning to my dad, I said "So, yeah. That's why I'm not sure about it. I think the Roto Stick is a fine product, it's just… the Rotom Phone is too good already. They can do so much." Back to Miles, I added, "And thank you again for being so awesome."

I felt a small buzz in the air as Miles swelled with pride. "My pleasure, Nemona." They then returned to my pocket. Never hurts to thank the people close to you, and Miles does just so much for me. From all the regular uses of a phone, managed way easier, to help remind me of and plan my schedule… Dun is my first partner and so strong, but I'd be lost without Miles.

"Oh, what a terrible error I nearly made! Thank you, my dear, for helping me avoid such a costly blunder," he nearly cried.

"Uhh, I don't think it was that bad an idea?" Arven tentatively spoke up. "It's just, that I've been liking my Rotom Phone, but they aren't…" He struggled with the words for a moment. "Creative? They'll help me when I ask, but only what I ask, and might not do stuff like take a selfie as well as I would."

"They aren't as capable of independent action," I muttered. Or maybe just not as skilled at it. Speaking up I said, "Sorry Dad, I guess I'm just too used to Miles being so great at everything that I didn't realize my situation might not be the same for everyone."

"I want a Rotom like Miles," Amethio blurted out, before blushing.

"Looking to get another battler on your team already?" I teased.

"No," he pouted, crossing his arms. "Well, maybe. Just- saw how much you talked to Miles before and after our battles, thought that'd be nice." My smile grew brittle. He's still gonna be alone out there. I mean, he has the Explorers, but they aren't his peers.

Billy laughed heartily. "I see you have excellent taste, young man." His praise only caused the boy to blush harder. "Fret not, you'll have your pick of whichever Rotom you like at the end of the tour." To Arven, he said: "Thank you for your insight as well, we'll run some more focus tests on the Roto Stick."

We carried on, from the machinery to the minds behind them. Each engineer got their own office which was well-furnished and led to a central meeting room. This is where they met us, the dozen or so designers sitting around a circular table.

"Greetings, we're pleased to meet you," one balding man with a bushy brown beard said, standing up to shake my father's hand. "I'm Emil Paramount, but you can just call me Emil. This is where we dream up what gets shipped out."

"Is it usual for the designers to work in the same building as the factory?" I asked, prompting a small chuckle from him.

"Not exactly, no. But your father had a vision when building this branch in Paldea, where all the pieces that made the Rotom Phones would be interconnected, so we'd all have a better understanding of how everything worked together. Building this place wasn't easy-"

"Which is when Dad got Mom's help, and how they met," I finished, having heard the story (in very sappy, over-the-top terms) many times by now.

"Indeed," Billy said, thankfully electing to move on from that topic. "Emil here is our head designer and the whole team has been eager to hear about your designs." They all smiled politely and nodded their heads at me, but that was to be expected - you don't call the boss' young daughter an idiot or complain she's wasting your time if you want to keep your job.

"Alright, here are some of my designs and notes," I said, nerves taking over as I walked up and pulled them out of my bag. Stumbling forward, I accidentally grabbed a few extra pages from it, stabilizing myself against the table with the papers scattering across it.

"Shoot! So sorry about that- let me just take those back, I only meant the stuff in the folder- hey!" I shouted as one young woman with bright green hair grabbed one of the blueprints.

"Is this a Rotom helicopter? Neat design but Rotoms can only possess objects so large and…" She trailed off scrutinizing it closer.

"Yes, I'm aware. This kind of personal helicopter uses a very small, lightweight design, only designed to hold a single person. It's thicker from head to tail than the regular Rotom models, but only wider and taller with the top blades and lighter than most of the current catalog." Seeing Emil about to speak I quickly shook my head and waved my arms.

"Of course, I know that this won't work. Rotoms can possess any electronic but to make a truly battle-ready form they need to possess an electronic that's a common household appliance. I read your thesis Mr. Paramount, I mean Emil, and it makes perfect sense that the Rotoms gain more strengths from the idea of the device than the actual mechanics. Not that those aren't important too!" I was starting to breathe heavily, all the eyes watching me intently making me panic a bit. Damn it, why am I acting like this? I'm fine with being in public when I battle but this- ugh. Just focus, Nemona.

Taking a calming deep breath I slowly started over. "Apologies, I'm off my original plan a bit." I took a few more deep breaths and nodded my head as I shuffled the papers into my folder and collected up the errant loose-leaf ones I had grabbed. The psychic design of the bag to help you grasp the items within it is very handy but might be a little oversensitive. I'll have to look up the user's manual and see if I can adjust that later. Pulling out one of the proper blueprints and attached note pages I placed them neatly on the desk.

"Amending my original design, I decided to go for a Drone based build. I'm aware they aren't a common household appliance yet. But in Hisui, there are records of Rotoms being able to possess devices that weren't commonly used at the time. It's possible that it was just a relic of the distortion fields, but given how there was no noted change in their use even after the crisis was ended by the Hero of Hisui, I suspect that there's some temporal wiggle room for what devices can be effectively utilized. Drones are becoming increasingly popular, so I thought you might be able to create a prototype and we could test how well it works."

There was a silence over the table, broken by Emil saying to my father in a serious tone: "You really weren't overstating how smart she was." From there the table broke out into a free-for-all buzz of wild discussion.

One of the men, about my father's age, asked: "Interesting ideas and the design looks solid, but what are you hoping to achieve with this? It will likely be part Flying Type, like our current Fan Rotom?"

"If you'll see the notes attached, I believe the vertical takeoff and landing capabilities of a drone will give any Rotom possessing it a different Move." Hurricane is a fine Move, but rather wild and hard to aim by its nature. But if it gives Roost… I had to resist drooling at the thought of being able to give a decently bulky Rotom a recovery Move and pure Electric Typing with Levitate, all without using up my Tera Orb.

"Hey wait, I hadn't properly revealed those yet!" I squawked as the fear of losing their jobs had apparently been eclipsed by the excitement of what I had to offer because the designers had grabbed my notes, and were frantically passing them around to inspect. That, or my dad laughing happily at all this means they aren't too worried about the job front. Still, it's nice to see that they're interested in what I came up with. I knew the designs weren't perfect, and that they'd likely have tweaks for them, but just the base concepts being intriguing was enough for me. I hadn't just calmed down but was even starting to feel giddy at the possibilities.

"Additional Moves for existing Forms?" Another designer asked.

"Yeah. So I was thinking, a lot of appliances have more than one thing they can do. Slight tweaks to the designs might open up new Moves available in those forms. Like an ice cube dispenser on the refrigerator might let the Rotoms use Snowscape-"

"Or a heat tank connected to the tube to let the Washing Machine use… war crimes? No that's crossed out. Ok, Scald makes more sense." Before I could address that another designer was calling my attention.

"The other new Form you sketched out, why do you think a Radio Rotom might be part Fairy Type? Is it just the sound angle? You've listed Normal as another possibility, but it has far more sound-based Moves than Fairy."

Rather than answer normally, I decided to sing out my answer.

"Music holds the secret, to know it can make you whole,

It's not just a game oh no, it's the song inside your soul,

Magic of a melody, runs through you like a stream,

Thoughts that play flow through your head like a dream…"

Dad had the widest grin I'd ever seen on his face, which might have looked creepier if his eyes weren't shining with pride and happiness as well. "That's my girl, going to be top of the RoTunes chart any day now!"

"Daaaaad," I groaned. "I don't have any songs I feel comfortable publishing yet, and I'm not that good." Clearing my throat I turned back to the team. "So, as you know, I've been practicing a lot of singing and music lately, which made me think about this. Radios connect people to the world around them. From music to comedy to general worldly discussion, radios make people feel things. That's why I thought it might lean into that Typing."

One woman on the opposite end of the table said in a monotone "If you break into the non-elemental Typings first, I'll kill you." This did not stop her from voraciously reading the documents she had in front of her.

"Hah!" Another guy said, explaining "Janine is just upset that she didn't manage to get the Bug Typing with her 'electric bug swatter' idea."

"Fuuuuuu-dge off, Frank," Janine awkwardly adjusted upon realizing there were three children in the room.

Scratching the back of my head I gestured at the papers and said "I guess you get a lot of ideas like these, then?"

Emil turned his head up to look at me. "From each other? Professional engineers one and all? Yes, we occasionally get ideas of this caliber," he lightly commented and I looked away, chagrined. Okay, okay, these are decent, I don't need to worry.

