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Like No One Ever Was (Pokemon SI)

Interlude V - Mentors
Dendra POV

"I can't believe I did that. I can't believe I did that. Please tell me I did not do that," Tulip whined as she flopped face-down against her couch. I just laughed as I glanced down at my best friend. She was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, her lavender hair wild and looking nothing like the elegant model she presented herself to the public as - and often acted like even in private.

Tulip gets too focused on appearances sometimes, forgetting that she looks great no matter what! However, I can see why she would have cared if some tabloid had snapped a photo of what she did before coming back here to crash.

Of the few people who knew Tulip was friends with someone like me, they'd suspect she had a bigger house than I did, but it was the other way around. Her parents had started with very little and built their way up to their software firm becoming something of note (helped in no small part by their daughter's efforts). They definitely could have moved somewhere bigger, but were generally quite content with their home. 'It's where all our memories are' Mrs. Floette would say.

And why I prefer to hang out here or at the dojo now rather than wait in the dusty tomb of memories that used to be my home. Why'd they have to go on that trip? Why did a storm have to sink their boat? And even then, 90% of the passengers survived, why did both my parents have to- Meditite opened his eyes from where he'd been meditating in the corner to give me a 'look'. The one that said 'You're spiraling again.'

I gave him a quick smile back, alongside some positive emotions. "Hey, why don't you go talk to your dad?"

"You'll be okay?" I suppressed any wince at his psychic 'voice'. Meditite worked hard on his control and it was a testament to his training that he could converse with a non-Psychic like myself, even with the 'volume' being a bit much for prolonged conversations.

"I'll be fine, thanks." He nodded, standing up and wandering outside to talk with Tulip's Gallade. She had given me his egg after… the accident, to help me deal with everything. And it worked. I should at least be able to help her out with this.

Sitting beside her on the plush couch (just because they wouldn't change homes with their newfound money didn't mean that they wouldn't upgrade to some of the nicest furniture on the market) I started rubbing Tulip's shoulders.

"Hey, it's okay, Nemona was fine. Better than fine even, she figured out how to use her Aura! And it was all because of you."

"All because I pushed a little girl off a cliff," she moaned and I winced. The wince was more due to the look one of her parent's Floettes was giving us from outside the window. Her family was named after the Pokemon and had a long line of them. Despite her specialization in Psychics, Tulip's parents had given her a Flabebe to start her journey, and was now a Floette as well.

Ostensibly their Floettes were here to watch over the house and tend to the garden, but I got the impression that they were also there to make sure nothing 'untoward' happened with me there. Which feels really unfair - we both have our trainer's licenses, we both count as adults. Tulip gave a small whimper beside me.

Oh right, helping out Tulip. Yeah, ok, I can see how it sounds bad when you put it like that but…

"It worked though. She managed to use her Aura and not get hurt. And you had Gardevoir waiting nearby just in case she hadn't. Nemona was so excited that she jumped off on her own right after." And then a few more times after that.

She flipped over to face me, no longer burrowing her head into the fabric. "The other times it didn't work and we did need Gardevoir to catch her. I have no idea how that girl can be so reckless."

"So wasn't it great you had the foresight to keep Gardevoir out for that? As for how she can be so reckless, well I think her Aura Type kinda explains that." That's only if everything else didn't already. I like Nemona, but her sense of restraint is thin at best.

"It's not exactly recklessness, but I get your point. I'm surprised she's having such trouble with it. Usually, after you've unlocked your Aura for the first time it becomes easier."

I shrugged. Aura wasn't something I knew how to use all that consciously. Fighting Type energy tended to be fairly subtle and instinctive in most cases anyway, so while Tulip had told me I had some, I couldn't tell the difference between it and my regular strength. "Maybe she's trying to do too much at once? I'm sure she'll get the hang of it with enough practice."

"True, she's persistent enough that I'm sure she'll master it in time. Honestly, she knows everything I do at this point, she can probably study on her own, so it doesn't matter that she's going on vacation now. What about your classes?"

"There's always more to practice in karate, osu!" I shouted out, punching my arms into the air. Tulip rolled her eyes fondly but didn't disagree. "Nemona has the basics down fairly well though, so taking a few weeks off for this shouldn't set her back."

Sitting up, Tulip nodded. "And what about your financial situation? I know you don't have any other money coming in…"

"It's fine. More than that honestly." Nemona had been quite sneaky in how she paid me. We had argued over the payment, and she brought up a bunch of numbers and figures to support what had seemed like an outrageous amount, but it all checked out. Only recently did I realize that she had paid me a reasonable wage for a martial arts instructor… if they were teaching a class of a dozen or so students. She'd probably argue that she was 'paying for an exclusive teacher, so of course that costs more'.

It was something we'd be having words about when she got back, but for the time being (and since I knew she wouldn't be taking any of that money back) I had used my extra cash on something important. "I actually got you a present."

Pulling out a small black case from my back pocket, I handed it to my friend. "Oh? What's the occasion?" Which caused my jaw to drop. Is she pulling my leg? She didn't just- she did, she forgot!

Stifling a giggle, I answered "It's your birthday, silly. Did you really forget your own birthday?"

"I- I was busy, there's my modeling and training Nemona and-" I stopped trying to hold back my laughter, howling out loud at that until a cushion hit me in the face. Pulling it off, I saw another of the couch cushions hovering beside her, a smirk on her beautiful face.

"Oh, it is on!" I declared, swinging my cushion at her. The ensuing pillow fight was brief but exhilarating. In the end though, while I got a few good shots in, I found myself pinned beneath a pile of pillows.

"So, remind me, why are Psychics better than Fighters?" She asked playfully.

"Because they're cheaters," I stuck my tongue out at her until she lifted the last cushion above my head. "Whoa whoa whoa, uhhh don't you want to open your present first?"

"I suppose I could see what started this… whole…" Her voice trailed off as she opened the case, her telekinetic hold on the pillows breaking as well. Standing up, I saw her looking in awe at the bright, pale yellow stone within the case.

"You said you were thinking it was time Floette evolved, and I happened upon a good deal at Porto Marinada." After spending a few months hunting for it, but details. "So, happy birthd-" The rest of my words were cut off as she embraced me. Ok, maybe I'm not that upset with Nemona for giving me a bit extra.

***

Hassel POV

"That girl!" I said, opening the door to the studio/apartment with a small bang. Inside, the left wall was covered in plants of all shapes and sizes. Shrubs cut into elegant patterns and others left to grow wild in their pots— flowers arranged in garish and subtle blends of color.

To the right led to the living space, the bedroom, and the kitchen/living room. In the back sculptures, most of them incomplete and abandoned stood, scattered about. Most importantly though, it was also where my friend Brassius was, giving a loud sigh as I interrupted his latest project.

"I know I said to make yourself at home, but did you need to make such a racket?" Before waiting for an answer, he put down the clay and turned to face me, brushing his hands off on his apron. "What did Nemona do this time?"

Part of me was glad that I hadn't truly interrupted him; if he'd been truly engaged with a project, he'd just yell at me to leave him be for a bit. Still wish he could get over his slump, however. I could instantly see why he'd stopped working on this project. The Donphan sculpture he'd been working on, despite being technically accurate, lacked the spark of life his earlier pieces had.

"She made a song." He shook his viney green hair at that, not understanding why that frustrated me. I need to explain more. In lue of words, I took out the CD player with the disk she had made and pressed play.

"... Only need the light when it's burning low,

only miss the sun when it starts to snow.

Only hate the road when you're missing home.

Only know you miss her when you let her go…

And you let her go."

There was silence in the studio for a good minute as Brassius processed what he had heard.

"That's- that's incredible! I thought her work with that comic, while rough around the edges, was good, but this… What a poignant dive into the tribulations of a trainer. Losing a Pokemon is always one of the most heart wrenching experiences for any trainer, and to express that in song so clearly-! Not to say that there isn't room for improvement, but for a young girl on a guitar who only started learning a few months ago, this is-"

"Amazing? Incredible? Not something worth sighing over and saying it's 'good enough for now'?" I interjected and Brassius took on a more somber expression.

"I was going to say Avante-Garde, but yes, I see your point. I wonder why she looks down so harshly on her own work. Do her parents…?" He trailed off, understanding that such a thing could be a very touchy topic. Technically they're the ones who are paying me and I work for them, not Nemona. Admittedly, being the newest member of the Elite Four means I have a bit more pull to my voice than the average music tutor, but thankfully I have no worries there.

"Shower her, and their other daughter, Cyan with praise. They only have great things to say about the both of them. The staff have all had similar comments, remarking on how exceptionally bright Nemona is." I slumped down on a free stool in Brassius' studio, still trying to solve the problem that was my student.

The green-haired man gave me a thin smile. "I can understand the concept of being your own worst critic. The comic she made with her sister was quite striking, from the issue I read."

"Oh?" I had enjoyed it quite as well from what I had read, and what I'd been told, but I always loved to hear Brassius' analysis on art as well.

"The dialogue is corny, but full of heart and enthusiasm, fitting for what I know of the genre. The story has an interesting blend of complexity and simpleness, enough that I could see a larger epic being woven in the background, but also enjoy the issue on its own for what it was. Text block placement could be hit or miss - occasionally I felt it was well done, other times it could have been structured better. The artwork is what makes it captivating, however. While simple, the designs of the heroes and villains are very unique. The choice to use the primary red and blue color scheme for Spinnarak-Man was bold."

"Nemona was the one who came up with the designs. Her sister drew them and gave some input, but young Nemona conjured up the designs, the story, all of it in her head. And she has even more stories in her head or partially written."

"That sounds… incredible," Brassius said slowly, taking off his apron and cleaning up a bit before throwing a tarp over the half-finished sculpture he was sure to abandon. Pulling up the other stool he said "Teaching a genius, even one of her caliber shouldn't be daunting, not to the 'Dragon Guardian of the Elite Four'."

I chuffed at that, not quite a laugh. "I told you that in confidence." Not the phrase, but the fact that I'm embarrassed about it. Pomegranate didn't give me any directions beyond 'Introduce yourself, make it flashy!' So I announce myself as that on the spot in my first Elite Four defense challenge, and the very next day I see shirts with that catchphrase and my face being made!

"Are we not 'in confidence?'"

"Touche."

Brassius cleared his throat. "As I was saying, I don't think her level of talent, or even her peculiarities would disturb you this much on their own. And even if they could, you would simply drop her as a student and take up a new one."

"... I could do that." It was an unusual thought for me. After leaving my clan, I had nothing to my name for some time. I'd scrape by with odd jobs teaching, commission pieces, and the help of friends willing to let me stay with them. Now, I'm a member of the Elite Four, and can more than pay off my share of the rent.

"Technically, I don't have to teach at all. Do you ever wonder why I do so? Why all of us Elite Four and Gym members have our little hobbies?" I asked Brassius, and he looked stumped. Darn, now I'm tempted to ask him to hold that pose so I can make a portrait.

"I thought for you it was just taking some time for yourself to enjoy your hobbies, but you're correct, all of the Gym Leaders do have something like that eating at their time. It makes for interesting trials when I see them on TV, but I admit I haven't given it that much thought, never been involved with that sort of thing."

I hid a smirk at that, covering it up by taking off my jacket. Funny, since Artazon's Gym Leader is looking to retire, and you'd be on my list to replace her, my dear friend. I wasn't going to tell him that however, not until he got over his slump. He hardly needs more pressure right now.

"We have those interests and make sure to spend time on them as a way to ground us. Powerful trainers in Paldea share an unfortunate trait." Then, switching tracks for a moment, I said "You remember how I mentioned that Nemona rarely used Pokemon in her songs, and when she does, she frowns like it doesn't fit right?" He nodded. "It's unusual because she loves Pokemon. Adores them to pieces, will talk for hours about them if I give her the chance."

Literally. I tried offering that to her once and she went on for an hour about the sociological and ecological similarities and differences between Drampa and Cyclizars and how their Normal Typing, Main and Secondary, might have affected their general species temperaments in comparison to other Dragons. We now have a hard ten-minute cap at the end of every lesson.

"She's mentioned that her favorite Types are Normal and Dragon. She loves her starter, a Dunsparce as much as any trainer could, but she told me that she got him when awaiting a surprise delivery of a Haxorus for her birthday, because she told a maid that it was her favorite Pokemon." My eyes were closed for a moment as I remembered hearing that, but I heard my partner slap his hand against his head.

"They wanted to give a child a fully grown dragon?! What were they thinking?"

"Not much apparently… or maybe they just had the utmost faith in her skills. There are times when teaching her, I see that look in her eyes. The one every challenger I face has. A ferocity that can't be denied."

"I suppose you would be an expert on that, Dragon Guardian," Brassius said, but I shook my head.

"Despite what some of my clan may tell you, Dragon Types don't hold the monopoly on ferocity. I've seen the occasional Pokemon encroach on Dragon grounds, Scythers, Gyarados, and the like. Pokemon vicious and aggressive enough to challenge a Dragon." Not always strong enough to survive the challenge unscarred or unbeaten, but rarely they do. "That's what I see in her. Plus, she's not prideful enough to be a dragon."

"I'll trust your expert opinion then."

"Quite. Where was I- ah yes, she had mentioned wanting a Haxorus. She explained to me in that story that she still wanted one, but she wanted them as an Axew or Fraxure, to help raise them and grow alongside them. I offered her an Axew egg, sired by my own Haxorus."

Brassius toppled off his stool at that, nearly falling to the ground before catching himself at the last moment. "You offered her that?!" Yes, I did. It took a while for my Haxorus to find a mate that would be willing to part with one of her clutch, but I would have been glad to give it to her.

"It's ah, slightly less binding than a formal apprenticeship would be for someone for my clan," I added, remembering I had spilled my heart out about all of those aspects of my past life to Brassius before. "But yes, I believe she can go far. Too far."

With a sigh, I added. "Gym Leaders and Elite Four alike keep up our hobbies to keep us grounded. A part of the community. But more importantly, to ensure we aren't too drawn towards the Great Crater."

"All roads in Paldea lead to the Great Crater," he said, repeating a phrase I had mentioned a few times.

"Yes, it's something the Dragon Tamers know well too. In our drive to become stronger, we eventually turn our eyes towards that which all rulers, conquerors, and trainers of great strength have been called by. That which has led to all of their ruins, bar one." And even then, it could be argued that the sights Heath saw within led to his ruin as well, just in a slower fashion than most met their ends.

I continued. "For the egg, I asked that she promise me she wouldn't go into the Great Crater. I offered a seven-year-old the Pokemon she wanted most, for some far-off promise of not going to a super scary place. Do you know what she did?" Brassius sat in silence, waiting for my answer. "She said nothing for about a minute, struggling with it before shrugging and saying that she 'appreciated the offer but could not accept.' When I asked her why, she just said 'I don't make promises I know I can't keep.'" What kind of child thinks that way?

Brassius held my hand and lent support, but he had no answers. Not that I had expected them, or even to a degree, wanted to know what exactly made Nemona Glitterati so extraordinary.

***

Spinel POV

"Why are we letting that brat wander about here?" I asked, trying to keep the anger out of my voice as I stood in the special audience chamber, addressing our leader, Gibeon, directly. We had the large chamber for the more grandiose visits, but deeper underground was a small hallway that ended in a room covered in glass. The inside of that small room was filled with pink mists and I could dimly make out the aged man sitting within. To my side stood Hamber, but I was well aware the butler only served as an additional mouthpiece for our leader on the other side of the glass.

"She could have useful information yet. Ransei is likely unconnected to Rakua, but the Black Rayquaza that warlord had could be the same one that eventually joined Lucien." Gibeon's voice could be heard clearly from the other side, though I'd never seen any transmitters. His Zygarde stared at me with its pupilless eyes, and I resisted the urge to flinch away from its gaze.

Down here, there was no chance of Nemona overhearing us. Many soundproofed layers stood between us, and her other tutors were keeping her busy with 'exploring classes.' Honestly, this place is such a maze that even if someone were to break into here, it might take weeks to find their way down to this hidden spot.

"I've done the blood tests you asked for, Gibeon," Hamber began. "Her blood is a match to both her parents, so she can't be a Faller. I can't say where she is getting that knowledge from, of things that sound so eerily familiar to the rumors of great events that happened across the regions."

Tossing the old butler a dismissive glance I chimed in. "And what rumors are those? A few half-heard tidbits from the rest of your staff while you live it up in that mansion? She hasn't been sharing anything else with us here."

"I do what my duty requires of me," Hamber said evenly, not rising to my bait. "Perhaps she would feel more comfortable around us if it wasn't for your antagonism. She has grown close to Lord Gibeon's grandson and views him favorably."

Should I make a statement about Amethio following in his father's footsteps? No, too obvious, I'm certain they both have counterarguments to make if I tried that. It's a shame that as sharp as they are, they can't see the danger in keeping her around for a long period of time.

"She disliked me from the start. And while she may like Amethio, she'll cut him loose when the time comes. Nemona's the type who wants to be unfettered." Like recognizes like, after all.

Turning to Gibeon, I pleaded: "Amethio might in fact be loyal, but he's still young. More likely to let something about our mission slip to her than the other way around. If we need that knowledge, then let me take it from her. She is clearly wary of us-" I began before Hamber cut me off.

"A situation that arose from your current mistreatment of her. The fact that she managed to resist your hypnosis attempt earlier without noticing should already have shown you the folly of that." He must be irritated with me to show such little manners. Oh well. You can screw off old man, we'll have no need for your little fake job once I secure the power of a Legendary on my side.

"It may have been hasty to try to compel her with Elgyem, but I've been training him hard and he's close to evolving. Beheeyems are noted for their ability to control others. We could keep her here, force her to divulge all her secrets, and it might well advance our plans."

"She might not even know what would be important to our goals." Hamber pointed out. "If she had the knowledge but was unaware we needed it, even mind control would do us no good."

"Then we can reveal that information to her, once she's safely under my sway." Honestly, how was this supposed to work? We can't tell her anything because we don't want to give anything away, but we can't force her to give us the answers? Waiting around for her to maybe spill the beans is agonizing, especially with the fact that I just know that cheeky brat knows way more but is keeping quiet. "We can't keep dancing around and playing these games, we need decisive action," I continued.

"We can't keep her here forever, it would arouse too much suspicion, and any compulsions would wear off at home. The Glitterati family is too influential a family to disturb lightly. Not over unverified information that might not help our goals." A sneer grew on my lips at his words.

"Those airheads? Why do you even waste such time playing pretend with them?" I didn't have the displeasure of having met the two parents, but everything I had read about them in the news indicated that the Applin couldn't have fallen farther from the tree in regards to them and their youngest daughter.

Hamber appeared as unruffled as always. "They grant me access to several wealthy and powerful figures, those we could not reach from the shadows. While they may not be the sharpest, they have their skills. Besides, my attempts at removing them completely failed, and even arranging for them to happen during her first tournament didn't drive a wedge between the Young Miss and her parents." At least he has the decency to look disappointed with himself at that. If I was designing a plan to eliminate someone, I'd succeed.

Crossing my arms, I shook my head. "This is what I'm talking about. Your attempts have been too meek. Disturbing some Zoroark and a couple of common thugs? You could make better assassination attempts than that."

"Not and keep myself clear of any suspicion. There's no point in removing Billy and O'Nare to become their daughters' steward if I'm discovered immediately afterward."

Gibeon cut in, his expression slightly bored. "Hamber is correct; we do not need to draw the ire of the authorities." Our leader's next words cut through the aura of smugness (since his expressions didn't change a bit) that was surrounding his second-in-command. "The Glitterati are merely useful tools for mundane means, not worth overreaching on our part. Possibly not worth the effort they are currently being given. Maintain your post for now, but I may be reassigning you," he declared to Hamber, the old man giving a stiff bow of his head in return.

Slight hesitation there, old man. Was that from getting close to the girl, or just upset at being perceived as 'failing' a mission? I felt the latter was more likely than the former. Hamber's loyalty to Gibeon was legendary, and why the aging butler had his spot as second-in-command of our organization.

Our leader turned his attention to me, and there was a pressure unlike any other to it. Any other, save one girl a fraction of his age. "As for you, Spinel… your case has been heard and denied. Your methods of trying to rip the information from her are too extreme and would fail even with a Beheeyem. Just as we do not need to rouse suspicion from the authorities, I trust that you will not alert her to our goals." 'Trust' was stressed ever-so-slightly, but his piercing violet gaze had me gulping as I realized I was treading on thin ice.

"From everything I have seen of Nemona, she has no direct information relevant to Rakua. While she and her family's resources may be useful, they are only potential means to an end, and by far not the only means. I remind you that our goal is paradise, we will not risk the promised land for shiny baubles along the way. We continue as we were," Gibeon spoke with an air of finality in his voice - there would be no further discussion. The ground shook ever so lightly as Zygarde growled, a reminder of the power his own Legendary had. I took it as the dismissal it was, clenching my teeth, turning on my heel, and marching out.

Why can't they see how infuriating this is? She probably knows nothing useful, but just in case we waste our time teaching her instead of just taking the knowledge? We all know the situation is untenable, dancing around our secrets and hers. It's ridiculous, and I'm left dealing with her as she mocks and dismisses me in these 'classes'. She'll bother maintaining a relationship with Hamber, and Gibeon she's cautious of, so they don't see what she really is. It was bad enough teaching Amethio, but at least he believes in our cause.

Nemona, I had no illusions about. She would suck up every scrap of knowledge the Explorers could give her, then leave without an ounce of loyalty. If she didn't make an effort to be personally annoying to me, I'd almost be impressed at her mercenary nature. She's far more cutthroat than her buffoonish family Hamber ingratiates himself with.

My footsteps found me standing outside the large training room we had on the base for Pokemon battles. Ideally, I would have more time, but after making that presentation before our leader, they'll be sure to keep me away from the girl in the future. Opening the door, I strode inside.

The two children, Amethio and Nemona, were battling within. His fiery Pokemon clashed against a Rotom possessing a lawn mower. The boy's Charcadet has gotten much faster. He's still slower than my dear Umbreon, but it's clear that he's improved from his practice with her.

It was equally clear that Nemona was improving as well. Despite a Type disadvantage, she was whittling away Amethio's options, Paralysis and Confusion turning easy hits into misses, flying out of reach, and using ghostly attacks to take advantage of Characadet's debilitations, forcing the Fire Type down in quick order.

As their fight ended, she turned to face me in the viewing box above the battlefield. "Spinel, what are you doing here?"

"Came here to observe your practice with Amethio. I have to say, you aren't doing nearly as well as I thought. But I suppose it's to be expected-"

"If it's to be expected, why is it not as you thought? Are you just bad at thinking?" She interrupted me, and I grit my teeth.

"I was attempting to give you the benefit of the doubt," I shot back sweetly, plastering a fake smile on my lips. "Such efforts are wasted."

"We've been learning tons! Onyx praised us last week for how much we studied," Amethio spoke up, the boy glaring up at me. "We got A pluses on our tests."

"Tests aren't everything. Onyx is one of the least reliable members of our organization, precisely due to how by the book he is. You need to be able to innovate, and frankly, I'm not certain you can manage that. You've still yet to beat her." If he was anything near as great as his family, then he should have at least managed one victory against her yet, but so far the girl was undefeated.

The young boy puffed up, his childish cheeks taking away from however piercing his gaze might be. "I- that's just from how tough Nemona is. I'll show you! Why don't you face me and I'll show you how much I've learned."

"I'm curious to see if you're all talk as well," Nemona commented, smirking up at me. Laugh it up girl, but soon, I'll have my way. You've walked right into my trap.

Dimming the lights (why did they need to leave the place so bright? Annoying) I said: "Certainly. But if you lose, then you have to leave the Explorers immediately."

That triggered the immediate stuttering, the instant denial. How the weak will bark and yap, but when the challenge is made, suddenly they lose faith and cower. People are weak, and when they give in to that weakness is when they lose, the battle decided before they toss out their first Pokeball. Of course, I couldn't have him actually backing out here, so I added a small jab to my challenge as I walked down the stairs to meet him.

"You were claiming you had learned so much, surely you can back it up. And if not, well then I don't see why we're wasting so much time and effort training you here, all for nothing." That had the boy clenching his fists in anger, glaring up at me with his unusual eyes.

"You're on!" He cried out, calling his Charcadet back to his side. I smirked, watching as my true target strode over to him, healing his Pokemon and whispering a bit of 'strategic advice'. Whatever you're trying to tell him, it's too late now.

She turned to me as I walked into the arena. "Wait a moment, you're trying to kick him out and aren't offering anything either. What happens if you don't win?"

Frowning, I said, "That seems unlikely, but if I can't beat him, I'll take back any unkind things I might have said about him." There, that should do it. Can we just get on with this farce? Amethio nodded and I smiled.

I didn't hate him, as much as it was amusing to taunt him. The fact that he was Gibeon's grandson meant nothing to me. He was too straightforward to be of much use to our organization, but we still had a place even for Onyx as one of our Admins. Amethio's use here was to get Nemona to do something rash. I wouldn't be able to kick her out, or even convince her she had been expelled from the Explorers, but I could do so against him.

Once I win, I'll taunt him a bit, let him beg, before offering him an Arboliva branch. I'll say if he can find a 'Legendary Pokemon', then he'll have proved his worth to us. He would stand no chance of finding such a Pokemon on his own, and Nemona would never do so if asked. If it was to 'save' her dear friend, however, she might act rashly and divulge some of her secrets. Then all I have to do is follow, and swoop right in as they lead me to them. It was almost funny because I didn't believe the prodigal girl would have done so if Amethio had asked directly. People do so love playing the hero, which makes them easy to play in turn.

Nemona placed herself at the center of the arena, declaring "I'll act as referee for this match.

This will be a one-on-one battle with no switches. The fight is to the forfeit or the first incapacitation. Agreed?" We both nodded. Her being a referee might technically be in his favor, but I don't foresee her making any egregious rulings towards him. Besides, I've done my homework; she's been burned once by an unfair judge rather publicly according to the news. I doubt she'd try anything unjust in such a simple match.

"Release your Pokemon!" She called out, stepping to the side of the arena.

"Go, Charcadet!" Amethio pointed his finger out at me and the already-released Charcadet jumped ahead, the fire on its back burning up.

"Umbreon," I called out simply as I released my starter. The sleek yellow-ringed feline hopped out, glaring wickedly at our opponent. In the darkness, his body was barely visible, save for the ominous yellow lines around his body.

"Trainers ready? On the count of one, two, three,... begin!" Nemona called and the battle began.

"Flame Charge!" Amethio cried out, and his diminutive Pokemon rushed towards mine.

"Foul Play." Umbreon jumped up as if to strike at him, and as Charcadet leaped up to meet him, Umbreon pivoted mid-air, smacking the Fire Type aside with his tail wreathed in Dark energy.

I may not enjoy getting my hands dirty personally, but that doesn't mean I'm not capable of it if the situation requires.

Amethio proved he wasn't completely useless, recognizing that he couldn't just order his Characadet to charge again. "Trap it in a Fire Spin!" His Pokemon took a deep breath before exhaling a whirlwind of fire.

"Make that kid cower, Snarl." Umbreon let out a discordant yowl, the sound sending a shiver up even my spine. Charcadet writhed in pain, the flames he was conjuring barely touched my Umbreon. He had enough focus at least to keep a small curtain of flames continuously running over my Pokemon.

The flames were weak, but I knew they'd take Umbreon down in time. "Quick Attack into Bite." Umbreon blurred ahead, odd afterimages of yellow left behind by his rings as he slammed into the smaller Pokemon. Without letting it be knocked too far away, Umbreon's head lunged out, biting down into the unevolved Pokemon - only to let him go with a yelp.

"What?"

"Ha! Umbreon is Burned! Now you'll-"

"Dark Pulse." I interrupted. Umbreon was still moaning from the sudden pain, but well-trained enough to open its mouth and fire a ray of darkness out at Charcadet, slamming hard into the Pokemon.

"Cha- Char." He got up on unsteady legs, fire literally blazing in his eyes. I could see how weak he was, however.

"I see you've learned… absolutely nothing. A shame," I made a show of shaking my head disappointedly. There was a sound of teeth grinding, and I couldn't tell if it was Amethio of Nemona in the dark. "Oh well. Finish this, Umbreon."

"Charcadet, do the thing!" A quick glow appeared around Charcadet before sliding along the floor to Umbreon where it did seemingly nothing before the Fire Type was blasted by another Dark Pulse. This time, the Charcadet was blasted into the corner and fell, unable to get back up.

"The fight is over! It's a tie!" Nemona called out, causing me to whip around in shock.

"A tie!? What are you-" Looking over, I saw Umbreon lying down on the field where he had been standing just a moment ago, just as unconscious as Charcadet. "What happened? What did you do?"

Amethio smirked up at me. "Bond. Destiny Bond." He met my rage-filled glare for a few seconds before turning over to Nemona "Do I really have to say it like that?"

"Yes," she lied and I stomped my heeled boot in frustration as they bantered.

To be caught off guard by such a cheap trick! How did Charcadet learn a Move like that? Light suddenly flooded the arena and I hissed, covering my eyes with my cape. Squinting, I saw Hamber standing in the observer's box. It looks like I won't be getting close to Nemona again any time soon either. What a waste of effort.

Recalling my Pokemon, I started walking away before stopping at the bottom of the stairs as Nemona raced in front of me. "What do you want?"

"You still have to pay off your end of the deal."

"What? It was a tie. He might have gotten lucky and not lost, but I didn't lose either." As the words left my mouth, I saw the biggest grin unfurl on Nemona's face.

"I'm afraid that the deal was if Amethio loses he leaves, and if you don't win you apologize to him." Amethio gasped behind me before cackling. She planned this from the start. Probably whispered the plan to him too.

"By League rules, I should still be declared the winner from any sacrifice Move."

"Which League again? Hard to tell where we are, exactly" She fired back. The cocky smirk was still on her face, but her eyes were focused. Even here she's willing to dig for information.

A large part of me was tempted to tell her to screw off, but I felt the specter of death hanging above me, in an almost literal sense. Ignoring the latest question, I turned to face the boy and his freshly recovered Charcadet, I said: "Fine. I'm. Sorry." The kid was still glaring at me so I added "You are nothing like your father."

He hissed, the mere mention of his parentage making him upset, while Nemona just looked confused. Before she could say anything else or demand I grovel further I pushed past her and marched up the stairs, shooting one look back to let Amethio know not to spill the beans on his lineage. I could hear them cheering and excitedly chattering with each other before I slammed the door to the observation room behind me.

"That was most unwise, Spinel," Hamber said the moment the door closed. "Directly going against Gibeon's orders-"

"I did no such thing. My challenge was for Amethio. The boy might be your pet project, but Gibeon doesn't care until he proves himself." Ironic, considering he's the boss's grandson.

"Of course," The butler said, unruffled. His words agreed with me, but his tone was dry enough to match the Asado Desert. "If you have so much time on your hands to evaluate our youngest members, why don't you look into the location of the pendant." It wasn't a question.



Striding away without answering, I made it to the exit before the pseudo-butler spoke up again.

"What is it about the Young Miss that scares you so?"

"The same thing that should be worrying you: She knows too much about us, doesn't care for most of us, and is getting too strong." Much too strong, much too fast. I wouldn't have been anywhere near as confident challenging her to a head-on fight. I could make some plans to trick and defeat her for now, but how long will that stay the same? How long until one kid can take out our whole operation?

Shivering as I left, my mind turning from elimination strategies to exit ones.


Hope you enjoyed that extra big interlude, and have enjoyed this tutor arc as well. I wanted to give a bit of a look into the minds teaching Nemona before closing this out and moving on to other stuff (tutoring will still happen, just more offscreen from now on). Oh and if anyone is wondering, the song Nemona recorded there is 'Let Her Go' by Passenger.

I will admit, having seen more of Spinel in Horizons in the time since this chapter originally came out, I don't think I got his character quite right. I suppose that's just the risks of writing about a tertiary character in an ongoing series, though.
 
Chapter 28
"Cheer up, this is going to be so much fun!" My dear older sister cheered as she dragged me through town.

"Can't we just order this stuff online?"

"I already told you, we need to get you fitted for a new dress. And you can try on the clothes here. I can't believe you've grown out of everything in your closet."

"I can," I mumbled as she led me through Los Platos' streets. I'd grown steadily over the past two years and hadn't worn a dress once. For smaller home parties and the like, I could just wear my regular clothing, and I didn't go out with Mom and Dad (and sometimes Cyan) to other parties the wealthy elite would invite them to. They offered, but what do I have in common with those people? Plus, I'd have to worry about offending someone if I didn't eat something, or said the wrong thing… just so much easier to focus on training.

That thought had been triggered by a sign of a store with a Capsakid as the mascot. Spicy foods remain my great nemesis in this world. Which is a shame, because Paldean cuisine has a lot of them. Oh well, I'm heading back to Unova for the big party, so they'll probably have less spicy food there.

All around me, I saw signs boasting their products, often with Pokemon in the designs. 'Lady Liligant's Elegant Designs', 'Hatterene's Hats for all', 'Dazzling, Gleaming, Style.' "How can there be this many fashion stores?" I moaned, to which Popplio trailing behind us clapped his paws together. While we checked out three stores, Cyan had dismissed them fairly quickly, except for the one where she and Popplio had gotten a matching pair of sunglasses.

(I had asked if Dun had wanted to wear anything and he looked at me like I had gone insane for a solid minute before slinking back into his Pokeball).

"I know, right? We should have gone to Mesagoza, they would have had way more there." I whimpered a sound that Cyan pretended not to notice as she pulled me into another store.

This store had a very high-class look to it, the floor covered in smooth stone tiles and a few pillars holding up the place and dividing it into different sections. The tiles and walls were white with a few gold patterns and black edges to make it pop. Almost immediately upon entering, a woman in her mid-twenties wearing a black skirt and white blouse approached us.

"Hello dears, I'm Maggie. Welcome to Suicine Select. How may I help you?"

Cyan nodded approvingly and stepped up like she owned the place. "I'm Cyan Glitterati, and this is my sister Nemona. We need to get a dress tailored for her by the end of the day." Those sentences had the employee's face caught in an interesting mix of emotions. The recognition of our family name (and thus the money we had) warred with the difficulty of the request my sister had dropped on her.

Maggie quickly smoothed that all away and said "Of course, right this way ladies. Now, what are you looking for? We have many styles-"

"Something comfortable."I blurt out immediately before Cyan can say anything. She glares at me nonetheless and adds her own opinion.

"We want something sleek and modern, maybe like the new…" She goes on to rattle off the names of different designers and clothes worn by models. I couldn't care less, but I trust her expertise that whatever is made will look 'fashionable.'

With this store seeming to meet the standards that Cyan has set, we eventually get on to taking my measurements. It's… odd. Another reminder that this isn't my body, that nothing is like what I remembered.

"You sure I can't have a suit made?" I asked my sister again. It'd be more familiar at least, plus-

"No, it would take too long to get a suit made to fit you. A dress can just be modified from what they have in stock." As Cyan spoke, Maggie's smile became much tighter, and I thought that my sister might be exaggerating how easily they could accommodate what we were asking.

"Besides, why would you need a suit anyway?"

"I can't kick people in a dress."

"Why do you need to kick people!? You have Pokemon! And we're going to a party hosted by a Gym Leader of all people."

"What if I need to kick Clay?"

"Don't kick the Gym Leader!!"

"No promises."

"Please stop shaking with laughter," Maggie said with a sigh, trying to wrap the measuring tape around me while Cyan was shouting at me.

You don't need to worry sis, I'm probably not going to attack him. While Clay does get a little unreasonably upset at the player in the game over you 'letting' Plasma grunts leave because the bridge is lowered, I vaguely remember him being not that bad of a guy.

With my measurements taken, we began the long parade of dresses to try on. I decided on a nice green with black highlights as the one to take. It was a little too poofy, but Maggie assured me the wispy parts on the bottom and shoulder straps could be removed.

Even though it had been the second dress I'd tried, Cyan still forced me to try on a dozen others before we finally stopped. At least that pleather crop jacket we found was nice, I can grab that too. "Alright, I think we've made our choice. Now onto heels-"

"Nope," I said brightly, cutting her off. "I have some nicer flat shoes I can wear."

"Ugh, fine," She acquiesced and we left the store, heading back home after leaving delivery instructions. "But in the future, we'll have to go on a real shopping day. No time crunch just exploring stores for hours on end."

"Cough, cough, oh no, I think I'm coming down with can't-go-clothes-shopping-again-itis."

"Oh stop it, you had fun, right?" She asked hopefully.

Sighing I said "Honestly? No. I think it's boring and not a 'waste' of time but not the most efficient either and… just not my favorite thing to do. But I'll go with you on any shopping trips you want to go on."

We were silent momentarily as we walked back home before she asked me "What do you want to do?"

I laughed "You don't know that already? I like martial arts and music and of course Pokemon Battles-"

"That's all stuff you train at. What do you like to do to relax?"

It was my turn to be silent, thinking over the question. I mean, I do like those things, but I guess they aren't relaxing. I- I don't know. I haven't had much free time- haven't given myself much free time. But there's just so much to do, so much to learn and I don't want to waste a single second!

"I guess I like reading? And uh, I think I'd like to play tabletop RPGs." I eventually said. Ok, I know I like Roleplaying Games, but I can't exactly say that without actually having any experience in it. I can just pretend I read some rule books online if she asks any questions.

Cyan didn't however, just humming and saying "Just think about it. Working hard is good and all, but you need to take a break sometimes."

***

"Feels weird."

"What does, dear daughter?" Billy asked me, concern aparent in his bleary eyes.