My dad clapped his hands together. "It sounds like you all have a lot to discuss, but I should probably continue the tour." There was a pained sound from the design team, but I quickly reassured them.

"We can talk more later. I can give them my email address, right Dad?" I should probably ask my parent about stuff like this, given my age, even though I don't think there'd be any harm, given my mental age, knowledge, and the fact that I truly hope that all of these employees have been thoroughly vetted, especially since the attempted theft.

"Yes, that should be fine dear. Make sure to forward me any ideas that bear fruit so we can begin production."

"Of course sir," Emil said, waving us off after we exchanged contact info, leaving my papers behind with them, as well as Miles' Washing Machine, to get it fixed up.

Continuing down through the building, we took an elevator to the underground section which was where the farms were. It also held storage for all the necessary bits for the company to have but wasn't used every day. Spare parts, old designs, recalled items, and boxes and boxes of folders for paper copies of all the important documents.

The tour didn't touch much on that stuff, but Billy did show us all of it briefly before opening a large set of double doors to reveal the grand farm. It's… dark.

Size-wise, it was huge, miles across, and quite wide, but the lights above were constantly flickering or burnt out. The ground was solid cement with a few structures here and there made up like miniature houses. Broken machines also littered the ground, used up by the Rotoms, many of which were just sort of hovering about aimlessly (I suspected some of them were Dittos as well, but even my eyes couldn't tell). A few looked over curiously at us, but many just seemed aimless. Like aboveground, many Ghost Types were guarding them here as well.

"Go ahead and talk to the Rotoms," my Dad told Amethio. "You can talk with the overseer later about which one you want."

"Ok," the little boy said seriously, marching off, eyes darting about as he scouted the field, looking for the perfect Rotom to join him.

Arven ran off quickly after, releasing Maschiff. "Let's see if we can make some friends!" Uhh, not sure they'll be too eager to play with a Dark Type. Then again, given how this place is…

"What's wrong Nemona? Don't you want to spend some time with your friends?" My Dad asked, and I released a heavy sigh.

"Maybe later. Dad… what is this?"

He looked at me curiously. "Why it's the farm of course! Where we get all the Rotoms we need for the Rotom Phon-"

"Okay, bad question. Why is this? Why is this place like this? So… bleak and dark."

He paused for a moment, taking in the field again. "Hmm, I suppose it is lacking in color. Do you think a bright gold paint job would spruce it up?"

"I don't think anything is going to spruce it up while it's barely lit like this." Crossing my arms I shook my head, watching Amethio tentatively greet different Rotoms, and met like that in turn. This reminds me so much of his situation. Technically, all of their basic needs are met, but they don't get much more than that.

My father gave a small frown. "Unfortunately some of the Rotom can be a bit mischievous and tend to drain or break the lights. We try to fix them often, but there's only so much we can do."

I nodded, thinking for a moment before calling a Rotom over. This one was separate from any large groups and just drifting on its own, happening to be nearby us. They approached, tilted to the side as they hovered towards us, a curious but somewhat blank look on their face, a light buzz emanating from them. "Hey, do you want to leave this place?"

They brightened up at the idea, cheerfully pointing at my father's own phone with one of their little lightning bolt-shaped plasmic limbs.

"No, not like that, just… in general. Do you want to leave this place and explore on your own? See the world?" The general buzzing stopped as they just looked at me, complete incomprehension on their face. Slowly, they drifted back, still trying to puzzle out the concept.

Turning to my father I said "That's what I mean. Sure, they can leave, and I guess a few must-have asked to do so in the past. But the general population here, they don't see anything out of this dark, cold place that is their entire world."

Billy was silent for a moment, his smile replaced completely by a frown as he gazed over his work. "I never saw it as that bad… What can we do to fix this?" He asked, clearly torn between seeing it as unfit for the Rotoms as it stood, but also worried about the future of his company.

I thought about it for a minute, and an idea slowly came to me. "You made this place to have all the parts interconnected, but how often do the people come down here?"

"Oh, our overseer and guard check on the Rotoms at least twice a day," My father answered quickly and I hid a frown. Not as much as I would like, and I think explains why the other Rotom Phones don't interact as well with other people.

"And the other workers? All the people up there, how often do they come down here?" My experience in my past life helped with knowing how very small that number would be. If you gave people a job, most of them would just stick to that role. Even looking for ways to improve or climb the ranks, it would often be just in that small area.

"I-I know it's a big ask," I said, turning to stare my father straight in the eye. "But what if the position of the factories above and the farms were reversed? The workers up there will then pass by the farms every day in and out on their way to do their jobs, you can have windows to let more natural light come in, maybe even arrange some field trips outside and the like."

My father gazed off, lost in thought, probably trying to put the logistics together. "It might take a bit more work, more travel up and down for some office space that can't be moved, but this could work. I'll have to ask the Rotoms themselves about what they feel about all this as well, but this sounds like an excellent idea to me. An excellent Glitter- no. An excellent Nemona idea." His smile was soft, but full of pride and wonder as he stared down at me.

Miles gave a small buzz, rising out of my pocket "I agree, bzzt. I think I would have liked something like that when I was here. Though perhaps not… if it meant I didn't get to meet you, bzzt," they added cheekily.

"Gah, don't go teasing me like that!" I admonished Miles, to which they just rolled their eyes, my father chuckling in the background. "Well, I guess that means you're ready to start learning Foul Play if you can make up Nasty Plots so casually."

"Bzzt, I have made a terrible mistake."

We all ignored that as Amethio returned, accompanied so closely by a Rotom that they were practically in his hands. "I've decided. I'd like this one to be my Rotom Phone." The Rotom in question was trying to look calm and controlled when faced with the owner of the whole company, but also visibly vibrating with excitement.

"That sounds wonderful, let's get you two set up," my father said, leading us out once Arven came back from playing with all the Rotoms (they had been afraid of the dog-like Pokemon at first, but soon became friends once they realized what a softie he was). Amethio's new Rotom got their first phone and we left, all of us quite happily.

As we exited and returned home, the young Explorer had something to say to me before Hamber took him back. "Nemona, I… want to battle you. Not right now, but someday, I want to show you how strong I've become."

"Looking forward to it," I replied with an eager grin. "You're already strong, so don't let anyone else tell you otherwise." Anyone like Spinel. "I'm looking forward to seeing how strong your Charcadet and Dreepy become though. And hey, even before our destined showdown, you can always message me or Arven just to talk and stuff too."

"... I will, thank you, Nemona."

With that, our Majordomo took the young boy away from my home. As they left, Miles alerted me to a new message. "Well, well, well, looks like that won't be the only battle I'm preparing for…" I muttered to myself, new strategies and ideas flying through my mind at this latest development.

Spoiler: A/N:

A lot going on here, from rematches to promised future matches. Also wanted to take a bit of a closer look at the Rotom company and all of its stuff. I don't feel its the worst, but it does seem like there must have been some sketchy practices for so many people to have easy access to a Rotom Phone and have them be so characterless, especially given what Rotom's Pokedex entries are like. Still, I like to think that's it's more ignorance than intentional, and Billy does want to make things work better. Anyways, as always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

 

[Lillie Jones]

thanks for the chapter

 

[unlawfulwaffle362]

Just caught up on the Pokemon Horizons anime and I think that Amethio 100% for sure needs more pokemon and friends. Him having a pseudo-legendary will help him be more independent and powerful.

 

[cazador]

Wonder if she put electric toy car down as a form

 

[Skyfyre]

Hearing the shuffling of feet just outside I got ready. Stepping out of the darkness of the cave I'd been hiding in, I declared. "You've come far, but if you want to take a step further, you'll have to face-"

"Nemona Glitterati?" Rika asked, the older girl looking utterly bewildered at my appearance. "Are you a part of the Gym Challenge?"

"You recognized me," I muttered before shaking my head. "Well, no, not actually here for that, just thought it would be a cool way to introduce myself. So I suppose that means you don't have to battle me, but I'd appreciate it-" The sudden clacking of my teeth cut off my words and I shivered, feeling the bitter cold of the snowy mountain.

Rika and I had forgone our regular outfits to deal with the harsh weather of the mountain. She was wearing a waterproof jacket over the standard Uva Academy winter uniform, which already included a jacket and vest over the school shirt.