"That we're flying in a basket held up by Pokemon, to an airport where we'll be flown by a machine." I get that the technology of this world is advanced enough that they almost certainly would have figured out aerodynamics enough to make airplanes, but it still feels weird that they're used for commercial travel over Pokemon. Is it economic over the cost of training and feeding Pokemon instead?

"Well, it's not like we could be flown all the way to Unova. The Squawkabilly's would get way too tired for such a trip." Cyan pointed out.

"Squawkabilly, sure. But Dragonite can circle the world in two-thirds of a day, and other Pokemon can do such trips as well." Then I raised my voice and shouted up to the birds ferrying us to the airport and shouted out "No offense guys! Really appreciate the ride!" I got a few squawks back letting me know they were fine with it.

"How incredibly innovative Nemona! Oh, now we must take a trip to Unova by Dragonite!" O'Nare exclaimed with glee.

Cyan gave me a death stare that made me wonder if she'd been learning Glare from Dun before desperately asking Mom: "Wait, didn't we already buy the tickets to take the plane to Unova? We shouldn't let those round-trip tickets go to waste."

"How frugal, Cyan! It shows your true Gliteratti intellect to know how to best save your money." Billy cried out, and my sister let out a soft sigh of relief.

Landing down in front of the airport we took out our bags. Alongside my family, Anna, my mother's secretary, followed us. The young woman was dressed in a plain business suit and had her own luggage as she would be accompanying us for the duration of the trip.

Feels odd, to just have someone following us around on our vacation, but I guess it makes sense. Paldea Reality is massive and if some disaster pops up, they might need to get a hold of my mother no matter what. I also vaguely remembered people like her when I was younger before I remembered my past life. They'd ask the occasional question during our trips, but generally just manage things in the background (including our trip itinerary).

The airport itself was in Mesagoza, being the closest, largest city to us with one. It had two, which just went to show how massive the city was, with only Levincia and Medali having one in the rest of Paldea. The West side airport itself was less busy than the big city ones I was used to in my old life, only running one or two hundred flights each day.

Of course, as we stepped into the bustling airport, we were quickly directed away from the crowds and off to the side where I saw it. "Why?" Was all I could manage in a whisper as I beheld the fully gold-painted private jet we'd be flying to Unova in.

Cyan brushed past me, obviously still holding the Dragonite riding thing against me. "You have no room to talk."

"No, see that's cool, it's different!"

We playfully squabbled for a few minutes before we had to show our IDs at the front desk and board the plane. "Remember to keep your Pokemon in their balls for the entirety of the trip, we don't want any accidents to happen." Technically as we were riding a private jet, we wouldn't have to follow that rule, but it made a lot of sense, for a bunch of reasons. Still, it got me thinking.

"What about Rotom Phones?" I asked, holding up Miles. The man blinked before nodding.

"Rotoms within their Phones are fine, just don't have them leave their case or attempt any Moves while flying." No worries there. I think Dun will just sleep through the whole thing and Miles is fine taking it easy.

Taken aboard the plane, I stepped aboard a private jet for the first time in my life. Seeing how spacious the interior was, with the plush chairs and drop-down widescreen TVs threw me for a bit. Just another reminder of how different things are here. I'd never get anywhere close to anything like this in my old life.

Sure, I knew how rich I was here, and the difference that made, but with the world being so different, it was easy to miss comparisons at times. This was a very clear one, and one that was harder to ignore. My father worked on airplanes, once upon a time. I wonder if he's doing alright?

"Hey, do we need to call an Altaria to get you down?" Cyan's voice brought me back to reality, and I looked at her, confused.

"Huh?"

"I'm saying your head is up in the clouds and we haven't even taken off yet." She stuck her tongue out at me, to let me know she was just lightly teasing me, but I saw some worry in her eyes. Damnit, can't be acting all weird like that. I thought I was over this and had accepted things in my new life but this one random reminder sends me spiraling back? I can't keep going like this.

Shaking those thoughts aside I said with forced cheer "Nah, I'm gonna keep on flying up and up, dontcha know?"

"Yes, yes, you told me about your Aura and how you managed to fly for a bit. I still haven't seen that for myself!"

I had told Cyan about my adventure with Aura (leaving out the part about Tulip pushing me off a small cliff - I felt like she would have more trouble believing that than the fact that I managed to hover in the air for a moment). She was skeptical, but more accepting of the idea than I had thought she'd be. I guess in a world with Psychics and everything Pokemon can do, someone being able to fly doesn't sound so crazy.

The captain called out for us to strap in as takeoff was about to begin, the four of us sitting down in the comfortable seats as we started down the runway. Looking outside, I saw the figures on the ground get smaller and smaller as the plane tilted up and we rose far above the ground, going through the clouds. As the plane began to rise, I felt a sense of wellness settle over me. A sort of contentedness, like I just knew everything was going to be alright. It got to the point that I worried something might have happened to my mind, but forcing myself to focus on Turo and the unsolvable problem he presented could make me feel upset.

Ok, not that. Hmm, my ears haven't popped yet, I wonder if Pokemon world tech had some answer to the usual take-off issues? Glancing over at my sister opposite me, I saw her moaning and looking queasy. Popplio had left his ball and was trying to rub circles on her wrists. Or maybe it's just another small benefit of my Aura.

"You okay Cyan?" I asked, walking over to her. She gave a non-committal sound like she was worried that if she let any words out, her lunch would soon follow. "Alright, I'll leave you be," I said, giving Popplio a small pat on the head for doing a good job comforting her. It probably doesn't hurt to have Popplio out, he couldn't break anything on the plane, not like Dun or Miles could.

"It's a long flight dear, are you sure you want to stay up for it all?" O'Nare asked me as I walked over to my guitar case.

Opening it up I said, "Yeah, I don't think I'm going to be jet lagged." I feel way too alive to sleep right now. Might want to meditate later though, this feels like a great time to try and touch on my Flying Aura.

In retrospect, it was obvious my Aura was Flying aligned. Ever since being born in this life, I'd had no fear of heights, enhanced vision and hearing (like many birds and Flying Pokemon have), and just an affinity for the sky. I couldn't tell if this was something Nemona always would have had, from who I was before, or some strange blend of myself and canon Nemona, but it just fits now.

Taking out my guitar, I began strumming a few chords, trying to recall a few lines from a song I knew before.

"Upside down and inside out and it feels… right?

Don't know where your eyes are but you… something something.

Don't know where your mind is, but you… wish you didn't have it?"

At least the first parts of the lines fit, not my worst attempt. I couldn't put into words just how frustrating it was to partially remember these songs. Knowing that I had all the pieces locked in my mind on how to recreate these masterpieces but just couldn't fully draw them out. I think I'm annoying Hassel with how much I'm upsetting myself with this, but I know I'm so close. And yet, not quite there.

The music I made was decent, I liked to believe, but could it live up to the masterpieces crafted by hundreds of truly dedicated artists from my past life? Of course not. The idea of just giving up feels awful too, though. I wonder if that's part of what's holding me back from utilizing my Aura actively? Flying is the element of freedom. Of course, I'm free to do what I want, in many ways, I have more freedom now than ever before. But if I feel constrained by myself, by my own mind, am I limiting my own freedom and thereby cutting off my power?

Wow, these are some deep thoughts, wonder where they came from- oh, right
. I remembered what song I was trying to recall and it made sense. When you have lines like: 'So when you met the new you, were you scared, were you cold, were you kind? When you met the new you, did someone die inside?' As a reincarnator, that provokes at least a little thought. Thoughts I usually shied away from, but the lyrics were forcing me to inspect that.

Or maybe it's my own actions. This, using Aura, that's a departure from who Nemona was in the games. Then again, is it actually any bigger a change of her character than anything else I've done? Making friends with Arven alone could be bigger, especially in terms of plot changes. How much I would or could change was still a matter in flux, but at the very least I wanted to stop Turo's demise.

Not that I have any solid plans on that front. Gah, this is a waste of time, especially when I should just be relaxing. Why did I even start singing this song again? I like it, but I like some of their other stuff better- the music video. With that thought in mind, I jumped up, running over to the captain's quarters. One of our attendants scrambled up, from where she had been sitting down reading a magazine.

"Uhh, Young Miss, can I help you with something?" She asked, looking worried at my focused gaze fixed on the cockpit door.

"I need to ask the pilots something, is that ok?"

She seemed a little uncomfortable before nodding. "I think that's fine, just remember you can't touch anything, ok?" I nodded and she knocked on the door, getting the all-clear.

Entering I saw a cockpit much like any of the ones I'd seen back home. In the seats sat a woman and a man. The woman remained mostly focused on the monitors and controls, but asked "What is it, kid?" While her co-pilot turned around to face me, a warm smile on his face.

I explained my request which caused them to exchange a glance. "You sure? Those kinds of maneuvers can be rough even on adults…" The man trailed off.

"I'm certain. I- I need to experience it. If we could get like an hour or two to try it out, maybe before we head back home, I'd appreciate it."

The woman let out a snort. "Alright kid, your Spiritomb." Huh, guess that's the equivalent of 'your grave' here. Spiritombs are cool. The Typing is solid and they're very defensive with some interesting Moves- "If you talk your parents into it, we'll give you a ride."

"Awesome!" I pumped my fist up before heading back. Sitting in my seat, I picked up my guitar and started strumming again.

"Upside down and inside out and you can feel it.

Upside down and inside out and you can feel it, feel it.

Don't know where your eyes are… but they're not doing what you said.

Don't know where your mind is, but you're better off without it."

Oh yeah, this is gonna be great.

***

My first sign of the city came not from the city itself, but by spotting the massive red drawbridge down below. "Oh, I think we're close!"

The pilot confirmed what I said, announcing a moment later that we were heading down and to strap in.

"Yaaay." Cyan gave out a tired cheer as she braced herself, gripping her plush seatrests hard. While she had gotten some sleep, the flight had been rough on her, and the descent was going to be the toughest part.

I had never been terrible at dealing with flights, but occasionally had nausea and ear popping on the takeoff and touchdowns, but that wasn't an issue anymore. I could take in all the sights down below of yet another land I'd only seen on the end of a game system screen before.

Driftveil City had more high rises and towers than I recalled from the game, but I figured that had to do with the game not being 100% accurate and it being many years later. There was also another bridge, connecting the small landmass connected to the red drawbridge to the main city.

Ships passed by all around, many of them massive freighters, hauling tons of raw materials. Driftveil was famed for its mines and even from high up, I could see some of the mine entrances dotting the landscape.

Upon landing, we were swept up in a whirlwind of activity and rushed off by limo to the hotel we'd booked. From there we made ourselves look 'presentable', got dressed up, and were taken to the Driftveil Gym. The dress I had chosen had been fitted for me and felt really nice. The hem swished at my knees and it had two straps holding it up over my shoulders. At my side, I wore my Sliph bag, the strap circling my waist like a belt. Cyan may not think it's super fashionable, but I'm not going anywhere without Dun or my Pokemon supplies at my side.

It was odd to see a stream of well-dressed individuals entering the gym as the sun started to set. A crowd of expensive cars gathered there as business people and celebrities arrived to attend a party at a place of battles. Even odder, realizing that I somehow fit right in - for the most part. I might not have felt comfortable, but a glance at my parents and myself showed that we certainly did.

Reporters took pictures outside, trying to come up with stories on who was attending, who wasn't, what they were wearing, etcetera. Do people really care about such things? I didn't get why or how such stories could sell. Sure famous people could do important things, but they treated these big parties as if it was something big or important.

As we entered the Gym, we were directed by an old man in shades to the back, away from the platform that would lead down to the gym proper. Instead, we entered a large, repurposed training room. The room was spacious, with a tall ceiling. The ground was literally dirt, which had been covered in plastic sheets and carpet on top of that. In one corner, there were many musicians set up, adding some musical ambiance to the event. In the back there were tables with food and drink on them, a few samples carried around by waiting staff (who may have been the Gym Trainers, the staff had a somewhat rough appearance to them underneath the black and white uniforms) to the many, many guests.

So many people here, I can't believe it. Despite the room being designed for the many Pokemon to train at once, it was crowded with people, and we weren't the last ones to arrive. Our arrival did draw many eyes on us, however.

"Is that… yes, I think the Glitterati's have arrived."

"They're back in Unova?"

"Yes, I heard Billy's wife helped Clay set up some of the buyouts of Cold Storage, back in the day."

"Oh right, Clay has that World Tournament thing running there now. Bit garish, really."

"So much better than how it was before though. And now we're getting more underground railways built. It's such a hassle to go over the bridge just to see Elesa's latest shows…"

I heard bits and pieces from all sorts of conversations like that as I wandered in. Billy and O'Nare were quickly snapped up by the other guests, eager to gossip and chat with my extraordinarily wealthy parents. All the guests here looked pretty wealthy too, but very few people could match my parents for money, even amongst the elites. It looks like Dad is pretty popular here, in general too. That was likely because he was from Unova.

Cyan found a few older teenagers to talk to, mentioning a few points on fashion and the makeup tips she had gotten from Tulip. She seems fine there. As such, I was left to mingle on my own, in a crowd of people I knew next to nothing about. With that in mind, I did the only natural thing one would do at such a big party: Make a beeline straight to the buffet table and see how long I could hang out on the outskirts.

Grabbing a small plate and piling it up with seafood, fruit, and bread (each carefully portioned not to touch each other), I moved to an empty corner, standing there and just observing the party go on.

"Did you hear that Clay just completed a massive project? Something about shipping tons of Chargestone out of the caves. Even a bunch of Pokemon from there too, for that Terarium in Blueberry."

"The Pokemon World Tournament will be starting up again soon, it's been such a boon for Driftveil. I can hardly remember the dreary little shipping town it used to be."

"Clay's done a great job with it, if only he could rank a bit higher when he competes!"

"Oh, he's a busy man. Even if he's not a Champion of battling, his stocks are going up, and that's what matters."

"Where's the washroom? I gotta go!"

"I hear Aether is looking to turn some of his old mines into preserves for underground Pokemon, do you think Clay will agree?"

The atmosphere was generally happy, and I was content to vibe until a young girl about my age with bright pink hair and bushy brown eyebrows pushed her way out of the crowd and into my general bubble.

"Hello?"

"Oh hi, sorry to bug you, I just had to get away from all of… that." The girl said. She was wearing a light pink dress with short sleeves, ended with poofy rings and fabric attached to look like small wings. At her side was a pink Love Ball attached to her hip somehow. Maybe magnets? Or some more esoteric tech holding it in place.

"Fair. I'm Nemona." I said, glaring daggers at a few of the adults who had pushed through and looked like they wanted to bug her more. Why are a bunch of adults trying to bother a kid? Whatever the reason, my look scared them off, and I offered a hand out to Lacey to shake. She has soft skin.

"Lacey." At the complete lack of reaction on my part to her name, she added "You don't know who I am, do you?"

"Nope. Well, I didn't. Based on that, I'm guessing you're related to Clay?"

"Wow, you figured it out from just that?"

"That and your eyebrows." It's funny, she didn't inherit his… roundness, or his regular hair color, but little things like just the color of the eyebrows can be passed on to the kids. Or nothing at all. There wasn't much Cyan or I had in common body-wise with our parents, but that was just how things often worked out in this world.

As she continued to stare at me, I said: "The punch is pretty good, you might want to get some."

I offered as an icebreaker to the other girl. It was good, quite fruity and non-carbonated, thankfully.

"Uh, sure. Sorry, just not used to this. Everyone else here wants me to give them an introduction to Dad."

"I can see that." And I could, even through the crowd and halfway across the room, I could make out a large number of people trying to get close to the rotund man in the cowboy getup (hat included) that was the star of the night.

He chatted well enough to most, but as they made offers or overtures to him, Clay would shoot them down. Given their expressions, it was usually pretty harsh, but some of the older and more experienced businessmen and women were able to get off lighter. Caught snippets more like 'maybe we'll think on it later,' for the more shrewd among them. For every person that tried their hand though, there were two or three more, circling and waiting for their chance to 'strike'.

After she returned to our little corner with a drink in tow, I asked her: "What's it like, being the daughter of a Gym Leader?"

She frowned adorably. "I unno. There's a lot of Pokemon always around here. Do you have a bunch of Pokemon?"

"No, I only have two right now. There are a few more the staff have at home, but not too many. But I see plenty outside every day. Paldea has tons of them in the wild." To be fair, I don't know that Paldea actually has any more Pokemon than other regions, but it sure feels plentiful with how close we live to nature.

"You're from Paldea? Cool! Do you have a bunch of cute Pokemon there? Which Pokemon do you think is the cutest?" Lacey asked eagerly, and before giving me time to answer pulled out a small Pokeball at her hip. Enlarging it, she released a small mole-like Pokemon from within. He had a long white nose with red tip, but otherwise black and blue fur over his body. Upon seeing his trainer, he clapped his large, sharp-looking, clawed hands together.

"Burr!"

"I think Drillbur is the cutest."

"I see. I'm fond of Dunsparce," and saying so, I reached into my bag and pulled out Dun's ball, releasing him. "He's not just cute, he's strong too!"

"Dunnn." He nodded his head, the impact sending an ever-so-slight tremor through the ground. Despite the fact that I didn't think anyone even a few meters away would have felt it, I saw Clay's head whip around at that, fast enough he had to grab onto his hat to stop it flying off.

"Impressive, your dad noticed that fast. I suppose his moniker of 'The Miner King' is fitting." I wonder if he has a Ground Type Aura? Maybe not even unlocked, just something he passively honed from large portions of his life spent underground. Was he drawn to mining because he had that connection to the earth from his Aura? Or did his time spent there shape his Aura to become Ground-based? Or maybe I'm overthinking it, and that vibrational sense is just a skill anyone in this world could pick up, without Aura or the like, just from how overturned humans here are? Oh, so many questions.

I didn't have time to think about the endless questions running through my mind anymore as a shadow looms over me. For a big guy, he moves quickly. It helped that everyone else was giving the man standing above me a wide berth, wondering what was going on. "Gym Leader Clay, a pleasure to meet you."

Looking up at him, I saw that each of his legs was almost as wide across as I was, though I was sure part of that was because of how his chaps flared out. He adjusted his gold watch as he took a breath, relaxing as he took in the situation better.

"Mighty fine to meet a pal of my daughter's too, little missy."

"This is Nemona, Daddy! She has a Dunsparce, he's pretty cute. Not as cute as Drillbur though," she added and Dun gave a small huff out.

"Can't win them all, Dun. But he doesn't lose in strength." I held up my arm and flexed a muscle to emphasize my point.

"No way, Daddy is the strongest in the whole world!" The man in question gave her a fond smile. We both knew he wasn't, not even in the running for that title, but for a young girl, of course she'd think that.

"Well, I'm going to be Champion someday, the best Champion of all time, so that means I gotta beat your dad." There were a few shocked gasps from the crowd that had gathered around us, as well as some commentary.

"I can't believe it, she'll become a Champion?"

"Please, my kids claim that all the time. Next week she'll be saying how she's going to be an astronaut or whatever."

"I think it's good to dream, at least at that age."

"Rather uncouth to just declare something like that."

"What a joke. How could she become Champion with a Dunsparce?"

"Well, you know what kids are like…"

Clay spoke up, silencing the other voices. "Mighty big words for a little girl. Care to put your Pokedollars where your mouth is?"

After a second I parsed the meaning of his words. "You mean have a battle, right now? Aren't we… in the middle of a party?"

He clicked his tongue. "Don't tell me you're getting cold feet. A 'Champion' can't afford to run away from a simple battle." Everyone had fallen silent now, turning to face us. I could even make out Billy and O'Nare trying to get through the crowds to me.

I could just play it off, no need to make a bigger scene. I know the old me would have done that, afraid to have people staring at me, of making a fool of myself. But I can't let myself be held back by that. I'm not that person anymore, and the girl I am now would say…

"I, Nemona Glitterati, challenge you, Clay!"

"That's some good gumption-" he began.

"But it won't just be a 'simple battle,'" I interjected, staring straight into his dark brown eyes. "If you don't come at me with at least a 5 badge challenge, it won't even be a contest."

I wasn't sure what he saw in my stare, but something about it caused him to nod consideringly.

Adjusting his belt he said to the crowd, "Well alrighty then, looks like you'll be getting a party and a show!" The guests cheered as the match was confirmed. Here's hoping I didn't just make a massive mistake.


The stage is set for Nemona's first Gym Battle... sorta. Not an official battle, but still quite the challenge. I hope you'll enjoy it, and that you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry if any details on the party or fancy outfits didn't feel right (not my forte, but canon kinda forces my hand here). Oh and if anyone is wondering the song Nemona was playing is Upside Down and Inside Out by Ok Go.

Nemona's Current Team:

-'Dun' (Dunsparce, 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

- '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
 
Chapter 29
We walked out to the lift at the front, taking it down. Clay, Lacey, and I (plus Dun and her Drillbur) were the first ones headed down, but it looked like many others would be following us.

Possibly the whole party. The multi-lift system Clay had set up in his large mining shaft/Gym wouldn't be the most comfortable, but it could let them all down and allow them to watch the battle from different angles.

"You know, I was tryin' ta get them fancy pants who never worked an honest day in their life to quit their yappin'." Clay said suddenly. It took me a second to realize what he meant before I responded.

"Ah, thank you. But I meant every word I said: I'm going to be the best. The only way that happens is by challenging myself, so please, give me a battle on that level."

He grunted approvingly, stepping onto the express lift to take us down to the bottom. "If that's how you want it, then that's how you should do it. Decide your own limits! But ya ought ta know I use at least three Pokemon for any challenger looking for their fifth badge. Your Dunsparce up for that?"

"That might be a bit much even for Dun, as he is now, but I've got another Pokemon too." Fan form gives Flying, which doubles up on immunity to Ground, but will Clay have a Pokemon with Mold Breaker? I don't know, but it's not worth that, especially since it would give Miles a weakness to Rock Moves, which Clay's Pokemon undoubtedly know tons of. That leaves Wash, Mower, and Refrigerator Forms. All of them have a Type advantage against his Ground Types, but Mower and Refrigerator have more weaknesses. Heat isn't bad either, but it has a Weakness to Rock, so it and Refrigerator are out. Mow is pretty good, but it just has way more weaknesses than Wash, will be resisted by Excadrill, and doesn't get as much out of Rain Dance.

"Are you going to eat that in the middle of the battle?" Lacey's words brought me out of my thoughts, and I saw her pointing at the paper plate still in my hand.

"Ah, no, sorry, I just kinda forgot about it in the rush. Mind holding onto it for me?" I asked embarrassedly. Damn, that must have made my challenge waaaay less cool. How do other people manage that? To just be so effortlessly cool?

Up above I saw more people streaming down. They had to use the other lifts that were spread out like a puzzle for trainers looking to challenge the Gym (though the staff helped in organizing them all down and around). Grumpigs, Solosis, and other Psychic Types were being released to make transparent barriers to help make sure none of the enthusiastic guests would fall if they slipped. Many of them were already pulling out their phones to record the match. Is this really that big a deal? This isn't even an official Gym Challenge.

Since we were on the express elevator, we reached the bottom before everyone above had settled. "Eyes down here Miss Future Champion. Don't let your head get lost in the clouds young'un, or you'll crash hard." Clay said, slipping into his Gym Leader persona easily.

"Gotta aim high, 'cause I'm gonna fly old man." I shot back, getting a slight twitch from his right eye. Hmm, the age comment might have been a bit much, I should avoid that. Or maybe twist the knife at a critical moment?... No, he's been pretty kind to me, no need for that. Besides, ignore the cameras and crowds, this is just a friendly match, a great chance to improve.

Stepping off the platform, Clay went to the side, grabbing a few Pokeballs from an alcove and we took our places at opposite ends of the brown dirt pit. It was fairly barren, save for a few rocky formations that jutted out a few feet and a pool, barely a puddle, to the side. The lighting this deep down was dim, not too terrible, but enough to annoy trainers who might not have my eyesight, or be used to the arena. I never realized how those little personalizations can give Gym Leaders a home-field advantage. Something to watch out for, Dun will be fighting in unfamiliar terrain if he goes underground. I had an advantage if Clay tried to use the depths to his advantage first, however.

"Well, I reckon that's enough dilly-dallying, let's git this show on the road. This here rodeo is gonna be a three v. two, ain't no switching for either one o' us." Hmm, that's probably giving me an advantage here, since I have less Pokemon. "Now, you ready to face the might o' the Miner King?" He asked, holding out a Pokeball.

"Born ready. Miles, it's your time to shine!" I called out, stretching open my bag and hefting out the washing machine. Miles floated up in front of me, waiting as I tossed the machine up in the air. Leaving their phone, they floated into the washing machine, possessing it and surrounding the device with a blue glow while I caught the phone case before it fell.

"Well I'll be," Clay said, letting out a low whistle. "Been a minute since I saw one o' those wretched machines."

"Ro-to-to-to," Miles said, flashing a malicious smile and a few sparks of electricity. Clay released his own Pokemon, a brown and black striped crocodile-like Pokemon that stood upright on two legs. He gave out a low growl, something that had Miles shaking for a moment before it shook off the supernatural fear their opponent was outputting.

Krokorok probably has Intimidate as its Ability. This is a great match-up for us. Still, can't get overconfident. This isn't a video game, nothing is certain here.

Clay pulled out an oddly shaped gun from a pocket inside his jacket. "On the count of three I'll fire this here flare and the match will start when it lands, ya hear?"

"Loud and clear."

"Three, two, one, here we go!" He called out, flipping off the safety and firing up. A brilliant red light rocketed out of the flare gun, reaching up almost thirty meters before arcing back down and landing a sizzling mark into the rusty brown dirt to the side.

"Confuse Ray!" Was my first, immediate command. The ball of multi-colored light Miles made in front of them shot out at Krokorok's face and hit it before he could even begin to follow Clay's commands.

"Sink your teeth into that varmint!" The lizard charged ahead, but it started veering off to the side, blinded and dazed by the light. Miles drifted over that way before rising and letting Krokorok ram head-first into a person-sized rock.

The rock shattered from the impact, but from the way he reeled back, I couldn't imagine that it was without pain either. Do I go for the win here? No, let's set up, Krokorok can't do much, and I've got two more Pokemon to beat.

"Boogie time!" My coded phrase couldn't hide the move for long due to its nature, but every second counted for set-up Moves. Miles began waving their plasmic limbs about as they spun around, the hose part of their machine body lifting up and spraying water about into the air in a fine mist, condensing into clouds way above. We had practiced the Move tons since learning it and found that it needed more than just a dance to work well.

Within seconds, rain was falling in large drops on us all, Lacey giving a small shriek from the sidelines. Those seconds weren't wasted by Clay though, the burly man shouting "Focus on the sound it makes, then Crunch and don't let go!"

Using his powerful legs, the Krokorok jumped up, sinking his teeth hard into the side of Miles' body. With a whirr of pain, the heavy beast (and gravity) pulled Rotom down, and I heard the crunching of metal grating on my ears.

Damn, can't let him keep up like that. "Hyper Voice, then Hydro Pump!" I called before covering my ears. Even through that I still heard the ear-piercing whine Miles was generating, and it had Krokorok reeling backward, only to be met with a high-pressure burst of water from Miles' core. The door on the front of the machine opened up and gallons of water poured out, slamming into the Ground Type and sending him spiraling across the floor.

Not out, however, as the large lizard managed to get back on shaky feet. "Get out a there! Burrow beneath, and wait for your time to strike." Clay commanded, and Krokorok eagerly complied, digging through the dirt so fast it was practically diving through it.

"If you want to let us set up, I won't complain. Nasty Plot," I called out, dropping a hand down. Clay gave me a conflicted look before sighing and responding.

"Get 'em, now!" Krokorok lunged upwards from the ground… And was met by Miles easily shifting to face him down and releasing another deluge down on the Pokemon. The water slammed it back into the ground and washed over the arena again, but this time Krokorok didn't rise.

Clay returned his fallen Pokemon to his ball. "Ya did good out there," he whispered to the unconscious Pokemon within. Debatable, but it was brave of Krokorok to go ahead like that, despite how it ended. Clay didn't have a choice there; if he let me set up, I might have been able to sweep the rest of his team. Now I had to wait until he sent his next Pokemon out.

First, though, Clay stopped and took off his hat which was getting drenched, to reveal… Why does he have a smaller hat on underneath his first hat!? The second one appeared to be made of wool and resisted the water better.

"Yer up Palpitoad, show this young'un a bit of water won't keep a good miner down!" He announced, releasing the odd ovular Pokemon. It was blue with a beige face/torso and paler blue bubbles on its forehead and in place of its arms.

Water/Ground, great. This one's gonna be a… problem! Almost immediately after being released, without waiting for a command, Palpitoad zoomed forward, smashing into Miles and sending them spinning backward through the air. So fast!

"Hyper Voice," I called out and Miles began making that horrendous sound once more. Palpitoad winced, but kept on charging ahead, hitting the washing machine from several different angles as he bounced around the room.

That Palpitoad's gotta have Swift Swim, no way they could be moving that fast and hitting that hard without it. Hyper Voice can't truly be dodged, not this close, but I'm just trading here and I don't like the exchange rate. Sweeping a hand out before drawing it close to my chest, I yelled out: "Flood the field with flames, Will O Wisp!"

Miles dropped the sound and began conjuring the dancing balls of fire in front of it, the light reflecting off their front lid. The rain was still coming down hard, but the drops didn't extinguish the ghostly fire, only causing the flames to distort for a moment with each impact as they carried on their course. They drifted towards Palpitoad, who easily dodged around the first volley and the second, but as the third and fourth closed in, they had to abort an attack to dodge out of the way.

"Hyper Voice," I called out once more, pushing my hands out. Miles let their control of the flames on the field slip as they seemingly gathered energy for the attack, an opening Clay didn't let go of.

"There's yer shot, hit 'em!" The Water Ground Type did just that, skidding off the water and flying head-first at Miles. Just before the toad would hit, Miles flung open their lid and revealed the first Will O Wisp they had made, hidden with their body.

The flames sunk into Palpitoad's aura, burning it, but it still impacted Miles hard, knocking them around and adding another dent to their battered machine body. I thought Burn would have weakened it- "Facade," I hissed, realizing what Move they had been using.

"That's right little missy. Yer not the only one who can be tricky," He commented, clearly having noticed the hand signs I was using to give Miles advice on how to vary their Moves. "Facade, hit 'em again!"

"Protect!" A barrier popped up around Miles, causing Palpitoad to rebound off it, sitting, waiting for the shield to drop. When it did, they charged up yet again, and lacking other options, I once again tried to block it. "Protect!!"

The barrier formed a few cracks this time as the bulbous Pokemon smashed into it, but Miles winced and managed to just hold onto it. High above I could hear the crowd whispering, wondering if I was out of options, but I knew that this was just the smart play, if a somewhat desperate one. Clay gritted his teeth as he realized it too, his Pokemon wincing from the burn.

That wasn't the only clock I was waiting out however, as the shield finally fell, so did the last drop of rainwater. There we go, no more speed boost for you! "Hex, let them BURN!"

Dark purple apparitions began assaulting the toad-like Pokemon, causing it to warble out in pain as it felt heat likely greater than it had ever felt in its life up to this point. Its Typing would protect it from fire, but this is just a hallucination, the feeling of burning and heat without the actual flames.

"Toxic!" Clay called out, and despite the pain, Palpitoad vomited forth a slick purple wave of toxins that landed on Miles. They fell over from the ghostly assault and Burn a second later, but the damage had been done. Miles' blue plasmic glow had splotches of purple on it, and I heard a sizzling sound as the poison began to burn through their aura.

Despite possessing machines, Rotoms didn't have enough of a connection to Steel Type energy to have an Immunity to Poison. That Poison would slowly eat away at Miles until they were unconscious from the drain on their health, but Clay didn't try to draw things out, releasing his final Pokemon immediately.

"Drillbur, time ta clean house!" He released his own small mole-Pokemon, but his was almost twice as big as Lacey's and had a few scars on her face.

Knowing Miles would be out of the fight soon, I gave a quick command. "Hydro Pump." Thought he would have gone for Excadrill, I wonder why he didn't. Still, I can't underestimate-

"Earthquake!" He called out, and his reasoning clicked into place in my head.

"Dodge it! Go above-" I tried to call out, to no avail. Miles was spinning up a fresh blast of water when they tried to abort it and fly away, but the shaking ground rose in a spike straight beneath Miles. They were flipped over by the impact, landing down with a crash, immobile.

"Miles!" I cried out, rushing over to them. Crouching over the washing machine, I said: "You did great. That was an amazing fight."

"Ahem." I whipped my head up, my wet hair flipping up and slapping uncomfortably against my back as I saw Clay clearing his voice loudly from across the battlefield. "Appreciate the concern for yer Pokemon little missy, but do get off the battlefield."

Blushing, I grabbed Miles and stuffed them into my backpack, shuffling back to my place off the arena. "Sorry about that," I mumbled. I still haven't gotten my early license, so I don't actually have a Pokeball for Miles. That hasn't been a problem before, but I hope I don't get questioned about it here.

Dun had been waiting outside his Pokeball patiently by my side, and when I gave him a nod, he jumped onto the battlefield, letting loose a hiss of anticipation at his foe. For her part, Drillbur sharpened her claws aggressively before giving Dun a 'come get it' gesture.

"Ready?" Clay drawled, and I nodded. "Begin!"

"Glare!" With what was slowly becoming my signature opening, Dun affixed her with a vicious stare, and her body started twitching and spasming.

"Run 'em down," the Gym Leader shouted, and Drillbur launched herself into a spin, forcing her resistant muscles to tear up the ground as she charged toward me. Dun knew the Move well, having practiced it often, and rolled out of the way from a direct hit. The Ground Type was able to fling the dirt she tore up fairly far, however, still winging him.

"Strafe and Hyper Voice," I calmly said, bracing for the next wave of sound. This one hurt my ears less, not exactly because Dun's wail was any quieter than Miles (his lesser Special Attack was made up for by the Same-Type-Attack-Bonus), but probably an adjustment in the arena shielding by the Gym Psychics.

Of course, that only helped us outside the battlefield - Drillbur was subject to the full force of his attack and was thrown off by it. Combined with the Paralysis and her attacks were going further off course.

Not keen to let this go on further, Clay stomped one of his cowboy boots against the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust. "Git outta there! Dig!" Eager to escape the sonic barrage, Drillbur carved a hole in the ground with her spade-like claws and dived in.

That's what I'm waiting for! "Earthquake!" I cried triumphantly. It was one of Dun's strongest Moves and way stronger against a target within the ground.

Before Dun could even slap his body onto the ground Drillbur was already pushing out from the ground. The shaking waves of earth still smacked into her, but she was a pro at moving through unstable grounds, racing across the field to close with Dun.

"Didja reckon I couldn't see that coming? I felt that little feller's strength all the way up there." Clay laughed boisterously. Gah, should have realized such a simple counter would have been anticipated by a Gym Leader. "Now break that snake like a stack o bricks!" Raising a claw wreathed in orangish energy, she brought it down in a chop on Dun.

"Duuun!" He cried out, slithering away from the powerful mole. I've got to regain the initiative.

My opening came as Drillbur stumbled in her chase after my starter, her left leg twitching. Paralysis is still doing its job. Let's have it help us even more. "Hex," I called out and Dunsparce conjured his shades to torment the enemy, the ghastly energy pinning her in.

She cried with pain but began chasing after him again. "Hyper Voice and evade. Only Earthquake if she drops down more than three meters beneath the ground." Dun renewed his assault, this time focusing on the ground beneath us. He'll never be able to sense vibrations as well as a Ground Type can, but we've practiced that a fair bit. He can at least tell if she tries pulling a whack-a-mole like last time, and if she goes deeper, Earthquake will finish her off.

"Ya sure like those Moves, dontcha? Leaves you mighty predictable" Clay grumbled, and I laughed.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I fired back. Indeed, he didn't seem to have many answers for that right now, Drillbur trying to chase after Dun with her hands over the sides of her head. The Paralysis slowing her down meant she couldn't close the gap with Dunsparce, who was taking deep breaths and letting loose powerful wails every few seconds.

They have similar Moves, but Dun and Miles handle them pretty differently. Dun is a lot slower than Miles, so he can only keep up this moving assault because of how omnidirectional Hyper Voice is and the Normal Typing letting him draw the energy for that Move fast. Despite the fact Miles learned Hex from Dun, their original Ghost Type lets them draw on the energy faster than Dun can. They would be able to zip around the battlefield and blast Drillbur with Hex repeatedly. Still, I think this can net us a win here.

"Well I'll be…" Clay gasped as a light on the battlefield pulled in both of our attentions. Drillbur was surrounded by a brilliant glow, so bright we couldn't make out the details but everyone knew what was happening. Her glowing body shifted and grew until it ended in a flash and a whole new Pokemon stood before our eyes.

"Excadrill!" She shouted her name, raising her new steely gray claws in the air. The claws were larger than before, proportional to her new, bigger body, and with jagged spikes jutting out over the middle claws on each hand. She had an additional protrusion of metal sticking out over her head, the steel horn covering her tapered face like a deadly hoodie. Her fur was now more dark brown with splotches of red on it.

Dun valiantly tried to continue the attack from before, but his Hyper Voice had much less effect now that she had added Steel Type to her Ground Typing. "Back to Hex," I tried, only to be met by a powerful Drill Run that Dun avoided by a far narrower margin than the last one and ended up bruising him a bit more as the churned dirt smashed into him.

Hex did way less damage than last time, evolution must have removed Paralysis. "Glare!" I called out, hoping to hit her again, but the Gym Leader didn't even need to give out a command for Excadrill to lower her gaze and avoid Dun's stare, her new hood/horn obscuring the line of sight between them. She gave a quick Slash as well, her claws cutting a shallow line through my starter's scales and causing him to hiss and shift away from her while she still couldn't see him.

"Rapid Spin!" At Clay's command, Excadrill hopped up, spinning midair and landing with her claws pointed down together. She began rotating around, not digging through the ground but starting to spin like a top. Spinning around, she began cutting a path to Dun.

"Protect." Dun rushed into the blow, stopping just before her and covering himself in a barrier that halted her attack and sent her rebounding back. Excadrill wasn't too shaken by the Move, but he'd knocked her out of the attack before she could get her speed boost. His initiative and precision were great there, we've got an opening too we wouldn't usually get with such a Move.

"Earthquake," I called out, trying to use that new Steel Type to my advantage. Unfortunately, Clay wouldn't be taken out so easily.

"Jump an' git to the side." Her new, powerful legs had her soaring up, well above the shaking earth as she carved a handhold in the side of the wall, waiting out the aftershocks. Gotta pivot fast here.

"Nestle down." It's difficult to switch between the energy Types so radically opposed, but if he can, we might just turn things around. The earth was still shaking beneath Dun as he flapped his wings and curled into a circle as if landing down and nesting. Then I saw it, the cuts on his body starting to heal. Yes!

Our opponents weren't going to let this go without anything to say, and what they had to say was: "Crush Claw!" Excadrill flung herself from the wall, landing right beside Dun and moving to squeeze him between her claws. My Pokemon slithered out, but not without a fair few lacerations and many cracked scales. Any hit past this point is going to land even harder now, and she already hits like a truck.

"Drill Run!" At my command, Dun instantly reversed direction, tail spinning around and cutting through the dirt. He slammed into Excadrill, knocking her head over rear as the Ground Type attack did massive damage.

Not enough to take her out though, as she flipped herself back onto her feet, then began chucking rocks to rain down upon Dun. He avoided most of the boulders as they cascaded down, but one or two clipped him, and his wing was bent from the blow. One more good hit and he's out. She's not doing great either, however. Yawn or status set-up would take too long, I'll go on offense.

Once again I called out "Drill Run," And Dun began his attack cycle, spinning towards her. He gave some cry as he charged her, causing the otherwise unflappable Excadrill to blink and take a step back in sheer confusion. "I knew telling him about the Prequel Trilogy was a mistake," I muttered.

"Stand firm, Protect!" Clay called out and this time my Pokemon was the one rebounding off the transparent blue hexagonal barrier. "End o' tha line, Brick Break!"

"Protect!" I shouted out desperately, and Dun managed to conjure the shield just before her Fighting Type arm would have knocked him unconscious. As the Move ended, I cried "Earthquake!"

Point blank, there wouldn't be enough time to jump away, but Clay surprised me, giving his own command the same instant I gave mine. "Protect," he called again, and she proved herself to be just as effective with it as Dun was, the barrier covering her in a sphere and blocking the earth-shaking straight below from affecting her.

"Horn Drill!"

"Protect! Then Earthquake."

"Protect. Crush Claw."

"Protect, followed with Drill Run."

Back and forth we clashed, neither side able to land a decisive blow. I could hear the guests above whispering, wondering why the battle was so boring. They don't get it. This is incredibly tense, a series of lightning-fast duels testing our reflexes to their limits.

Not just reflexes, but also strategies, something Clay proved as we pivoted to his attack. When the shield dropped, he punched his fist out and called "Sandstorm!"

At the same time, I called "Protect!" Too late to abort it, Dun rendered himself immobile by shielding himself, while his opponent scraped her claws about in the ground, spinning in a quick circle and throwing the dust she had carved up in the air. Within half a second, the dirt was picked up by a sudden air current, and a few seconds after that, more dirt was picked up by the wind, making a full-fledged Sandstorm.

"Ag- Earthquake," I aborted my original plan, seeing Clay waiting. He only called for Protect after I had stopped calling for Agility. He got me good there.

The sandstorm was chipping away at Dun when he made his attacks now, while Excadrill was unaffected by it. My vision was getting obscured by it as well, but it was sharp enough that I could see cracks starting to form as Dun's Protect fields weathered Excadrill's attacks while her own remained strong. I can't keep going like this. But what can I do? I doubt Dun can even see me well enough to see any hand signals now, and we're locked in this battle. Something needs to… change.

"Alright Dun, drill into her, as hard as you can!" I yelled over the storm within. I saw Clay shaking his head as he called for another Protect. You think it's over, you think we can't survive another attack, and you'd be right. Dunsparce's tail dug through the ground as he charged at the armed mole. The earth splashed off her shield, and it still held as his tail impacted it, spinning around fruitlessly.

Clay was waiting for the moment my attack lost momentum to give the command to attack, but we weren't going to let that happen. "Spin harder, faster, stronger!" Dun kept up the assault, spinning fruitlessly against the immovable barrier. "You can do it, yours is the drill that can pierce the unbreakable. More. MOAR!"

Dun lacked the leverage, the body needed to spin fast enough to break through a Protect. But Pokemon are impossible beings, and when the need is great enough, they can change to adapt to the challenges they face. They can evolve.

For the second time in this battle, a Pokemon was surrounded by a brilliant white light. This time it was Dun, his glowing outline shifting and changing. His drill tail was now topped by a smaller blue drill segment connected to the larger yellow one, and his body grew another torso segment, and then another one after that.

"DUDUNSPARCE!!!" Dun gave a triumphant cry as his now quite lengthy spinning body pushed forward, shattering the Protect like it was a thin sheet of glass. The Hyper Drill ground into Excadrill, driving her back to the edge of the arena. She hit the end of the field and collapsed down. She didn't rise back, and Clay recalled her.

Everything was quiet for a few seconds, save for Dun's heavy panting as the Sandstorm died down. Then Clay gave out a deep laugh. "Ghahaha! Feels great, don't it? Ta go all out - even if you still lose!" The crowd above began cheering wildly, clapping and shouting at the finish.

"Yes!" I called out, running to Dun and hugging him. "We did it! We beat our first-ever Gym Leader!"


Nemona wins her first not-really-but-kinda-actually Gym Battle! I hope that all felt reasonable to you, Dun evolving really helped, though Miles might have been the Most Valuable Pokemon here; Wash Form simply left Clay without a lot of the options he usually uses for challengers of this level.

As a side note, I just want to give an extra thank everyone who reads this. Personal stuff has been really rough recently, so seeing everyone's support and enjoyment of this helps a bunch.

Nemona's Current Team:

Spoiler

-'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

- '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
 
Chapter 30
Dragging my drenched self up, I gave Dun a few Potions and returned him to his ball to rest up after a hard-fought battle. Clay beckoned me over and I walked across the battlefield to the Gym Leader. "Well played, little miss- Nemona," the large man said, tipping his hat to me.

"Thank you, Leader Clay. Your team was great. I didn't know Drillbur could get Mold Breaker."

Lacey walked up, completely dry as she had been standing back, outside of the rain zone. "Really? My Drillbur has it too."

"He's a special one, your Drillbur," Clay said. "That there is their Hidden Ability. Only a couple a Drillburs ever manage to learn it." Lacey nodded at her father's words looking down at her starter with newfound wonder in her eyes.

"Wow… Still, I can't believe that you lost Daddy!" Her high-pitched voice carried up, and I thought I heard a few chuckles from above at that as Clay winced. Might as well help the guy out, especially after our great match.

"It's kinda a Gym Leader's job to lose. They only give an appropriate challenge for the trainer's level. Dun and Miles did great, but they wouldn't have stood a chance if he had used even a 6 badge challenge team." Clay gave a small shrug at my words.

"Might be oversimplifyin' things a bit much there, but ya ain't wrong. Still, me and my Drill- Excadrill fought hard to get where we are, and that battle was tha greatest gift ya could have given us today." He caught my gaze, looking seriously at me. "Yer gonna go far, I ken see that now. Ya beat me fair and square, so I've got something for ya."

From his pocket, he pulled out two objects passing them over to me. One was a Technical Machine, a thin brown disc. The other was a small, mostly vertical piece of metal with a gold outline. The inside sections were a scale of browns and grays, one section slightly shifted off the other. A gym badge.

Flipping it over, I saw a small note inscribed on the back saying something: "Not for official use?" I asked aloud. It's also engraved with his signature too.

"I can't give ya a real badge as ya ain't signed up for the Gym circuit this season. Still, ya earned it in my books, I came at you full hog and ya came out smellin like daisies!" I glanced at my sopping wet self and just raised an eyebrow, much to the amusement of Lacey, trying her best (read: Not great as a seven-year-old) attempt at concealing her amusement. Clay just waved me off. "Ya know what I mean! I hope it'll make fer a nice reminder of our battle. The TM for Bulldoze too. Might not be as strong as yer Earthquake but-"

"It can cripple movement and lower speed! There are some good uses for it." I said excitedly before stopping myself and giving him a small bow. "I will, thank you for the match." Clay offered his hand out to me and I shook it, the crowd above us cheering wildly.

With the match concluded, we stepped onto the lift and began rising back up. Lacey said rather suddenly partway up "It's still really impressive ya won against Daddy. You're the same age as me, and I couldn't do that!"

Before I could say anything, Clay added his two cents. "Good eye my girl, Nemona here is quite gifted. We'd love ta see ya compete in the actual gym circuit. I bet a prodigy like you would turn quite a few heads." That elicited a bittersweet smile from me. Not all heads would turn in awe. I'm well aware that plenty will turn into envy and loathing.

Still, the offer to compete in the Unovan Gym Circuit from one of their leaders was tempting. Black was one of my favorite games, and this land would be great to explore. In the end, though, I shook my head. "Maybe in a few years. I want to try out the circuit at home first."

He nodded and Lacey clasped her hands together, begging. "You'll have to tell me all about it!"

Flustered, I scratched the back of my head. "I hadn't been thinking of trying it soon or anything, but sure, I'd love to stay in touch. Miles-" Wait, they're still out of it. Flushing lightly at my gaff I pulled out the uninhabited phone case and sent her my number. I didn't have time to do much else before we reached the top and the awaiting crowd descended upon us.

***

My parents and sister were the first ones there hugging me, congratulating me, and bragging loudly about how I "Showed true Glitterati spirit out there!" Even they couldn't hold off the horde forever though, and eventually, I found myself inundated with questions and comments.

One of the first was an elderly gentleman with an impressive mustache who asked me: "What breeder did you get that Dunsparce from?"

"Uh, no breeder. I just found him on the beach one day."

"Really? Fascinating." Ehh, not that fascinating. Any Pokemon can achieve greatness with enough training. I agree Dun is great, but it's not that crazy a concept.

"We've been training together for over a year now."

A young blonde woman cut into the conversation. "Oh, you have to tell us your training method! My cousin, he reached the top eight of the Vertress Conference two years ago."

"Oh really? That's cool, I entered a Junior Tournament back home. Made it to the semi-finals before DQ, but the judge was-"

"Yes, my cousin's the Anthony Zabraski, you may have heard of him," the woman interrupted me. "He said he needed to train daily with Power Braces on all of his Pokemon, is that true?"

"Well, some people might-"

"But Tony always takes the time to carefully care for his Zebstrika's fur. It's so important and…"

Recognizing that she was going to keep on going on like this I slipped away while she was still too enamored by the sound of her own voice to notice my disappearing act. The rest of the guests did not, however, many more hounded me with questions. More often than not it was just to get their photos taken with me and occasionally Dun.

I wasn't the only one under a lot of scrutiny, plenty of people going to talk to Clay about the match. There were a lot of people congratulating him for the show or appreciating the match, the look at what a gym battle was like. Some of their comments were a bit more critical, though not of Clay…

"I didn't even know Dunsparce could evolve." A voice carried out through the crowd to my ears. It was soon joined by another, deeper voice.

"Not much to look at though, just a bit longer. It was quite nice of Clay to let the little girl win, but I fear she'll develop a bad mindset if she thinks she can truly succeed with that."

At this point, I had to drop down and hug Dun. Many people thought it was a cute photo and snapped a few shots with their Rotom Phones, not realizing I was barely holding back my starter from ending that man who insulted him. "It's alright Dun, don't listen to the haters."

Part of why I was stopping him was the fact that I could hear the angry exhale from Clay as he heard the ignorant guests voice their opinions next to him. As expected, a minute later he was tearing a (verbal) strip off of them, quite loudly too. The two rude guests were tripping over themselves to apologize and practically running away from the party in shame.

I doubt they'll be able to show their faces again in 'polite society' for a while. At least not till the gossip mill kicks up something else good. I didn't like them insulting Dun and was quite happy to hear Clay tell them off, overhearing so many other guests whispering about them, talking about how they were going to tell everyone and what it might mean for them in the future made me feel uncomfortable.

"Dudun?" Dun asked and I shook my head helplessly.

"Nothing important just… I'm glad they got a comeuppance, but annoyed with why. Not because what they said was wrong, but because Clay was the one to call them out."

"Ar?" He tilted his large head at me. Looking down at him, I noticed him shifting his body around, getting accustomed to his extra length and trying to avoid bowling over anyone behind him with his new segments and longer tail.

"He's more famous and important than them, so their social status is hurt. Not because what they said was wrong, which it was, but just because of who called them out. It's annoying because it isn't… right."

"It's good to have a solid moral framework." A new voice said, and turning around I saw a man in a white suit with the oddest hair I'd ever seen. It was mostly yellow, with a few gray hairs poking through on the top, but then there was this long blue strand of hair that looped up around one side of his head and all the way around to the other before swooping down.

"Um, hello?" I said, somewhat distracted by his hair. Why does that feel familiar? It's so weird, I can't have ever seen that style before, right?

"I noticed you brought out your Dudunsparce's power quite well. They're a species known for running away at the first sign of trouble, as well as being somewhat rare in general. There's very few cases of them evolving in the wild, so I'm curious as to what you did to bring out his power to that point."

"Oh, well I've added special nutrients to his diet and made good use of Technical Machines, his Normal Typing giving him a wide range. Though, it's about his drive. He wanted to become strong, so I did my best to let him grow. We train daily, consistently working on getting stronger together, and, well, here we are." I finished reaching down to scratch the top of his head.

"Duun." My starter warbled, and the strange man smiled at us.

"I see. Thank you for satiating my curiosity. If you'll excuse me." He then walked past us, heading straight out of the party. Wonder who that guy is?

***

"I can't believe I didn't recognize him!" I wailed for the umpteenth time to Miles the next day. After my family made our excuses to leave (mostly by citing me, who hadn't had the chance to deal with all the water and being soaked) we went back to the hotel. By the morning, Miles was already back and ready, inhabiting their phone once more.

When I awoke in my hotel room, I told them about what happened after they were knocked unconscious, they helped me go through some of my memories and pointed out who the mystery man sounded like. "Colress, just there, hanging out at a party. I wonder what he was even doing there?"

"Bzzt, perhaps he got invited to the party because he helped with some of the construction below?" Miles guessed. "Though I haven't seen any sign of him being listed on the team that's working on that, bzzt."

I shook my head. "Not a bad idea, honestly. Colress may not be an architect or a construction worker, but he's one of the smartest people aside from Pokemon Professors. Probably even including them. He's likely a bit of a touchy subject around here." Understatement of the century there.

"Why?" Miles inquired.

"He used to be on an evil team. Heck, used to run it, sorta, for a time."

"Whaaaat?" Miles shrieked so loud I winced a bit. Ok, maybe some downsides to teaching them Hyper Voice. "Bzzzzzt, how can you be calm knowing you were around a man like that?"

I shrugged. "That was a long time ago. Besides, he's always been a researcher more than anything else. He worked with Team Plasma to find ways to strengthen Pokemon, not because he ever agreed with their goals, but as a means to his ends."

"So, is he a bad guy, bzzt?" Miles asked, confused.

"That's… complicated. I don't think he is, not anymore at least. He seems to have reformed after the end of his time with Team Plasma in most media. In Ultra Sun and Moon, he even helps the player stop Rainbow Rocket. That uh, probably didn't happen in this reality," I added sheepishly. The Ultra Wormholes and any crisis on Alola aren't talked about much online, so I can't be certain. "I don't think he'd just be going to parties if he was still a wanted criminal, so he must have made some deals with the League."

Part of me wondered what those deals would entail, and why he was so interested in Dun. I mean, bringing out a Pokemon's power is generally what he's always been looking for. It's funny, I wonder if, in a different time or situation, he would have just been an unnamed scientist working in the background, making battle items or the like. What people have accomplished with those is kinda insane.

"Enough of that for now, you gotta see what happened to Dun!" I said brightly. In telling Miles what had occurred, I had glossed over Dun's evolution to leave it a surprise. Holding up my Pokeball I said: "Presenting-"

"He evolved, didn't he bzzt?" Miles interrupted me.

"Wha- how?!" At that, Dun released himself from the Pokeball, his new body taking up much more space and leaving me feeling a bit crowded by the hotel bed and dresser. He glared up at Miles, the plasmic Pokemon vibrating mischievously.

"Bzzt, apologies, but it was fairly obvious. You said he was on the verge of evolving for a while now, and it sounded like quite the tough battle between him and that Excadrill. She beat me even as a Drillbur."

"Du. Sparce dun." Dun fired back, causing Miles to figuratively puff up.

"Bzzzzzzt, I was tired from handling the other two, I could have taken her down if it wasn't for that!" I chuckled at their competitiveness, glad to see they were still getting along, in their vitriolic fashion. Then Miles took a better look at him and his ghostly jaw dropped. "Th-three segments! Then that means…"

That this is the Dunsparce the real Nemona would have picked? "It could be. Could still be random chance, 1 in 100, and all that. But whether you're 'the same' Dudunsparce that would have been picked or not, I feel like this is a sign. A sign that we're on the right track, and that you're going to be the best." Dun nuzzled into me affectionately at my words of support, his new mass nearly enough to knock me over. "Whoa!"

"Dudun." He said, and I couldn't fully understand his message, but knew that he was proud to be standing at my side as well.

Wiping my eyes as they got a bit watery I said: "Alright guys, let's head out. There's bound to be a bunch to see here." Miles returned to my pocket for the time being, while Dun was happy to stretch his 'legs', so to speak. At almost five meters in length, he was large enough that he had to curl around a few times to fit in the elevator alongside me. Well, at least he still fits. Means I should be able to have him out when I need to fight Turo.

The hotel we were staying at was incredibly fancy, as to be expected given my family. Marble columns dotted the entrance hall, a fountain in the center, and the dining room was set up with a grand buffet.

Cyan waved me over to the table she and my parents were at. While they had all seen and admired Dun's new stature, Popplio hadn't been out to see it yet. When he did, he backed up a bit, slightly nervous around the large Pokemon peeking out behind Cyan's legs. He soon realized it was his old friend when Dun gave a low "Dun. Dudun." In no time at all the Water Type had scampered onto Dun's back and was riding him around the dining hall.

"They seem happy," my sister commented as she finished up her breakfast. Mom and Dad were already done with theirs, so I must have slept in a bit from all of the excitement of the night before.

"I think Dun will be on cloud nine for at least a week. I can't wait to get to training and see how strong he's gotten!" We got a minor glimpse last night, but the battle ended immediately afterward. There are more Moves he can learn now, from Technical Machines and naturally. His strength and toughness will have improved tons, but there will be general improvements all around. Then there are the little things, like checking how his flexibility and general range of motion have changed, we'll need to-

My musings were cut off by my mother clearing her throat rather pointedly. "Yes, that's all good and well dear, but…"

As my mother trailed off, Billy valiantly picked up. "Your Glitterati spirit shines brightly, but there's such a thing as shining too much, you understand? A candle that burns at both ends-"

"We're giving you an intervention," Cyan deadpanned. Our parents nodded their heads at that.

"What? Wait what?" I was having trouble wrapping my head around the words they were saying. Taking a moment, I sat down at the table they had commandeered, suspecting this might take a minute.

"You train waaaaaay too much." Cyan clarified, stretching her arms out wide as if to emphasize just how much I was training. "You and Dun, and Miles too, all train every day." She gave me a sad look and added "Just, take a break."

"I do take breaks. I would never work Dun or Miles too hard," I defended. "And look at all the time I spend not training now! I do martial arts and music, and look up things online…"

O'Nare said, "Nemona honey, training yourself still counts as training."

My sister unhelpfully added "And most of the stuff you look up online is just to help train further." I couldn't help but wince at that. Sometimes I look up mechanical designs or scientific discoveries or global politics… ok, that is a lot of work, especially from the perspective of me being a seven-year-old.

"Ok, it is a lot, but… think of how many people want to be a Champion? I have to work that hard if I want to reach my dream."

"Ah, to see our daughter dreaming so far, it's…" My father caught a glimpse of my mother shaking her head. "A wonderful example of youthful enthusiasm that may need slight curbing." With a sigh, he added "We want you to know we're oh so proud of you, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't take the time to take a break."

"Even trainers like that Hassel fellow take time off," O'Nare added, and I reluctantly nodded.

"Still-" My words were cut off by Dun knocking his head into my side. He underestimated his strength, so what was meant to be a gentle prod became a force that sent me toppling off. Luckily, he was fast enough to correct this, whipping his body around and letting me bounce off his soft scales.

"Dun dun." He replied solemnly and my eyes nearly fell out of my sockets.

"You? You're telling me I ought to take a break?" I asked incredulously, recalling the hissy fit he had thrown before when I had suggested taking it easy before. He at least had the decency to look sheepish at that but added:

"Arce."

"Yeah, I get it." At my family's questioning looks I clarified "Dun just said 'Yeah, and if I'm saying it, then maybe it's important.' Or 'maybe I know what I'm talking about.' Something along those lines at least." Dun nodded his head, agreeing that I had gotten the gist of what he was saying. We've gotten a lot better at understanding each other, but I have no clue how someone like N managed to be perfectly fluent in Pokemon.

"Ah, our youngest has the heart of a true Glitterati to be able to understand the heart of her Pokemon so!"

"Thanks, Mom," I said with a small smile as I tried to adapt to this. "Ok, vacation, vacation. What to do on a vacation…" I thought out loud for a minute before an idea came to me. "Hey, could we go to Nimbasa City? I heard they have a huge amusement park there-"

"That's a wonderful idea! Oh, to see the dazzling sights from atop the Ferris wheel!" Billy interrupted.

"I want to go on the go-carts," Cyan added.

"It's settled then," O'Nare declared. "To Nimbasa City we go!"

"Thanks, guys, I really appreciate it- wait, don't start leaving already! I still need to pack up my things and get some food!"

***

Shortly thereafter, we were heading over to Nimbasa City. Can't believe they considered taking the private jet to the next-door city. I managed to argue them out of it by pointing out we could see some of the sights as we went across the bridge connecting Driftveil to Nimbasa, so they ordered a limousine to take us across.

While supposedly not as incredible as the Skyarrow Bridge (which I could only agree with based on my memories of the games, not reality), the Driftveil Drawbridge still had quite the view. Small ships passed beneath, alongside all sorts of Water Pokemon drifting atop the waves. Off in the distance, massive freighters held back waiting for the people like us to finish crossing so the bridge could be raised and they could pass through.

Nimbasa looked like a nice and festive city, with many lights and streamers hanging about. A lot like Mesagoza actually, though I imagine they look way different during the night, given all the lights here. Electric Types were a common sight, Emolgas gliding from wire to wire. I wonder what's done to regulate Electric Types in cities? In a place like this, they have Elesa, the Electric Gym Leader, but other cities must draw the attention of Electric Types as well, given their nature.

There were all manner of attractions we passed by as we went East through town. Contests, Movie studios, and even the Gym. My hand itched towards Dun's Pokeball at the last one, but I forced it down. Time to have tons of fun, like… on the Ferris Wheel!

I could see it in the distance and the thing was massive. "Wow." That was all I could say. My sister was a tad more eloquent.

"Quite the unique design, it's over a hundred meters tall. Do you want to ride it?"

"I do, but maybe later. It's just noon now, I think it'll be best at sunset or in the evening." Our driver pulled to a stop at the entrance to the amusement park. We were so close we were blocking the way for people to get in or out. I feel like this is illegal, but I guess that isn't a problem when you're rich. We got off and I made sure to leave quickly to try and encourage the driver to get out of the way soon.

"Saving it for the evening sounds good. So where to first?" My sister asked.

"The rollercoaster! C'mon!" I shouted running a few meters ahead only to turn back and see our parents had stopped still, shocked by what lay before them.

"My word, could it be…?"

"So many commoners…"

"All together!?"

They shouted the last line in unison, looking like they had just stumbled upon a Legendary.

"I think they've got their distraction," I said wryly, which caused my sister to nod her head and laugh.

"Alright, let's go!"

"Pop!"

"Dun!"

The rides were a bunch of fun, reminding me of the amusement parks and rides I had gone on in my past life. Almost everything felt exhilarating and great, from tossing my hands up as the rollercoaster looped around, to dancing through the hall of mirrors, to racing up and down a massive jungle gym-type structure.

The slight issue with it was that Dun could not join us for the attractions themselves. Popplio was only allowed on a couple where he could be properly secured (so not the rollercoaster), but Dun was just too big now to go with us on most of them. He didn't seem too upset by that however as he slithered by my side between each attraction, catching the eyes and phone cameras of many passersby.

"Wow, you're sure popular, aren't you?" I said and he preened at the throng looking at him, letting out a deep growl. "I guess they don't have many Dunsparce here, let alone a Dudunsparce." Unova in the games had few other regional Pokemon to be found in the wild, and while that had changed over time with greater globalization, my research said that outside of a few sites, that trend persisted.

We got sugary snacks from the stands nearby as we spent the day just relaxing and enjoying all the attractions. Miles was small enough to go with us on the rides, but given their ability to levitate, didn't get the same experience we ground-bound people did. Still, they were content to spectate and take pictures, something I made sure to thank them for. I always get too caught up in the moment when vacationing to take pictures myself, but I love looking at them afterward.

Eventually, the day was coming to a close and we managed to meet up with our parents, who had gathered handfuls of 'commoner autographs' which they were treated like prized possessions. At least they've stopped gawking at every passerby. With them, we headed to the Ferris wheel.

This ride was actually big enough for Dun to fit on, and the rest of us, if we all squeezed a bit and no one else was on with us. Given it was one of the busiest times of operation, I thought this might be a challenge when I voiced the thought to my family, but apparently not for a Glitterati.

"You two commoners. Yes, you two," my Mother called out while Cyan and I cringed at O'Nare's behavior. "We will be needing the entirety of this capsule for our family," she stated imperiously. "Please take these pearls as recompense for sacrificing your spots," she added, pulling out two large strings of pearls.

The teenagers she was talking to exchanged a glance and quickly snatched the pearls, stepping off of the ride to let us go.

Dad was wooing about her generosity while the door closed and I released Dun. He squeezed around over the floor and chairs but was able to lift his head to the window and stare outside. Slowly we rose as the wheel turned and we were presented with a gorgeous vision of purples, reds, and oranges on the horizon as we stared out at the setting sun.

"Duuuu."

"You said it, Dun," I agreed before glancing at my family as caught up with the wonder of it all as I was. "It's incredible." I sat down on top of Dun and we watched the natural light fade, only to be replaced by the dazzling glitter of the artificial lights that covered the city below.


Bit of a breather chapter after the big battle. Nemona is good at working hard, but even she needs to take some breaks on her road to the top. Thanks again everyone for reading my story, I know I'm not perfect at responding to everyone, but it really makes my day to read all your comments.
 
Chapter 31
The amusement park was not the only attraction we saw in our time in Unova. We traveled all about, visiting the different cities of my father's homeland. Occasionally, I'd know some sight or monument and feel a twinge of nostalgia and faint remembrance. Did I see these sights in my life here before I remembered my past life, or were these just images on pixels that were close enough to pull at some muddled memory?

Those thoughts caught my mind at times, but they didn't hurt as much as they might have a year or two prior. Humans were quite adaptable, and I had grown to accept my (honestly quite comfortable) life.

One of the places we visited was one of the big film studios. My family's connections gave us a pass wherever we wanted to go, and we got the chance to meet several stars. There were the human actors of course, but also plenty of Pokemon stars as well. Usually, those Pokemon wore some kind of accessory or would be actively filmed to help tell them apart from the other Pokemon working on the sets.

I'd been on film sets occasionally in my past life, and other than the Pokemon it worked much the same here as it did there.That alone was a big change, in terms of scripts with there being a Pokemon script for all the Pokemon watching that often had ever-so-slightly different messages for the Pokemon audience than the human one. There was also the special effects they could manage and one other obvious change. "Everyone does their own stunts?"

"Of course. Why would it be otherwise?" The director I was standing nearby answered. She had been introduced to us at the start of our tour as Director Z, and according to Cyan was a woman with a bold new style for many of her films that had won her much acclaim and criticism.

She was a short woman dressed in black jeans, a black shirt with striking long red hair, wearing a distinctive pair of glasses and had piercing light blue eyes. The cast seemed to have taken a small break from filming, while some of the actors were waiting on the sides going over their lines and memorizing their marks while they waited for another take.

"I just wondered what would happen if they got tired or the like. Some of the Pokemon aren't battlers, but they have to do a Move over and over again as the scene gets reshot." I pointed out to the director, though I was already piecing together where my assumptions had misled me. This isn't like my world where you want stunt doubles trained for the action scenes. They have Pokemon and Potions that can heal most accidents that would happen on set.

"We do have understudies, if something happens to our stars, and plenty of Ethers stored up, on the offhand chance we need them. If need be we have our movie magic to fill in any holes in the production. I used to be a Special Effects manager before moving on to directing. We don't need to make up for such things often, however. Our actors are used to long days and plenty of hard work, much like your Pokemon, trainer. Though that doesn't excuse being sloppy with their lines!"

She said the last sentence louder and directed at an Emolga who had been running over some of his lines.

The electric-squirrel Pokemon looked sheepishly at us, saying: "Emol, olga-" before cutting off his protestations at the director's sharp glare. He started speaking to himself again, going over the lines. While I didn't know Emolga well enough to understand the differences between before and now, from the way the director nodded her head, I assumed that he was doing them 'right' now.

"I see, your illusions must come in quite handy with this work."

I wasn't looking directly at her, but I saw 'Z' stiffen out of the corner of my eye. I also must have been louder than I thought, as every head in the studio (save my family who was a bit distracted over by the makeup department) turned to face me. "Ah. Um…" Was that a secret? Should I have not said anything? Crud, abort, abort!

Before I could try and spin a plausible misdirection, the director dropped her visual illusion, revealing her true Zoroark self there. "How did you spot me?" She asked, a hint of bemusement in her voice. Ok, whew, didn't out her.

"A couple of things. You understood Emolga very well, commented on my status as a Trainer oddly, and the lights are being moved all around." Pointing at her shadow I said, "Your shadow moves about half a second behind the lights." Also, your illusionary clothes make you look just like a Zoroark and your name is 'Director Z' for crying out loud!

"Hehehehe," she laughed. "Good eye, young one, it will serve you well in the future." Don't I know it. The potential of flight is very tempting, but honestly, enhanced senses are a huge advantage as a trainer, I was really lucky with my Aura. Or did my Aura form that way as a result of my desires? So many questions.

She waved for the others to continue and took me to the side. "Were there any other questions you had for me?"

"Well, the first is, why hide your identity?"

"Some people can be overly judgemental of a Pokemon in a position usually held by humans. I trust my staff but for outsiders, I'll don an illusion to greet them. Also, it's fun to see if they figure it out or continue cluelessly." Despite hearing her voice clearly as human speech, I could pick out a quiet echo of her 'Pokespeak' underneath, the sounds she was actually making.

"That's some impressive illusive control," I commented. "They can't see what I can either?" I asked, jerking my head towards my family. She nodded. "Whoa. And you got your start in special effects?"

"I started as a Gopher when I was just a kit. Had to work my way up from the bottom after… Plasma." I winced.

"Ouch, that sounds rough."

"It's fine," she said automatically. "My trainer decided the words of a delusional fool and the public sentiment were worth more than my own desires, so I decided that she was right and maybe I didn't need her. And I didn't; it was hard, but look at me now - I'm a director in PokeWood studios, one of the greatest in all the world." There was pride and sadness in her words, an old wound I'd tripped over that still hurt.

"Yeah, you have." Silence reigned awkwardly for a minute before I bowed. "Thank you for giving us this tour. I'm looking forward to seeing the film when it comes out." I thought 'A Dance among the Heavens' was a bit overblown as a name and romance wasn't my favorite genre, but I was still interested to see it now. Much like machines, it's fascinating to get a look underneath the finished product and see how it all looks and compare the two.

"It was no problem. I'm looking forward to seeing your career as well. Dun has already become quite a hit online."

"Really?" I guess people were recording the match, but I didn't think it'd be anything that special.

"Oh yes, it was quite the stir. A little girl defeating a Gym Leader? And in a serious battle? That doesn't happen every day." I nodded, the reasoning making sense. A few more pieces also clicked into place as to why people might have been paying so much attention to Dun that was deeper than just 'rare Pokemon from another region'. "Plus," she added, "he is quite photogenic."

"Thanks, but I don't think he's looking to get into cinema any time soon." I said, and she pulled her teeth back in a facsimile of a smile that seemed to say 'That's so adorable'.

"Not what I meant, but if you do ever feel the desire to be on the big screen, give my people a call." She pulled out a business card hidden within her fur and passed it to me.

Feel like I missed something there, but oh well. "Thanks," I took the card, holding it up to Miles to enter in the contact info. Soon after that, I rejoined my family and we continued our tour of the studios.

***

"You sure about this?" The pilot asked me for the umpteenth time. I wasn't annoyed, however; there was no room for that with the nervousness and excitement building up within me.

"I'm sure." Cyan had gone with my parents to a fashion show by Elesa and I hadn't really felt like going to that, so now I had the free time to try out my experiment.

"Alright, strap in until we tell you it's safe." She headed to the cockpit leaving me sitting in the passenger section of our jet. Shortly thereafter, I felt the plane begin to lift off, and I closed my eyes, trying to meditate.

Feel the air around me, feel the rise, the essence of flight. It's all around me, and all around the world. Types are fundamental building blocks of the world, literally. Each one is inscribed on a Plate somewhere, connected to the Creator. Pokemon feel and use this Type through Aura. I can use Aura. I am one with the Flying and the Flying is one with me? Scratch that, come up with a better mantra.

The ride up felt so enjoyable and peaceful that I got the announcement we had reached cruising altitude in what felt like a very short time. Not that we were going to be cruising, per se. The seatbelt light was still firmly on as, after making sure there wasn't too much turbulence in the sky, we began lifting again, until eventually…

"We're beginning our first zero gravity section, you may take your seatbelt off. Go nuts," the voice came out and I unbuckled, throwing myself into the air. Even before the captain had said it, I could feel the sensation of weightlessness throughout my body. Hanging slowly in the air, I somersaulted through the empty air in the plane, giggling uncontrollably.

"Having fun, bzzt?" Miles asked, bemused as they recorded my first moments in zero gravity.

"This. Is. Awesome!" I shouted, spinning around like a leaf in the air. I had gotten the idea from a music video I had watched in my former life, how they had made it by clipping together pieces of when the plane was flying down to let the band float around as they sang. And now I can do it too, this is great!

For a moment, a split second, I felt an energy soar inside of me that I'd felt clearly just once before. No mere bliss, like a crystal clear elation that made everything sharper. As I drifted about I tried to grab it closer, study the energy within me further… only for it to escape me. Even up here, like this? No, I can't get discouraged, gotta try again.

When I had flown for the first time, the despair and confusion as I fell turned to indescribable joy as I floated to the ground, I'd felt on top of the world. Further attempts on that hill had failed, and I started to get discouraged, wondering if it was a fluke, or what the point was. There's no failure here though. Whether I make a breakthrough or not, this is awesome. I'll just keep on trying and having fun.

Any immediate attempts to try again were shut down, however, by the captain flipping on the seatbelt sign again indicating the dive time was over and we were going back down. Flipping around, I kicked off of the ceiling and dived through the air and back into my seat, just as gravity took hold extra hard.

For every chunk of time we had in the top of the parabola, there were periods of 'extra' gravity in the lifts and dives. Then a few minutes where the plane leveled out before trying again. This gave me time to strategize my approach for each segment (as well as just revel in how cool it was).

Should I focus on an attempt to do something with the energy? Maybe instead of just trying to hold it, especially in zero-g where I'm already floating, I should try to use it. Moving the air gently around the cabin seems like a good start.

The next zero-g section we went into, I lifted myself and tried to swirl the air around me. For nearly the whole thirty seconds I peacefully drifted, but… Nothing. Can't feel it this time. Next time- no, I think I'm missing something in my method here.

Settling back down, I waited again, deciding the next time not to bother with trying to hold onto or use my Aura at all, not even to focus on sensing it. I'm just going to have some fun. There was plenty of fun to be had, bouncing off the walls, spinning through the air, and just enjoying the moment.

"Bzzt, what was your goal that time?" Miles inquired, seeming confused by my methodology.

"Nothing! Just enjoying the moment." I wish I could have Dudunsparce out here with me as well. The pilots had put a strict kibosh on that, even with us promising that he wouldn't use any Moves. Unfortunately, his new size just made them too leery of the prospect. Given all the waivers I had to sign, I think they were pretty nervous about just me doing this.

"I was able to feel my Aura three times that go-round," I added, causing Miles to literally drop their jaw (they could shift the plasmic projection of a mouth downwards while keeping their eyes in one spot).

"That's excellent, Nemona bzzt!"