I had a puffy orange hooded jacket over a long-sleeved shirt with a pair of black ski pants over my usual cargo pants. Even with all that, it was still incredibly cold up here, and I could tell that Rika wasn't dealing with it much better, hugging her arms close.

"So what's this all about? The Junior tournament?"

"Something like that. I got the message passed along saying you were happy to battle, but wanted to focus on your gym challenge, so I thought I'd come here."

"How'd ya know I was comin' here?" She asked, a bit of her rural accent slipping into her voice in the chilly weather.

"You posted a Poke about being at the base of the mountain, and you've been making waves online, so it wasn't hard to figure out which Gym you were headed to. You made good time, to make it here so fast." The Poke (this world's version of a Tweet) was yesterday around noon, and I flew to Montenevera, hiking down to Martha's Gym and only had to wait a few hours by the entrance, so that is quite a quick climb. Though given her Type specialization I can see why she didn't want to spend any longer than necessary here.

"Yer one to talk, people are going crazy about you online as well, 'specially after that stunt against that Unovan Gym Leader. Are you thinking about taking on the Gym challenge too?"

I shook my head, inadvertently sending a bunch of snow flying off the top of it. "Not yet, not even in school. I'm not too concerned about the trophy or whatever from the Junior Tournament - we were both different trainers from where we were then. What I want is to fight you as you are now, and see how well the famed Rika can match up."

"Ha!" She barked out, a smile caught between eager and vicious lighting up her pale face. "If that's what you want, we can do that. Make for a nice warm-up before my Gym match," she said, rolling up her sleeves… and then immediately hissing at the errant instinct and rolling them back down.

Trekking a bit further through the snow, I stood a good thirty meters away from her, holding out a Pokeball. "Might be in the middle of a snowstorm, but I can keep you toasty. I've only got the two Pokemon, so let's have a two-on-two battle, should give you plenty left on your team to still face Martha after I beat you." I had to shout to be heard from that far away in the cold and didn't hear any response back, but I did see her smirk and raise a Pokeball in turn.

We both released our Pokemon without a count - this was hardly an official match or anything and no rewards other than bragging rights. Dun gave an eager cry, followed by a shiver as he landed in the white powdery snow. Opposite us, a large elephantine Pokemon gave a loud cry of "Donphan!" Flipping up its armored trunk and shaking its head, large white tusks flashing in the pale light of the cloud-covered day, it stared down at Dun.

I didn't see a Tera Orb at her side, nor in any of her matches that I watched online. I won't use mine here, not for a friendly match like this. While it's a useful tool, I want to see how well I stand up compared to her on an even level.

Looking around I grabbed a small rock in my gloved hands, holding it up for Rika to see, the older girl nodding. I tossed it up in the air, the two of us watching as it soared up then sunk through the snow, signaling the beginning of our battle.

""Earthquake!!"" The two of us called in unison, Donphan stomping through the snow while Dun smashed his body through. The combined force of their attacks sent the buried earth flying up violently all around. It was hard to keep track through all the snow drifting about like a miniature blizzard, but I thought Dun might have gotten the worse end of the stick there, though Donphan looked a bit bruised too.

"Lift off!" Dun surged through the air, using the last of the aftershocks for extra height to his jump, then set all six wings fluttering hard. The additional wings, strength, and better control over Flying Type energy had improved Dun's aerial maneuverability, even with the additional weight his evolution granted him. As such, he could begin to truly fly through the air, not just drift now.

Rika wasn't idle, immediately ordering her Pokemon to give chase. "Rollout!" Her Donphan curled into a ball, the armored trunk and plating on her back giving her a natural shape fit for the Move. She spun through the freshly churned snow before hitting a slight bump in the now uneven earth and rocketing up.

"Protect!" I shouted at the last moment, and Dun stopped mid-air, completely encircled by a transparent blue-ish-green honeycomb barrier. The spinning Pokemon slammed into it, whirring helplessly against it for a moment before unfolding her body as gravity took hold once more.

Dun didn't need to be told the command to hit Donphan with a Glare right there, the full force of his fury hitting the off-guard opponent head-on. She spasmed and awkwardly fell, landing on her side.

Rather than maintain the aerial advantage, I ordered Dun "Hex, as quick as you can!" Gathering the ghostly energies, he landed with a heavy thump beside Donphan, in a patch of mountainside mostly devoid of snow from our prior Moves. Point blank, the dark purple energies enveloped the tusked Pokemon, causing it to alternate between thrashing about and freezing in Paralysis.

"Nahahaha! That was a clever trick, but we've got some of our own don't we? Poison Jab!" Rika yelled, and despite being debilitated, Donphan managed to lash out with her tusk, slightly stabbing into Dun. My starter rapidly slid away, but from the purple discoloration spreading throughout his scales, the damage had been done.

"Iron Head!"

"Hyper Drill!"

Donphan half got back up on her feet, shoving her body at Dun, gleaming forehead first. Her Move was met by Dun's own, flipping around and spinning his tail towards her rapidly. The two met, and a large number of sparks flew off from the point of contact as the two Pokemon tried to outmuscle each other, before breaking off simultaneously. Dun was holding his tail gingerly, while Donphan was wincing at the mark left on its tough head.

Hyper Drill is a crazy powerful Move, to pierce through the toughest part of a Donphan while channeling Steel Type energy. As I was thinking that, I heard Dun let out a small hiss, the poison taking its toll on him. But it won't be enough to win the fight, especially not if I'm trading like this.

"Rock Slide!" Rika called out, and Donphan moved to follow through with the Move, slamming her trunk against the mountainside, but at the last second, twitched violently, Paralysis taking its toll and drastically cutting down on the effectiveness of the Move. A few rocks broke off from the mountain and tumbled down, but Dun easily slithered around them.

"Hyper Voice, keep your distance," I told Dun and then immediately clamped my hands over my ears as he began screeching. Rika and her Pokemon grit their teeth at the annoying Move.

"Think ya can run? Not on my watch, Rapid Spin!" Donphan ripped across the battlefield once more, but Dun was able to easily squirm out of the way and continue his attack. Her Pokemon is picking up speed with each pass… No, it's fine. Dun was slightly faster even without the Paralysis, it'll take her a while to build up speed to the point that it's a threat to me.

Something Rika realized as well, as she called off her attack, switching tactics. "Stomp your feet!" Donphan did just that, stomping all four feet into the earth repeatedly, leaving holes so large that for a moment I thought they were going for Fissure. Thankfully, it was just an Earthquake, and while it hurt Dun, he didn't let up in his assault.

Jumping up, he began drifting high above the ground, continuing to blast Donphan with his Hyper Voice. While I'm sure there were other Ground Moves that our foe could use to hit him, with Earthquake out of the picture, she just started hurling rocks at him. Most of the throws hurled past Dun, and a few even came close to me and I had to dodge to the side.

"Hey!" I shouted, only to realize that Rika couldn't hear me over all the noise Dun's Hyper Voice was making, the teenage girl gritting her teeth and wincing in pain. Guess the lack of a professional battlefield or barrier cuts both ways here. That's something I'll need to be cognizant of in the future.

After chucking a large chunk of rocks at Dun, Donphan stomped her feet against the ground, causing a large spike of rocks to strike up into my Pokemon. The blow knocked him off balance and clipped some of the wings on his left side, sending him spiraling through the air for half a second before the Rock Slide she had used just prior smashed him down.

"Earthquake as you hit!" I shouted desperately, hoping he would turn it around. As always, my dear snake didn't fail to live up to my hopes. Channeling the force of the rocks pushing him down straight into the earth he hit, the ground rippled out rapidly from the point of impact. The earth smashed through Donphan, knocking her to the side, and reaching out far enough that even Rika was jostled around a bit from the earth and displaced snow sweeping out. For myself, without even thinking to use it, my Aura lifted me just above the earth to drift gracefully back down as it passed.

I took a moment to catch my breath, surprised at Dun's power there. A 'critical hit', perhaps? Or maybe just a sign of how far he has come. I was also giving Rika the chance to regain her bearings, but there was no need to worry about a quick reversal here; Donphan was out cold. Literally, I thought, holding back a small snicker as I saw her lying ungainly on her back, feet twitching as snow drifted down on them.