"Yup!" I said brightly. "I think I'm starting to see where my problem was before. Flying is an element of freedom. Trying to grab a hold of it like that wasn't working, I need to just... exist in a state of it." Easier said than done, admittedly. Even just trying to actively sense my Aura can make it slip away, so sometimes I can't even sense it. And I do need to find a way to be able to sense my energy properly. Luckily, I've got a few hours to practice here.

***

There was plenty of trial and error over the remaining few hours. I tried being still, and I moved about. There were moments when my Aura seemed to burn like a beacon, times when I would be on the cusp, noticing it in sputters, and times when I couldn't feel anything at all. I meditated thinking of nothing at all, I tried to think of everything. I played music, I danced, I even shadow-boxed against Miles to see if I could reach it through a 'fighting spirit.' Most of all, I played, just luxuriating in the feeling of weightlessness, freedom from the gravity binding me to the earth so very far below.

I did the last one the most because it proved to be the best at letting me get a sense of my Aura. As our flight was coming to an end and we began our descent, I found I could keep a good sense of my Aura, even while just chatting with Miles.

"It's not steady, there are still times when I lose focus or focus too hard and it slips up, but I have a way better grasp on it now. I can actively feel my Aura enhancing my vision and hearing now, and can tell it's always been doing that." It made me wonder if I could turn it off, or crank it up, to see and hear things even further away. That's definitely experimentation for another day, though. I'll wait to talk to Tulip before trying anything like that.

"Bzzt, that's super impressive Nemona! You're a prodigy at training yourself as well as others." They commented and I laughed.

"Not sure about that. Today has been awesome, a huge breakthrough, but I'm only doing so well because of all the practice I had before. It feels like everything I learned then is finally clicking into place."

Focusing so much on 'training' my Aura had been getting in my way. It was clear now that trying to force myself to be able to use my Aura had been an obstacle in and of itself. I believed I wasn't 'getting it' fast enough, and so pushed myself for months on end unnecessarily - no, counterproductively. I feel like there's maybe a lesson there for my life in general… Not for training Pokemon perhaps, I believed myself to have a decent grasp on the limits there and never got frustrated at the rate of my team's growth, but other things. Like my musical lessons.

Why did I even push myself so hard? My Pokemon can do so much more naturally. I mean yes, Aura is cool. It's superpowers, how could it not be? My mind flashed back to scenes of fiction from my life. I'd always adored superheroes; there was a reason why Spider-man was one of the first pieces of fiction I wished to recreate. Right, not a training goal, but a desire…

Glancing out the window I saw that we were nearing the ground, just about to land. Quickly I flicked off my seat belt, prompting a slightly nervous buzz from Miles. "Nemona, what are you doing, bzzt?"

"What I want." This isn't a 'need', just a pure desire. The joy of flight. This has been so much fun, and even if this isn't smart or I could wait, I don't want to. I want to fly. Right before we touched down, I jumped, pushing myself out of my seat and into the aisleway. Immediately I felt gravity trying to push me down, but there was a stronger force fighting against that within me.

I didn't need to 'reach out' or 'grasp it' because it was one with me. Spirit and body were aligned for a single purpose. So as the plane hit the ground, I did not, floating above the floor.

There wasn't much time to celebrate, however, as unmooring myself from gravity meant that the plane was still barreling ahead as the wheels rolled on the tarmac and I… was not. The back end of the plane raced up to reach me, Miles giving a panicked cry as I forced myself forward. Not just floating, flying ahead too! Keep pace with the plane like Miles does instinctively with his Ability!

I was panicking, passing through the curtains towards the restroom and very near the tail end of the plane. The rate at which it was getting closer was slowing down, but still increasing, and I punched my arm out as if reaching towards where I wanted to go would help me. Wait, it… it might. Straightening out my body I adopted a Superman pose, the iconic image helping me fly forward.

Passing back through the curtains, I began gaining ground, my efforts, combined with the plane slowing down let me gently drift back towards my seat. Miles was stuck, floating there and looking at me with awe. "Y-you…"

As the plane came to a full stop, I shifted my body back upright, landing down gracefully. "Yatta! I did it!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms up in the air.

Before I had time to revel too greatly in my success, spots started swarming in my vision and I felt myself getting dizzy. "Whoa, what's going on-" Then darkness took me.


And so ends the Unova mini-arc. We're not spending a huge amount of time on it for the moment, just because there are so many other things to focus on, but I hope you all enjoyed it.
 
Chapter 32 New
Groggily, I opened my eyes. "Wha- what happene-?" I began questioning before being cut off by a light slap from a glowing hand. Opening my eyes fully, I saw that Miles had done so, looking down disapprovingly at me. "What was that for?" My question was immediately answered by Dun flopping his head on top of my body. That's not the answer I was looking for. Or even a helpful answer.

Looking around I determined I was back in my room, which didn't feel right for some reason. Oh right, because I had been in a plane right before I… fell unconscious. My bout of unconsciousness had almost certainly been caused by overusing my Aura. Guess that explains why they're upset with me.

Dun was draped over me and off the end of my bed, having grown long enough that he couldn't quite fit his entire body on my bed while lying straight. Miles was hovering above me, currently in Heat Form to manifest plasmic hands, but quickly leaving the oven to possess their phone again.

Ignoring my wince from the heavy crash of machinery as the oven dropped a foot straight down, Rotom said: "What happened was you falling unconscious and leaving us in a state of panic. Bzzt," They added angrily.

That caused me to wince harder than before. "Ah, sorry. I got a bit caught up and well…" I fidgeted in my bed, trying to think of a response that could explain my actions away and avoid any trouble. As my brain failed me and the silence dragged on, I knew this wouldn't be the case.

"Dun Dudun."

"Yeah, it was reckless." It's hard to feel so bad about it when it let me make such a breakthrough though. I'll try to take it easier from now on. "What happened after? How did we get back home?"

"The pilots checked on you immediately to make sure there wasn't any serious risk, then your family came back and rushed you home. They hired a teleporter and here we are, a few hours later."

Ah, that's not great. Our vacation was coming to a close soon, but still, I should apologize to them for that as well. Looking around my bedside I saw my usual water bottle was missing from the dresser. Right, I was out of the region for a week, the staff must have cleaned it up.

After a bit of effort to shift Dun off of me, I managed to get out of bed, stretching as I let out a huge yawn. "Wow, this Aura stuff takes a lot out of me." At the disapproving gaze of my Pokemon, I held my hands up in surrender. "I know, I know, my bad."

Walking down the stairs I overheard a conversation my parents were having with Hamber. With my hearing being what it was, I usually tuned such things out, but this one caught my ears because of the subject matter. Namely: Me.

"... We had a small expedition planned for Miss Nemona and our other student, but if she's still feeling unwell within the next two days, she may have to skip it."

Oh no, I can't miss that! Racing over to them in the dining room I loudly said "Mom, Dad!"

Whatever they were going to say to Hamber died on their lips as they saw me, smiling brightly. ""Nemona!""

I ran up and hugged them, doing my best to emphasize how well I was. "Sorry for giving you guys a scare like that. Miles filled me in on a bit of what happened."

"Are you sure you're fine to be out of bed, dear?" O'Nare asked me, looking over worried.

"I'm fine Mom. I pushed myself a little too hard with the forces up there and became exhausted on the way down, but I'm doing tons better now!"

"That's the Glitterati spirit-" My father began before being interrupted by a loud grumbling sound coming from my stomach. All the adults present turned a bemused look my way.

"Perhaps I could use some food," I admitted realizing how hungry I was now. Not surprising, considering the effort of my Aura was enough to make me faint. I wonder how that energy works? It's connected to my soul but can affect and be affected by my body. Where does the line between the body and the soul end and begin? I'm probably thinking about it too simplistically. Rather than just an on/off point the two are probably interconnected in several different ways to varying degrees-

Hamber cleared his throat, snapping me out of my thoughts. "I'll have the chefs get right on making you something. Perhaps just an appetizer as we're nearing dinner time?" I eagerly nodded. "Excellent," He turned to leave before stopping and adding "The Explorers are preparing a first training camp out the day after tomorrow. I hope you'll be ready by then."

"You betcha!" I said with a thumbs up. Am I playing up the 'childishness' too much there? Eh, they probably won't notice. At least I'll be able to make it for that camping trip. It was important for a couple of reasons, the most notable being that if I did well on it, I'd get the go-ahead to explore further on my own.

Leah had been pretty firm with me after the tourney about not going too far. I'd been busy with training Miles and Dun, as well as my tutors, but there was an itch growing as I wanted to go further. Plus, I want to prove to myself that I'm good enough to explore the land. I know it can be dangerous and that I can't be prepared for everything, but I'd like to have a decent level of competency.

Dinner had an awkward start as Cyan was a little grumpy with what my antics had caused until Miles showed her and my parents what I had been practicing (they had been recording up to the last moments). My Aura wasn't something I was going to shout to the world just yet, but Leah was the only staff with us for the meal, and I felt comfortable showing all of them this.

"Hah! What Glitterati prowess! To show yourself undaunted by gravity itself and shine among the stars," my Mother proclaimed.

"So you can really fly? Can you do it right now?" Cyan demanded. "Lio!" Her starter added.

"Uhh, I think I can?" The breakthrough up in the sky gave me a better sense of my Aura, so I could just barely feel it passively now, even on the ground. "But I should hold off on that for a bit. I want to check in with Tulip first before trying anything like that again."

Billy nodded. "Prudence is another great Glitterati trait, one that will help in business and life." The praise is nice, but there's a slight bit of tension I don't think I would have caught before. Probably an admonishment or reminder as well, given the scare I gave them.

"Bzz bzz." Came very quietly from my pocket, reminding me of something I had not been prudent about.

"Ah, I know I have the trip the day after tomorrow, but in the morning I'd like to try and take the exam to get my full trainer's license early." Generally, even with the reduced age cap, you could only get a Full License at ten years or older, but with my over a-year-long junior license and a reference, I could take the test even earlier. Which makes sense. It's more just about trying to ensure that you're responsible enough to wield the destructive might all Pokemon have and take care of them.

O'Nare clapped her hands together. "Oh that sounds wonderful, our two little girls, both full-time trainers."

"Nice. I'm sure a Pokemaniac like you will do well," my sister added. I can't refute that I'm a Pokemaniac at this point, can I? But like, who wouldn't be amazed by the reality-bending creatures that live alongside us? "Are you looking to go to school soon t-" I shook my head, cutting off her question.

"Not anytime soon, don't worry. I still have plenty to learn from my tutors before I go for that." It was one of the requirements for Uva Academy that you had to have a full Trainer's License to attend. "Still, having the full trainer's license will be very nice-"

"Wait," Cyan interrupted me, narrowing her eyes in suspicion from across the table at me. "How did you use Miles in that battle against Clay if you don't have your full license yet?"

The silence that followed was deafening. After a minute I put on a shaky smile and tried: "By not getting called out on it?"

""Nemona!"" Cyan, Leah, Billy, and O'Nare shouted.

***

As expected, I got chewed out after that. I hadn't meant to get into a battle with Miles yet! Though, I guess the battles in the Explorers' secret hideout probably count too. Maybe. Like the base might be in something like Orre and it's totally legal there.

The Explorers were a group I had many mixed feelings about. While knowledgeable and helpful, the more time I spent there, the more creeped out I got. Sure, no one calls Gibeon 'our savior' or anything, but they're all just a little too focused on his nebulous goals. They didn't force me to wear the uniform, but matching uniforms for a group that does not seem to have any business or governmental positions, or even any public presence, is very weird. Technically they had some holdings as a private corporation, but I only found that out by digging through records. No presence online or in social media, no products or services offered.

They're offering a service by training me in survival skills, but that was only by recommendation from Hamber. Once I pass this test and prove myself capable in the wilderness to Hamber's (and thus Leah's) approval, I think I'll leave. Spinel had, in between attempts to belittle or insult myself and Amethio, clearly been fishing for information from me. It wasn't just him, however, I noticed the way the other adults paid extra careful attention to what I said whenever I would just casually chat. To see if anything slipped. Definitely said too much during my introduction.

That was for later though, right now I had an exam to take. My talk with Tulip the day before had been very brief, on a video call while she was waiting on a photo shoot to get rolling. It amounted to a congratulations and a warning not to push it again in the future. She also advised me to come and meet her again for an actual session to find out my limits before trying to actively use my Aura again, but keep up my work on sensing it.

The rest of yesterday was just a refresher to get me ready for the exam. I'm certain I'll pass, but I want to make sure I can ace it too.

Now here I am, taking my trainer exam, the first step to starting my journey. I don't plan on starting too soon or anything, but still. It's exciting. I went to the League building near Mesagoza to take my test, and on my way up, I saw Hassel at the top of the hill. "Hassel!" I called out, sprinting up, careful not to step on any Tandemaus frolicking in the grass beneath. Ooh, those are a fun Pokemon. Population Bomb Wide Lens Technician was a cool combo, though probably not as easy to abuse in real life as it was in the games.

"What are you doing here?" I panted, a little winded from my quick sprint.

He crossed his arms imperiously at me. "I could ask the same question of you, Young-" he paused for a split second, catching himself referring to me as he would within the Glitterati household. "-Nemona. I work here," he ended with a barely detectable deadpan.

Blushing lightly I responded "Oh, right, yeah that tracks. I'm here for my Trainer License Exam. Is it just matches you do here or is there other stuff?"

"There's a number of duties us Elite Four must attend to. We'll often receive our official requests and duties here. Today, however, I am here to take on a challenger." Part of how he looked towards the door again implied that I was holding him up. Oops.

"Alright, good luck with that. I'll be cheering you on! Maybe even in person if I finish up fast. Ok bye!" I said rushing into the building.

The inside of the large building was pristine white, with the reception clearly in front of me. A pale woman sat in front of it, but this was someone I recognized. "Elite Four Dandylion?" I asked as I approached.

She laughed, slightly shaking the large steel key that hung on her necklace. From dark black bangs, she peered out at me. "That's right! Who's asking, pipsqueak? Cause I don't think you're the challenger I was supposed to interview." The Steel Type Elite Four crossed her arms and I could see a fair amount of definition in her muscles. She looks a bit like the hikers did in the game, but bears a clear familial resemblance to Poppy. I wonder what happens for Poppy to take her place?

"Nemona Glitterati, ma'am."

"Right, right. Head through those doors to the side there, then down the hallway. Second doorway to the left." I nodded and left as she greeted Hassel entering behind me.

Going through the rest of the building, I saw it wasn't quite as pristine as the areas the trainers would run through. Nothing dirty, but a slight fading of the tiles, one light in the ceiling that was a little dim, etc. It was also fairly busy, with League Officials walking back and forth, many of them on their phones or holding papers as they went about their business.

Entering the exam room, I saw a small room with one tired, familiar man sitting there. "Larry?!"

"Yes, that's my name," the Gym Leader said, rising from the desk where he had been sorting papers. "Are you Nemona Glitterati?" He asked, holding a hand out.

"Yup, that's me!" I said, eagerly shaking it. "Wow, I can't believe I get to meet you." At his confused look, I added "You're a Normal Type Gym leader, so I've looked up a lot of your matches when training Dun." Hardly the only one I follow, but it has been helpful.

He looked a little awkward - for some reason, his demeanor did not garner him a bunch of fans within the world, unlike in my first life where he was one of the favorite characters of the whole game.

"Thank you," he eventually said. "For the exam, you'll have two hours to complete all the questions. Part of it will be multiple choice, part will be short answer, and there will be one essay question at the end. I don't remember seeing anything about an essay question online.

The multiple choice questions went by fairly easily. There were a few sprinkled in there to be tricky, like what to do if your Krookodile's scales were starting to itch persistently. 'Use your scale polish' was not the right answer, and overuse of such products was usually the cause of such chaffing on some reptilian Pokemon. As Dun and I found out already from personal experience.

Most however were laughable easy, common sense Type Matchups like 'How much stronger is a Fire Attack against a Grass Type', not even the weird ones, like how Ghost resists Bug for some reason. I knew the general level of this from my research and practice with Cyan, but it still feels wrong. Logically, I get that they don't want limits on Trainers being able to have Pokemon, but it still feels lacking. Am I right, for wanting a higher standard imposed even on children? Or is this just selfishness because I believe this should be a momentous occasion, but due to my advantages, what would be a challenge for a regular child is easy for me?

The test passed by in a breeze (though I did nearly snap my pencil at the 'if you spend 1000 Pokedollars on 100 Pokedollar Pokeballs how many do you get' question), going through the multiple choice and short answers quickly. The essay question had something interesting, however. There were two and a half pages I could fill out, but no listed minimums or guidelines. No points for it besides the question either (and the others added up to 100 on their own). Just the question 'Why do you want to be a Pokemon Trainer?'

That is… a big one. Technically I could just leave it blank, or write some quick, generic comment and call it a day's work. I want to put a bit more though, even if no one else ever reads this, it's an affirmation of my beliefs, my drive. Yes, I want to explore the world, but I also want to become a Champion for its own merits. Then there's the fact that I'm trying to live up to the example of who Nemona could be, definitely can't say that…

In the end, what I wrote down was:

'My name is Nemona Glitterati. I was born into a loving family, with all the wealth I could ever need. I know I've lived a privileged life, with everything I could ever want. But still, I desire more.

I want to see the entire world, to uncover all its vast and varied mysteries. I wish to learn about the past, the ruins with rich history that dot our land. I aim to see what Paldea is like now, and from all of that, catch a peek at what the future may hold. I want to understand the world. While it's possible that I could stand entirely on the inherited wealth of my family, I feel like trying to explore the world that way would leave me with a sense of disconnection. There would be a gap between myself and the beings within the world, no matter how hard I studied.

Our world is filled with amazing, fantastic creatures. These beings can conjure the elements, warp physics, expand the mind, take us on journeys past the limits of life and death, and fundamentally change reality. All of this and more is only possible because of Pokemon. Creatures who, however amazing, are seen as commonplace among us.

This is because we live our lives in harmony with these incredible beings. I've found my life already touched by them. My Starter, Dun, helped introduce me to a brand new world, and I in turn vowed to help him rise to the top. Our communication hasn't always been perfect, but this compact was the foundation of my closest friendship and helped us through our troubles.

Dun will be the strongest, but to show that strength off to the world we'll need a full team by our side. I'll find other like-minded Pokemon that wish to prove their strength and be my friend. I will do my best to bring out their incredible strength to the maximum potential it can be, and I hope they will be able to help me. Together, we'll learn more about each other and our world, and we will be legends.

To prove my strength, to learn, to grow, and to make everlasting bonds. These are why I will become a Pokemon Trainer. Getting this license is the first step on the path to the greatest adventure of my life, and I can't wait to walk down that road.'

***

"That was quick," Larry commented as he took my papers, his voice the same tired monotone it usually was, only a slight quirk of his eyebrows upwards to show that he was surprised. "You have an hour-and-a-half left if you want."

Considering I had inadvertently interrupted him eating his lunch, I wasn't sure if that was more for him or me. "I'm good, thanks. I've already double-checked it. You can take your time with the answers, I want to go see Hassel's fight." Before he could answer, I was off, racing down the halls… for about two seconds before I realized that kid running down the halls of the Paldean Pokemon League building was getting funny looks.

Walking down got funny looks as well, but not as severe or likely to leave whatever task they were currently doing and escort me out. I overheard all manner of interesting snippets of discussion from the League Officials - and non-interesting ones too, admittedly. I suppose for every talk of coordinating rangers to cover rescue missions in the Asado Desert, there has to be one about Brenda stealing food from the fridge again.

While there weren't any seats, and an official barring the path to the room where the Champion test was going on, I did find a lounge where the fight was being broadcast to the television in the corner. I know it'll be posted online soon enough, but I want to watch it as it's happening. And a number of the League Officials watching it felt the same way, though they looked a tad confused when I pulled up a chair and started watching alongside them.

"Are you lost, Miss?" One young man asked me out of the four employees watching the fight.

I shook my head. "No, just waiting for the results from my Trainers License test to come back."

That doesn't mean that I'm supposed to be here, but say anything with enough confidence and people will be willing to go along with it, so long as you don't act too outrageously.

Indeed, most of them were willing to turn back to watch the fight. The one who asked me a question didn't seem completely sold on my reasoning, but just as he opened his mouth, the others let out loud gasps and cheers as something on the screen caught their attention and had him whipping his head around too.

I had seen the whole thing, Hassel's Baxcaliber luring the opposing Salamence into a rush that was checked by the frosty Dragon Type jumping above the flying Dragon and landing down on it, back spike first. Salamence's trainer gave a panicked cry and ordered a retreat.

The bright blue Dragon sped away on its red wings, pulling in all four of its legs for additional speed. There were few scars or old battle wounds on the Salamence, and while they almost never had lasting injuries on their precious wings, a Dragon Type like Salamence almost always had mementos from past battles given how aggressive they were - unless they had only recently evolved.

This fact was contrasted by Hassel's Pokemon. Baxcaliber was a darker blue, with icy plates covering its face and jaw. The same icy edge covered the large black spike sticking out of the bipedal Dragon's back. As it got back up, its many ringed yellow eyes locked onto its fleeing prey.

The camera cut back to the challenge, a man in his early twenties with bright red hair and a baseball cap. He wore a red vest over his black t-shirt and shorts showing off a well-defined physique. His hands were clenched in nervous fists, eyes darting around the plain white arena as if looking for some sign of where to go, any possible lifeline. I scoffed loudly at his actions, prompting an odd look from the other watchers.

"He panicked, having his Salamence run away like that," I explained, pointing at the screen where the blue and red Pokemon was strafing Baxcaliber from afar. Hassel fired back, a hail of Ice Shards peppered with Icicle Spears flying up to meet his foe.

"Look what rushing in got him," one of the other League Officials, the only girl of this little quartet, pointed out.

I shook my head. "Yes, but since he committed to that action he should have at least followed up. What's-his-face Salamence only got away from Baxcaliber because he was in an awkward spot after Glaive Rush. He should have used that opening to attack, use something overwhelming like an Outrage to take back control."

While Salamence landed a few more hits on Baxcaliber in the exchanged volleys than it received, the double Type Weakness combined with the previous hit took him out of the battle. The challenger muttered a few curses, looking down at his belt. The girl official explained to me

"Rodley is down three Pokemon and only took out Hassel's Flapple so far."

"Ouch." That was all I said as Rodley picked his next Pokemon, releasing a Revavroom. It looked similar to the Varoom I had fought in the Junior Tournament, but larger. More like a car with an open engine rather than an engine block attached to some wheels.

There was some interest from the other spectators, especially one who I think had money riding on the match. Which is technically illegal in Paldea, but no one cares about enforcing that law on small bets between friends, made under a couple hundred Pokedollars. The Steel Typing should give it an edge over Baxcaliber, but Hassel looked unworried as ever.

Rather than go on the offensive, Rodley ordered his Revavroom to set up. "Toxic Spikes!"

Hassel was ready to capitalize on that, ordering Baxcaliber to race after Revavroom and pummeling her with a Brick Break or two. Cracks started showing on her body, but Rodley kept on laying down the spikes.

"That's certainly a bold strategy," I muttered. "Let's see if it pays off."

After enough spikes were scattered around the arena to thoroughly poison anyone that touched down on it, Rodley told Revavroom: "Spin Out!" With Baxcaliber in close range, there was no way to avoid the Multi-Cyl Pokemon from spinning around and crashing into the Dragon, once, twice, and finally a third time before spinning off to the side.

The dragon wobbled for a second before collapsing, defeated by the Steel Type. Revavroom wasn't looking too good herself, however. More cracks covered her form, and her mouth was wheezing heavily, toxic fumes slipping out.

Hassel recalled his Pokemon, immediately releasing his next. Dragonite roared into existence above the field. His softer appearance may have made him seem less intimidating than the more jagged Baxcaliber, but I knew the power within the orange beast. He looks like a giant plush toy, with wings too small for his body, but they keep him aloft easily, which will make all the difference here.

Rodley looked around like he was waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. The Toxic Spikes won't poison a Pokemon that doesn't touch the ground, and Hassel has at least two of them. You can't wear him out that easily.

With his opponent distracted, Hassel took the lead, calling out "Dragon Dance!" Dragonite began shimmying and rising through the air, dancing about. It looked more awkward on him than I imagine it would have on a Dragonair, but there was still a level of undeniable grace he brought to the Move.

That action spurred Rodley on to action as well. "Gear Shift, pick up speed!" Cranking noises from Revavroom as she began spinning her wheels and accelerating. "This'll let me go even faster than your Dragonite!"

"Is that so? Well then, Dragon Dance again!" Hassel replied, letting his Pokemon build up more speed and power.

"Fine by me, Gear Shift again, go even further beyond!" Revavroom was now doing laps around the entire room, picking up speed with each pass by. But only just a bit faster than Dragonite now. That Spin Out takes a lot out of Revavroom each time. If Rodley has a bit more time he might be able to recover but-

Hassel was done with buff Moves. Pulling out his Tera Orb he told his opponent "Remember that when you face the Elite Four, you have to deal with the beauty and might of Terastalization now!" Tossing his orb above Dragonite, it burst into light, surrounding the dragon in crystals which it burst out of a moment later. It left so fast that the others were staring at the screen wondering what was going on, and even I had barely caught the movement.

"Huh?"

"What happened?"

"Where did Dragonite go?"

"Give the cameras a moment to reset- there we go," I told the officials as the camera angle changed and it showed Revavroom knocked unconscious, and a glittering Dragonite flying above her prone body, a familiar jewel atop the Dragon's head. "Extremespeed. Quite strong with Tera Normal." Not surprised that Hassel would have thought of that, he has Professor Gible use two different Tera Types in the games. There hasn't been any mention publicly about changing Tera Types, wonder if it's something the League has been working on, or if Hassel just happened upon a naturally Normal Tera Type Dragonite?

From there, the battle descended into a mop-up fairly quickly. Dragonite with the two Dragon Dances was just too strong. There was a moment where Rodley's Passimian might have turned the tide with a Close Combat they managed to land when Dragonite got in close, but to no avail. Dragonite's tough, many-layered scales weathered the blows even with the Normal Type Weakness and finished them off with a Hurricane.

Rodley watched in despair as his leafy Arboliva was battered at blistering speeds by the Dragon Type, unable to stop it. With the match concluded, Hassel recalled his Pokemon and offered the challenger thanks and some words of encouragement, which Rodley nodded at. He still looked devastated by the whole thing and left quickly though.

"Daaaaamn," one of the officials moaned. "I really thought he'd make it up at least to Miss Sunshine."

"Miss Sunshine?" I questioned, not knowing who that was.

He looked a little embarrassed answering: "Oh, just a bit of a joke name for Martha Bitterleaf."

"Ah." The Dark Type Gym leader, currently taking up the spot Gruusha will take by canon start time. She's an Elite Four as well, and notoriously quite tricky to face. I honestly don't know much about her, aside from the fact that her gym is within a tunnel system inside the mountain. "Not be rude to Rodley, but he seemed kinda… inexperienced, for someone with eight badges."

The other girl of the group said "Sometimes even battlers that make it that far get a bad case of the nerves. Plus the difference between the final badge and the Elite Four is night and day, even if we don't have Conferences or anything to be that last step up, so there's a lot more challengers for Champion rank, and a lot more results like that one."

I've tried not to compare 'levels' too much in this world, recognizing that those were just gaming abstractions, but there was a rather large gap between Gruusha and the Elite Four in the games, wasn't there? In those, you could just do the last of the Team Star and Path of Legends battles to grind for the difference, so it didn't feel like there was a huge gap between the Gym Leaders and the Elite Four, but I guess there is.

The door to the lounge opened up and I saw someone I owed a great deal of thanks to.

"Geeta!" I exclaimed, leaping up. The League Officials hanging about jumped up as well but with much more worry. She was dressed in a fancier suit than I had seen her in before, making her much more recognizable as the character from the game, but she wasn't wearing any gloves. The tall woman locked eyes with me for a moment before glancing over at the others.

"I believe you've been on break long enough, no?" Despite her tone, it wasn't a question and they all eagerly agreed, rushing out of the room. She gave a small sigh after they were gone. "I told them that t.v. would be trouble."

"How so?" I asked, walking up to her.

She pursed her lips. "It's fine to have something to watch during your break, but by putting up the matches here, it can encourage people to spend too long, especially on the more hyped matches."

"The rising stars like Rika, right?" She had earned quite a few more badges in her last Treasure Hunt after the Tournament and was going to shoot for her seventh badge at the start of this coming-up one.

Geeta blinked. "That's correct, and while not the reason why I came to find you, was something I wished to discuss with you eventually."

"Hmm?"

"Things have been rather busy, so I wasn't able to arrange it yet, but you were cheated out of a chance at victory. We could arrange a match between you and Rika to settle who should be the proper winner." She offered.

"Really? I just- would have thought she'd be declared the victor by default." There was a slight pause from Geeta, the woman not quite shifting uncomfortably, but seeming reluctant to say something, and I put the pieces together. "My parents are putting pressure on the League for this to happen, aren't they?"

"They have strong opinions on the subject, which they've made clear to the League Chairman." So she's still not the Chairwoman, but it seems like she got a promotion given how the others acted around her. Adopting a gentle smile she said, "It's not like you don't deserve a shot at the championship."

Letting out a small sigh, I shook my head. "Maybe I did, but what's done is done. Why should I be the only one to get a chance when all of the people Freddrick 'beat' on the way to face me don't? And how much would that change for the rest of the tournament? Impossible to say. Plus, Rika and I just aren't in the same position as we were almost a year ago. That being said… I do want to face her. She's a rising star, and I think she's got a lot of potential."

"Oh?" Geeta tilted her head to the side, looking rather bemused. "It's humorous to hear you refer to someone else as having a 'lot of potential.'" She quoted and I crossed my arms, a tad embarrassed. Right, I'm still a young child. That would sound weird.

Giving me a quick nod she said "I can look into getting you in touch with Rika." Our Rotom Phones floated up and traded contact information. "Now come along, we have to go over the results of your Trainer License test."

I followed her back through the building until we were back near the room my testing had been in. Larry was waiting outside, looking more tired than usual. "Ah, there you are Miss Glitterati."

I gave him a sheepish smile. Hope I didn't make him work too hard to find me, but if Geeta was called in too… whoops. Adjusting his tie he said, "The results of your test are in, and you passed." I waited for a moment if he was going to say by how much or the like, but he didn't, instead passing me a piece of paper that said in bold at the top 'Trainer License (temporary) with a bunch of information on it.

"Congratulations," he said in his same tired tone. "You'll receive your proper License card in the mail in a few weeks."

"Wow, thanks." This is it, my beginning as a true Trainer. It doesn't feel quite real yet, but I can't wait to see what comes next.



Bit of a connecter chapter, but this sets up a few things for later arcs. I hope people aren't too upset about Nemona not trying to 'win' her championship of the Junior Tourney here; to me I just feel I would have had my mood spoiled on such a thing and not focus on an empty title when the conditions of the tournament can't be recreated. That's not to say we won't get an encounter with Rika however (and not ruling out the same with Freddrick either). I hope you enjoyed it in any case, and I can't wait to get to the next few arcs, I have some big stuff planned.
 
Chapter 33 New
Dust and wind blew at my back, from the canyon and mines of the East Province I knew to be behind. At my side was Amethio, the young boy clutching onto Charcadet's Pokeball tightly. Above us loomed the massive Glaseado Mountain, the peaks of Paldea.

But our test, a tangled tangle of grass, shrubs, and colorful trees, was right in front of us. This was the Tagtree Thicket.

Hamber cleared his throat behind me, and I turned to face him before shielding my face from the small rock particles blowing about.

"You have been on small outings before, and you have learned the basics from us Explorers, but today and tonight will be the first time that you will be tested on your own." Drolly, he began to go over our mission again like we were little children, before thankfully being interrupted by the girl next to him.

"Yeah, yeah, they got it already. Did fine before, you just havta not screw up. All alone, in the spooky forest," the bubblegum-pink-haired girl leered at us. She was short, only a bit taller than me despite being almost double my age, wearing a black skirt with gold stripes on one side. She also had on the oddest top I'd ever seen, a crop top with long sleeves, but bare shoulders, held up by thin strips of fabric connecting to a choker.

"Thank you, Coral," Hamber said, in a tone drier than the rocky wasteland behind us. "I am certain that you will be fine, but in case anything arises, you have flares and can call us on Nemona's phone. We will be staying at Zapico off not too far to the West, and will arrive with all haste if you need us." Coral looked like she would chime in again, but was cut off with a glance from Hamber. She shrugged, leaning back, putting her hands behind her head, and blowing out a bubble from the gum she was chewing.

Coral has to be my least favorite person in this organization, after Spinel of course. Spinel seemed to personally dislike myself and Amethio, but Coral wasn't much better, being abrasive and blowing up at anyone, save Hamber and Gibeon. Still, her taunts were more generic, and she'd get easily distracted, so she still cleared the low, low bar Spinel set.

"We won't need any help," Amethio said, a determined look on his cute little face. He's confident. Then again, I am too.

"Yeah, we'll be fine!" I gave them a thumbs up and shifted my shoulders, adjusting the backpack on them. While I could have stored everything inside my Sliph bag, they wanted to see what we could do with more limited resources. That still meant that we both had tents, ropes, first aid kits, flares, and a few other supplies in our bags.

"Very well, we'll leave you alone. Please come back tomorrow at noon if you don't need any help during your stay." Right, we'll be in the forest for almost twenty-four hours, as it's just after noon.

The two Explorers released their Pokemon, a Dusknoir for Hamber and a Glalie for Coral, and had them carry their trainers away. I watched them float away for a second before turning back to the forest in front of us.

"Alright, let's go," I said and Amethio took off almost instantly, eager to prove himself. He rushed through the wilderness, slipping between the bushes and over the gnarly roots. I followed after, curious as to where he'd lead. It became clear though that he didn't have a destination in mind, and wasn't exactly paying attention to where he was going.

"Stop!" I yelled at him suddenly, causing him to immediately arrest his movement and nearly fall over.

Waving his arms in circles to rebalance himself he shouted back "What was that about?"

My answer was to point at his feet and the Foongus he had nearly trampled over. The mushroom-like Pokemon was still woken up by our shouting, and let out a cloud full of spores into Amethio's face, causing the boy to fall backwards while the Pokemon shuffled off.

I ran forward to check on him, opening up my bag. "Are you alright? Can you move? Do you feel nauseous? Drowsy?" I asked while pulling out a cloth to wipe at his face, careful to not let any of the spores touch my skin.

"I- I'm fine. It's just itchy and irritating. I can't believe that Pokemon would do that, I didn't even touch them!" He complained.

Probably the only reason they didn't try to Poison or Paralyze you was because you hadn't hit them. The spores appeared to not be a Move, and just a regular irritant to the eyes, so easily cleaned without any lasting effects. "We have to remember it's their world here, we can't just march all over it without a care."

The boy grumbled without any coherency, pushing himself back up. "Fine, but we still need to find a place to make camp here."

"That's true." I looked around, trying to find a good place to rest. The forest is much wilder than I remembered from the games. Is that just something that they didn't show us, or is it going to be cleared out a little bit over time? Team Star hasn't set up a base here yet–though even in the games, it's more a camp.

"Huh," I said aloud, causing Amethio to turn to me.

"What is it?" He must be impatient, I guess.

"Why are these trees painted? Who would have made these… colorful patterns?" The paint was slathered on tree trunks in many colors and shades, in rings and other shapes like bullseyes. Not every tree is painted, and all of them are painted in slightly different patterns.

"Who cares?" Amethio asked rhetorically and I sighed. The clock's a bit overwound on that one. "Let's just find a place to set up camp. There's some water running over there." He started walking off, a tad slower and more cautiously than he had been going before.

Following him, we eventually came across the river that flowed down from the mountaintop and cut through the Thicket. There was a bit of space from the heavier vegetation and the steep drop that led to the river's edge, enough space that we could set up camp here. Personally, I wasn't sure it was the greatest place to do so and said as much.

"What's wrong with it? It's clear and we have easy access to water," Amethio pointed out.

"Perhaps too easy," I countered, pointing at a battle about to happen a few hundred meters away. "Our neighbors seem a little rowdy."

Amethio had to squint his eyes to make out the small teal shape drifting down to the waters, looking for a drink. I hadn't expected to find a Dreepy here of all places. Just like I don't think the Dreepy is expecting the Basculin in the water. Indeed, they were not, giving a sharp, strangled cry and turning tail as the green-scaled fish erupted out of the water, sharp teeth snapping towards it.

While it avoided most of them, one of the fish managed to sink a nasty Bite into the Ghost Type, eliciting a moan of pain from them. Amethio jumped up at that. "We have to help them!"

"We do? Uh, ok!" I responded, running after Amethio who was already going after the Dreepy.

Not holding back this time, I soon outpaced him and made it to the area where the incident happened. The Dragon was long gone, but the fish that had chased it off were still churning about, agitated.

They tried to shoot a few weak bursts of water my way, but I took a step back from the edge to make it harder to hit me and released Dun. "Hyper Voice," I called out, and he unleashed a raucous noise that had the fish swimming back beneath the water's surface.

"Did you find them?" Amethio asked, panting slightly as he approached, then took in Dun's new form. "Whoa, when did he get so…?"

"Big? Unova, had a trip there recently. No sign, but let's look around, they went on this side of the river," I said rapidly, keeping my eyes peeled. Here my enhanced senses were both a boon and bane because I could see more, but every slight twitch of movement from a passing Passimian troop, or a Combee floating by, had me fixate on that for a moment before trying to refocus.

A minute or two later, I heard the same ghostly moan, and while the foliage blocked my line of sight, I knew where the Dreepy generally was. "I hear it over there, c'mon!"

We made our way, quickly but carefully through the forest til we found the dragon being angrily yelled at and accosted by a group of black and gray creatures. Most of them were quite small, barely bigger than my foot with four legs. The leader, the evolved version of them, was about half as tall as I was, and stood on two legs, with two gangly arms reaching down to the ground. Each of its hands had three fingers, the middle ones extremely long and dripping with paint. It was the main agitator, shrieking at Dreepy and flinging nasty purple balls of ooze at them that sizzled where they hit. Mostly the ground as the ghostly Dragon dodged around, but I could already see some of the gunk was stuck to Dreepy's scales.

Amethio rushed in, releasing Charcadet. "Stop it!" He called out, and the Grafaiai turned to sneer at him with their bulbous eyes. Don't know much about Shroodle or Grafaiai other than the fact that they're Normal and Poison Types, so I don't know why they're doing this. The Dreepy scurry-floated behind Amethio's legs further prompting anger from the pack. Grafaiai stepped forward and began to battle Charcadet.

"Fire Spin, then Flame Charge!" The boy commanded, and his starter began burning up. The Poison Type howled in pain as the flames surrounded them, but rushed in to meet the charge, scratching viciously at Charcadet.

"Charcadet!" Amethio called out in shock. Hmm, he hasn't had much experience with wild battles, has he? I don't want to backseat Train, but I could probably offer a pointer or two.

"Wild Pokemon aren't going to call out their attacks ahead of time, you have to be ready for anything!" I offered. Amethio clicked his tongue, more in frustration at the monkey-like creature he was fighting rather than me.

"Flame Charge, strike it again, and speed up!" Amethio called out, and Charcadet loyally wrapped itself in flames, once more rushing the Grafaiai. This time the monkey took the hit and tried to sink its fangs dripping with poison into Charcadet, but the fiery little guy dodged at the last second.

That poison is dangerous. If Charcadet gets Poisoned… Thankfully, Amethio anticipated the dangers as well. "Keep your distance and Ember," the boy called out, and Charcadet did so, spinning around Grafaiai and spitting more flames at them even as the Fire Spin died down.

Grafaiai proved itself to be quite fast as well, keeping up with the enhanced Charcadet and letting loose sprays of thick poison through the air, often impacting the Fire Type. Each time they landed I heard the slightly unnatural sizzling sound coming from his armor. Each shot weakens him, so each further shot does more damage. What will Amethio do?

"Destiny-"

"STOP!" I interrupted my sudden shout not only throwing Amethio off-guard, but also the Grafaiai and the Shroodle, everyone stopping to turn and stare at me. "Uhh, don't knock out your only Pokemon while we're in this forest, ok?"

"Well, what am I supposed to do?!" He called out in exasperation as Grafaiai renewed their assault and Charcadet barely dodged a few more Acid Sprays.

"Clear Smog!" I snapped my fingers excitedly, which Amethio got the meaning of instantly. He remembers our first battle just as well as I do.

"Yeah, Clear Smog on them, then rush into it yourself!" Dutifully, Charcadet unleashed a white smoke cloud that only mildly irritated the monkey-like Pokemon, before running into it headlong himself. It did more damage to him than his foe, but I heard the sizzling stop instantly, the acid neutralized by the smoky Move.

Grafaiai launched a quick series of claw attacks as their foe was up close again, but recoiled from the scorching heat as they hit the wrong part of the Fire Type's body. With a final Flame Charge, the leader was taken down.

This sent the smaller, more mouse-like Shroodle into a panicking, scurrying about without any direction. This panic was only exacerbated by the fact that this small corner of the forest was on fire.

"Go, Miles!" I said, releasing them from their Pokeball, already in Wash Form. "Put out these fires."

"Ro-to-to!" They eagerly agreed, but something went off when they tried. At first, only a small dribble of water came out of their open, washing machine door. Then the water would pour out in fits and bursts, rather than the usual high-powered stream Hydro Pump made. Still, after a minute or so, it was enough to put out all the flames, leaving the Shroodle huddled around their fallen leader.

"Relax, we're not going to hurt you, we're just going to take the Dreepy to safety, okay?" I asked them, but they seemed a little too frightened to give a proper response.

"We have a problem," Amethio said, and turning to him, I saw him leaning over the small dragon which was coughing and looked quite pale.

"Miles, can you clear the acid off of her?" I asked, pointing at the fallen Dragon. My Pokemon then unleashed quite a powerful blast of water, eliciting a small cry of pain from the Dreepy.

"What was that for?" Amethio angrily yelled at me. Miles themselves looked shocked and sad.

"I don't know, something seems off with Miles," I responded, walking briskly over and scooping up the now clean, if a bit more battered, Dreepy. They gave out a few weak coughs, still looking pale. Poisoned, and pretty badly at that. Looks like it got bit before we got there. "The Dreepy is Poisoned, can you find a Pecha Berry? I'll look after them and check what's up with Miles." For some reason, Amethio looked hesitant so I added "Just go! We need to get them an antidote fast."

He turned and ran off, searching for the berry among the trees and on the forest ground, while I turned to face Miles. "Alright, what's up with you today? Is your Aura alright?"

They dropped down to the ground, unpossessing the washing machine and floating back into their phone. "I am uncertain, bzzt. My electrical control appears to be fine, but when I tried using the Water Type energy, there were issues."

"Hmm…" We aren't close enough to, nor so devoid of ambient Water energies for the environment to be a problem here, so it's probably something else. "Run a diagnostic on the machine," I offered slowly, as an idea as to the cause came to me.

They did so, and I held the Dreepy close while we waited. It twitched a little, looking weak, and I wished there was something else I could do. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything I had on hand to help the triangular-headed Pokemon. As part of the 'self-sufficiency' training we were doing, I didn't have my usual bevy of Potions and healing items on hand.

"So, why did you attack this guy?" I asked the Shroodle, getting a few squeaks and some odd tilting motions, but little substantive. Understanding a Pokemon can be hard. I've had years to help with Dun, but I can't even perfectly tell what he wants all of the time. Aside from the fact that this Dreepy is a girl, I'm not getting anything they're saying.

Miles finished their diagnostic, returning to their phone to tell me the results. "Something in the inner workings of my Water Drive engine is broken, that's why it's not making the proper amount of water, gathering too much or too little when I try to use it, bzzt."

"Must have been damaged in our fight with Clay and we didn't notice till after." Strange, usually Rotom Forms are pretty resistant to permanent damage because they rely on the possesser's Aura. Maybe the fact that an Earthquake hit them when they should usually be immune played a role in the damages?

It was hard to say, but I didn't have time to think about that as Amethio raced back, he and Charcadet had their hands full of berries.

"Ididn'tknowwhichonewasaPechasoIjustpickedabunch!" He shouted breathlessly at me.

"Ah, that's not good. Sorry about that. They look like… well none of those are Pechas." He groaned, and I added, "Wait, there's a Lum berry there, that'll do!" Picking out the green orb-shaped berry, he slowly fed it to Dreepy. With agonized effort, she chewed and swallowed it, then blinked her eyes open, looking still tired but already somewhat better.

"Very good. When she's ready, give her some of those Oran berries too, as a little pick-me-up. I'll give the rest to the Shroodle."

"Why are we feeding the Pokemon that attacked us?" He asked, seeming upset even as he was careful to hold Dreepy gently when I passed her over.

"Because we don't know what happened. Plus, they're going to be in rough shape with their leader out of commission for a bit, so might as well help."

Amethio dumped the berries off near the wild Pokemon and we left, heading out just to leave the general area. The Dreepy had started to perk up, floating around and chirping happily.

"What were you doing here?"

"Dreep, Dree." She responded, zipping around as she did so.

"You came here looking to prove yourself?" Amethio asked and Dreepy wobbled for a moment before nodding her head. "Something like that," he muttered, more to himself as his hand drifted down to his belt, before pausing.

"Are you thinking about catching her?" I whispered as she zipped around, exploring the forest. Dun slithered ahead to make sure she didn't get into any more trouble. "Dreepy are tough to train." Like most Pseudo Legendaries, there's a reason why few trainers have their final stages on their teams, and why those few that do are considered some of the best.

That, if anything, lit a fire in his eyes. "I can do it."

"I'm not saying you can't, was just informing you. You don't have to take everything as a challenge, you know?" Rather than respond to me he stomped off to Dreepy.

"Dreepy, I want- no, I need to be strong. Will you join me?" He asked bluntly, holding out a Pokeball he had enlarged and pulled off his belt. Barely were the words out of his mouth and she had darted towards it, connecting with the central button and disappearing inside in a red flash.

"Congrats on your second Pokemon," I said easily, refusing to let his irritation from before get to me. He looked to the side and mumbled something like 'thanks' before moving on.

***

We explored a fair bit of the forest before we reached a spot I thought was good. "We should rest there for the night," I said, pointing at the top of the hill. Amethio was strangely quiet ever since the Dreepy incident, but I decided to explain my reasoning anyway. "Being at the top of the hill gives us a good vantage point, with the tree in front giving some cover. There's a pool of water down at the bottom of the hill, and it's got a more peaceful bunch of Woopers in it rather than Basculin."

"Fine," Amethio clipped out, walking towards it before stopping and sighing. "I'm sorry," he muttered, low enough that without my super hearing, I probably wouldn't have caught the words.

"For?" I asked, not trying to draw things out, but curious as to why exactly he had been upset.

"For being upset with you. I didn't like the fact that I needed your help to beat that Grafaiai."

"Hey, it's not a big deal. Charcadet hasn't evolved yet, that was always going to be a challenge. Besides, you handled the other battles on our way here pretty well." He had fought off a Komala and even drove off a small hive of Combees. Dun had only fought once so far, against a Passimian, and easily outclassed the lemur-like Pokemon, being much stronger than most of the creatures in this forest. Evolution has done wonders for his strength overall, but I think he would have been strong enough to handle anything sent our way even before.

"But you could have handled it easily," he shot out bitterly as we began hiking up the hill. Be calm Nemona, he's just a kid. They still get emotional and act out, even when trying to apologize.

"Possibly. But I'll still want your help on this trip. It's why I didn't want you to win with Destiny Bond, or you'd be stuck without a Pokemon and we're in this together."

"Are we?" He said, turning to stare down at me. "I know you're leaving after this. I heard what you said to Hamber."

Part of me wants to point out that I never said I was leaving, I just told Hamber I was thinking I might come to the Explorers less often. Not slamming the door shut, just... closing it most of the way. But I'm indeed pulling back, and Amethio is a smart enough kid to realize that.

Suppressing a groan I said: "Yes, I'm leaving. The base is creepy, and everyone is hiding something from me. I don't get what you guys are up to."

"You might if you actually joined us! You're keeping secrets too," he petulantly pointed out. As much as he isn't being mature about this, he does have a point.

"What if I didn't like whatever it was the Explorers were up to? What if you didn't like me once my secrets were revealed?" Because once you walk through that door, you can't go back. We've been hanging in an uneasy balance right now, but the equilibrium can't last. Sooner or later, I'd have to come down on one side.

Amethio looked frustrated at that, not having an answer there. We finished our hike up the hill, finding a nice spot in the shade of the large tree to set up our tents. "... I don't want you to leave," He finally said.

"You could leave, too. You don't have to stay there," I tried gently pointing out, but he locked his jaw and shook his head.

"I have to. Have to prove that I can choose right, that I'm better than my father." Well, looks like that option won't work. I'm curious about the father angle, but I don't think asking any questions about that is going to help right now.

With a long stretch, I said "You know, me leaving doesn't mean we can't be friends." He gave me a skeptical look and one that I inwardly understood. It does mean we'll see each other a lot less, and more than that, if I do find out someday that all that creepiness was linked to something nefarious, I'll have to stop them. But still. "I'm serious, we can stay in touch and talk, even if I'm busy with other stuff."

"What other stuff?"

"Taking on the Pokemon League, becoming a Pokemon Professor, writing world-famous songs, running a bajillion start-up companies, you know, little stuff like that." He gave a small huff at my grandiose juxtaposition, trying to hide his laughter.

"I don't have a phone," Amethio pointed out. I seamlessly suppressed a glare at that. Yet another way The Explorers have kept him cut off from the world. Not out of purposeful malice they'd ever admit, if asked they would probably say Amethio never asked for a phone, but- ugh just focus on the present.

"Luckily, I think my dad can fix that. He runs the Rotom Phone company, they can do amazing things." His oddly shaped pupils widened at that. "You should come to the headquarters with me. I need to get Miles' Washing Machine fixed. Plus, I have some ideas for a few upgrades."

Hardly an amazing engineer yet, but I think the study of machinery has helped improve my technical skills a tad. I might be able to at least describe a reasonable idea to the scientists who work for my dad such that they could fine-tune and make what I'm looking for.

"Really?" The boy sounded surprised as if there was a seed of unexpected hope he couldn't quite squash.

"Yeah, of course. We can still be friends and stay in touch, even if we aren't going to share everything. I'm sure we'll be able to meet up and hang out sometimes too." Less sure on that point, but I think by being the one to say it, the Explorers will be less inclined to act so cult-y. Is that even a word here, or do they just call things 'Team-y'?

I was brought back to the moment by hearing Amethio start to pull out his tent. "Let's get set up. And… thank you."

With a big grin, I began doing the same. Alright, we had a rough start, but things are looking up.

***

I forgot how used I was to the comforts of society I thought as I shifted around, trying to find a less hard spot to lie on, to no avail. Sleeping on a luxurious four-poster bed for the past two years had not prepared me for the rigors of camping. The area we picked wasn't even that bad compared to others, with no jagged rocks or roots beneath our tents, but the hard dirt, even with an airbag and sleeping mattress in the way, was still unpleasant to lie on.

What was more troubling for my sleep however were the noises. Murkrows would caw in the night and the trees would rustle without any wind, Pokemon lurking about. Just calm down, everything is fine. Dreepy and Miles don't need sleep, so they're watching over us, they'd let us know if anything got close.

It wasn't even a super likely fear, I knew. Most Pokemon knew better than to go bother humans at night. Pokemon in general were not as vicious and predatory as animals could be. Territorial, sure, but we had paid off this area's band of Grafaiai with some more harvested berries, and even if anything did want to cause a problem it would likely be to drive us out, not hurt us. But there are always exceptions. At least Dun is warm. I cuddled closer to my starter and closed my eyes again, trying to push out all the outside noises.

Sleep didn't come easily because of those reasons, but I figured it did eventually come, as at some point I could suddenly see the pale light of dawn peeking in. With a yawn and a stretch, I got up, leaving Dun to rest a bit longer within the tent as I exited. The first thing I saw was Amethio sitting down on the hill beside Charcadet. "Oh hello. Did you get much sleep last night?"

He grunted. "I got enough." So macho. Why does he feel he needs to always act like things are fin- oh right, people like Spinel and Coral. I wasn't going to 'win' that argument though, so I didn't bring it up, just sitting down beside him in the peaceable early morning quiet. Most of the nocturnal Pokemon had gone back to their dens and nests to rest for the day, but the diurnal Pokemon were still slowly waking up and not very active yet.

After a few minutes, he added: "I was talking with Charcadet, about evolution. You said it was impressive that he did as well as he did against an evolved Pokemon, but how much stronger would he be with it?"

"That… depends. Plenty of Pokemon can be strong without evolution. Some Pokemon never evolve and can still be major powerhouses. So first off decide if evolution is what you both want." Amethio looked contemplative, but it was Charcadet who jumped up, nodding his head eagerly, the fires in his eyes blazing bright. "Alright then, looks like someone is keen on it."

"Char! Har, adet!"

I continued. "Evolution will be an immediate boost of power. For Pokemon like Charcadet that use an item to evolve, you'll have to consider when you want to evolve. It's a big choice, and even if you want to do so eventually, there are advantages to spending some time in the base stage and getting a good grasp on the energies you can handle there."

"We've already spent plenty of time training here. I might have jumped the Bullet Punch on Destiny Bond there, but Charcadet was able to beat Grafaiai already." He had his arms crossed, ready to defend his case further.

"Yeah, that could be." At his disbelieving look, I added "Honest, it's really your guys' choice. You're his trainer, so you can best guide him for what he wants."

"What he wants…" Amethio repeated, a flash of guilt on his face, barely catchable. A lot of trainers sort of skim past that part. Not that I think that Amethio has been cruel to his starter, or doesn't love them. He's still a kid though, and one with big, nebulous, goals he feels pressured by, so it's easy for him to be a little unknowingly selfish.

Charcadet placed a hand on Amethio's shoulder, to reassure the boy that he stood beside him and all he wanted was to assist his trainer. Amethio turned away from me to face his Pokemon, and if he had to wipe a tear from his eyes, I didn't comment on it.

"So, ah, what item would we need to evolve him?" He asked me a minute later.

"Well, that's the thing; Charcadet has a split evolution path. Two sets of specialized armor can help him change, though it might be possible, if incredibly difficult without." Mela evolved the Team Star Charcadets without even knowing about the armor stuff, somehow. "I don't know how that would be done without the armors though, or if you'd be leaving the type of evolution up to chance."

Charcadet seemed very curious at that, walking around to get a better look at me. "The two evolutions are Ceruledge and Armarogue- actually, let me pull up some pictures." Taking out my Pokedex, I scrolled through it before finding the pages and holding it up for them to see.

"Ceruledge needs the Malicious armor, and will gain the Ghost Typing, while Armarouge needs the… Auspicious armor? I think. It will gain the Psychic Typing. Both retain the Fire Type." Charcadet nodded his head, pleased with that, while gazing in awe at what he could look like in each of his evolved forms.

"Which is better?" Amethio asked bluntly, eliciting a sharp laugh from me.

"I wouldn't call either of them 'better' than the other, just different. Armarouge focuses more on range and energy attacks, while Ceruledge is better at up-close, physical attacks. As far as Typing goes, Dreepy is a Ghost Type, so you might get more mono-focus benefits by adding another Ghost Type, or you could diversify your team and have Psychic. Those are just minor details, I'm sure you'll be strong whichever way you two decide."

The pale boy blushed a bit, looking away. "Thanks. Do- do you know where I could get those armors?"

"Sorry, I don't." I never actually caught a Charcadet in my runs, and from what I remember having read online, you need to give items to some lady in… Medali maybe? I can't recall the items clearly, and that might have just been a gaming abstraction anyway. "I can look into it though-" He waved me off before I could finish.

"It's fine, you've helped me- helped us out enough. We'll have to discuss it more, but The Explorers have plenty of resources too," he boasted. Don't I know it. Creepy mega-complex bases, holograph projectors, and uniforms don't make themselves after all. I just don't know where those resources come from. It was another factor that was creepy, but I couldn't outright declare it as 'evil' or 'bad'. My parents are weird in their own ways, but if they wanted to build some ominous base hidden away from the world, they could do so as well. That thought put some truly disturbing images in my head that I shoved deep down to the bottom recesses of my mind.

"Alright, while you're busy daydreaming, I'll get a fire started. Since we're both up we might as well get an early start on breakfast."

The boy gave me an odd look, pointing a hand over at his starter. I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know we have Pokemon that can do it, but this is good training."

"Training for what?"

"If I'm stuck in the wilderness and my Pokemon are too injured or weak to help me with the basic things. I like being self-sufficient."

This time it was his turn to roll his eyes. "I'll give you ten minutes," he deadpanned, hopping up to scout around.

I made a small circle in the ground ringed by rocks. Gathering the twigs and making wood shavings for kindling wasn't hard with the multi-tool in my pack, but striking the flint took many, many attempts before I finally succeeded.

"Yes!" I pumped my fist in the air before a burst of flame from the side engulfed the logs. "Wha-!"

"Congrats, you did it in like nine minutes," Amethio said, having returned.

"Why did you have Charcadet do that?" I asked.

"You lit it on fire, isn't that what you wanted?" He pointed out and I crossed my arms in a totally-not-petulant manner.

"Lighting it on fire isn't the end, you need to carefully tend to the flames to make sure they don't go out." He didn't look swayed by my argument, and honestly, I wasn't either. I guess I probably had it from there, but still. I like practicing these skills, but I would like to get a move on with breakfast too.

We had a bit of oatmeal mix and a pan, which I used to make ourselves breakfast. It was not the most delicious of meals I had ever had - in fact, it was probably objectively the worst I ever had in this lifetime. Subjectively, however, it made the top ten, because all we'd had before were some nuts and berries we had been able to scavenge (and determine were not poisonous).

The scent of our meal must have wafted over a bit because soon enough I saw a Pineco shuffling up the hill to our camp. I don't think Pineco moves like that…

When it reached us it let out a deep growl of warning, somewhat interrupted by my words. "Would you like some of our food, little Zorua?" That caused them to jump backward, eyeing me warily before saying, or rather, making me think they said:

"Pine! Eco."

"Sorry, that bluff won't work when your shadow is that of a Zorua's," I pointed out, one of my hands pointing at their fox-like shadow. They gave a 'yip' of shock and embarrassment, letting the illusion fade and revealing the red and black-furred Pokemon they truly were. There were a bunch of other tells as well, like their scent and the paw prints left in the grass. I wonder how difficult it was for Director Z to make her illusions as complete as she did?

"Zor?" He asked cautiously, approaching closer.

"I think we can let them clean off the pot, right Amethio?" The boy nodded, both of us having eaten our full. "And in exchange, maybe you can give us a battle?" I asked the Zorua who bared his teeth in a fierce grin. "You ready to give Dreepy their first battle?"

"Me? Oh, yeah, we can do this," Amethio quickly recovered, resolving himself to fight. The Zorua finished his meal… and then promptly ran away, multiplying and dodging among the trees and underbrush before we could catch them. I can still make out which one is the real one, but they're way too far away now to catch, not without a Move like Earthquake bringing the whole forest down on us.

"Stop laughing!" Amethio hissed at me, clearly not finding the same amusement I did in this.

"Sorry," I apologized without much sincerity. "I just didn't think they'd go and do that. Guess that shows me; gotta offer the food after, not before." It is a good lesson. I'd been getting complacent with the wild Pokemon around my home, the ones who have gotten used to me. Each time I explore a new area, I'll find there are different social structures to deal with, and they won't know me.

With that little misstep over with, we packed up our tent and began hiking back to the entrance of this little valley. That was somewhat skill testing, tracking our footprints and trail from the day before, using landmarks to determine where the right way out of the twisted forest was… or at least it was for half an hour until Amethio pointed out we both had Pokemon that could float. Miles and Dreepy were easily able to rise above the treeline and point us in a straight line to the exit.

As we approached the edge of the forest Amethio told me "It might take a few weeks, but I want to get that phone and stay in contact with you. Thanks for that, and for helping me. You're younger than I am, but you seem to know so much."

I quickly smoothed over the small twitch at what he said. Just another secret I'll be keeping.

"Perfect! Just tell Hamber when you're ready and we can take a trip to the factory. There they are!" Pointing at the Explorers waiting at the edge of the canyon border we raced ahead, eager to tell them about our exciting adventure.


Nemona is not going to be derailing Horizons before it happens unfortunately, or at least not everything (though mostly because she doesn't even know what there is to derail). Still The Explorers aren't leaving the fic permanently, just taking a bit of a break as we focus on other plotlines.
 
Interlude VI - Arven New
"Good afternoon, Mister Arven," Leah greeted me at the door to the mansion. It still feels so weird to be treated so fancily. Nemona says you get used to it, but I also think she makes a game out of trying to get them just to call her by her name.

"Thanks, Leah." I wiped my shoes on the welcome mat and took them off. The staff is nice but they get very scary if you track dirt inside. And I get a lecture even if Maschiff made the mess, not me!

"Where's-" I began while she spoke up.

"The Young Miss is- ah, apologies." Seeing me not continuing, she carried on. "Young Miss is in her room, I don't believe she has any studies right now."

"Cool!" Dad being busy with his work sucked, and Nemona was constantly busy too these days. She'd always try to make time for me, but the last time I barged in I saw Hassel of the Elite Four glaring at me! Funnily enough, I think if it wasn't for Nemona, I wouldn't have even recognized him. But she watches so many battle videos I could probably list off every region's champions and Elites now. We'd watch cartoons fairly often too, but I got the feeling that she only watched them when I was around.

Swiftly walking up the stairs, I opened the door to my friend's room. "Hey Nemona, I- what are you… doing?" I asked dumbly. Dad would never call my questions dumb, but he would say some questions 'reward less new intelligence than others,' and that feels like him saying it's dumb. I knew it was a dumb question because I could clearly see what she was doing, even if I had a hard time comprehending it.

"Meditating." Her voice lilted oddly as she wobbled a bit in the air. Because that's where she was 'sitting' cross-legged, in the middle of the air. She opened her amber eyes to look at me, and I noticed she was sweating a little. "I didn't expect to see you today, Arven." She commented in a tone that was calm but with an underlying tension. Like Dad, when he's happy to see me, but is frustrated with someone at work.

"I thought Dad might be home today but… guess not."

She frowned, her body wobbling again in the air before straightening out again. "Is there something special about today? I didn't forget your birthday, did I?"

Snickering at that, I released Maschiff, wanting my closest bud to see this too, just to be sure I wasn't dreaming. "No, not that. More importantly, though, HOW ARE YOU FLYING?!!" My dog Pokemon barked his agreement, sniffing around and walking all over Nemona's room, looking for the 'trick'.

"Ah, right. That. This is something I've been practicing, it's called Aura."

"Whoa. Could I do that too?"

Nemona didn't immediately answer, thinking it over. "Well, it's possible. But more likely you'd have a different Type of Aura than me." At my lack of comprehension, she added "Which means you'd be able to do different things, but probably not fly. It would also likely take a lot of work. I had to practice tons to get this far-"

"Oh, nevermind then." Her face fell at my answer.

"I mean, that's ok, but you shouldn't be worried of a little hard work!" She pouted, caught between annoyance and relief.

Giving her a dubious glance, I answered "I'm not afraid of a little hard work, I'm afraid of what you call 'a little hard work!' You're just like Dad that way." Nemona suddenly collapsed to the ground, as if all the force holding her up had suddenly stopped. "Nemona!"

Miles zipped out of her pocket at the same time as Dun popped out of his Pokeball, both Pokemon looking extremely worried. "It's fine guys, my butt broke my fall," she tried with a smile that was more like a grimace, standing back up.

"What happened, bzzt?" Miles inquired.

"Just lost my focus," she muttered a fact I found hard to believe as her eyes narrowed in on me with an intensity I didn't usually feel from her outside of battling. "What were you just saying?"

"Just, that you're a lot like Dad. You both can get so focused and know so much…" Not like me. Whenever Dad brought me around to work, I could feel people judging me with their eyes. Wondering why I wasn't as smart as he was. They'd always laugh it off, say I was still young, but then I see how everyone here looks at Nemona-

My thoughts were cut off by the window to her room slamming open, a gust of wind whirling through, tossing some of Nemona's bed sheets and the papers on her desk about. "Sorry," she immediately said, fists clenched tightly at her side. Dun nuzzled up to her side while Miles looked on, plasmic face showing concern. She screwed her face up in concentration as the wind died down.

"Sorry for what?" I asked, still a little confused, rushing over to grab the papers that had fallen. None of it looked like homework, a mix of battle theories and story ideas. She always has the most fantastical stories to tell. Nemona's new schedule keeps her busy, but she'll usually try to rope me into it, and if Maschiff and I aren't into a torture session training that day, she'll tell us some of her stories while letting her team train.

"... I lost control of my Aura and it caused a disturbance, I need to get better with that." She plucked the broken latch from the window off the ground. "I'm glad to see the glass is tough enough to withstand that, but it's a poor design choice that doesn't leave the surroundings just as tough as the opening. If a door is made of steel, but attached to wood, then your room is only as secure as the wood-"

"What was that!?!" Leah's frantic shout cut through the house and Nemona's ramblings.

"Hey Arven, wanna go for a walk?" My best friend 'offered' before dragging me over and up to the window. Considering how it opened above her desk, the fact that she was lifting me almost above her head to shove me out would have been impressive if it weren't for… that.

"Wait, Nemona, we're up kinda high-"

"It's fine, just hold on to Miles." The Pokemon in question hovered outside the window I was being pushed out of as we heard heavy footsteps stomping up. Without a better option, I grabbed on and Nemona let go.

I may have shrieked a little as I drifted down, to go alongside Nemona's cheer of delight as she vaulted over and glided down beside me. Maschiff joined in with a howl of fear a second later as he clung atop Dun's back as the evolved Pokemon slipped out and flapped his wings vigorously to drift down.

Landing down on the soft sand, we took off at a run, and I could distantly hear Leah shouting something from Nemona's room. "Is this going to be all right?"

The crazy girl just laughed. "Probably! If not, it's future Nemona's problem." Despite her Giratina-may-care attitude, I noticed her firing off a quick message with Miles as we ran, so Leah shouldn't be too worried about us.

We made our way off the beach and up the nearby hills, just running free. I'm actually getting ahead of Nemona for once! Glancing back I saw her breathing hard, so I came to a stop atop one grassy section halfway to my house. She joined me in taking a break, looking pretty tired. Weird. She trains and runs a ton, I'm always pooped before her. Haha, poop.

Lying down in the grass, Nemona let out a big sigh, and I joined her, not realizing how damp it still was with dew. I was sweaty from all that running I guess.

We sat in silence for a few minutes before she gave me a question as out of the blue as the clear sky above us. "Would you hate me, if you knew I was keeping a big secret from you?"

"Huh?" Where's this coming from? "I dunno, what's the secret?"

That provoked a laugh from her. "It's a secret, I can't tell you that dummy! Or rather, I don't want to tell you that."

"Why not?" I pressed.

"Because I'm trying to change things so what I'm worried about won't be a problem, but if I tell you about it, it might worry you." My face scrunched up as I tried to figure out her words, and I felt Maschiff flopping his head down on my belly like a pillow, my starter had given up on understanding her whatsoever.

"I guess it's fine then, I trust you." Her breath hitched for a second at my words, before she let out a small helpless laugh. "Are all girls as weird as you are?" That provoked more laughter, genuine this time.

"Rude, what kind of question is that? But looking at my sister, no, most girls aren't as weird as me."

"That isn't a umm," I paused trying to find the right words. "Magnificent sample size?"

She snorted, turning her head a bit while still lying on the ground to look at me. "I think you mean 'significant' sample size. And you're right it isn't, but we don't really know any other girls. No wait, I do know another girl! Miles, show him all the photos and gifs Lacey sent me!"

Her Rotom floated over, dutifully pulling up several different texts she had sent with her Unovan friend. A lot of the ones from Lacey showed cute Pokemon and sometimes the pink-haired girl herself, usually with the girl hugging or pointing at said Pokemon. Others were just funny gifs or emoticons. In between all that though, I scrolled through to see some in-depth discussions on battles and strategies between the two girls. Even the 'normal' people are smarter than me, all this stuff goes over my head.

"Hey, don't say that," Nemona commented and it took me a second to realize I'd spoken my thoughts out loud.

Grumpily sitting up (to Maschiff's slight chagrin) I said: "It's true though. Lacey's normal, but she can talk battle stuff with you that I don't get even after all the times you've beat us."

"That's not a fair comparison, Lacey's father is a gym leader so of course, she'd have a bit more knowledge about battli-"

"Then why am I so dumb that Mom left me!" My shout caused Nemona to physically recoil and I shrunk back too. "Sorry, just… you're so smart about everything even though you're the same age as me, and I'm an idiot."

Nemona pulled herself up as well, with a sigh so weary it sounded like it aged her. "Everyone is an idiot. I do reckless things, because I'm too eager or too driven, and I end up hurting myself or worrying others. Sometimes both." The wind whistled by as we sat in silence for a minute before she asked me "What brought this on? If you don't mind me asking, I get that it's a touchy subject. You just… never brought up your Mom before."

Maschiff nuzzled up close to me and I scratched the top of his head. He was just a tiny puppy when Mom left, he barely remembers her. When Dad threw himself into his work, Maschiff was there for me. And even now, as he's doing it again. But Maschiff isn't the only one here for me now, though. I come over to the mansion almost every other day now.

Knowing I owed her an answer I said "Dad isn't back. I know he's doing great work in Area Zero, everyone tells me so." Nemona muttered something like 'Everyone should mind their business.'

"Today was Mom and Dad's anniversary, so I thought he might…" Abandon all his important work to look after me?

"Your father… is possibly the biggest idiot I've ever met." I blinked and had to make sure that Nemona hadn't been replaced by aliens, but it was still her. My best friend, with a fire blazing in her eyes, had a surety that made me want to believe her words even as she said the craziest thing I'd ever heard.

"But- but he's so smart!"

"Doesn't stop him from being an idiot. Tons of smart people can be." At my confused expression, she explained. "See, even 'smart' people only know what they know, and they can miss other things outside of where they focus. Which is how a moron like Turo can miss that he's fu-" she cut herself off, realizing she was getting heated.

More calmly, but no less firm, she said: "Talk to your Dad. If he's doing something you don't like, you have to let him know. As dumb as he can be, I can promise you that he cares about you and wants you to be well, and him not being here is not about him not liking you."

I'm still not sure, but Nemona sounds sure enough for both of us, so I'll believe in her. "Ok, I'll call Dad when I get back home."

Nemona smiled brilliantly at that as if I had done some big thing by saying I'd call him. "I still wish I was a genius like you," I blurted out before my brain could get the message and stop.

A sad chuckle spilled out of her throat. "Not sure anyone would really want to be like me. I'm also not a genius, not truly. I'm just good at working hard."

"But you're good at so many different things! Martial arts, wilderness survival, singing, Pokemon battles, you can fly." I haven't forgotten that point, Nemona!

"All just hard work, you don't go into anything knowing you'll be great at it. If you want to expand your horizons, go for it. Try a bunch of things; photography, gardening, sports, whatever catches your fancy. My family can arrange for tutoring or whatever."

"No, that's fine. You guys already do way too much for me. I'll tell Dad to arrange it… as soon as I figure out what it is I want to do." Not everything is resolved, but I feel a bit better like things are going to turn out alright.

That hopeful moment was shattered by the sight of Leah, appearing around the turn of a hill to lock her gaze on us. Her maid outfit was hiked up "You. Are in. So. Much. Trouble."

"Damn it past Nemona," my friend groused. "Why you gotta be such a jerk?"

***

Later that day, after Leah had lectured Nemona on using her 'Aura' responsibly, we played some more games before I went back home.

Dad left me plenty of money for food, but it was the staff at Nemona's house that had arranged for constant balanced grocery deliveries to the lighthouse, so we were well stocked and I got to try out all sorts of different meals to make for Maschiff and me.

Despite that and the grumblings from my stomach, I couldn't ignore the feeling of emptiness that yawned before me every time I opened the door and Dad wasn't there.

Entering, I flicked on the lights and pulled out my Rotom Phone, staring at it as I sat on the couch. I need to talk to Dad, want to talk to him, I even went over some stuff about what I should bring up and how to phrase it with Nemona. So why am I angry at him? Why do I feel like I don't want to do this? Why am I scared?

Eventually, I couldn't push it off any longer, so I flicked over to his number and called him. It rang for a long time, so long I thought I'd have to leave a message, but then he answered. "Arven? What is wrong?"

"...You're not here. It's yours and Mom's anniversary and you aren't-" The thoughts of how I was supposed to lead had gone right out of my mind.

"My son…" His voice sounded so sincere, so remorseful, so hurt at the reminder, that for a second I felt bad for ever being upset with him. "I'm so sorry. I never meant- We've been so busy- No, that's no excuse."

"I wanted you to be back, just for today. You said you'd try to get time off to see me. It's so lonely here."

"Don't you have Nemona and-"

I snapped, cutting him off "It's not the same! And even if she isn't busy with her stuff, I come back home after hanging out with her and the house is-" I cut myself off (and only partially because I accidentally bit my tongue lightly). I never raised my voice against Dad before. I was too young to realize how much it sucked before, or maybe I just didn't know any better before meeting Nemona. Then his Tera Orb project was wrapping up and I thought it would be done, spending a week or so at most on his other science stuff before coming home, but it's the same thing all over again.

My father was silent on the other end for a few seconds, processing things. "Again, I am sorry. I should have realized how difficult it would be for you. It has been tougher than I anticipated down here as well. The teleporters for the bunkers are behaving finicky around the unusual energy of Area Zero so it's taking a while for the League to arrange trips in and out currently. Then there's the new team they 'gave' me for this project. While there are skilled researchers like Jaques and Clavell here, I worry that some of them might look to steal things from me. Sabotage my work while I'm not here."

Dad paused, taking a deep breath before his usually stoic face took on a pained note. "I'll come back to visit soon, once the bunkers are set up. At least for a few days. I'll still need to go back after," He explained. Father goes over every point with me with such detail that I worried he thought I was dumb, but that's just how he is. I think Nemona had a word for it. Methological?

I tuned back into his words, realizing I'd missed most of what he'd said. "...There's so much to see here, son. I wish I could show it all to you - one day, I will! All of it and more. Soon, I'll be able to show you a paradise like you've never seen before. Then I'll never need to stay away again, I promise. Just… give me a bit more time, please."

"O-ok." Maschiff looked dubiously at the phone my father's voice was coming from, but I tried to hold on to hope. It's fine, it's not like he can go back in time to be here for today, and I'll see him soon. Plus, Dad being able to stay with me all the time… it sounds almost too good to be true. I just gotta be patient, like Nemona. She can wait so long and work so hard for what she wants, so I'll do that too!

"While I have a minute, why don't you tell me about your day?" He tried, and I brightened up, any lingering feelings of abandonment forgotten for the moment.