"Beating me with my own Type of Move, oof." She muttered, quietly enough that I wasn't sure if I had been supposed to hear it or not. Then a vicious yet playful grin danced on her face and she spoke up. "Well, well, well, looks like you really are as good as everyone says," Rika commented as she returned her Pokemon. "But let's see if you can beat my starter!"

Throwing out a Pokeball, it burst open over the battlefield, a flash of red light revealing the deceptively goofy-looking Clodsire. "Clod Cloooood," They yawned out, sleepily taking in the battle around them.

Do I charge in- no, the horns on his back will hurt if we just rush in. Let's get back into fighting shape. "Roost," I shouted, and Dun began settling down, his wounds healing even as the Poison within him sapped his health a little bit further.

Rather than move to engage, Rika ordered a ranged attack. "Acid Spray." Opening his large mouth, a gout of purple liquid sprayed out of it and onto Dun, the acid sizzling against his scales. Crud. And there's no way for me to undo the drain to his defenses this time like Amethio did with Clear Smog.

Time seemed to slow down for me as I watched Rika open her mouth to give another command. Acid Spray and the Poison combined might have done less damage than Roost healed, but because of the weakening of Dun's defenses, this next shot will take him out, or just put him in a bad trading game with Clodsire until he is taken out if we use Roost. I could dish out some damage- no, Dun's gotta set the stage.

"Tailwind!" I shouted out as Rika called for her own Move.

"Venoshock!" Rather than the white 'horns' sticking out of the dots on Clodsire's back, a vast number of small purple spikes shot out in a circle all over the battlefield.

Tailwind was one of a few new Technical Machine Moves I'd given following our victory against Clay, but the only one I felt ready for him to use against an opponent of Rika's caliber. Using a Move just in the open while training is one thing, but using it in the middle of a tight battle is another.

Even with the wings on one side damaged and Poison running through his veins, Dun beat all six pairs of wings vigorously, intuitively spinning around to make sure each side got an even airflow. Of course, such a motion left him a sitting duck for Clodsire's Move, the purple darts piercing into him and reacting violently with the Poison within my Pokemon.

With a cry of "Duuuuuuuunsparce…" Dun writhed for a second, then fainted. Recalling him quickly, I whispered to his Pokeball. "You did great, pal."

He had indeed. The wind was moving swiftly at my back, the snow drifting down gently before now being blown straight at Clodsire's and Rika's faces. "Let's put this battle on ice, go, Miles!" I shouted, launching their Pokeball much further out than I'd intended with the wind.

As such, Miles materialized in a red flash almost directly above Clodsire, their red refrigerator body glowing with lavender energy, manifesting odd plasmic flaps for hands. In the dim light, I almost thought I saw their body gleam slightly in the snow. Thank you natural weather conditions.

Wasting no time, Rika immediately cried "Megahorn!" Her starter tensed his legs and horns, ready to jump ahead and shoot them up.

"Dodge and Blizzard!" Miles responded to my command immediately, opening their refrigerator doors and shooting ahead, the wind on their side. Despite my instructions coming second, Miles still easily avoided our opponent's attack and unleashed their own, a massive outpouring of ice slamming into Clodsire.

The spiny Pokemon flipped around, recovering fast, and at Rika's command tried to jump at Miles again, this time with the wind on their side. Unfortunately, that gambit was doomed to fail. In an instant, the winds shifted, and with my newfound sense of Aura, I could feel how the Move was connected to Miles's energy. They pushed back against Clodsire and helped Miles along in avoiding the slower Pokemon.

Two more Blizzards hit, one of which almost seemed like it was going to freeze our foe in place, but a rapid Earthquake broke up the ice gathering on his small feet and continued the battle.

"Am- amnesia!" Rika's teeth chattered, the chill getting to her as Miles' Blizzards and Dun's Tailwind turned the battlefield into a frigid storm. Clodsire cocked his head and gave her a confused look, which I could only assume was the Move working as intended. How odd to learn a Move that causes you to temporarily forget. I wonder what inherent traits make it so you don't forget other Moves or even itself- gah no time for that! Theorize later!

"Nasty P-plot," my command was as stuttered as hers, but it was enough to put a wicked smile on Miles' face as they loomed over the shivering Ground Type. I don't have a way to stop her buffs, but I can counteract them with one of my own.

"Sludge Wave into-

I interrupted her. "Blizzard!" With the last of the Tailwind behind them, Miles unleashed another burst of ice over the battlefield.

Clodsire was pushed back, but still able to spit out a wave of toxic goop. Even without the Tailwind, Miles would have been agile enough to dodge the Poison attack were it not for Rika's follow-up command. "Hydro Pump!"

Swiftly changing Type energies, Clodsire opened his large mouth and released a high-power stream of pure water from it, like a firehose. The stream of water shot through the previous sludge, slamming into Miles and blasting them meters through the air before they stopped, reasserting their control over their possessed body.

"Nice try, but the water diluted your poison," I crowed, seeing through the snow that my Pokemon appeared fine, with no lingering traces of the Poison attack on their body or glowing plasmic energy. Clodsire opened his mouth, but no other attack came out. Too tired or cold? Best not to let this chance go to waste in any case.

"One last time, Blizzard!"

"Protect!" A barrier rose to shield her weakened and battered Pokemon, and I felt the chill of Miles' attack. Our Pokemon's positions had switched so they were now on the opposite sides of the impromptu battlefield.

"Kee-keee-keep at-at-at it!" I called out through the cold. We're so close, just a bit more… Blinking apart frozen eyelashes, I saw Miles frowning at that, but they continued the assault. Ice and harsh winds poured out of the refrigerator's internal components, seemingly without end. Rika's Clodsire valiantly tried to hold out, but the greenish force field started to crack after half a minute and shattered shortly thereafter.

Before the ice could pour over her Pokemon, Rika recalled him, shaking her head. "Yer crazy, kid."

"No-not crazy," I stuttered back, though as she didn't have my hearing she likely didn't catch my witty retort, or even expect I had heard her in the first place.

Trudging over, she asked me louder "You okay Nemona?"

"Just… pe-peachy," I called back, forcing my sluggish muscles to move forward and meet her. Miles drifted over as well and I gave them a big hug. "That- awesome," I panted out. Impressive Auric control, to not let me feel any colder even while being an Ice Type.

To my shock, Miles' plasmic eyes drooped and then closed, crashing into the slush in front of me. "What?" I questioned while Rika gave a small chuckle. Then a bunch of stony debris scattered about in our fight rose and smacked into Miles from all around. "What!?!"

"I'll explain, but let's head inside." Giving a sharp jerk of my head in agreement, I recalled Miles and we huddled up inside the cave. It was still cold there, but far less bone-chillingly so than it was outside. I could barely make out Rika in the nearly pitch-black cave - as befitting the entrance of a Dark Type Gym. Once we warmed up a bit, I released Miles to give them the time they needed to wake up.

"You copied me," I said first, having put the pieces together. Clodsire used an invisible Yawn. Damn, I'm glad that we managed to push through, it would have been embarrassing to lose to my own technique.

"You catch on fast. Yeah, I saw that Move you used on that asshole's- Sorry." I waved off her apology at the swearing. I've heard worse, even in this life. Mostly just from staff that would have no reason to think I could hear them, however. "Freddrick's Corviknight dodged around or blew away all the regular Yawns we tried to use in our battle," she said, lightly patting Clodsire's Pokeball.

"Ahh. And you're running-" I paused for a second, my teeth chattering again for a moment before I got my body back under control "Running into the same problem I had. It's not that accurate, and a bit slower acting in its 'invisible' version." From the frown I was wearing, she was probably able to tell that I didn't have an answer to that problem.

The same with a bunch of my experiments. Screech doesn't pair well with Hyper Voice anyway, but it slows the Move usage and the efficiency of both when trying to combine their effects. And on that topic…

"How did you combine Earthquake with Stealth Rock?" I asked, and she chuckled.

"I didn't. Ground and Rock might seem similar in a lot of ways but… it ain't enough. Ya gotta use a Rock Type Move first-"

"Which leaves the splintered shards, then use Earthquake as the method to spread them across the field. Wow, that's really smart of you."

"Hey, I can be plenty smart," she countered, before laughing to show she was just messing around, and I joined in too, the post-battle high filling me with joy.

"Bzzt, what did I miss?" Miles asked, groggily waking up.

"Not much pal, just talking over Moves. And speaking of that, could you heat things up for us?"