"Well, first I went over to Nemona's house and you wouldn't believe what she was doing…"

A glimpse at Arven's life, and everything going on there. I know the chapter might not seem that impactful, but it helps set up some things for the future which should be interesting.
 
Chapter 34 New
"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.


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.
 
Chapter 35 New
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.


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.
 
Chapter 36 New
"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.


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
 
Chapter 37 New
"Woohoo!" I shouted for the umpteenth time, my voice hoarse as we landed down, descending on rich verdant land beneath.

Over my ride's top fin, I could see the mountain that dominated the center of Kitakami, the stones on the side jutting up and down like a set of fanged teeth. Off to the sides were rolling hills with trees all about, and a large river that cut through the land. Kitakami Hall stood off from the town, in the shadow of the mountain beside it, and I could just barely make out the apple orchard and Loyalty Plaza. It's magnificent. The games can't do this world justice; and they did a pretty job, in my opinion.

Slowing down, we stopped well before Mosui village proper, which was not even close to their famed rice fields. Kitakami was technically its own region, so we needed to check in at the airport, even though we had taken… different means to get here.

As I got off my ride's back, I looked back at my parents and sister, off in the distance. They were all on Dragonites, which, while incredibly fast, had paled in comparison to the Garchomp I had chosen as my ride. It's incredible how she can fly, seemingly just shooting around like a jet plane.

"Thanks," I said to her, patting her hide. I had been given gloves and thick gear, both for the wind chill and to help me keep my grip on her as we rode. She doesn't have Rough Skin ability, but her scales are still fairly tough and sharp, at least by human standards.

"That was incredible, so glad I picked the fastest Dragon." She gave a low growl of pride and from the way she puffed up, I knew she'd be bragging about this to her fellows.

It didn't take much time before my family joined me, my parents dropping down a little wobbly but looking delighted. My sister, however, took a minute to gingerly disentangle herself from the Dragonite she'd been gripping onto with four limbs for dear life.

She dropped to her knees when she finally touched the ground, and with a queasy look on her face, she stared dead into my eyes and uttered two words: "Never. Again."

"Aww, c'mon, we were totally safe-" I tried only to be cut off by another glare, as well as the landing of the 'captain' of this trip.

Vance Hawthorn got off his Salamance, feeding the Pokemon a quick berry as the former Ace

Trainer checked us over. "Everyone doing good?" The mild-aged man asked, more out of politeness than anything, I imagined, since he'd been watching our flight over the past couple of hours with eyes almost as keen as mine. It was only in this final stretch that Garchomp (and myself) had been permitted to fly a bit ahead, something she had eagerly done.

"Oh don't worry about Cyan, she'll live."

"Hate you…" She groaned, now clutching at the ground.

"Take it easy, takes a while to get used to being on the ground again. At least for most people," he said, giving me an odd look. "Have you ever gone on a long-distance flight on a Pokemon before?"

"Uh nope, just take to it naturally, I guess." In the sense that my Aura is naturally Flying aligned, yeah. I wasn't actively using my Aura there, but it felt so natural gliding through the sky like that I was tempted to jump off and just start flying myself!

Which would have been fun, but while Tulip had given me the ok to use my Aura and play around with it a bit on the trip, she also advised me not to try full-on flying yet, just sticking to levitating and trying to conjure gusts of wind. Also, I doubt I'd be able to fly anywhere near as fast as Garchomp was going.

O'Nare, having regained herself a bit strode forward on unsteady legs and thanked Vance. "Thank you for taking us here, this was quite the experience. I think we'll be taking a plane back home, however, so no need to wait for us."

"Not a problem, you were quite generous with your payment," Vance said. "I'll probably stick around here for the plane ride though. When not flying VIPs like yourself I actually tend to fly protection duty for air travel."

"Planes need protection?" I asked before realizing that it was probably protection from wild airborne Pokemon. "Wait, but don't they have Rangers clearing the routes ahead of time?" A major part of why the International Pokemon League is so big as a political group is because of the cooperation it fosters for things like this. Big international tournaments are fun and get a lot of publicity, but having a central body to help facilitate travel, law enforcement, et. cetera is huge.

He gave a small guffaw. "They do, of course, but not everything goes according to plan. A lot of things can change up there and we help make sure a plane can steer clear of any unexpected dangers. Plus," He said leaning down as if whispering some big trade secret to me "have you ever wondered why flights go so smoothly?"

"Actually, yeah, I have. There's never any turbulence- oh! Because of Pokemon like yours! Is it just a general application of Flying Type energy, or do you use Moves like Tailwind consistently?"

"Haha wow, didn't expect you to be such a little scholar." Why is everyone so surprised at that? Aren't kids supposed to be curious? "The Moves depend on the situation, and we only use them to get rid of inclement weather, not constantly."

"I see. Oh, here, I should probably give you these gloves and gear back," I said, taking off the thick pleather gloves, before he waved me off.

"Keep 'em. Your folks paid more than enough for you to keep them, and who knows? Maybe they'll come in handy someday. Does my old heart good to see a youngster that loves the sky almost as much as I do."

Nodding, I thanked him again and then ran after my family who had begun trudging their way towards the customs station. This is going to be so much fun, I can't wait to begin adventuring in Kitakami!

***

It turned out not only could I wait, I had to. Getting cleared by customs was easy enough, but then we had to sit patiently for the bus, which only came in and out from Mossui Town twice a day. I was tempted to just start walking over, but Billy pointed out 'It's a family vacation, we should stick together.'

To pass the time before the bus got there we played cards, something that both my parents informed me was 'charming' and 'delightfully commoner'. Once we got on the bus, the driver proved to be quite an amicable fellow who acted almost like a tour guide. He chatted about the richness of the land and what sites we might want to see while we were there.

Already know about most of those, and have a few places in mind not on that list, but still interesting to hear about it from a local's perspective. I wonder if I'll run into Kieran and Carmine while I'm here?

Meeting them and possibly making things smoother for the future plot would be ideal, but I vowed not to let that consume me. This trip is about relaxation and enjoyment, first and foremost. This was technically 'my' birthday treat, getting to choose the destination for our vacation. I was already loving it, though I did still feel a little guilty about the fact that my big sister had been so discombobulated by the method of travel.

Luckily, she seemed to bounce back fairly quickly after our dragon ride over and was looking interested in the scenery as we passed by. "Oh! Check it out, those are the rice paddies," I pointed out to her as we turned around a bend in the road and could now see the town and attached fields past the cliffs that surrounded this 'pocket region.'

"Neat. Wow, there's a lot of Pokemon here, huh?" Cyan commented as we took in the sights. In addition to the old-timey buildings (and the more modern Inn at the top of the hill) in the town, there was all manner of Pokemon wandering about. In the rice fields, atop the tiled roofs in the town, and even crossing freely through the road leading up to town. Maybe that's part of why the bus stop is so far away from the town itself - no one wants to wait ten minutes for a slow Pokemon to choose to cross the road to move five meters ahead only to be halted by another one.

We reached the said stop shortly thereafter, getting off the bus and stretching our legs. Then we began a scenic walk up towards Mossui town, getting our first real experience of Kitakami. It was wonderful to take in the sights, sounds, and even scents; my sense of smell had been terrible in my first life but it was amazing here (possibly boosted by my Aura, though I had no real comparison). I can smell the candy apples from here. Applin isn't my favorite Pokemon, but Dipplin is pretty cool, and I heard it gets an evolution beyond that.

"Whoa, what's up with those Pokemon?" My sister's exclamation drew me out of my thoughts. She was pointing out the river and down at the water. Is there something rare there? No?

"Uhh, the Woopers? Those aren't that special. I mean any Pokemon can be special, but we see them all the time in Paldea-"

"Not Woopers like those!" She countered, and I remembered that Johtoan Woopers actually would be strange to her.

"Many Pokemon have regional variants, having different Types and slightly different bodies and even entirely different evolutions in different environments. Those Woopers will evolve into Quagsires, not Clodsires like we have back home. Kitakami is home to a bunch of different Pokemon than we have back in Paldea."

She nodded slowly, gazing out at the Yanma flying above and Sewaddles crawling about on the ground and everything in between. "I can see why a Pokemaniac like you would like this place then," she said as we walked by the rice paddies.

"That's not why I wanted to go here," I replied with a sigh. "Any region would have its own rich ecosystem of Pokemon. No, I'm interested in the history of Kitakami. There are some folktales here-"

"What would an outsider know about our history?" A new voice interrupted me as we stepped off the road and into the town proper. Glancing up, I saw the owner of that voice, a young girl almost as tall as Cyan pointing a finger straight out at me. She was standing in the middle of the main street, and out of the corners of my eyes I could catch a few adults shaking their heads.

"Huh? I mean, I've heard stories and read articles…" I mumbled on instinct, trying to think of a plausible cover for my knowledge before pausing as I caught sight of her bright yellow eyes.

"Carmine."

"Wha-? How do you know my name!?" The young girl asked angrily, hands clenched in fists.

"Oh, that's your name? I was just noticing the lovely shade of red your hair is." Please let that excuse work, I really don't want to explain I saw you in a video game in a past life.

It did something, as Carmine turned away, shaking her head slightly, inadvertently giving me a better look at her two-tone hair. I know this is an 'anime world' but it still feels weird that she can have hair that's black in the front and red on the underside. What even is the biological explanation for that?

After a moment of mumbling something incoherent to herself, she whipped back to face me.

"Wh-whatever! I still don't want to hear that some foreigner knows more about this land than we do!"

"That's not what I said-"

"If you keep this up… I'll have to Pokemon battle you!" She declared triumphantly, proudly showing off the Pokeball attached to the belt over her blue jinbei.

"C'mon sis, you don't need to do this," a small boy muttered, stepping out from behind her and tugging at her sleeve. Like his sibling, he was wearing a jinbei, though his was gray. His hair was also black on one side, but lilac underneath, and he had the same yellow eyes she had.

In terms of personality, however, they couldn't be more different, the taller girl turning on him.

"Shut up Kiki!" She shouted, literally trembling with rage. "Don't you see I have to defend our home?!"

There was a small chuckle, something even I only barely caught from an older teenager standing off behind the inn. He was wearing a casual black shirt and baseball cap with a gold chain around his neck, just seeming amused at the scene playing out in front of him. Several townsfolk are, so I wonder why from him I get a slight sense of… danger?

Turning back to the girl glaring at me, I attempted to defuse the situation. "I would never presume to know more about your culture than you. In fact, I'd love it if-"

"Oh, we're going to get to see our little girl battle up close!" O'Nare clapped happily.

"Yes! You can do it Nemona, show us true Gliteratti pride!" Billy 'helpfully' added. Ugh, I forgot how 'supportive' they can be. Welp, no helping it now.

With that, it was pretty much settled and we took our places on the road, any wandering townsfolk giving us a wide berth and a few of them sticking around to watch. The guy in black introduced himself as Muramasa and stepped up to referee the match as well. Not sure what Pokemon Carmine will use, but she's got a Sinistcha, right? Dun should be good against that, especially with his new Moves.

We both held up our Pokeballs and on the signal released them. As I expected, Carmine released what looked like a small clay jar with floating 'hands' of a green goopy liquid, one of which held a stirring stick. They had white eyes and a smile painted on the outside of the beige portion of the jar, but through the cracks in the container, I could see the green liquid and a yellow orb staring out from it.

Carmine's smirk turned grim as she beheld my Pokemon. "A Dudunsparce? How'd you get an evolved Pokemon?!"

"Not many people recognize Dunsparce's evolution, are they common here?" I asked, surprised by that. Even in regions like Paldea and Johto where Dunsparce is fairly plentiful (compared to others), Dudunsparce is practically unheard of, just because there are so few trainers or conditions to push them to evolve in the wild.

"I saw some up in the caves by the Crystal Pool- Ah! Stop trying to trick me into giving you our secrets!" Before I could respond to that she changed tracks. "We'll beat you anyway. Welcome to Kitakami. For your first experience, get ready to eat dirt!"

Muramasa gave the countdown, and on the word 'begin', Carmine launched into her order.

"Poltchageist, use your special Move! Shadow Ball!" Poltchageist? I thought that was- oh right, Sinistcha is the evolved version.

The ghostly goop poked their head up, pushing the jar lid up as they gathered a small ball of dark purple energy between their hands. We weren't about to let that go unpunished, however, as I called "Glare!"

Dun gave them a malicious stare and Carmine's Pokemon winced, still managing to shoot out the Shadow Ball and even keep it on target. The ball grew, distorting and rippling as its size increased the farther it got until it collided with Dun, enveloping him… and doing nothing whatsoever because he was a Normal Type.

"Hex," was the simple follow-up command I gave, but it was enough. Dark purple energies of Dun's own surrounded the small Ghost Type, causing it to thrash around in pain for a moment before collapsing down to the ground. Carmine was fast enough on the draw to return her Pokemon instinctually before they could contact the concrete, but still seemed to be in shock, gaping at how fast the match ended.

That's fair, I was kinda thinking this would go on longer too. This was gonna be our chance to see how Lunge and Ice Spinner worked in battle. Guess it was a bit unfair to expect a grueling contest from a kid though. The girl in question let out a question. "Who are you?"

Recalling Dun I replied, "Nemona Glitterati. It's nice to meet you." I held out a hand for her to shake, Carmine's yellow eyes were full of water and I wasn't sure if she would take my offer, yell, or start bawling.

As it turned out, none of those things happened, as a balding man with glasses in purple robes stepped out of the inn we had been battling in front of. "What's going on here?" He asked before locking his gaze on Carmine. "Have you been bothering our guests? They're very rich- they're looking for rich experiences in our wonderful land. Please try not to disturb them."

"Oh, don't worry about that, Carmine just invited me to a friendly battle!" I said, throwing an arm up and around her shoulder. It was awkward due to the height difference, but also because she was glaring daggers at me.

She quickly adjusted to an incredibly saccharine smile as she turned to the innkeeper. "Yuuuup. Just love greeting outside- visitors." The man quirked an eyebrow, but seeing no imminent disasters, turned to greet my parents, eagerly buttering them up.

"Alright, fine. I guess you can stay here, but only if you do everything I say and respect our land." Carmine said, pushing off from me.

My big sister started marching toward us, clearly frustrated with how this girl was acting, but I waved her down. She stopped but was still frowning at Carmine until I spoke up. "I'd love to, but oh, how will I know how to properly respect your land if I don't see it or know its history?"

The tall girl seemed confused by this, scrunching up her brow cutely as she thought about it before brightening up with a laugh. "We'll just have to show you! Kiki and I will take you all over Kitakami!"

"Aw man, why am I getting roped into this?" Her younger brother questioned aloud and was promptly ignored by Carmine, the girl striding off back to their home.

Cyan shook her head beside me. "I know you can be stingy, but is it worth having them as tour guides, even if you tricked them into doing it for free?"

Flashing her a smile that said butter wouldn't melt in my mouth I replied "No idea what you're talking about. But I think this'll be fun."

***

We got situated in our rooms, which my parents referred to as 'charmingly rustic', something which the innkeeper twitched at, and I suspected was actually some of the most modern facilities here. The inn is quite comfortable, honestly, but I can see how it doesn't compare to the five-star hotels we regularly stay at.

The next morning Billy asked me at breakfast "What do you want to do?"

"Well, there's a lot of the land to see and explore, but I thought we might try fitting in with the locals and seeing about getting some of their clothes first. There's a store right beside-"

"Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" Cyan accused me suspiciously.

With a heavy sigh, I said "I'm not against all clothing shopping, I just don't feel like doing so every week." Or month. Look, clothing shopping can probably be done like twice a year, excluding emergencies. "The outfits here look neat and they'll make for fun souvenirs." Getting keepsakes from a vacation was fine, but I didn't see the point in buying stuff that would sit on a shelf for years, barely get looked at, and then thrown out.

"Mmhmm. Still not convinced you aren't an alien who replaced my sister. But then again, you're an alien who likes to shop, so I guess you can keep her."

"Hey! I just said that this isn't going to be a regular thing!!" My sister ignored my words as we headed off to Peachy's, the main store just down from the inn.

I wonder if that has anything to do with Pecharunt, the legendary in the other half of the DLC, who was supposed to be the big bad behind the 'Loyalty Trio'? Meh, probably not, this is just a small store run by a kindly old lady.

We all got jinbeis and were shown how best to wear them. While the store had a multitude of styles and colors, ultimately I ended up going for the golden one with white and blue highlights, much to my parents' delight. It was the most expensive of the bunch, but also the most durable while still being lightweight and airy. Cyan got a bunch of outfits as well as one jinbei, remarking on the unique nature of the Spinarak silk clothes.

Still having a few hours to kill before Carmine and Kieran would show us around, Cyan and I went down to check out the river that wound around town (Mom and Dad took the time to quickly check work emails and deal with any urgent situations that cropped up at their jobs). Popplio loved splashing around there, and even practicing his singing, which drew quite a crowd.

The Woopers in particular loved the song, jumping up and down on the river bank and splashing around to his tunes. Cyan snapped dozens of photos. I even joined in, pulling my guitar out of my Sliph bag and playing 'Unova' alongside her starter.

"Slow down you crazy child, you're so ambitious for a juvenile,

But then if you're so smart, why are you still so afraid?

Where's the fire? What's the hurry about?

You gotta cool it off before you burn it out.

You got so much to do and only so many hours in the day.

But you know when the truth gets told,

You can get what you want or you can just get old.

You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through.

When will you realize that Unova waits for you?"

Something happened as we played, the notes Popplio was singing started bubbling out of his mouth forming musical symbols forged of water to float through the air. When they drifted down to the river, they'd erupt in an explosion of water, to even more cheers from our fans.

"What Move was that?" My sister asked, hugging Popplio tightly. "Was that Sparkling Aria? I heard his evolution can learn that but I never thought he'd master it so fast!"

"Ehh, I don't think it was that Move, more an Ability," I pointed out. At the sudden pout on both their faces, I added: "The Popplio line has a hidden ability called Liquid Voice which can turn all their sound-based Moves into Water Type. That's super impressive, and even rarer and harder to train than a Move he'll definitely learn when he evolves."

Both of them brightened up at that and she twirled him in the air. "Awesome! I can't wait to show him off to all my classmates."

"Right, you're heading to Uva Academy not long after this."

"What about you?" She asked me after she finished playing with Popplio, setting him down and letting him sing to his heart's content, conjuring more watery music.

"What about me? I'm still too young to go to school-"

"Uva's minimum acceptance age is five, and I bet you already know that. We both know you're smart enough to attend. Or maybe you're thinking about Blueberry Academy, given your song? Is that one going on the album?"

Our parents had been pushing for me to take all my song ideas and turn them into an album, and I was slowly coming around to the idea, at least as a tool to get music from my past life out there. "That wasn't what the song was about. I thought about it on our trip to Unova, where you told me I should chill out on training and studying a bit."

She sat beside me on a large rock as we looked over at the river, where Popplio had been invited to a game of… tag? It was hard to tell what exactly the game was, but he and the other Pokemon were having a blast, splashing and swimming over each other.

A glance to the side showed me that my deflection hadn't worked as she was still staring at me. "Ok, ok, I know. I know I could go, I just… don't like rushing into things." Can't exactly say I'm waiting till I'm twelve or thirteen to avoid screwing up meta-knowledge of the games.

My big sister didn't condemn me, nodding her head. "I get it. I had to go and check out a bunch of different schools recently before feeling settled on Uva." She paused for a moment, frowning before turning to face me and saying "You work hard on trying to be 'perfect.' Honestly, it's kinda frustrating, because I was supposed to be the big sis setting the example. Not sure if you remember, but I got kinda upset at you for that before."

"Water under the bridge." Then, as if conjured by my words (or more accurately, conjured by the Quagsire cannonballing into the river), a large wave swept up and we had to hurry to pull our legs up to avoid getting drenched.

"Just- I'm trying to say you can afford to take some risks. You're my brilliant little sis, and I don't want to see you hide that away from the world forever. You don't know what you'll find either.

Like, at first I thought I wanted a Sprigatito as my next Pokemon, but now…" her gaze wandered over to the Pokemon in the river. Her Popplio and a half dozen other Woopers had clambered onto the back of the Quagsire and were now proudly 'sailing' across the river.

"How touching," a familiar voice said in a sarcastic tone. Carmine revealed herself standing atop the edge of the small cliff before the river, her brother looking nervously by her side. She jumped down with a small thud, bending her knees as she hit the loose stony river bank. "C'mon, we can't wait forever for you guys, we have to get a move on if we're exploring Kitakami."

A quick glance at Miles showed me we were still half an hour early for the meet-up time. You were just too excited to wait, weren't you? Someone who was not too excited was Kieran, standing nervously by the edge.

"C'mon Kiki, jump down! It's only a dozen feet, you'll be fine." His sister 'encouraged' him.

"If he's not comfortable, then leave him be, we can walk back up and around," Cyan tried to point out, but Carmine was having none of it.

"No way! Like I said, we don't want to waste time. So just stop being a baby and come down here!" She shouted back up to her brother.

Sighing softly, I asked Miles "Mind helping him down?"

"Not a problem, bzzt!" They said, zipping up through the air to hover before the boy. They exchanged a few words and Kieran grabbed onto Miles' phone case before lowering his legs off the cliff. They dangled in the air for a moment before my Pokemon drifted down, letting the boy touch down easily.

"Wowzers! That was so cool!" Kieran exclaimed as he let go of Miles, rushing up to me. "I- do you think you can- no, I'm sorry, that's dumb." He started and stopped several times before Carmine marched forward.

"What Kiki is trying to say is that he wants your help. Today is the day my little brother is going to catch his first Pokemon!"

"Oh. Alright then, what Pokemon do you like?" I asked.

Taking a deep breath, the young boy answered as clearly as I had ever seen him, a fire burning in his bright yellow eyes. "Ogerpon!"

Cyan looked confused, while Carmine face-palmed. "Oh boy," I muttered, and it was loud enough for my sister to hear it.

"Why 'oh boy'? You love all Pokemon right? So what's the deal with this 'Ogre pom?'"

The poor boy looked on the verge of tears at our reactions, so I quickly swooped in. "Ogerpon is, from what I know," I added, careful not to upset Carmine further. "A creature of near myth.

They clashed with the Loyalty Trio, the legendary guardians of this town many years ago, and haven't ever been seen since."

"You might think it's dumb, wanting to catch a 'monster' like that, but I think Ogerpon is really-"

My sister cut off Kieran's impassioned plea with surprising bluntness. "Nah, it's fine. There's always some kid who wants to own Darkrai or something."

"Darkrai gets a bad rap," I reflexively pointed out. My sister rolled her eyes but didn't see the point in arguing.

"So… so you don't think it's wrong to want to be friends with Ogerpon?" Kieran asked, looking up as if we were All Might and had just told him 'he too, could be a hero'.

"No, not at all. Honestly, that's my method of catching Pokemon. To be friends with them well before throwing any Pokeballs. That being said, I don't think you need to be fixated on catching Ogerpon first, or even at all. If you manage to find a Pokemon as rare as Ogerpon, you should just focus on being their friend, first and foremost."

Carmine scoffed. "If you really knew the tales of this town, you wouldn't be so quick to say that. That ogre… is a monster!" At my unimpressed face, she said "Seeing is believing though, so let's go to the three sign boards that tell the tale of the ogre!

With a goal in mind, we marched off, joining back with my parents at the inn before going up the hill to the west that curved around to the Loyalty Plaza. Our guide muttered something about 'nice clothes' before she led us up the dirt road.

It was clear to see that the innkeeper was not the only one focused on the tourism part of Kitakami, with there being a cardboard cutout of a pile of apples and an Applin for photo opportunities and a stand to sell very overpriced apples to visitors. I'll bet my bottom dollar we could buy them for half the price in town. Not that we need to pay less for them, but still.

"These apples look just delicious, don't they, dear?" Dad asked Mom as we passed by the apple orchards that stood on either side of the road.

"Indeed, they look ripe and large. What a fantastic showing of Glitterati discernment!" My mother responded. "We should grab some to take home with us."

"You can't just take our precious apples!" Carmine declared defensively, throwing her hands out wide as if she could somehow block off access to the open orchards.

"Pretty sure we can," I countered. "We could just take seeds and plant them at home - or heck, I think I saw some small trees ready for sale down in town."

"Well- they won't taste the same if you don't get them from here. Because of the… soil and stuff…" More reasonable than I expected from an eight-year-old. Still, an easy argument to turn around.

"So, if they aren't going to be the same, there should be no problem with us planting some trees back home then, right?" My taunts had the desired effect of causing Carmine's face to flush scarlet as she tried to stammer out a counterargument. Looking at that in turn had the unintended effect of causing me to glance up and see a dark shape whistling in from the sky.

"Look out!"

My cry of warning came just as it swooped down, and that was almost too late. Everyone in our group just stood there, squinting against the sun in their eyes, but it did startle the Applin on a branch beside us off, causing the winged beast to swish by, missing its target.

"Gliiii-gar!" The pink Pokemon cried as she pivoted in the air, turning to stare balefully at us. She looked very much like a scorpion crossed with a bat, having large webbing in between her arms which ended in pincer-like claws. One of her claws was holding a small glass sphere with a purple liquid sloshing about inside. Most distinctive was her long tail with a stinger on the end.

She made another pass at the Applin who was cowering on the ground, but this time, Kieran had regained himself enough to dive over top of Applin, shielding them with his body. While he was doing that, Carmine and I released our Pokemon. Dun appeared in a burst of red light alongside a new Pokemon, a hound with gray fur and a black face. Poochyena.

Carmine's Pokemon gave a deeply unnerving growl, trying to intimidate Gligar, but the wild Pokemon cared not, rushing at the Applin, but finding herself stymied by Kieran. The small boy couldn't protect the apple forever, though, especially with Gligar being quite large for their species. She was bigger than he was, picking Kieran up with her free claw and tossing him aside.

His efforts had bought us time, so before she could fly off with her meal, Dun landed a Hyper Drill at my command, slamming the Flying Type into a tree nearby. This had the unintended side effect of knocking down a bunch more apples, and likely a few Applins given the way some of them 'bounced' away.

The flying scorpion Pokemon was in no position to take advantage of that, however, dazed and confused by the blow. Not unconscious, though. That's surprisingly resilient for most Pokemon around here.

"Pooch, Crunch!" Carmine shouted, and her Pokemon sprinted forward, latching his teeth into one of the segments of Gligar's tail, trying to drag it around. Unfortunately, Gligar had teeth of her own, and when she bit the dog in turn, he yelped and let his quarry go. With a whack of her tail, she knocked Poochyena aside, sending him tumbling down beside Kieran.

"Ice Spinner," I cooly called out. Dun executed it immediately, rising horizontally on his tail, stretching up nearly five meters tall. Spinning around like the world's tallest, thinnest top, ice began swirling in the air around him. Since Gligar was right beside him, she was assaulted by a barrage of cold that had her howling out in pain.

Still not out of it however and recognizing that I was the real threat, she ran on her small legs and jumped onto my face. Latching on, I found myself blinded, her iced-over wings and body blocking my sight. I knew that wasn't the most dangerous part of the situation, so lashing out on instinct, I grabbed a hold of her tail, stopping her from stabbing into me.

Tugging at her hard, I just barely managed to rip her off, earning a few scratches on one side of my head where her claw scraped by. I had no time to worry about that, however, and keeping the initiative, I whirled her around my head and onto the ground.

"Dun," I panted, my starter waiting eagerly by my side for the chance I'd given him to hurt her, not that my own life wasn't at risk. "Giga Impact." Gligar was not aware of the danger headed her way, but must have sensed something and tried to dig underground, to no avail.

Surrounded by greenish energy, Dun smashed into our foe, ripping her out of the dirt and sending her flying down the hill. The blow knocked the odd orb she had been holding onto as well, falling on the path.

"What a surprising battle!" Billy exclaimed. Alright Captain Obvious, say something I don't know. "And it's not even done yet, the flying Pokemon is getting back up!" Wait what?

Turning back around, I saw the Gligar struggling back to her feet. She was clearly in worse shape than Dun, but for the moment, my Pokemon was too tired to stop her. But this isn't an official battle.

Quickly pulling out the refrigerator form, I tossed it up and Miles flew into it, not even needing a command to know what to do. The Gligar that had been desperately racing towards me paused at this new icy foe, and despite the hatred in his triangular eyes, fear won out. She flew away, racing through the air and then gliding down far out of sight.

Once she was gone I called out "Is everyone alright?"

"Yeah."

"That was incredible, bravo!"

"Oh, how marvelous!"

"Ha! As if something like that could take me down."

"Aw man, that was rough."

Dun slid back to me as I took stock of everyone. Poochyena was a little bruised but otherwise trying to stand proud by his trainer's side. My family was just looking a bit shocked at all that had gone down, and Kieran had the Applin held up in the palm of his hands, telling them that it was going to be fine.

"Gligar only hang around the Barren Wastelands, I wonder why that one would have attacked us so suddenly?" Carmine asked aloud.

"Maybe it had something to do with this?" Cyan asked reaching for the orb it had dropped.

"STOP!!!" My voice had her instantly freeze up, hand hovering an inch above the orb.

"What- what's wrong?" She asked.

"Take your hand away and look at the ground around it," I said, running over. There was already a small purple stain on the dirt around it. "That's a Toxic Orb, highly poisonous. It can leave Pokemon badly poisoned even just by holding it, and I think the glass cracked." Indeed, a few fractures were spider-webbing their way through the orb.

My sister gulped, looking a bit paler than usual as she wondered what would have happened if she touched it. Well, that's an auspicious start to our trip. Can't wait to see what happens next.

***

The toxic orb was dealt with fairly quickly by the farmers and some Spinnaraks and Sewaddles that put up some sticks and a small web barricade with leaves attached spelling 'DANGER'. With any travelers or wandering Pokemon warded off, we were free to carry on our way.

"Hey, you can go back, you're safe now," Kieran tried telling the Applin, pointing back down at the orchard. The small Grass Type blinked, turning and hopping down a few steps. Out of my periphery, I saw as Kieran turned away, the Applin turned right back, hopping back and quickly being right behind him.

"You've got a tail," I told him and he turned around to see the Pokemon looking up at him again.

"Aw man, he got freaked out by that attack, huh?"

"Yes, but I think more than that, he was impressed by you and your bravery."

"Huh?! Me? But you're the one that fought the Pokemon off." The Kitakamai boy pointed out. "I wish I could be as brave as you, maybe then the Ogre would like me. You know I've searched the mountain a dozen times, but I've never found them?"

Ok, need to nip that in the bud. For now though, maybe get him focused on the Pokemon already following him. "Bravery isn't not being afraid, it's facing your fears. Your willingness to protect him, even when you had no Pokemon of your own… I bet that's pretty impressive to a Dragon like Applin." Then, I added: "I am assuming here, uhhh, you can just close your eyes hard if I'm off base?"

Applin's eyes bulged a little, trying to stay as wide open as possible for a good quarter of a minute. "Haha, ok, I think I'm good then."

"Wowzers, really?" Kieran asked and the Applin wobbled his whole body in the approximation of a nod.

"Do you want to catch him? I know it's a big choice, but sometimes life happens in-" Before I could finish selling him on it, he had already taken out a Pokeball and pressed the button, absorbing the small red spherical Pokemon into the small red spherical container. It clicked almost immediately, showing the capture as successful.

"I did it!" He shouted, holding his Pokeball high above him. "Thanks, Nemona. I couldn't have done it without you."

I shook my head. "This was all on you. I'm really glad you were able to bond so fast, reminds me of how I met Dun."

"Good job bro, now hurry up!" Carmine called to us, as we had lagged behind the rest of the group, now standing at the entrance to the plaza. A small wooden fence surrounded the large flat top of the hill, providing a barrier between it and the cliffs that led down to the orchard and town below. There were large trees interspersed between bright flower beds. Nearby the entrance was a very old sign, and then further back I could make out a stone monument.

"Behold, the Loyalty Trio Plaza! We used to call it the Loyalty Trio Park but then… we didn't," Carmine said, just as boisterously as ever. Ah, and there are the downsides of having an eight-year-old tour guide. "C'mon, you gotta see the sign."

She led us over to it and began reading the tale of the Ogre and the Loyalty Trio, stopping and starting several times to read over it again. I tried to put on a good face, but it was hard to be super invested in it, knowing that the tale written on it was false. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to correct history here. The only people who know the truth are Kieran and Carmine's grandparents, and they didn't even tell their grandkids without Ogerpon around.

A lot of photos were taken there, and at the monument, keepsakes for when we looked back on this trip later. It's funny how… normal, this all feels. Even with Pokemon all around and fantastic tales with hidden secrets, this moment, just standing here in the breeze as we look out at the wonders of a foreign land. It feels just like the vacations of my past life.

"Are- are you crying?" Carmine asked and I blinked any water out of my eyes.

"Just a bit of dust. Thanks for showing us this, it's quite an interesting tale."

"Of course it is, this is the story everyone here grows up with. Be careful with your eyes though, it gets pretty dusty in the Paradise Barrens."

"Umm, excuse me," Billy spoke up. "Aren't the Paradise Barrens fairly far away?" I was confused for a second before I realized how much he was sweating. My mother and sister were also looking fairly tired.

"Yeah? There's another sign out there, we gotta show you the next one too," Carmine said stubbornly. "Then we go back to Kitakami Hall for the third sign." She pointed out, at the other side of the mountain where the festival of masks took place annually.

At my family's thousand-yard stare, I decided to cut in. "Maybe my parents and sister can go back to the inn and we'll meet them there in a few hours to go to the Hall. The Barrens are where Pokemon like that Gligar came from? Might be a bit dangerous for them there." To pre-empt any arguments from Carmine I assured her: "I'll have Miles take a photo of the sign so they get the full experience."

"That sounds wonderful, sis. We'll see you later." Cyan waved us off, far too relieved in not having to go on a much longer hike than anticipated to argue about having a Pokemon herself.

***

Before reaching the Paradise Barrens, we first had to cross the Wistful Fields, and looking at the splendor of greenery and the almost magical feeling in the air, I couldn't argue with the name. It was a wide field of grass dotted with a few trees and boulders here and there. The towering mountain to one side and the cliffs to the other let it feel like its own private world.

There were also tons of interesting Pokemon running about and frolicking here. Kirlias were dancing around with Cutieflys while a Riolu sparred with a Mienfoo. Off in the distance, I saw Rockruff and Shinxes playing under the watchful eyes of Luxray pack leaders.

"This place is incredible!" I cheered as we ran across the sea of grass with only the kind of energy little kids have.

"It is! Grandpa said I couldn't go here by myself without a Pokemon, but I don't get why-" Kieran was saying before I turned suddenly and grabbed him, leaping and carrying us through the air, just a touch longer and landing more gently than would be naturally possible.

"Sorry about that!" I called out to the Charjabug Kieran had almost stepped on.

"Oh! Oh gosh."

"You gotta keep an eye on those things!" Carmine turned her head back and said immediately before tripping on a rock. She tumbled head over heels before landing in a lump.

We stopped our run to stare at her for a good half minute as she lay there, a trembling ball of rage. "Not. A. Word." Kieran started snickering uncontrollably and she yelled "Not a word, Kiki!"

"I- ahaha- didn't- snerk - say anything!" He said as he took off, ostensibly just running towards the Paradise Barrens, but in actuality running away from his sister's wrath. I ran after them, trying to guide them away from any troubles (which was fairly easy, because despite the Pokemon all having their own little lives here, none of them were particularly territorial or aggressive, to us at least).

***

Crossing the field wiped out a lot of the energy my 'travel guides' had, but I had a feeling they would be entering at a slower pace regardless. Something about this place just has a more somber feel to it. Not sure why though.

Feeling there was no harm, I asked. "Why is this place so, well, Barren? Everywhere else in Kitakami is lush and full of life." Not that this place is exactly devoid of it, however. There are still a few spots of grass and a tree here or there, just, way less than anywhere else.

There were still plenty of Pokemon wandering around the spikey ridges and dusty valleys here. More Rock and Ground Types in general, and a little more standoffish around us, but otherwise fairly similar.

"Grandma said we tried to build something here, a long time ago. But then, something happened, some invader from beyond our shores. The people there had to leave and all the stuff they built got torn down over time. But not the sign! The Pokemon have always been respectful of it."

Huh. Okay, a lot to unpack there. Don't think everyone just 'left'. Must have been quite a powerful Pokemon to destroy all this. Interesting that 'the Ogre' isn't blamed for this one. Then again, I know Ogerpon is a Grass Type, and even if they don't know enough about her to know her Type, the tales would probably let them know that this isn't her style, not even when (rightfully) enraged. No, this would probably be the work of a Ground Type…

"Bloodmoon," I whispered aloud as the pieces clicked into place. Carmine whipped around to face me.

"What did you say?"

"Bloodmoon. It's- another of the legends I heard. Of a beast of tremendous might and strange origins," Kieran had turned to face me as well, both the kid's eyes growing wide. So glad these kids can't call me out on all my random knowledge.

"Back in ancient Sinnoh, when the land was called Hisui, they had 'Noble Pokemon', powerful guardians who worked alongside the tribes of those times. The tribes had discovered alternative evolutions, methods we've lost in modern times. One of those was how to evolve an Ursaring into an Ursaluna, using the power of the Moon."

"The moon? What can the moon do?" Carmine scoffed.

"Plenty. Just ask yourself why some Pokemon can evolve with stones that are only found naturally on the moon? Why is the strongest Fairy Type Move called 'Moonblast?' The moon may be distant but it has a great influence on the world below."

"Ohh, so they used a Moonstone to evolve the Ursaring, like old lady Ingrid's Clefable at the inn." Kieran chimed in.