"Wait wha-" Rika began before having to shield her eyes from the glow coming off of Miles.

Controlling the ball of fire and light very carefully, they condensed it and pushed it up into the very top of the not-so-tall cave and a fair bit away from us. Immediately the Sunny Day began warming us up, the heat just shy of scorching.

"Thanks, that's good." Miles smiled at me but otherwise didn't respond, their eyes screwed up in concentration. Well, it should be good training for them to use the Move even in tight environments.

"Sunny Day, interesting Move for an Ice Type to learn," Rika commented, basking in the sun and opening up her jacket a tad to let it melt any of the ice that had gone down in our wild battle.

"Miles has a whole bunch of Types they can use."

"Talk about unfair, an Ice Type with Levitate in the snow? No way I was gonna win that one." I frowned, feeling guilty for a second. I thought my planning was clever, but maybe that was unfair to Rika.

She snapped me out of that guilt with her next statement. "Thanks for the match, that was a great battle. Can't believe someone so young is so far ahead of me," the older girl shook her head wistfully, long ponytail swaying back and forth.

"I wouldn't say that. You still had three Pokemon left, right?" I asked, pointing at the five Pokeballs on her belt and she nodded. "Even a single extra Pokemon would have beat us."

"Maybe, though don't think I didn't notice you hadn't used your Tera Orb," Rika pointed a finger at me accusingly. "Anyway, I'm sure you'll do great in your Gym Challenge once you pick up a few more Pokemon. When are you gonna start that? Cause not to toot my own horn, but if you're taking on me, you're more than ready."

That was a question I didn't want to focus on, for a lot of reasons, some of them intersecting with future knowledge and canon events that I couldn't possibly explain to her, so instead I focused on the Tera Orbs. "Don't worry, I don't think you're bragging by saying you lost."

"Oi!"

Snickering, I added "Are you ready for the Gym Battle? Anna is no joke, being an Elite Four as well as a Gym Leader. Plus, she's likely to use her Tera Orb at a battle of this level."

She sucked in a deep breath. "Yeah, that'll be rough, no two ways about it. But I think we got a good shot. I believe in my team." I nodded, smiling back at the unwavering confidence I saw on her face.

"Alright, I wish you luck. I'll watch the video of your match once it drops, but I should probably head back home. Oh, but before I go," rifling through my bag, I pulled out a few Hyper Potions and dumped them into her arms. "To make sure your team is back in fighting shape."

"Whoa, that's a lot of potions," she said, looking at the half-dozen I'd given her and I shrugged. Not really, that's only a tenth of my regular supply. "Thanks. We should do this again sometime."

"I'll face you at the Elite Four," I said without thinking to which she barked out a laugh.

"Ha! Think that might be a ways away, if ever. But maybe…" She stared out into the distance, clearly imagining it, and from the upward curve of her lips, I'd say she liked the idea.

Whoops, might have been a bit early to say that, but I don't think I caused too much harm. Giving my farewell, Miles and I left the cave, heading back out to the bitter icy outside of the mountain while she descended. It wasn't readily known how deep down Martha's Gym went, but the consensus was the journey would usually be a long one. I think that's why there's no trainers to challenge you early on, to build up the anticipation as you have to silently trek down dark tunnels.

I was tired from the battle and the cold, so slogging up the mountain was an unappealing prospect. Enough that I was tempted to just call down a Flying Taxi to where I was, but not enough that I followed through with the idea. Just like any old workout, a pain to start, but I'll be glad with the results. Plus, I do kinda like being able to do this.

My burning desire to explore the land had been suppressed for a while so I could learn the basics with the Explorers, but now I could go places. There's so much to see, even in harsh environments like this!

Most Pokemon avoided the Gym entrance itself, but just a few hundred meters away and I could see several Ice Types wandering around. Packs of Snom crawling nearly invisibly against the white snow on the ground, and Glalie floating around. There was even a Cetoddle waddling about and a pair of Sneasels eyeing me suspiciously.

None of the Pokemon appeared too worried about my presence, however. The mountain was a hard climb in some spots, but had a whole city on top of it and several well-trod paths formed by Paldeans over the years, so the Pokemon were used to people. Quite a peaceful place. I've got to get back home soon, but maybe I should explore again sometime-

As if Arceus themselves decided to spite me for my thoughts, a piercing cry rang out from down and to the west of me. It was distant, but I could hear the human shrieking in pain. "Someone's hurt!" I told Miles, not sure if they would have picked up on that, and began sprinting down towards them. There might be some other people heading that way too, hard to tell, but I should at least check it out.

Leaping lightly over the snowbanks, I crossed over the wilder terrain, running past a few trees and down several slopes until I rounded a corner and got to the source of the screams, though they had stopped by the time I'd gotten there. There was a young person with long blue hair, slightly matted by blood, lying on the snow groaning, a snowboard lying off to the side. For a second I thought two people had fallen as their legs couldn't be at that angle… until I realized that they shouldn't be at that angle.

Two other people were being flown down by Pokemon and I could see more rushing down as well. A distant part of me noted that was good as I had no skills beyond barely remembered first aid classes in my first life on what I could have done to help there. The larger part of me was struck by realizing just who this was. "Grusha."

Despite the distance between us, for a second I thought he locked his gaze with mine, before being rushed off by the first responders.

Spoiler: A/N:

Nemona has her first taste at what the future Elite Four will be like, as well as seeing the first real future tragedy (that she knew about) occurring.

 

[Valthorix]

I didn't play S&V so I don't know the significance of the last scene, but it felt suitably dramatic lol.

 

[unlawfulwaffle362]

Using Earthquake near the base of a snowy mountain is asking for a tragedy.

 

[AshKing]

I didn't play S&V so I don't know the significance of the last scene, but it felt suitably dramatic lol.

Click to shrink...

The 8th gym leader; former pro snowboarder who's career was cut short by a crippling accident

 

[Skyfyre]

Using Earthquake near the base of a snowy mountain is asking for a tragedy.

Click to shrink...

One thing I realized this chapter didn't make clear is that the Earthquake didn't have anything to do with Grusha's accident. It's a really large mountain, and they weren't near enough to cause something to go bad a few kilometers away.

 

[Lillie Jones]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[unlawfulwaffle362]

One thing I realized this chapter didn't make clear is that the Earthquake didn't have anything to do with Grusha's accident. It's a really large mountain, and they weren't near enough to cause something to go bad a few kilometers away.

Click to shrink...

If something as subtle as an echo in the mountains can cause an avalanche, an actual tectonic event can certainly cause an effect. To mediate such things, my headcanon is that there are dedicated ranger teams that cause multiple smaller more manageable avalanches on the regular to prevent snow from piling up make a big avalanche.

 

[Skyfyre]

If something as subtle as an echo in the mountains can cause an avalanche, an actual tectonic event can certainly cause an effect. To mediate such things, my headcanon is that there are dedicated ranger teams that cause multiple smaller more manageable avalanches on the regular to prevent snow from piling up make a big avalanche.

Click to shrink...

Oh yeah, there's probably rangers that specialize in dealing with such things and keeping the mountain safe, though again, despite the Move name, Earthquake doesn't usually shift the tectonic plates

 

[Skyfyre]

"You don't need to feel guilty about this, bzzt," Miles pointed out for what felt like the fortieth time. Blowing out a soft sigh I pressed the buttons on the elevator to close the door, not sure if it helped the doors close faster.

"I know that. Logically, I get it. Telling him 'at some point in the future, you'll have an accident of some kind while snowboarding' probably wouldn't get him to quit doing what he loved." Even if he believed me and didn't think I was crazy. "But still."

"Dun dun," Dunsparce noted beside me, carefully coiled around to fit in the enclosed space.

"Ok, that's fair. 'But still' isn't much of an argument. I guess I just mean… it feels different, having seen it play out almost in front of me. I'll try not to let it get to me."

"Bzzt, and you're coming to visit him, I'm sure he'll appreciate that." I gave Miles a wan smile at that, clutching the 'Get well soon' card I held a little tighter. Feels lame to give to someone after that bad accident, but what else am I supposed to do? Show up with nothing?

The elevator reached the floor that the man at the front desk had told me Grusha was on. Walking down the hallways I noticed just how similar hospitals were here as they were in my world. While I knew we had some more advanced treatments here due to Pokemon, even a lot of the machines I caught glimpses of in rooms looked similar. A bit smaller overall than I would expect from my world though. I guess it's because most people here heal up fast.