"No, they could only evolve them during the full moon, but through a different process lost to time. Now, without interruptions, I'll continue." Taking a deep breath, I began again.

"These Ursalunas were strong, gaining mastery over the earth beneath them as they evolved. Most stayed in Hisui and passed as time turned on and the land became known as Sinnoh. Over three centuries ago, however, one of them left. Was he abandoned as the tribes moved on and modernized? Was he exiled, for deeds too terrible to accept? Or was it just a sense of wanderlust that drove him onward?"

"Whatever his reason, he left, and swam across the ocean. Everyone knows the oceans are treacherous, and even more so for one of his Type. But Ursaluna are strong, their strength as great as any mountain, and so he felt he could face the perils of the ocean."

"For all his might though, the waters were more than dangerous, they were vast. As the waves slowly chip away at the cliffs day by day, so too did the ocean sap at his strength. But the oceans move by force of the moon, and the moon was his ally. More than an ally, on one strange and fell night, it became his teacher. The crimson light of the blood moon gave him the power he needed to arrive on the shores of a distant land known as… Kitakami."

That got a gasp from both of them and I knew they were hooked. Indeed, I saw even a few Pokemon coming around to listen. A Timburr carrying a boulder that just 'happened' to be walking back and forth nearby us, a Vullaby that landed some meters behind me, thinking I hadn't noticed, and an Orthworm poking its red head out of the dirt nearby.

"These lessons left him with strange gifts, but also a transformation to his body. His fur had faded to a lighter brown than his kin, and the clay armor that grew over parts of their bodies expanded to cover half of his face. His battles had cost him an eye, but out of that empty socket would occasionally glow an eldritch green light that could peer through the world of Distortion and pierce any illusion or trickery. Finally, atop his brow, the yellow disk of a full moon had been dyed completely red. Blood red, like that of the ominous moon whose power he could now draw on. Fear the monster that even the ground trembles before. Fear, Bloodmoon Ursaluna!"

There was silence as I finished my tale, Kieran looked pale as a sheet and Carmine was trembling. "Is- is that story true?" She asked trepidatiously.

With a deep breath, I answered. "I… have no idea." My anticlimactic statement was met with a moment of silence and then a chorus of 'boos' from humans and Pokemon alike, one of the Pokemon in the back even hucking a small stone very lightly at me, which I dodged while laughing.

"I'm sorry, but c'mon. I couldn't have actually been there for all of that. And that doesn't mean it can't be true. It's just that the only things I know for sure are that there were Ursalunas in ancient Hisui and that there have supposedly been sightings of one here that doesn't look quite right compared to the scrolls and murals of those times. As for the rest?" I shrugged. "Only Arceus knows. But I think it makes for a good tale."

"It was alright, I guess," Carmine begrudgingly said. I can tell she liked it because she's not even getting mad at me for telling a tale about her home. "C'mon, let's get going to the second sign."

As we wandered over to the sign, Kieran asked me "Do you know how to make an Ursaring into a Bloodmoon Ursaluna?"

Chuckling, I answered, "Don't know how to make a 'Bloodmoon Ursaluna', but I have some ideas about regular Ursaluna from the notes and studies I've read." And more from playing a video game in another universe, but I probably won't be putting that on my research paper when/if I unveil my discovery to the world.

"Huh. The Bloodmoon sounds sooo cool." I could practically see the stars in Kieran's eyes and sighed, trying to divert him from that path.

"He is, but maybe a bit dangerous. You probably shouldn't go looking for it unless you're a bit stronger." Honestly Bloodmoon doesn't seem that angry in the games, but he does get easily startled by Perrin's camera. Given the level of power the Ursaluna has, best if he doesn't get hounded by an excitable kid.

He frowned at what I said. "How do you know he wants to hurt me? Maybe he just wants a friend," the younger boy pointed out.

"Maybe. But what about all of this?" I said, gesturing a hand out to the Barrens. "If this was purposeful, or even worse, accidental, then think of the damage it might cause if surprised."

"C-could a Pokemon really do all of this, by accident?"

"A legendary? Yeah, they could. That's why we tell legends of them." Ogerpon isn't quite as focused on large-scale destruction, but her power is at least as great as Ursaluna's. "That's why I want to get stronger. So I can travel anywhere, explore any legend without fear because I'll be just as strong as them."

Kieran's jaw dropped and I wasn't sure if it was from my ideal or the confidence I expressed behind it.

"Wowzers." He pulled up his Pokeball containing Applin. "Do- do you think I could be that strong one day too? That I could meet the Ogre and be their friend."

I nodded and clasped my hand over his holding the Pokeball. "I think so, I truly do. Just, try not to fixate on the Ogre. Being her friend would be great, but you gotta focus on being this guy's friend too. I'm sure he'll be incredibly strong someday, with you by his side."

"Aw-awesome," he said quietly, his face a bit flush as he grinned from ear to ear. "He's gonna be the strongest umm, what do Applins evolve into again?"

Laughing (mostly at Carmine stomping her feet for us to hurry up), I said "They have three different evolutions based on the special apples you give them. Appletun, Flapple, or Dipplin, the latter of which only come from the candy apples made here."

"Which clearly makes Dipplin the best evolution, right?" Carmine more demanded than asked as we approached her standing by the sign.

"Sis…" Kiki groaned.

"Well, I don't want to say any Pokemon is 'better' than any other Pokemon, but yes. Dipplin is probably the strongest."

"What? I mean, of course they are," Carmine huffed.

"Why?" Kieran asked more pertinently.

"Dipplin are theorized to have another evolution, though no one has discovered it yet."

"How can you know it has an evolution if it hasn't been discovered?" Carmine demanded.

"There are ways. Things like Eviolite. It's a special stone that when held by a Pokemon can give them massive boosts to their defenses, making them waaaaay tougher. It only works though, if held by a Pokemon capable of evolving. So some people have noticed that Dipplin gets tougher when it holds Eviolite, while Flapple and Appletun don't. That all being said, pick whichever evolution suits them best - any Pokemon can be strong with enough time and training."

Kieran nodded while Carmine impatiently cleared her throat. "Okay, enough of that now, we're on to the next sign!"

She explained how this one told a tale of why the villagers wore masks, the story of strangers passing at night. How if the Ogre saw you with a mask, then it would pass you by alone, but your 'soul would be forfeit' if the Ogre saw you without it. So even strangers would wear masks out of fear.

"Do people carry masks here any time they go out at night?" I asked after Carmine was finished and she stumbled a bit.

"Well, no, not everyone. But that's the reason why we have the big festival of Masks! It's the biggest event in Kitakami and will be happening next month."

"So the Ogre fights the Loyal Three, then just hangs around checking if people are wearing masks at night?

"Yeah. They say the Ogre's den is supposed to be up on Oni Mountain, but I've checked a dozen times and found nothing." Kieran chimed in, sounding a little subdued before continuing brightly. "Wasn't the Ogre so strong? To take on all of the Loyal Three at once and win… What do you think of them?"

"Honestly? I think she's kinda sad."

"Sad?" Carmine looked befuddled at me.

"What else are you supposed to say about someone so strong that's so alone? The Ogre is all by herself in the stories, right?" Both of the Kitakami kids nodded. "So, she has to know that there aren't any other Ogres about. Especially after this long. Seeing the masks the humans wear is just a form of pretending, acting like there's somebody like her."

Not quite right, but I can't come out right with the truth here. It's pretty close though; why else would Ogerpon show up at the festival in the games? Because as much as people had hurt her and her friend, she wanted to experience the idea of being around people, and with everyone wearing masks at the festival, it gave her that excuse.

"Whoa, I never thought of it like that. That settles it, I'm definitely going to be her friend!" Kieran declared, hand clenched in a fist and an adorably serious look on his face.

"What? No, not settled at all! Stop chasing after her!" Then Carmine turned to me. "Why do you call the Ogre a 'she'?"

Whoops. "Well, I dunno, she just feels like a girl to me. I'll be happy to rescind that view if any evidence shows up to the contrary." Except I know it won't because in the games she's always female.

"Ugh, why do you have to talk so weird? Now it's making Kiki act weird too." The tall girl complained. Pretty sure that weirdness had nothing to do with me. "We should head back to town now and get some food before we go up to the Hall."

***

We walked back (thankfully Miles remembered to take a photo of the sign before we left) but our plans to quickly reach Mossui Town were derailed as I spotted a familiar form lying in the dirt in a shadowy corner of the Barrens.

"Nemona! Wait up!" Carmine called after me worriedly as I started to run away. Kieran and her couldn't see it, but my eyes made out the form of a Gligar and a very familiar one at that.

At least I assume it's the same one, it looks a bit too big to be your average Gligar.

My suspicions were proven correct when I reached the fallen Pokemon, panting hard as I stood over her body. She was lying down right in front of the entrance to a small cave set on the edge of the cliff. I could see the bite marks on her tail and other injuries from our battle earlier today. Most worrying though was that she was on her back and wasn't moving.

Immediately I dropped to the ground, kneeling beside her while also releasing Dun (just in case this was some sort of trap). Turning her over, I felt pretty confident it wasn't as she just lay there, deathly pale. I had to feel for her pulse to determine she was still alive, and I could barely feel it under my fingertips. Or is that natural for Gligar? I don't know, but she does look Poisoned, probably from that damn orb she had. Why was she carrying that thing? Why did she attack Applin?

Kieran and Carmine ran up behind me, out of breath as well. I could hear that they had both their Pokemon out too, especially Applin from his panicked cries as he saw the Pokemon I was attending to.

"What are you doing?" Carmine asked as I sprayed some Antidote directly into her mouth, and followed up with Hyper Potions on her wounds.

"Trying to save her life, what does it look like I'm doing?" I snapped before calming back down as I noticed the tall girl wince at my words.

"...Why?" Kieran eventually asked, eyes blazing as he glared down at the scorpion-esque Pokemon.

"What? Because she's hurt-"

"And she tried to hurt Applin! Why should you help her-"

"Because we won't know why she did that unless we save her life! No one knows why the Ogre rampaged one day because nobody asked!" That line seemed to work as Kieran snapped back, looking like he was on the verge of tears.

Shit. These two are just kids right now, gotta remember that. I'll deal with that later. Turning back to the fallen Gligar, I could hear her breathing now and see a small rise and fall of her chest. That should help for the time being, but she needs proper care. We've got to take her back to the town, but will she be okay carried back? Can I even lift her all the way? No matter, I'll have to try.

With a grunt, I slid my hands under her and began to hoist the Pokemon up. "Uhh, Nemona?" Carmine tentatively asked, and I had to remind myself not to take out my frustration with the situation out on her. I took a deep breath, nodding my head up and down as I tried to center myself before responding to the taller girl.

"Yes?"

"Why are you carrying her?"

"I need to get her to a Pokemon Center, or that little stand you have beside the inn and-"

"No, I mean why don't you just catch her?"

There was a moment of silence before I gently put the Gligar back on the ground before I pulled out a spare Pokeball and caught her in it. "...Thanks," I mumbled sheepishly, while Carmine laughed her head off at me, and even Kieran chuckled a little at me.

With her in stasis and safe for the moment, we could afford to take a moment and think about our next move. "Miles, call up the Flying Taxi service for Kitakami." Another thing I should have thought of sooner. I panicked and nearly made some dumb choices there. I've gotta keep a cooler head in a crisis.

"Sure thing, bzzt. It might take a bit longer here than Paldea, the network isn't as large, but they'll be here soon," my stalwart Rotom assured me.

"That's fine, we've got time now." Hopefully, enough time to get to the bottom of whatever this situation is.


This is probably my largest update yet, and there's still tons to explore in Kitakami. I loved the DLC, it was one of the major factors that pushed me to writing this fanfic and was actually where I originally wrote about before settling on the Nemona SI idea. While this arc is going to be quite different than that would have been, I can't wait to show you more about it, and I really hope you enjoy this arc. Thank you for all your support.
 
Chapter 38 New
The Gligar incident threw off our plans for the afternoon. While we had just as much if not more time after getting a ride on their Flying Taxi (which used Noctowls, not Squawkabillys) that time was taken up fretting beside the Pokemon… stand? It had most of the basic machines needed to heal a Pokemon and a Chansey standing by the Nurse Joy, but it was a small mobile setup, not a proper building.

No one is in the mood to continue with the sign tour today, anyway. Kieran has barely said a word since. As we dispersed I quickly said "We'll see you guys tomorrow," to which I got a non-committal but vaguely agreeing sound from the two kids.

"This was an exciting start to our trip!" Billy chirped, but I could see that the big smile on his face was a little forced at the corners of his lips. My family had gathered back at the inn, deciding where to go for dinner.

He's trying for me though, so I can try to look a little less glum too. "Definitely wasn't what I expected. Hope Carmine and Kieran are ok with what I did. We got into a small argument over Gligar."

Cyan cut in, holding three menus in her hands. "Carmine seems to have a problem with everything. Also, we narrowed it down to these three places, where do you want to go?"

Skimming over the menus I pointed to the middle one. "Kitakami Kuisine. It's not Carmine I'm worried about. She's not a bad girl, just bad at expressing herself." Expressing herself politely, that is.

My sister made a disbelieving sound, but I ignored it, forging ahead. "No, it's Kieran. I helped push him to catch the Applin, but then I helped the Pokemon that attacked him."

Our dad looked over at the menus "Fantastic choice my dears! What drew your eye to this restaurant?" He just sounded curious, not judging my choice.

"It served a bunch of food you guys will like and fries and nuggets for me." My answer elicited a groan from my sister.

"You're so plain. How can someone so adventurous be so timid when it comes to food? You don't even like sandwiches." She uttered the last word like it was blasphemy.

"All the rest of me is adventurous, my taste buds are not. Besides, sandwiches are just fine, I eat most of the same ingredients you guys do."

"Eating a loaf of bread, then a separate pile of meat does not count as eating a sandwich." My sister deadpanned before our mother cleared her throat and we stopped arguing.

"Well, I think it's lovely that you're so concerned for the well-being of all Pokemon. Even ones as… scary as that one," Mom mentioned and my sister looked at my face and sighed.

"You aren't going to catch it, are you?" Cyan asked nervously. "Like, you had to use a Pokeball to get it to the center, that's fine and noble and all, but… it tried to attack you."

"Hmm, it depends. I don't know enough about her or her situation yet, or even if she'd want to join my team."

That's the issue, isn't it? Gligar are generally viewed as a pretty aggressive species, and the Pokedex tends to agree with that. 'It flies straight at its target's face, then clamps down on the startled victim to inject poison.' 'It sails on the winds with its limbs extended to strike from the sky. It aims for the prey's face.', etc. But I feel there's more to the story here than that. That Gligar had traveled a fair distance from home, which could have just been it searching for weak prey, but then there was the Toxic Orb it was holding…

"Seriously? Poison Types are pretty vicious. If you want to keep her, I trust you but…" My big sister trailed off. Poison is an odd type for trainers. Most only catch a Pokemon with a secondary Typing of Poison, the kinds that don't tend to be as naturally hazardous to one's health. Or they go the opposite way, being full-on specialists in the Type. Knowing how to deal with a Muk might not be the same as knowing how to deal with a Weezing, but there's a lot of overlap that makes it easier. Not that any of this is an issue here.

"Actually, Gligar isn't a Poison Type, though they can learn a bunch of Poison Moves. They're Flying and Ground Type."

"Huh, weird. I get the Flying, but they look kinda bug-like." My sister commented as we headed out for dinner.

"They're in the bug egg group, one of the few to not be that Type, and in that group, like Flygon and… hmm. Miles, take a note for me." They dutifully floated up, opening a Note document on the phone. "Both Drapion and Gligar reside in the bug egg group while not having the Bug Typing. Skorupi has it but loses it upon evolving, and both lines have scorpion-like traits. While scorpions are part of the arachnida animal family, other arachnids tend to have the Bug Type. Perhaps there's a connection between scorpion Pokemon and the bug egg group and Bug Typing."

"Trying to be a champion, musician, and a Professor too?" Cyan teased as I put Miles away.

"I'm aiming to be a Champion, maybe a Pokemon Professor later." Trying to hold both positions at once is technically possible, but even in a land like Paldea where they have multiple Champion rank trainers, it's incredibly difficult. "Music is just a hobby, probably wouldn't even be making that album if you guys weren't pressuring me into doing so."

"Oh, but we just want your lovely voice heard around the world!" Mom exclaimed.

"Yes, I don't doubt that you'll be at the top of the RoTunes charts when your first album comes out," Dad declared.

"That better not be because you messed with the algorithm," I muttered and he pretended not to hear me. Whatever, I'm not even halfway done with the album, still have a lot of kinks to work out in some songs, and a few are still undecided. Those are problems for later. For now, I have to focus on Gligar.

***

The sun was just starting to peak over the horizon when I got up in the morning. Yawning, I slipped out of my hotel room and down to the Pokemon stall. There was a different nurse on duty for the night, playing some games on her phone beside her Chansey who was doing the same.

"Oh hey, you're the kid that dropped off that Gligar before. My sister mentioned you," she said as I flashed her my Trainer ID card. "You can take her back, but you've got to be careful, she was Poisoned pretty badly. No battling with her for the next day or two if you can help it." She pulled the Pokeball out of the machine, handing it to me.

"I'm not looking to do that, I only just caught her. I might even be releasing her back into the wild." She didn't seem interested anymore in the conversation, going back to her phone, so I marched off.

Some of the Pokemon in the early morning were a bit more disturbed by my passing than they had been the day before, but even the den of Ekans that hissed angrily backed off upon seeing Dun slithering beside me. One Mienfoo challenged us to a proper fight in the Wistful Fields, but we were prepared from all our training with Dendra. A Glare slowed him down and a flurry of Air Cutters took him out and had the Fighting Type surrendering.

The den that I assumed Gligar had been aiming for before crashing down was fairly close to the entrance of the Barrens, so it didn't take long after leaving the fields to get there. Then, I released her from the Pokeball.

She immediately whipped around, looking confused at her situation, before realizing where she was and then locking on to me. Any relief on her face melted away when she saw me, backing away unsteadily on her one-clawed legs, hissing in warning.

"Yo," I said, giving a slow wave to the Gligar to not spook her further. She narrowed her triangular eyes at me but stopped backing up (though that might have been because the cliff wall was only a meter behind her now).

Something interesting I noted was how several of the other Pokemon nearby turned away, looking upset at Gligar's appearance. Guess she doesn't have many friends here. But they don't seem worried either.

"Hey, I want you to know that you're safe now. You were hurt pretty bad- no, not by Dun!" She had started angrily jabbing her tail out at Dun, who just narrowed his eyes. "I was impressed by how well you weathered the blows he gave you, but what really hurt was the poison. Why were you carrying that Toxic orb?"

My words did not have the intended effect, as instead of getting any answer, it caused her to realize she no longer had the orb. Scrambling around, she began looking all over for it before scuttling rapidly up the cliff face to her den.

Dun looked eager to give chase, but I held out a hand, holding him back for a minute. She's confused and scared, best to give her a minute. While we waited, I glanced around at the Pokemon nearby.

Many had left, uninterested in the spectacle, and of those that stayed, I noticed something odd. A Nosepass gathered some berries from the dirt and carried them as swiftly away as they could. Sentret gathering with a Furret in front, up on the lush clifftop, ready to defend themselves if need be.

Gligar left the cave gliding back down. "Gligar! Gli gli!" She shrieked, tail swishing about in the dusty ground.

"Hold on, you're upset. Is this about me catching you?" She shook her head before the question was even out of my mouth, so fast that I can't even rule it out as something that would upset her. Just not what she's agitated about right now. "Is this about the Toxic orb?"

She looked confused, so I mime the shape of the orb with my hands causing her eyes to light up.

The flying scorpion nodded her head so rapidly that she needed to throw her arms out to the sides for a second to stop herself from unbalancing. "You dropped it over by Apple Hills. The place where you attacked us?" That gets recognition but not a hint of shame. "But it broke in the battle-"

Shrieking, I saw the instant denial on her face. More than that, I saw the worry behind it. That orb is important to her, even though it was killing her. Why?

I don't have time to wonder any longer as she's launching herself up into the air, propelling towards the site of our battle. "No, it's broken!" My words are nothing more than a breeze on the wind as she ignores me, determined to see the truth with her own eyes. Which I could accept if she wasn't likely to cause a disturbance flying back to a place where she already made a ruckus.

Pulling out her Pokeball, I pressed the button to call her back, only for her to notice the red beam and swoop down, agilely avoiding it. My next two attempts were avoided just as deftly as she twisted and turned through the air, and then she was out of range.

"Shit! We have to go after her!" I called out and Dun and I began racing up the Barrens and across the Wistful Fields. While the two of us could, theoretically fly, neither of us was faster in the air than we were on the ground, and she was much faster than even that, soon zipping out of sight.

"Dammit, Miles, can you go after her and keep her out of trouble? I know it's a big ask-"

"Not a problem, bzzt," they responded, leaving their phone and taking on their regular lightbulb-esque base form. It was the least defensive of their forms, but also the fastest, letting them zip through the air like a lightning bolt following Gligar.

"Hopefully that buys us a bit of time, but we still gotta hurry. Dun, can you give us a Tailwind?" My starter called his name out proudly and began flapping his wings hard, whipping up a stream of air behind us.

The Move wasn't designed to work on humans, but with my Aura, I was able to use it to keep up with Dun's rapid speed. I'd make a massive leap in the air, calling on my Aura to help me glide, and then with the Tailwind, get pushed far ahead, then repeat that every time I landed.

With that, and Dun having to stop every half a minute or so to create a new Tailwind, I was able to keep pace with him and both of us made record times across the fields. We also disturbed quite a few Pokemon that I had to call out apologies to as we whipped by, but thankfully none of them seemed willing to make something of our wild passage. This feels great, so free to soar across the ground. I have to try this again when things aren't so tense in the future.

Winding up the paths that led down to the field, we found ourselves at the top of Apple Hills, looking down at the scene below. Gligar was just sitting beside the makeshift cordon, mournfully poking at it while Miles hovered nearby. The Pokemon in the orchards nearby were looking on warily, but it looked like no fights had been instigated.

Relieved, we hurried down at a brisk, but no longer breakneck pace until we stood over Gligar, who was cradling the cracked orb. Only a few dredges of vile poison remained in the leaking orb, so it looked like she hadn't been too badly poisoned yet, but I still pulled out an antidote and sprayed it on her, eliciting an immediate sigh of relief from the Pokemon.

"Can't you see how that thing is hurting you? And it's broken now, so just… put it down." My words hammered in the truth of the situation and caused her to start wailing, tears falling down her large eyes. At least she put it down and I don't need to use up more Antidote.

I gave her a few pats, which she didn't seem opposed to but didn't seem overly comforted by either, and I waited for her tears to die down. When they did, I asked again "So, this was obviously very important to you. Why were you keeping it if it was hurting you?"

She hissed lightly, disagreeing with that. From there she began to hop around, puffing herself up, and then mimed getting hit and holding the orb but being happy. It was confusing but I tried to break it down.

"So you're saying the orb made you happy?"

"Gar."

"No, not that it made you happy, that it was helping you take hits? No, helping you get better when hit? But you don't even have the Immunity ability." My research on the Pokedex did reveal that Gligar could have the Hidden Ability of Immunity and thus not be hurt by a Toxic Orb, but she didn't have that one. Probably Hyper Cutter, the way Poochyena's Growl didn't diminish her fighting strength one bit.

She was shaking her head again, pointing to herself then crossing her arms in front of her then pulling them aside. "Cross Poison!" She gave me the most deadpan look and I corrected myself.

"Uhh, not you?" That got a nod from her. "It wasn't you holding the Toxic Orb, it was someone bigger. One of your parents?"

"Gli gli!" She eagerly affirmed. A bigger Gligar, when she's already pretty big… or a Gliscor…

The pieces were clicking into place, but I drew out my Pokedex to confirm, flipping through to her evolution's page. "Gliscor… Fang Scorp Pokemon, learns some fang Moves naturally and others through TMs, abilities… there we go." I muttered out loud.

Gliscor has the same regular Abilities as Gligar, but its Hidden Ability upgrades Immunity to Poison Heal! She must have had a Gliscor for a parent that had that Ability and used the Toxic Orb they somehow got to be pretty much invincible! Poison will eventually leave a Pokemon's system, but the orb would keep on reapplying it, and a really strong Poison at that, which kept on being flipped to very strong regeneration. But… there were no signs of any parents at the den we were at and Gligar had the orb.

"Did one of your parents give you this orb? Are they still around?" My direct questions elicited a whole new round of tears, and as I tried to console her, I spotted a couple of familiar people walking up the hill toward us. Best hurry this up before they make a scene. I can probably assume that there's no family she has left, and it looked like most of the Barren weren't fans of her sticky fingers? Sticky pincers? In any case, I've got a good enough picture now.

"I'm sorry that things are rough for you, but that doesn't justify trying to attack or steal from others." She whipped her head around, gnashing her teeth away. I pulled my hand back quickly, giving her an unimpressed look. "Stuff like that." Not sure if she was 'out of her mind' from the pain of Poison, or she was just irritable and looking for a snack, but I can't have her trying to eat Applin again.

Continuing, I said "I could help you. Train you to become strong- stronger," I amended at her glare, which seemed to mollify her a little. "You took those hits pretty well, but there's more to battling than that. Using Moves, positioning and maneuverability, strategy… I teach Dun and Miles all that and more, and I'd like to teach you too. It's even possible for me to get you another Toxic Orb." That got her undivided attention and she froze as still as a statue, staring at me with wide eyes.

"It might not have the same sentimental value as your first one, but I can also provide all the antidotes you need to train up that Ability." Even a Razor Fang too, when she's ready. I didn't want to mention that as she already seemed excited enough, leaping into the air and swooping around my head.

"Alright, alright, I'm glad you're happy. However, there will be some stipulations for this. If I give you a Toxic Orb, I expect you to listen to me. Especially in battles and when it comes to how much you're Poisoning yourself."

"Gligar, ar!" She said, pivoting on a dime and dropping down in front of me. Shaking her head, she held a pincer out and then flapped her wings without rising.

"You… you want me to just give you a Toxic Orb then let you leave?! No, absolutely not!" I shouted, moving closer to her. She shoved her head forward, butting her hard exoskeleton against my head. Oww.

Backing off a step (out of a desire not to be overly confrontational and not just because that hurt a lot), I said: "Do you know how reckless it would be to give you a Toxic Orb after what happened last time? You'd die." She made a disbelieving sound, so I pressed on. "You'd piss off the wrong Pokemon, probably hurt a lot of them, and still have no way to deal with constantly Poisoning yourself, so you'd perish."

Gligar didn't look happy about it, but she had stopped arguing with me. "If you want to go, then I'll let you go. I won't give you a Toxic Orb if you're on your own, but I'm not going to keep you with me if you don't want to." I heard her scuffing her feet against the dirt ground, not moving away, still waiting.

Keeping my eyes fixed on her, I finished my spiel. "I know it'll be an adjustment working with a Trainer, and I'll do my best to understand and work with you. And I hope you'll understand that what I say will just be to make you the best you can be, and can work with me. But it's your choice, either way." I held a hand out to her.

She gingerly shook it with her sharp pincers. Physically, it hurt just a little, her claws sharp. In her eyes, however, I saw the same tentative hope mirrored in my own.

The sound of someone clearing their throat had us both turn our attention to Kieran and Carmine, who were standing patiently just down the hill from us. "Thanks for waiting for us. I know you didn't have a good first impression with Gligar here and-"

"We want to battle you!" Kieran suddenly said, face screwed up in effort. It must have taken a lot of courage for a shy guy like him to say that.

Not to be outdone, his Applin also popped out of the ball at his side, saying their name in support of this plan. "Applin!" Gligar looked a little confused at first before recognizing the Applin and puffing herself up.

"Hold on," I said to my Pokemon before turning to Kieran and his. "What's this all about?"

Carmine answered on her brother's behalf. "Kiki was talking it up with Applin all night and they said they wanted to 'prove themselves,' or whatever."

He bobbed his head up and down in agreement. "Yeah. Applin wants to show off his courage too, so… let's battle!" Gligar eagerly grinned, causing Applin to flinch, but move defensively in front of his trainer.

"Let's… not," I countered, getting a crestfallen look from the young boy and an angry one from Gligar. "The Nurse Joy said you're in no shape to battle," I told her.

It was our first real test of her listening to me, and while she grumbled out parts of her name, she stood down. "At least, not right now." That got all of them to perk up. "Why don't we have a battle in a few days from now, before I leave? Gives you time to train up Applin and Gligar time to rest up."

"Wowzers!" Kieran said, the kid jumping up and punching his fist in the air. Cute kid. Nice to see him smiling like this, not like he was at the end of the DLC. Hopefully, things worked out in the second half of that. The thought had my mind drifting back to Blueberry Academy, wondering what it would have been like in the games - and what it was actually like here.

"You better win Kiki!"

"Ye-yeah, you got it, sis." He stammered out, looking slightly more nervous as he saw Gligar clacking her pincers and cackling menacingly. Alright, think this is a good place to wrap that chapter up.

"You better rest up for your battle," I threw out a semi-convincing reason for her to stop tormenting Kieran and Applin before returning my newest Pokemon to her Pokeball. "Since we've got some time, would you mind finishing up that tour?"

Carmine smiled brightly before wiping it away with a superior smirk. A shame, she has a nice smile. "Of course we can! I could hardly leave your education of Kitakami half done, could I? Let's go!" She turned and started marching back.

"Wait, we need to get my family first!"

***

After finding my parents and sister we had a quick brunch before beginning our trek up the hill to Kitakami Hall. While much closer in distance than the Barrens, most of the walk was uphill and I was getting pretty tired from racing around in the morning.

There were a ton of Pokemon crisscrossing on our path from the grassy hills around. Most seemed wary of bothering a large group like ourselves, but one Heracross flew over, ready for a battle.

"Mind if I take this one?" I asked the group but mostly directed toward Kieran since he was the one who needed to train Applin the most. Luckily, he eagerly agreed, likely happy to try and see how I would train my Pokemon. They're pretty smart, so it's easy to forget how young they are, but Carmine and Kieran are only eight and seven years old. They both get nervous easily, Carmine just hides it more with her bluster.

I released Dun and Gligar at the same time. "Gligar, hang back, I just want you to watch right now. Dun, get ready." He nodded, taking his place in front of me.

The Heracross began the fight, not waiting for a countdown or the like, eager to battle. She charged forward, lowering her horn (and the rest of her body by default), low to the ground, looking to impale or scoop up my starter.

"Leap over it and pick up the pace!" With a massive jump, he soared well above Heracross' seeking horn, landing on the other side of her. She looked around in confusion, having missed the dodge with her eyes pointed at the ground. Heracross is a strong Pokemon, but there's only so much a wild one can do to make up for not having a trainer.

The time she spent searching for Dun was put to good use, he covered himself in psychic energy and sped up, zipping along the ground as he slithered from side to side. She whirled around, running at him and raising an arm that grew bright as Fighting Type energy infused it.

"Air Slash and retreat, don't let her hit you." The second half of the command didn't need to be given out, as he rapidly backed up all while firing scythes of sharp air with every beat of his wings as he propelled backward. The Move hit Heracross, stunning her for a few seconds which Dun used to slice her with even more blades of air.

Collapsing to one knee, she held her thin chitinous arms up in surrender and I called Dun off.

Gligar looked at the battle from the side, seeming unimpressed. "I know it might not be the most riveting battle, but it demonstrates the importance of avoiding hits you don't need to take. Heracross is quite strong, so if she had managed to connect with Dun, that would have hurt a lot. Dun was weak to her Moves, but she was affected even worse by his."

Before I could finish up my chat with Gligar, Heracross had already taken off and begun flying away. Ah darn, should have offered her some Potions. Oh well, if she's good to fly, she's probably good enough that she doesn't need the Potions.

The others got in a few battles as well against some of the wild Pokemon, my parents cheering especially hard as Cyan & Popplio managed to defeat a Sentret. By the time we made it to the foot of the stairs, we were all feeling pretty tired but accomplished.

"Welcome to Kitakami Hall!" Carmine proudly declared, throwing her hands up as if to frame a picture. The 'hall' was mostly a set of large tiled flat sections connected by stairs constructed onto the mountainside. There were a few stalls set up on the flat sections, and we eagerly availed ourselves of the overpriced drinks and snacks they sold.

"This is where we have our Festival of Masks every year, and it gets packed then," Carmine commented as we walked up, waving at some of the other townsfolk. Indeed, it does feel kinda empty compared to the games, at least at the moment. "Too bad you guys are going to miss it though, Kiki has his favorite mask that he thinks makes him look like the Ogre!" She laughed, and her brother's face grew crimson.

"Sissssss," He groaned. "What are you telling her that for, dummy!"

"Oh come on, it's ridiculous you think someone as cute and small as you could be mistaken for the Ogre." She shot back, and I had to bite my tongue not to say 'You bet?' They can't realize just how adorable Ogerpon is without seeing her.

As we made our way to the only proper building in this structure, I noticed another sign and monument on the other side of it, away from the final signpost. Reading it from afar, I saw that it was the 'Mossened Boulder' and how people thought it had been 'the Ogre' raining down vengeance on them before they realized it was just a fragment of Fallen Horn.

I wonder how many tales are told about the Ogre here? And what do the townsfolk actually think of her? With so few sightings and how she hides herself, I wouldn't be surprised if many didn't believe the legends were real, just using her as a scary bedtime story for kids. Perhaps people running off for adventure or romance get euphemized as 'being taken by the Ogre'. In any case, the townsfolk certainly changed their tune quickly after getting the truth.

"Why is the Hall built here and not, y'know, part of the town?" I asked as we stood in front of the large red triangular building.

"Uhmm, uhh," the taller girl thought on it for a minute before brightening up. "Oh right! It's because this is the easiest path up the mountain. We gotta look after it, and if we're doing that anyway…"

"...might as well use the space for festivals too," I finished for her. And tourist traps and the like. I almost wonder why the town hasn't expanded out this way, but it probably has to do with the Pokemon in the area and the understanding they and the townsfolk have.

"Within this hall are the three masks the Loyal Trio took from the Ogre," Carmine declared, swinging open the red doors of the hall to reveal the inside, which looked halfway between a museum and a shrine. Muramasa was inside helping tidy and idly setting up some of the decorations of the various cultural artifacts and exhibits that needed to be ready a month from now for the festival. At the end of the hall, we could see the three glittering masks, sitting in a glass case.

"What masks are you talking about?" Cyan asked. Carmine turned to look at her silently for a moment. The Kitakami girl was silent for a minute, her expression never changing even as her face grew redder until she slammed the door to the hall closed and began marching to the last sign nearby.

I did my best to hold in my chuckles as Carmine read out the sign for us, which meant I missed most of it, but I remembered the general gist anyway. Cornerstone Mask gives Ogerpon the Rock Typing, Wellspring gives Water, and Hearthflame gives Fire. The sign told the tale of how 'before being defeated, the Loyal Trio had taken those masks from Ogerpon.'

The story was suitably impressive for Cyan and my parents, especially after being shown (once again) the beautiful masks in the hall. I'd seen them a thousand times in the games, but there was something more to them here. The way the crystals shine, perhaps, or just the precision and elegance of the carvings… I can see how the Trio coveted the masks. Or maybe it was just Pecharunt who did and was manipulating them? I don't know, I never got to the second half of the DLC where it would be revealed, but it's a shame that Ogerpon got robbed and lost her friend.

Part of me was tempted to steal them, or at least suggest it to Kieran, but two things held me back. The first was that as sad as he looked, teaching him 'stealing is ok', probably wasn't the best lesson. The other was… Why hasn't Ogerpon ever taken them back herself? She goes down to the festival, and I don't think that the game happened to have been the first time she'd ever done that. So she must know they're here. Is it still too painful to see the reminders of her dear friend and she just acted because she didn't want to see them in the hands of the Trio before? Or is it that she doesn't want to create a stir?

Even though I hadn't said anything, hadn't made any move towards the masks, I noticed Muramasa stop to face me, a hand subconsciously drifting down to the Pokeballs on his belt. Shivering, I averted my gaze. Looks like the town has its protectors too. I wonder how strong this guy is? It's not like I have a scouter that can tell me someone's power level, but he feels almost more frightening than Hassel when he's mad, somehow.

Whatever the case, I decided to leave well enough alone there, and so we finished up our tour without incident. Carmine seemed to be floundering, not sure of what to do next, so I suggested "Why don't we go up to the top of the mountain?"

Kieran latched onto this idea. "We can check out the Ogre's Den!"

"Kiki! You're not supposed to be exploring up there on your own."

"What? It's not like we'll be on our own. Probably scare the Ogre away, not that she's usually there anyway." He mumbled the last part to himself, which could barely be heard over the sounds of Billy and O'Nare clapping their hands together eagerly at the idea of exploring such a mysterious, 'dangerous,' place.

"Don't blame me if we all get eaten by the Ogre," Carmine muttered, and I laughed.

"I don't think we'll be able to blame you if we're dead," I pointed out, to which she crossed her arms and pouted.

"Maybe we'll all come back as Ghost Types!" Her words caused Poltchageist to pop out of his ball, giving a big yawn, and looking around, wondering what was up. Wonder how much and how precisely they can hear things inside the balls. Miles and Dun have trained to pay attention to their names and if I use our emergency codeword 'Kumquat' if I need them out but can't release them, but otherwise they mention that it's just kinda 'fuzzier' in there, but I don't know to what degree.