Pokemon could help with that, and I saw a Kirlia doing just that as I passed by one room. The Pokemon in question sent out a stream of glowing pink energy to an elderly man. He let out a sigh of relief as the pulses hit and rejuvenated him. Everything I've seen online shows that people don't get as much benefit out of Moves like Heal Pulse as Pokemon, but it does still help somewhat. I wonder if that's because everyone has some degree of Aura, no matter how faint or untrained. But without the body of a Pokemon, it can't just instantly heal wounds, only soothe pain and re-energize.

Glancing down at Dun slithering beside me, my mind flashed to him using Roost. Moves aren't a thing even Aura users can copy, but I wonder if I can mold my Flying Type energy into a revitalizing technique. Sure would be handy to be able to rest for a minute or two and get the equivalent of a few hours rest. That was a trick that I wouldn't be showing off to Cyan if I did manage such a feat; she'd been getting more on my case recently about how much I was doing again as I settled back into my routines after Unova.

When we reached Grusha's room, I saw that it was filled with flowers, balloons, and gift baskets. So crowded was it I had to return Dun to comfortably enter the room. He stared at me, his blue bangs draped over his face and wearing a thin white gown. "Um, hello. You might not know me, but I-"

"I remember you. That child who saw me fall." He spoke softly, icy blue eyes glaring at me.

"I didn't actually see you fall, just… the aftermath. I was battling nearby, at the Gym, I hope I didn't-"

He scoffed, the sound morphing into a harsh, hacking cough partway through. Standing up I looked around as if to offer him something but had no idea what to do. Do I call someone? Offer him water?

His coughing stopped on his own and he spat out "Don't be an idiot. There are staff to make sure wild Pokemon don't disrupt anyone on the course, and the Gym is kilometers away. You're not to blame." He said the words so coldly as if to demand why I was here. I guess I already knew that it was too far away, that it was already destined to happen, but I felt so guilty over the fact that I didn't warn him.

"Umm, I wanted to give you a card and uh, see how you were doing." His eyes glanced over to the stack of cards that were much the same, piled up on his bedside table and I placed it there.

Silence reigned for a minute as I tried to think of something else to say and wondered what he was thinking. God, why did I try and do this? It's so awkward. Eventually, I said "Looks like you've got a lot of well-wishers. I hope-" He snorted, the harsh sound cutting me off and jarring with how softly he spoke.

"So many well-wishers, but not a single one of them showed up to see me." I mean, I did, but I guess I don't count here. "All these?" He gestured at all the gifts. "They all came before the news broke that I wouldn't be able to compete again."

"There's no chance? Not even with umm, Ditto Cell Therapy?" I ventured. Medical knowledge wasn't something I had studied overly much yet, but my various online info dives had told me about that as one of the more recent revolutions for humans.

"I'll walk again, eventually," the young man hissed like it was the bitterest consolation prize he had ever received. "Once you stop growing, the cells don't work as well, or so the doctors say." Considering just how badly his legs had been screwed up, walking around again is a miracle by itself. But I don't think he wants to hear that. Unfortunately, I didn't know what he wanted to hear.

"Well?" He demanded after a minute. "Aren't you going to tell me it gets better? That I'll somehow manage to snowboard again someday?"

I shook my head. "I certainly wouldn't declare myself to know better than the doctors. And I'm guessing that even if you could get on a board, it'd never be quite as good as you were before the accident." I could only imagine how much trying and failing to live up to your old standards would be. Grusha was good; good enough that he had many fans, as indicated by all the support that had been sent his way even before he'd been allowed to receive non-family visitors. From what I'd seen though, he wouldn't be able to competitively board again, not without intervention from a Legendary or the like. In this world, it feels like anything is possible, but some are still far less probably than others.

"I can say that you'll find new things to do. New dreams. They might not be what you wanted first, and they won't replace your old loves, but they'll be magical in their own way."

He brushed his bangs aside, his gaze softening for a moment. "How can you know that?" In a way, I'm lucky. A lot of my dreams, like being a writer can still be done here. But others… others are gone.

"I guess I can't be certain, but I found Pokemon training and it's been incredible."

He snorted, before coughing violently and looking away. "You're just a kid," he said dismissively before sighing. "The only one who's shown up. Look, I get that you like battling, but dreams come and go easier for little kids. I'm sure in the future that you'll want to do something else, but I've put in time and effort into this-"

"I train my Pokemon four hours a day," I interrupted the bedridden man. "At least four hours a day, on average. My parents make sure I take a day off from training at least once a week, but we usually use that time to watch old battle videos to get a better feel for how trainers at different levels compete."

He stopped, looking at me as if I had grown an extra head, and revealed I was actually a Doduo. I'll take that as a sign I'm on the right track for getting Grusha out of his funk, then. Continuing, I said "Most days, me and my team practice in the morning, honing the Moves they know. After a break for lunch and any lessons I need to take for non-Trainer activities, we're back at it in the afternoon. We run generalized endurance and movement drills, practicing battlefield maneuvering. After they get tired, my team takes a small break and I run over simulations with them of mock battles. Commands I can give for fake strategies based on their prompts. Using the real-life battles I've reviewed, I then try and estimate how effective those would be and better strategies for the future. Finally, we finish off with training new Moves and bringing those up to the level their current repertoire is at. And we haven't even started our Journey yet!"

Obviously, there's more to it than just that. We'll have variations depending on when Arven comes over or when my tutor schedules align. I make sure to mix drills up too, but this should give him a general idea of how I might train on a given day.

A long moment of silence hung between us, interrupted only by my breathing slightly harder than normal from the sudden diatribe I'd launched into. After a moment he said, "You get way too heated, chill out." Oof. Seriously with the puns? You aren't even the Ice Type Gym Leader yet!

I noticed that despite his words, his gaze had moved over from me to the Pokeball that I could see, buried under the gifts and balloons on his bedside table. He has a Cetoddle, doesn't he? Wait, it's his Altaria that he Terastalizes in the games, and I think I remember seeing some videos here of his Altaria cheering him on in competitions.

"As for not getting other visitors, I think that's just because you were only just cleared for non-family visitation. I'm sure you'll see tons of fans soon!" My cheery optimism was admittedly slightly influenced by the fact that I could hear someone walking quickly down the hallway toward us.

"We'll see-" he began before he heard the footsteps too and the new guest burst in. At first, the view between us was obscured by the massive gift baskets and balloons they were carrying in front of them.

"Mr. Grusha sir! I'm your biggest fan and I wanted to… see how… you were… doing." A familiar voice trailed off as the young man who had entered stopped to stare at me, dark eyes burning with hatred as he recognized me. A mutual feeling, prick.

He dropped the gift basket unceremoniously to the side and I heard a clanging that made me wince and hope that nothing in there had broken."What are you doing here? Come to ruin my life again?!" Frederick van Grough demanded hands clenched into fists at his sides.

"Hardly, you do that so well yourself. Besides, why would I have any idea you would be here?"

"Because I'm Grusha's greatest fan, of course!" He shouted. Is that really how you want to behave in front of the injured guy? Then again, I'm probably not helping by being here.

Shaking my head I turned to Grusha. "Sorry for being so disruptive. I hope- hopefully, my words were of some help. I'll be leaving now."

Sneering, Freddrick just had to throw in another jab. "Yeah, you better run. I've got a Tera Orb too now, so you won't be able to cheat your way to victory again if we battled." I should go, I should really go... but I'm not just going to take his slander lying down.

Turning back slowly at the edge of the doorway, I shot back "From what I remember, I wasn't the one who got their badges stripped and barred from official League Matches for cheating. Or got kicked out of school, apparently," I said, gesturing at his black and red uniform. It looked fairly fancy (his parents were still wealthy, after all), but it wasn't the purple and gray Uva Academy uniform he'd been wearing at the tournament.

Uva Academy still probably has its issues with small acts getting swept under the rug, but something as public as Freddrick's cheating scandal meant they must have had no choice but to get rid of him. I didn't feel any sympathy for the young man in this situation, honestly believing that he'd likely have had too permissive a life if he felt he could act the way he had in the first place.

My taunts must have hit closer to home than I expected, as the boy stepped forward aggressively, raising his hands. "That investigation was rigged! Your parents have always been jealous of my family's success-" He ranted, spittle flying off his face. As he approached, my own hands snapped up into a guard stance, ready to fight.

Before we could come to blows, however, the third occupant of the room cleared his throat. "Are you going to be fighting here?" He asked, more than a little incredulous. Ok, yeah, this isn't cool.

"No, I'll be heading out-"

"Cause you know your Pokemon can't beat mine!"

"Is this really what you want to be doing as 'Grusha's greatest fan?'" I pointed out. That reminder seemed like it would have mollified him, at least to the point of letting me leave in peace until the man in question cut in.

"I want to see it," he said in a low tone.

"Huh?" I asked, cocking my head at him.

"You said battling can be 'amazing', right?" He asked with air quotes. "I want to see that then."

"This is… really not the usual part of being a trainer; me and Freddrick have history." He narrowed his icy-blue eyes at me. "Fine, fine. Guess you should see all sides of battling if you want to get an idea of what being a Trainer will be like," I muttered, loudly enough that he could still hear me. Then, in a louder voice, I faced Freddrick and declared: "I challenge you to a one-on-one battle."

"You're on!" He snarled, whipping out a Pokeball from his belt.

"Uhh, whoa whoa. We aren't going to battle in the hospital, right?" I asked, and my question was answered by one of the nurses who had come over to investigate the ruckus and now glared at the two of us.

***

With a bit of quick talking from Grusha and throwing his celebrity status around, we managed to arrange for our battle to take place outside, with Grusha escorted out to watch.

We had to wait for a bit as the staff got him a wheelchair and placed him down very gently in it, which led to an awkward and tense silence between myself and Freddrick. At one point, I muttered to him "Not sure what problem you have with me or my family, but none of that justifies your cheating."

"The League was rigged-"

"Shut up. Lie to anyone else as much as you like, but don't waste your breath on me. I heard you whispering to the head judge about how you got me disqualified." And I don't doubt that they cheated in the other ways the report mentioned as well.

The nurse started moving Grusha down, giving us a very pointed look to stop our bickering, which cut off any further 'conversation' between us until we reached the field out behind the hospital.

Given the mountainous terrain and the mobility of Pokemon, most patients came in through the front or were air-lifted in above. As such, we had a decently clear snowy field to battle in. The terrain gets a little hilly and bumpy past twenty meters out. Shouldn't be too much problem for Dun to navigate in, but Freddrick will have the advantage in the air, assuming he decides to use-

"Go, Corvi!" He threw his Pokeball out immediately, and the gigantic metal bird took her place in front of him.

"Corviknight!" She crowed, flapping her wings and sending a flurry of snow into my face.

"Lovely," I drawled, releasing Dun. "Let's take our places and establish the rules."

"What do we need to talk about? Just a one-on-one fight till the other side loses." He said dismissively, but nonetheless started walking opposite me until we were far enough that with the chill wind we had to just barely push our voices above regular conversation levels.

"Don't want any sudden curve balls thrown my way again," I said with a mocking smile, as if I wasn't still slightly bitter over how the Junior Tournament ended. "We just have one Pokemon each, so no switches. Fight til one side faints or surrenders, without needless malice. No battle items. Oh, and there's a hospital nearby, so let's try to control our attacks away from there - anything that hits the building or people and could cause serious harm is an instant loss."

Despite directing my words at my foe, my gaze wandered over to where Grusha sat in his wheelchair off on the side of our makeshift battlefield. The nurse who had helped wheel him out had quickly thrown a blanket over his lap, but he hadn't seemed too affected by the cold. Jeez is that Auric potential, or just him being used to it from all his professional snowboarding?

Dun, clearly not trusting Freddrick, started drawing a line in the snow with his tail, well away from our 'audience'. The older boy took a second glance at my starter and blinked before laughing out loud.

"You evolved your Pokemon, but it only got a bit longer? How lame!" His Pokemon didn't share his amusement at the situation, her beady red eyes glaring down at Dun as he set up the field. As he finished laughing, he added "Though it is fitting, I suppose, that a lame Pokemon has a lame evolution."

My Pokemon glared at him for a second before shrugging it off, turning around, and slithering back to me. He's gotten a lot better control of his temper, I wonder if he's getting close to unlocking the Serene Grace Ability?

Miles zipped out of my pocket and hovered at the side of the field, recording the match and I picked up a twig fallen from a nearby tree. "We'll begin when this stick hits the ground, sound good?"

"Fine, just hurry it up," Freddrick said, not having any meaningful objections. I tossed it up, and a split second before it hit the snow, my foe gave an order.

"Sky Attack!" Like the end of our last match, Corviknight began glowing brightly, such a harsh light surrounded her that even I felt the instinctual need to avert my gaze.

"Ancient Power, then block it!" I called out. Dun whipped his tail up and sharp rocks shot out of the ground, flying like spears that clanged against Corviknight's heavily armored wings. Dun had improved at wielding this attack, but he barely had time to launch three of his rocks at his foe before we both felt the bird approach, swooping down.

As fast as her attack was, my large land snake was even quicker to defend, aborting his attack and surrounding himself with the translucent green barrier. A small shockwave boomed out from the point of impact, and while there were a few small cracks that formed in his shield, Dun held out against the attack, the light dying down as the bird lifted off, back into the air.

"Ancient Power," I tried again, hoping for that omni-boost that would make winning this fight a breeze. Unfortunately, we had barely as much time as we did for the first volley before she began glowing harshly again, literally flying into the attack almost as fast as last time.

She bashed once again against Dun's Protect, forcing his attack off but once more failing to pierce the nigh-invincible barrier. I see, it looks like that first attack wasn't a fluke, or a 'fluke'. Was the report about him using Power Herb false- no, that's not it. He probably was training to make up for it ever since, so he can pretend to anyone who would care to listen to him that it was faked.

Unfortunately for him, that seemed to be the only area they improved, as when the attack failed again, he tried for the same Move once more. It's fast, but Dun can still use his faster Moves in between Protecting against the powerful Sky Attack. We're whittling him down slowly but surely, but… Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Grusha frowning at the fight. My goal here is to get Grusha interested in being a trainer, and then hopefully a Gym Leader, not just on winning at any cost. Not, that I'm going to lose, in any case.

"Glare," I gave the order before Corviknight could get too bright for him to look at, eliciting a frightened squawk as his foe beheld his near-demonic visage.

She pushed through, having enough control over her body to avoid falling down this time and even striking Dun's shield. Less force this time, though. Guess fighting against your muscles freezing up can cost you power on some Moves.

This time Corviknight had to land down after the attack, talons sinking into the snow beside Dun. Freddrick, seeing this, finally decided to give up on his old strategy. "Fury Attack!"

"Parry!" With his longer body, Dun could twist around to follow the furious pecking on his own, rather than having to rely on my hand gestures to block the attacks with his tail. This time though, there was an unexpected pause in the attacks as her Paralysis stopped Corviknight, throwing off Dun's rhythm and letting her land a few hits against his softer body.

The next time she froze though, I was ready. "Hyper Drill!" Point blank, he burst backward into Corviknight, his tail spinning incredibly fast. On impact, there was a horrendous screeching sound, as even her metal armor couldn't fully stop the power of one of his strongest Moves.

With a cry of pain, she backed away, forgoing offense in favor of distance. Dun spun around to face her and I decided to try out a new Move we'd been working on.

"Triple Yawn!" Taking in a massive breath, inflating all three segments of his body, Dun exhaled, letting out a large beige cloud that slowly drifted up to Corviknight.

"Blow that shit away!" Freddrick cussed, grinning as his Pokemon easily dispersed the cloud with one sweep of her wings. Before they had time to cheer, Dun let out another cloud, another segment deflating as he did so. She repeated the action, but one final instance of the Move was ready to be released the moment after the winds she had kicked up had stopped.

Corviknight's muscles were seizing, having a hard time working through the Paralysis. Personally, I don't feel shouting at your Pokemon 'just do it!' and 'hurry up!' help here.

Nonetheless, Frederick's Pokemon followed his frantic 'commands' and managed to blast away the cloud at the last second before it could envelop her.

Dun and I hadn't been idle while she was struggling with that, however. Drawing my fist down to not give away the game, my starter began gathering electrical energy high above and released it just as Corviknight finished blocking our previous attack.

The Thunder hit with a flash and loud boom, the electricity piercing her and causing real damage. She fell to the ground, but rather than follow it up with Earthquake or any form of attack, I focused on our own speed. "Agility!"

Dun glowed bright blue, zipping around the battlefield as Corviknight got back to her feet. Freddrick stomped the ground, hissing as he stepped a bit too deeply in the snow and sunk past his fashionable yet not very tall boots.

"Gah! Enough of this, let's show them your true power!" He shouted, drawing forth his Tera Orb from his pocket. The orb shook in his hands as he activated it, tossing it over his Pokemon's head where it burst into light, encasing her in crystals for a brief moment before they shattered. She emerged, glowing and with a set of crystalline balloons resting atop her head.

"Wing Attack!" He ordered, and she caught us off guard, flying forward faster than before, Terastalization, or perhaps the desperation of the moment, allowed her to shake off the Paralysis that had hampered her prior. The surprise let her slam one wing into Dun, knocking him back a bit, but he soon adjusted, rolling with the blow and quickly avoiding any follow-up, dancing out of the way.

"Ancient Power." Dun sped around the battlefield, rocks hurtling out at irregular intervals from wherever he passed by - and occasionally striking into his foe from behind as he telekinetically controlled the few that missed hitting again.

"Night!" The bird Pokemon cried out in pain as the attacks racked up against her.

"What's the problem? You're Terastalized, just push through!" Freddrick complained, a nervousness in his eyes as even the arrogant young man started to realize he was going to lose.

"That's exactly the problem," I pointed out, before seeing Dun glow with a mysterious power.

"Ok, that's one of two problems. The first is that by turning Corviknight into a pure Flying Type, you may have strengthened some of her Moves, but you left her weak to others."

"What's the other?!" Well, technically the other issue is the omni-boost Dun just got from Ancient Power, but I'd rather just have a dramatic, 'cool' line.

"This. Thunder," I declared, letting them watch in awe as Dun unleashed a powerful series of lightning strikes falling like rain down upon Corvknight. With his speed and power increased, there was no contest, and try though she might to get close to him, she fell short, collapsing into the snow in front of Dun and not getting up. "It's over."

Freddrick was stunned, just staring out into space as if he couldn't understand how this happened. I pushed that and any worries about what he might do to the side, returning Dun to his Pokeball. I'm sure he could heal the injuries with a Roost pretty quickly, but he's looking pretty tired from all the Moves he did and I can just use a Potion later.

Walking over to Grusha, I saw the man was shivering a little, which was to be expected given the weather. He barely seemed to care, however, holding a Pokeball in his hand and glancing down at it and back at the battlefield repeatedly. "So, you find that… fun?" He asked awkwardly.

Not like he didn't believe me but more that he was just having trouble with something…

Having trouble hoping. That there could be something in his future. Which, a little melodramatic, but I'll give it to him, given the circumstances. "Yeah," I said, nodding vigorously.

"Freddrick and I aren't even the best examples of that - like I said, we don't get along. But even so, I was having a blast. Pokemon battles have elegance, skill, quick thinking and big picture decisions, power, speed… they're just the best. What Pokemon can do is magical and leading and training them, helping them reach the highest heights, it feels incredible."

Internally, I cursed myself for not having a better description on hand. I felt like I could have spoken about battling for days on end, but in the moment the words wouldn't come out right.

Not that it seemed to matter, Grusha looked at me with wide eyes before grabbing my hand and shaking it. "Thank you," he breathed out, and I thought I saw water gathering in his eyes before he turned to the nurse, asking her to take him back.

Wow, glad I made a good impression. He was a cool Gym Leader and I would have been upset with myself if I inadvertently drove him away from that. Turning away, I started marching away from the hospital, deciding I had done enough and it would be best to leave. Unfortunately, Freddrick didn't feel the same way, running forward and grabbing me.

Yelping, I twisted, his bigger body and sudden force causing me to fall into the snowy ground. My instincts kicked in on the way down and I managed to pull him with me, turning and trying to get his body under mine. The person on the top of a grapple had a huge advantage. Of course, since he was older than me, his size played a role too, and even managing to use his strength against him and get the top position, it was still a struggle as he flailed about.

"What is your problem?" I screeched, trying to pin his thrashing arms down and avoid getting thrown off.

"YOU! Everyone is always talking about how you're so smart and Ma and Pa keep on telling me I need to show up the Glitterati's and then you somehow beat me and it's not fair-" The rich boy screamed as he struggled beneath me.

For a moment I was tempted to punch his face, but pulled back. Ironically, I was brought back by the sound of Miles hovering over him and buzzing very dangerously, reminding me of just how much damage I could truly do to Freddrick if I wanted to fuck him up… and how he wasn't worth it.

"Oh, shove off!" Despite telling him to do that, I was the one who pushed off of his face with my hand, standing back up. I kept an eye on him in case he was going to start fighting me again, but all I saw was a snot-nosed brat crying in the snow. Jeez, this is embarrassing. Not on his behalf, but just from how sloppy my fight was. I know we're in the snow and wearing heavy clothing, but I felt so sloppy here. Hmm, better add this kind of practice to my routines with Dendra.

"Quit complaining about your parents, you were a jerk to me before you even knew who I was. Your cheating is your own damn problem. Do you want to get better? Maybe treat your Pokemon better and stop cheating." Flinging a hand out to point at the Corviknight still lying down in the cold (something we were all feeling after his little fit).

Frederick blinked, slowly getting up and returning his Pokemon. "This was supposed to be my chance to visit Grusha," he muttered. "But you got to be the one who helped him-"

"Newsflash!" I interrupted him, causing the taller boy to flinch back. "We both helped him!"

"What?" The van Grough boy looked at me like I just said the sky was green.

"I couldn't have shown him how great being a trainer was without you, so if you're worried about that, then you did help. Maybe take that and stop being such a dick to everyone else," I muttered the last part as I turned away. Whatever, I'm not his keeper. Whether he's a better person or not is his own choice.

Without any further words, I turned and walked away, trudging through the snow to the town square. Miles, ever faithful, had already begun sending out a request for a Flying Taxi to pick me up.

"Thanks."

"Bzzt, no problems, Young- Nemona," They caught themselves, knowing I didn't care to stand on station when it was just the two of us. "I think you handled that quite well, bzzt."

Blowing out a hot breath and shaking a bit of snow off I responded. "Definitely think I could have handled it better too, but whatever. It's done now." Looking down the street I could already see the Flying Taxi landing down. Dang that's fast, must have been in the area.

"Let's look forward to better things. Next stop, vacation!"

"But your family vacation isn't for another two weeks, bzzt. So actually the next stop is home, then over to Dendra's dojo for practice tomorrow…" Letting out a small sigh and a side-eye, not entirely certain if Miles was being overly literal or messing with me, I climbed into the basket. I could barely think about that however as my imagination turned to my next great adventure, waiting beyond the horizon. Kitakami.

Spoiler: A/N:

Grusha's had a fire lit within him and we got to see best boy, Freddrick, haha (I am joking). The fight and discussion afterward come from what I'd been feeling in real life, how you can feel in the right and argue all the points logically, and still have no idea if you've convinced anyone else.

Hopefully it wasn't too frustrating to see him again and I don't have any further plans for that storyline for the time being, I consider that all wrapped up as we move on to bigger and better things. Like Kitakami, there's gonna be a ton there, those chapters have been something I've been working on for a while and I really hope you enjoy it. Thank you for your support.

Nemona's Current Team:

-'Dun' (Dudunsparce, Male, Normal Type, Starter)
- Tera Type: Normal
- Held Item: None
- Abilities: Run Away
- Moves known: Flail, Mud Slap, Rollout, Glare, Body Slam, Poison Jab, Earthquake, Bite, Yawn (Invisible Version), Last Resort, Hyper Voice, Protect, Thunder, Hex, Agility, Air Slash, Giga Impact, Roost, Ancient Power, Drill Run, Hyper Drill, Triple Yawn

- 'Miles' (Rotom)
- Tera Type: Electric
- Held Item: None
- Ability: Levitate
- Moves Known: Astonish, Confuse Ray, Thundershock, Double Team, Hyper Voice, Protect, Thunder, Rain Dance, Will O' Wisp, Nasty Plot, Hex, Sunny Day

 

[unlawfulwaffle362]

Kitakami! Get a Hydrapple! Also Nemona needs a flying mount. Just makes traveling that much easier.

 

[Lillie Jones]

Thanks for the chapter