We began the climb up the mountain, finding oodles more Pokemon in this section of the land unclaimed by humans. While there was a bit of greenery on the hill directly preceding Kitakami, it quickly became barren and stony. Colonies of Noibats fluttered around between the rocky 'teeth' of the mountain, with Geodudes rolling about the ground floor, Salandits scampering out of the rocky Pokemon's paths. Young Growlithe tumbled across a small wooden bridge, their puppy-like paws still a little too big for them as they looked for adventure, and I even saw the rare Pichu and Clefairy lingering on the edges of the trails, nervous of our passing, but not enough so to completely overwhelm their curiosity.

Part of me was tempted to catch more Pokemon again, to catch them all! However, that part of me was tempered by the knowledge that I probably shouldn't look to be adding more Pokemon to my team at the moment… and the fact that none of them seemed too interested in joining us, despite how cool they were.

When we reached a sign, Kieran directed us to almost double back, going up a narrow, steep incline that led above from the way we came. Water fell from the top of the mountain, the spray lightly misting us as we crossed the rugged terrain.

Nearing the final easily scalable portion, we saw the cave, set into the side of the mountain and across a very narrow rocky passway. The cave was pitch-black from this angle, with moss and vines surrounding the entrance and dotting the rocks nearby.

"Is it… safe to cross here?" My sister asked. I guess that's a reasonable concern - the walkway is wide enough to go single file with ease, but there are no railings and it's a long way down. Still, I would kinda like to make it to the cave proper.

"Well, we have Rotoms, just keep your phone on hand as we cross and we should be fine," I pointed out.

"Uh, what about us?" Carmine stopped giving her brother the stink eye (likely from him having been here dozens of times before on his own) to ask.

"... Stick close to me?" I offered. "Miles will help you if anything happens, and we'll take it slow. Or you can stick back if you want." The idea of staying behind while we, 'outsiders' forged ahead, was all the convincing she needed and she immediately started marching ahead. "Wait up!" Kieran and I ran after her.

Despite the potential danger, we made it to the other side without incident. Standing there we saw the cave, potential danger and adventure lurking inside, paralyzing everyone else as they stared at it as if it was the Oni's Maw itself and would snap tight on anyone foolish enough to enter.

Not holding any such worries, I poked my head in, knocking on the side of the wall. "Hello? Oh, no one's here." The light played weird tricks on the cave, so it was hard to see the inside from outside, but what I said was more for my companion's benefit than my own - I could already tell there was no one there. Don't think many people could sneak up on Ogerpon after living here so long, and she's insanely fast. Must have dozens of hidey holes in this mountain.

I could see why the legend persisted that this was the Ogre's den, despite likely having been visited by countless youth over the generations. The hole in the wall made a small circular space, with a flat raised slab jutting out of one side, like a crude facsimile of a bed or couch. On the ground in the center was a blackened spot on the ground, sticking out against the gray stones, as if they had been burnt or something else had eaten away at the floor.

"Huh, is this all there is?" Cyan asked, even as Mom and Dad were snapping photos of themselves beside the cave, any trepidation forgotten. "Like no offense, this just doesn't look like an Ogre's den."

Kieran spoke up "I- I don't know. I've never seen her but… I swear I heard something once or twice. Maybe…"

"I think this is where she lives. Or maybe where she lived once, can't say for certain," I tossed in my two cents. Carmine narrowed her eyes at me, wondering where I was pulling this from, but she didn't say anything to counter me, so I continued. "Look at the rocks outside?"

"And?"

"Look at the moss and vines growing around. It was said that the Teal Mask had the power to bring plants to life, and in the hall-"

"We only saw a gray, blue, and red mask!" Dad said, finally drawing together the same pieces I had.

Mother was more critical. "That's a good idea, but how do you know it's not just from the waterfall? Moss grows everywhere near damp surfaces." She had experience with that in covering some property deals, where nearby water was both a boon and a curse in how it made selling different plots of land and possibly water-damaged buildings.

"But we didn't see any down below when we crossed the bridge." I pointed out, causing her to smile with pride. Nowhere near as wide a smile as Kieran was sporting when he found 'proof' that the Ogre lived here.

"Yes! I knew it!"

"Shut up Kiki! It still doesn't mean anything. The Ogre could have helped these plants grow ages ago. It's not like anyone has seen her here." His big sister pointed out, only slightly tempering his joy.

"It's true that no one's seen her here, so if she was around, she doesn't want to get found. And I get it, everyone in town seems afraid of her."

"How can I help her know I'm not afraid of her?" The young boy asked, and I had just the answer ready.

"Well, why don't we make her a mask?" Kieran perked up at my suggestion and even Carmine looked intrigued. I have a feeling this is gonna be good.


And so Gligar joins Nemona's team! This was a bit of an experiment, having a more aggressive Pokemon who didn't met under great circumstances joining her team and I hope she's received well. I also hope the backstory Gligar has was explained clearly enough to get a general picture while still highlighting the missing details from the language and mentality barriers. And we've still got plenty more of Kitakami to explore here on the kids self-appointed mask making quest, which should be fun.

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, Tailwind, Roost, Ancient Power, Drill Run, Hyper Drill, Triple Yawn, Ice Spinner, Solar Beam, Lunge

- '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

- 'Gligar' (Gligar)
- Tera Type: ?
- Held Item: None
- Ability: Hyper Cutter
- Moves Known: Poison Sting, Sand Attack, Harden, Knock Off, Fury Cutter, Acrobatics
 
Chapter 39 New
It turned out that crafting a mask was a harder job than I had first envisioned. Kieran and Carmine's grandfather was a mask maker, and one I knew to be a descendant of the crafter who had made Ogerpon's masks in the first place, so I thought it would be good to start with him. And it is, in a way…

"Oww," I hissed out. I nicked my thumb lightly, and the knife slipped a little on the wood I was carving. It's not deep at least, I should be able to bandage this up and keep on working. There were similar grumblings of discontent from Carmine and Kieran, in the shed with me as we worked on their grandfather's orders.

The only person who was having fun with it was Cyan, whose artistic skills (and possibly greater fine motor skills from being a few years older than the rest of us) showed themselves once again as she deftly carved the hard blocks of wood. Happily humming along to a tune Popplio was singing for us, she turned them into works of art.

Admittedly, most of this is just copying the designs we were given, but still. She's finishing faster than us and leaving better masks than the rest of us. The Kitakami siblings were going at about the same rate as me, but I thought they might have absorbed a few of their grandfather's skills via osmosis because their finished pieces were much less rough than mine. I'm guessing that he'll have to go over mine at least quickly to fix up any imperfections before selling them, but I'm worried that any attempt to correct things on my part would just end up ruining the whole thing.

My sister glanced over at the mask I was struggling with and (badly) held back a snicker. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," I grumbled as I tried to make the nose a little sharper.

"I'm sorry," she said, sounding very unapologetic. "It's just, you're so good at everything, seeing you fai- not do as well here is kinda funny." Sighing, I didn't respond to her words.

Cyan has been pretty good about me getting more and more advanced homework and tutors and all the whispers at parties. I hear them occasionally, her name only getting mentioned in comparison to me, and always unfavorably. I let out a deep sigh at the unfairness of all of this. She's got plenty of strengths, and I was, well, an adult.

I felt Kieran's eyes burning a hole into my back and wondered what the boy thought of me. We had our big battle coming up, but more than that, I wondered how he felt about the subtle nudges I had been trying to give him. No guarantee any of this works, but he seemed pretty upset about the Player Character getting Ogerpon in the DLC, hopefully, this might curb some of his possessiveness and anger before then. Assuming it wasn't due to Pecharunt or whatever that storyline was. I think it was mentioned that they were the true mastermind behind the Loyal Trio?

The door to the shed opened up, revealing my friend's grandfather. He had spiky gray hair, not looking much different than he did in the games. In his hands, he held a mask, one carved with intricate curved lines, denoting a number of feathers. The mask stretched out on either side, giving the impression of wings, and the beak jutted out. An upward curve to it gave the impression of joy in the animalistic mask. There were empty eye-holes, but also a socket atop the brow, where something might be inlaid.

""Grandpa!"" The Kitakami kids cheered, laying down their tools and half-finished projects to hug him. "Look at what we've done," Carmine demanded, dragging him forward.

"Ah yes, I came by to check on how you were doing." He smiled kindly at his grandchildren's works, made true appreciative sounds of Cyan's, then got to mine and…

"Well, I think I might be able to finish up this mask faster than I thought," He said, his smile only slightly strained.

"Sorry," I mumbled, realizing he was at least in part taking over because of me.

"It's not matter, I'd need to paint it soon anyway. However, we need something more if you want this mask to truly stand on the same level as the ones the Loyal Trio too- rescued." I bit back a frown, and my tongue, resisting the urge to call him out on this. You say that the people aren't ready to hear the truth, but of course, they won't be if you never tell anyone! The fake story gets ground in for generations which is why it's so hard to overturn. Then again, maybe not? Kieran does tell the truth fairly easily, but it also happens offscreen, hard to tell if it was a herculean effort on his part or just very easy to change their minds.

The old man continued. "I need a small piece of crystal, from the Crystal Lake atop the mountain, to make this mask truly shine. I…" his eyes slid over to our pile of masks. "... Still have some work to do, so if you could just get me that I'll finish up here."

We headed out, towards the mountain, with only light grumbling on my part. Before we reached the edge of the town, however, my sister said to me: "So, that was fun and all, but I don't feel like getting all sweaty hiking up the mountain again."

Fair enough, this is going to be an even tougher climb than last time. "Are you going to join Mom and Dad sightseeing?" I asked. Cyan thought about it for a moment before shaking her head.

"No, we'll get plenty of that done in the afternoon when we meet up for the aerial tour over Kitakami. I'm looking to catch another Pokemon." She was gazing out at the water as she said that.

"Another Water Type?" I inquired, and she pulled her sparkling gaze away and huffed a little.

"Maybe. Seeing Pop and the others splash around was fun… We'll see. I was planning on taking a page out of your book and just seeing what happens - though hopefully, I'll find someone a little less aggressive than your new friend."

"She's not that bad, she's just… a tsundere."

My sister quirked an eyebrow, replying "I meant your latest Pokemon, not Carmine."

Gligar's been snappier these past few days (at times literally, though so far cautious to not put her teeth too close to my hands). Likely agitated by the new circumstances. She's chaffing from the restrictions of being unable to fly wherever or battle whenever she pleases. Admittedly, it's quite the adjustment.

I couldn't deny my sister's point, that we had a long way to go in terms of our partnership. A fact reinforced by Gligar planting her feet and refusing to move when Kieran, Carmine, and I began to leave to climb the hills/mountain.

"Gar, ligar."

Kieran tensed up a bit at my Pokemon's anger, but I pushed that aside for a minute to focus on the Flying Scorpion Pokemon. "Look, I get it, it's been frustrating. I need you to trust me on this-" She snapped her teeth loudly.

"Do you have everything under control?" Carmine demanded, stepping forward and placing herself between her brother and Gligar. Cute, but entirely unnecessary as my Pokemon's frustration is with me.

"This is just a bumpy part of the path on our journey," I rebutted.

Kieran looked down at the dirt road. "Seems pretty smooth to me."

Face-palming, I responded. "Not literally, I meant metaphorically. No trainer gets along perfectly all the time with their Pokemon. There are bumps in every relationship, and sometimes… you have to accept when something won't work out." Glancing around Carmine I locked eyes with Kieran, for just half a second. Ogerpon might not choose you, and that's ok.

Then I turned back to Gligar who had stiffened up. "But I don't think this is anything like that." She relaxed, her shoulders slumping a tad. "You just want to say that you're upset with how things are, and I get that. Waiting patiently to heal is good, and I think you've waited long enough for some light battling."

With a vicious smile, she whipped around, gazing out all over the rolling hills for a Pokemon to test her might against. "Whoa whoa, wait a minute. First things first, light battling, so let's just have two or three today, and I might veto your battle choice." Gligar nodded, impatiently. "And two-" I paused for a split-second, before pushing my hesitation aside. "I've got a new Move for you to learn."

My momentary hesitation came from whether I should use 'that' TM. I had never gotten around to using it on Dun, too busy training him up in other Moves trying to give him more coverage.

Clay gave it to me, my first Gym victory reward. Sure, I have the badge as well, but the Technical Machine is special in its own way too. And I'm still not sure how this partnership with Gligar will work out. Will she leave me high and dry once she's mastered her Hidden Ability? Or after I help her evolve into Gliscor? Or none of those things, and we just get into some argument beforehand and she ditches me?

As many worries as I had, as realistic or outlandish as they were, there was one defining fact I couldn't run from. The reason why I chose to do this is: No bond between a Pokemon and Trainer can work without trust. So I've gotta trust that this is the right thing. That I'll help her, and trust that she'll help me.

Pulling a Technical Machine out of my bag, I presented it to her. "This is the Move Bulldoze. It'll shake the earth and cause your foe's footing to slip." Her triangular eyes grew wide at that, and she made grabby motions with her claw hands.

Chuckling, I added "No, you go back in your Pokeball and I place the disc on it. You should learn the Move in a matter of seconds. It's actually quite interesting; your line doesn't tend to learn damaging Ground Moves naturally, so this should give you a nice advantage in using your Typing offensive- and you're back in the ball." Amidst my ramblings, she had gone up and pressed the button to recall herself.

"So eager," I muttered. Kieran and Carmine caught my words, looking incredulously at me as I put the disc on the Pokeball and it started spinning. "What? I- I know how to temper myself," I spluttered at their unspoken accusations.

The disc finished spinning, popping off and saving me the trouble of defending myself further. Releasing Gligar, she stumbled forward as she hit the ground, somewhat dazed. "Yeah, TMs can be a bit much to handle at first. Don't worry though, you'll get used to it soon enough."

Her long tail slapped against the ground excitedly, causing the ground to shake. "That's it! Hmm, the Move usually uses stomping against the ground, but your legs aren't as strong as your tail. Let's try both out."

She practiced the Move as we traveled, getting a good grasp of it quite quickly. Having the STAB Typing helps a ton with mastering TM Moves, I'm finding. She got enough of a handle on it to direct the ground shaking away from us as we traveled, but that pushed it into the path of other Pokemon, soon bringing up a disgruntled challenger.

Flanked by several Sewaddles, a Swadloon shuffled up. Its yellow body was covered in leafy appendages, and it had a slight red mark on its head like it had recently taken a bump there. The leader of the pack gave some angry cries at Gligar, tossing a seeds and sticks at my Pokemon who artfully dodged around them.

My Gligar looked unrepentant, of course, but also eager. Sure, this seems like a fine battle for her to start out with. I don't try to coddle my Pokemon, but giving them a confidence booster in their first battle is fine. "Go for it. We'll have a battle between you and Swadloon, sound good?" The question was directed at the pack of upset Pokemon, who reluctantly nodded at seeing the Pokeballs on our belts.

Swadloon shuffled forward and unfolded their leafy arms, flapping them and whipping up a field of razor-sharp grass through the air.

"Dodge around and go for Acrobatics!" My command was only partially followed by Gligar, as she maneuvered around the Razor Leaf attack, but then dropped to the ground, slamming it with her tail. The ground shook a little but the tremors carried across the battlefield almost straight to the Swadloon, kicking up the ground and knocking into her from below… to very little effect.

Gligar looked shocked and her foe used that opportunity to their advantage, shooting out a string of silk from her mouth that wrapped around Gligar's body. Dammit! At least she's not fully tied up around the wings yet.

"Poison Tail the string, cut yourself loose!" With her tail dripping with potent poison, it was able to slice through the string restraining her without getting her tail caught too in the sticky trap. I saw Swadloon puffing up their cheeks, getting ready for another attack. "Quick attack, drift right!"

Thankfully, Gligar continued to follow my commands, shooting ahead and curving to the right. She just narrowly avoided the web that Swadloon spat out, slamming her body into the Grass Types. Swadloon was knocked on her back by the force of the blow, struggling to get up from both the awkward shape of her body, but also the churned-up ground from before.

"Finish this, Acrobatics!" Swooping around, Gligar battered the Swadloon, knocking them across the hill until she stood triumphant over the downed Grass Type. Her fangs glistened in the light and I saw the Sewaddles trembling off to the side.

"Alright, that's enough!" I called sharply, clapping my hands. Jogging over I patted Gligar's head.

"Good job, you fought well." Then to the defeated Swadloon, I offered them some berries from my bag.

This got an upset glare from my Pokemon as the Swadloon swallowed the offered berry and scurried out of the way. "What's wrong? I can offer you berries too, ya know. Are you hungry or tired?"

She averted her face, shaking her head, still pouting. "Don't get mad if you don't actually want anything!" Hearing her panting slightly, I realized she was a little tired, even from that match. She's still not 100% even after resting these past few days.

Sighing, I let go of the annoyance at her behavior. "It helps, or at the very least doesn't hurt to give offerings to training partners. If you ever need anything, I'm always there to help." She nodded tersely, kicking some sand around. Feels like the berry thing isn't what's bugging her.

"Is this about your Move not working well?" I ventured and she turned, nodding furiously. "Don't worry about that. It wasn't that the Move or you were weak, some Pokemon are just better at resisting attacks than others. Basically, that Move was only a quarter as effective on Swadloon as it would be against a Pokemon that wasn't resitant to it. That's why I want you to listen to my commands in a battle."

"Wowzers, you know a bunch about battling, dontcha?" Kieran commented, looking both in awe and a tad worried about me.

"I've practiced a lot, so I'd like to think I know a bit. Type match-ups aren't everything, but they are one of the basics that you should learn when starting as a trainer."

"Of course, I know everything about Type match-ups," Carmine boasted.

Giving the tall girl a sinister smile, I said "Well why don't you find a good Pokemon for Gligar to have her next match against? One that will let them use Bulldoze well." I offered, glancing over at my Pokemon to see if she was fine with it, which she was.

"O-oh. I mean of course I will, follow me!" With Carmine's longer legs, she strode up, looking all around the hills.

She didn't find a 'suitable challenge' until we had passed by Kitakami Hall and were beginning to reach the rocky part of the mountain. "Aha! There!" She declared, pointing to a yellow Pokemon that looked very similar to Pikachu, but with a patch of light brown and light black fur on each side of its head and down its body, leading to small pouches.

"Morpeko? Interesting choice." Gligar looked in askance about my comment, but I shook my head. "I'll explain later, should be a good battle." Without waiting for anything else, Gligar took off, diving down towards the unsuspecting electric mouse.

"Gah! We should have introduced ourselves first- ah screw it, Bulldoze!" I cried as Gligar neared the Morpeko. I can explain and give them a Sitrus Berry after the battle.

Gligar's tail smacked the ground, sending it shifting and shaking all about. It wasn't as strong as Earthquake, but it churned up the dirt way more. It hit about as wide, however, which drew the ire of some Growlithe that had been playing nearby, the pair of canine Pokemon turning and spitting Embers at Gligar, forcing her away from the caught off-guard Morpeko.

"Bulldoze again!" Gligar tried, shaking up the ground once more, but this time was attacked by one of the Growlithes and Morpeko. The injured electric type grew dark, its fur going purple and black as it slammed into Gligar while covered in electricity, which did nothing to my Ground Type. Growlithe's Bite, however, did more, latching onto Gligar's leg and dragging her down.

She can't fly properly like that, and getting stuck on the ground will leave her too open.

"Knock Off! Brush that Growlithe aside and take evasive maneuvers." She followed the first part of my command, imbuing a claw with pitch-black energy as she brushed Growlithe off harshly, the Dark Type attack forcing him to release his jaws.

Then, however, Gligar turned to stare at me, only a few feet above the ground. Why isn't she- she doesn't understand?! "I meant DODGE! Fly you fool!" At that, she narrowly twirled around another set of Embers the other Growlithe sent her way.

Three Pokemon attacking her at once was a bit much, and I was tempted to release Dun. Seeing the joy on her face as she zipped around, taunting the wild Pokemon, I held back on that instinct. It was tough, and she was exhausted by the end, lying down on the ground and panting heavily after her final Bulldoze, but the Growlithes and Morpeko had all been defeated.

Using an Ether and Potion on her, I got her back to her feet and offered some lesser healing for the wild Pokemon, who was a bit confused before scampering off. "That was a good learning experience. Bulldoze had Type advantage against all of them and hit in a wide area, which made it possible to beat the three of them at once."

"Ar, Gligar, gar." She boasted. Not entirely sure what she's boasting about, however. Is it that she could have beaten all of them without the Type advantage or just saying they were no match for her? The nuance is tricky to decipher so far.

To Carmine, I said "I was thinking of going for a Salandit, but Morpeko was a great choice too. Shows off the Immunity Gligar has against Electric Moves as well as the weakness they have to Bulldoze."

"That's what I was thinking, thanks," Carmine said, unexpectedly bashful for a second, brushing a lock of hair past her head. "Salandits can be a bit of a problem, sometimes if they get disturbed you come across a Salazzle."

"Good point." I released Dun, confident he could handle any evolved Pokemon or anything big groups that came our way. "You did great today, Gligar. Rest up for now and just watch what Dun does. Learning from your teammates will help a bunch too. It's how I got Dun and Miles to learn Hex; Dun learned it from a TM, and then Miles copied it from seeing him use the Move."

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Kieran furiously scribbling notes on what I'd just said.

Aww, that's cute. I don't think I'm the best trainer or anything, not by a long shot, but I guess most kids our age don't get taught stuff like this yet.

My prediction about Dun being able to clear the way for us was well-founded. As the trail became more barren, with more dangerous Pokemon like Houndours, Ekans, Timburrs, and even a Houndoom running free and keenly aware of humans trespassing in their territory, we relied on him to clear the path. After he beat the Houndoom with ease, most Pokemon avoided us entirely, 'word' spreading of Dun's strength.

Without any danger on that front, the biggest trial we faced on our path to the Crystal Pool was fatigue and overheating. We had plenty of water packed, but I was still feeling tired as we made it to the foot of the stairs that led up and up and up… to the peak of the mountain, where the Pool lay.

"Oh wow. I thought the stairs in Mesagoza were bad!"

"Huh?" Kieran inquired. The boy was drenched in sweat, much like his sister and myself, but his eyes were still fixated upwards on the prize. He really wants to give Ogerpon this gift. I do too. It's always nice to get a present and she more than deserves to know someone(s) cares about her.

"Oh, I was just saying how we have a bunch of stairs up to the biggest school in Paldea, but they aren't nearly as tall as this bunch." Nor as uneven as these ones. They aren't bad, pretty solid stairs, but these were cut with more primitive tools and methods, without the expectation of a great deal of foot traffic.

"I don't think if you included all the stairs up from the base of Mesagoza itself up to the entrance to school it would be this long." Feeling playful, I added "Race you to the top! Last one up is a rotten egg!"

I was not the first one to make it to the peak, despite my instigation, though that was only because Gligar possessed wings, and I did not. Kieran pushed himself hard but still ended up behind me, and then even Carmine, with her longer legs making up for her lack of energy and drive. The sun beat down hard on us, but it still felt like such a sweet victory as we offered Kieran a hand up the final steps and together reached the peak of Kitakami.

Our reward (beyond the crystal we hoped to obtain) was a gorgeous sight. The true peak, a thin rim around the top, sloped down to this almost valley-like place, dominated first and foremost by the vast, glittering water in the center. The water and blue-green color to it, with a massive chunk of Tera Crystal glittering and sparkling within its depths. The water trailed out, cutting a path through the rocky path and out an opening, down the side of the mountain where it made the waterfalls that cascaded down the face of the mountain.

The rest of the scenery was a bit more barren. Rocky, with steam vents, and hot pockets where Slugmas and Koffings gathered around. There was a Glimmora with a glittering Rock Tera 'Hat' sparkling above their head, the strongest Pokemon in the area by far. They didn't seem concerned with us, or much of anything actually. A few Arrokewdas snapped from the water, but otherwise, we were left alone to view this untamed paradise in peace. The only signs of human development were a small wooden bridge that covered the water that ran out of the pool and a sign beside it, claiming this to be one of the natural wonders of Kitakakmi.

We took a minute to catch our breaths and then I said "We should probably go over to the water if we're going to get the crystal." Walking over to the water's edge, we peered within its depths. It was hard to make out, but the crystal was dozens of meters down and must have weighed hundreds of tonnes. Way more than the small piece we need. But how-

"How are we going to get the piece of crystal?" Carmine demanded, looking unsure at the water. Good question.

The clear waters atop the massive crystal suddenly became choppy, some great force moving up from the depths. Beside me, Carmine clutched her Pokeball tightly, ready for whatever threat was coming our way. After a moment, out from the water burst out… a Feebas.

"Feeeeee!" It cried angrily as it jumped out of the water, and flipped through the air for a moment before landing back down with a heavy splash. Then it rose halfway out of the water to balefully glare at us.

Carmine started laughing out loud, much to the Pokemon's chagrin. "Can't believe we were worried about that. Uh, not that I was worried, can't believe you and Kiki were worried."

To avoid upsetting the Pokemon, I stepped forward a bit and apologized. "Sorry about that, we're just looking for the second most beautiful thing in this pool." The Feebas squinted at me, anger slowly fading to confusion.

"We want to get some small pieces of crystal from within the pool."

"Bas?"

"If those are the second most beautiful thing, what's the most beautiful thing here?" I repeated my interpretation of their question for my companions' benefit. "Why, you of course."

I swore the Feebas blushed for a moment, slapping the water with a fin bashfully. Suspicion soon grew, however, and they asked: "Feeb?"

"We aren't looking to take you because we want to use the crystals on a mask we're helping make. We can't attach you to the end of a mask."

"Ee, bas. Ba feeba." They argued back, and I was sure if I was an anime character a large sweat drop would be rolling down the side of my face.

"Uhh no, we really can't. You wouldn't be able to breathe while attached to the mask." Not the brightest bulb, I see.

Feebas' eyes darted back nervously before shakily responding. "Fe-feebas, fee."

"Of course, just a joke." Carmine and Kieran looked at me disbelievingly. Before the older (angrier and louder), of the two could interject, I asked for assistance. "Hey, Feebas. Would you mind grabbing some crystals from down there for us? Not too large, just if there's anything loose about this size," I held up my small hand in a fist.

They gave a small gurgle of agreement and dived back down into the water. As they disappeared beneath the waves, I turned to look at my friends who were just staring, shocked at me. "What?"

"How did you understand that Pokemon so well? Can you talk to them?!" Kieran asked excitedly.

"Whoa whoa, it's nothing that special. Anyone can talk to Pokemon, and most of them can understand us quite well. It's our understanding that's important… and honestly, I only got about 60% of what Feebas was getting at in that short exchange." At Carmine's quizzical look, I elaborated.

"A lot of communication, even for humans, is in body language. We learn how to understand humans pretty well growing up with them. But I bet if someone were raised entirely by Pokemon, there's a chance they'd be able to understand them much better." N proved that pretty well. "Feebas was quite expressive there, which helped me get a general vibe of what they were saying."

Carmine had quite the contemplative look on her face, as she glanced around at the Pokemon wandering around the basin. Her brother just nodded and glanced back every few seconds to the pool, eager for the final piece in the mask he'd give to Ogerpon. I, meanwhile, was interested in a certain cave I knew to be right around these parts…

"Where are you going?" Carmine asked me sharply. Waving her off I replied, "Just looking around. You guys keep an eye out for Feebas." With that, I began walking around the long rim of the ground to a small hill in the basin on the opposite side of us.

The most aggressive Pokemon were the ones in the water and it seemed most of the flying or land-bound ones had already learned not to try and mess with us (though I still had to steer clear of a Koffing that was obliviously floating along and spewing toxic gas).

Making my way around to the back of the hill, and there I found the opening that led to a long shaft going straight down. A few small outcroppings jutted out, and I thought I could see further openings on the sides, but it was hard to tell with how dark it was.

Releasing Gligar I said "Hey, this is a cave I found, thought we might check it out. Would you mind flying down and seeing if there are any other paths on those ledges?" She weighed the request for a moment, likely balancing the non-battle nature of it against the general approval of stretching her wings, and eventually agreed. Diving down the hole, she swooped around disappearing out of sight.

"Anything there?" I called down, getting no response for a minute. Just before I was thinking of calling again or going down, I felt a small tremor through the earth. Is that- damn it, she's using Bulldoze! The Move I had just taught her wasn't a risk of collapsing a solid structure like Earthquake might, but it was still a bad sign if a battle was going on.

Jumping down, I drew on my Aura as I pulled out Miles. Gliding down, I held Miles up with the flashlight on, looking around for my wayward Pokemon. It wasn't hard to spot her and the signs of battle taking place in a small side cave sticking out from the wall. Drifting over I landed down and dropped my Aura, feeling the rush of excitement it brought fade away, and became acutely aware of the drain it had on my energy. I was hardly fatigued, but it was noticeable how quickly using it could tire me out.

All of those were concerns for another time as I saw my Pokemon surrounded by a bunch of floating, crystal-covered rocks. Each of the rocks had a small fluffy white strip around the tops of their bodies, just below their blue eyes, their heads topped with long ears, giving them a very rabbit-like appearance, despite being made of stone and having no limbs.

"Stop!" I shouted out, both at the wild Pokemon and at Gligar. My Pokemon hissed, on the brink of attacking them anew, but surprisingly the wild ones did halt, just looking curiously at us. A den of Carbinks? I didn't read or remember anything about this, but I suppose it makes sense given the large Tera Crystal stuck in the pool nearby.

"Gligar, calm down. They're not attacking us." She looked on edge but didn't make any more aggressive moves towards them, which I considered a win. To the group of Carbinks, I apologized.

"Sorry for intruding, we were just looking to explore. I didn't realize that any Carbinks lived in this region. Do you have a Diancie or leader?" I think I remember most groups of Carbinks are led by a Diancie as their 'queen'. Or maybe just monarch? All of them are genderless, after all.

A cascade of chiming crystal sounds washed over me as the group made a bunch of noise. "Uh, sorry, I don't understand." One of them, in the back of the two dozen or so Carbinks floating around, had a small notch in their left ear. That one tipped their head forward, as if in a nod.

"You… don't understand either?" More chiming sounds, but that sounded slightly more melodious and less dissonant. I think that means they're agreeing with what I said, but it's difficult to tell with how different their bodies are than other Pokemon.

"Hmm, ok. Gligar, please use Sand Attack- not on them!" I quickly added, seeing the malicious gleam in her eyes. "Just kick up some sand over there," pointing to a clear space in the circular cave. "I want to draw them a picture." She looked disappointed, but agreed, slapping the ground with her tail and kicking up a thin layer of sand from the rocky ground.

Using the sand, I began drawing an image of Diancie in the sand with my hands. The Carbinks began crowding around me, which made me feel a bit nervous, but none of them were aggressive, just overly curious. Speaking of curious people, I think I hear my friends calling out my name above. I guess it looks like I kinda ditched them, whoops.

"Miles, can you tell Carmine and Kieran where I am and that I'm fine?"

"Bzzt, not a problem," They replied, a blink-and-you-miss-it glance they gave to Gligar before floating out. Yeah, she would be faster and a good choice to let them know I'm fine, but she can't communicate as well with humans, and she's still too aggressive. I've got to keep a close eye on her. I didn't want to instantly think ill of my own Pokemon, it's technically possible that one of the Carbinks had started the fight, but given how everyone was behaving now, I felt it was likely that Gligar had jumped the gun, at least.

My drawing wasn't great, without colors and limited details based on what I could recall of the mythical Pokemon. When I finished, however, my crude sketch still elicited several interested chiming sounds from the group.

"That's a Diancie. Sometimes, a Carbink will become one of those." The notch-eared one chimed insistently at that. "How does it happen? Well, I don't know. It has something to do with a mutation and being able to turn the empty air into diamonds, but beyond that, I have no idea how it works." As far as I'm aware, no one knows exactly why that mutation occurs. I haven't even done enough research to know why it's called a 'mutation' and not just an unknown evolution, but there's probably some scientific reason for that distinction.

The Carbink I was talking to pointed with their ears at the picture I had drawn again. "Hmm?

Sorry, I don't understand. Yes, that's Diancie. They look a lot like you guys but their gems are more pink in color than the light blue you h-" more crystal chiming sounds. "Oh, do you mean they have arms and a mouth?"

They shifted their head up a bit to show a small dull set of teeth, usually hidden beneath the white fur. "Ok, it's the arms then." That seemed to get that Carbink super excited, wobbling back and forth as they shifted, and the others seemed interesting too. "Have you guys never heard of a Diancie before? Did your colony not have one before you came here?"

There was another round of chatter that I couldn't begin to understand, beyond that idea that at some point it switched to talking amongst themselves. During that time, Miles returned, telling me how they had informed them and the kids were 'mostly calm' now.

Before I could inquire further, the Carbinks began moving together, floating in a synchronized fashion as they formed a floating triangular wall in front of us. The notch-eared one raised a rock up to the ceiling before it landed 'down' on the top of the wall (constrained mostly by the height of the cave. The wall shifted the peak Carbink making room for the rock that now hovered in their spot. Then they and several other Carbinks moved to touch the rock before spreading out and looking around the cave curiously.

It took me a minute to realize what they were doing, but eventually, I put the pieces together.

"You… you were all on the crystal when it… landed here?" There was a very agreeable sound from the group, which I took as my blind guess being correct. "How long ago was that?" My question was met by a bunch of curious stares.

Depending on how little they go out to explore, they might not have a proper idea of days or years. No matter what though, it must have been a long time ago. There are legends of Ogerpon hundreds of years ago, and tales of Bloodmoon Ursaluna arriving at least three centuries ago, but I've never heard anything about this. As far as all my research into Kitakami had gone, the crystals and Terastal phenomenon had simply always been a part of the land.

"Heeeeeey! Are you okay?" Kieran's voice echoed down.

Moving to the edge of the alcove I found myself in, I shouted back "I'm fine, yeah. It looks like there's a whole tunnel system down here." Ok, technically I can't see that yet, but I know there are a bunch of paths down that big opening at the bottom. Huh, must be like thirty meters down.

"I've heard about these," Carmine replied, sounding nervous but like she was trying to remain outwardly calm (which is probably as best as could be expected for an eight-year-old). "Keep on going down and try to find your way out, we'll meet you down the outside of the mountain."

Why would I need to go down? I can use my Aura and fly, possibly with aid from Dun or Miles, and… they don't know I can do that, do they? "Hey, I think I can get back up. Guys? You there?"

No response probably meant that they had started running off down the mountain. Probably will be better to go down then and meet them there. Not that I need a huge excuse to explore this cool tunnel system, admittedly.

Turning back to the Carbinks I said "I should probably go down to meet my friends, but it was cool to see you all. I would have never guessed there was a place like this here…" The latter part I mostly said to myself, gazing around at this hidden wonder for a second before snapping back. "Ok, gotta go, bye now!" I said before hopping down.

There was a slightly alarmed chiming sound as the notch-eared one peered over the edge, to see me floating gently down. Ah, must be pretty weird for them to see someone that doesn't naturally float able to drift down like that. I gave them a wave back as Gligar and Miles descended by my side, Miles just shooting straight down while Gligar dived and spun around acrobatically in the tight tunnel.

We came down to the opening to a far larger chamber below. There was a small pile of rocks at the center of the hemispherical expanse that we drifted into, wide and tall enough to fit a two-story house comfortably without touching the ceiling or shaft above. Two tunnels led out of the space horizontally, each of them wide enough for three to four people to walk abreast.

Pokemon scurried about the wide space below, looking up with some interest, however, it was the person standing by the corner that seemed most surprised by my entrance.

Seemed, because it was hard to tell for certain what she was feeling behind that ornate mask she wore. The mask was green and teal, likely modeled after Ogerpon's mask, but with the snarling visage of an oni painted on it. She had a black silk jacket hanging open over top a red tank top, with black sweatpants hanging off her waist.

"Uh, hi there," I tried, waving at her as I touched down on the ground. She continued to stare at me for a minute, not saying a word. I was starting to feel more than a little awkward before she barked out a harsh laugh.

"You're an odd one, aren't you?" She asked rhetorically. "It's dangerous to be down here." As if to accentuate her words, a large jet of steam burst out from a crack in the ground beside her, not that she seemed disturbed by it.

"I can handle myself," I responded, releasing Dun. The Bronzors, Ekans, and even one Dunsparce all backed off just a tad at seeing the evolved Pokemon. I didn't know Dunsparce was native here either. I wonder if, in some of the more dangerous parts of Kitakami, they have Dudunsparce. Could explain Carmine's knowledge of them.

The masked woman snorted. "You think that's strong? I'll be the judge of that." She stepped forward, pulling out a Pokeball from a jacket pocket. Given the bulges there, I'd say she has at least three more Pokemon.

"Oh yeah? And who are you to be the judge of that?" I asked, more curious than anything, down for a battle no matter what.

The wild Pokemon who had been wary now immediately scattered, slipping away to the tunnels to get out of the way, or watch from a safe distance. It was clear that the worry was not from me taking a battle stance on the opposite end of the cavern from her, but her actions. Their fear made a lot more sense at her next words. "I'm Kotetsu, of the Kitakami Ogre Clan! My martial prowess will lay you low!"

Oh. Right, the Ogre Clan. Those super bosses that are hanging out in the DLC. There wasn't much I could recall about them, but I remembered them being very high-level and having good teams. No backing out now, though.

To Gligar, who was hovering by my side, looking on eagerly at the prospect of a fight, I said: "Stand down. Or well, you can keep on flying, but you aren't battling."

"Gar!" She pouted angrily, dropping onto my shoulders. My knees buckled a bit at all her weight, but with a bit of Aura I managed to lighten the load and remain standing.

"No, I'm serious. Watch this battle, and analyze it for the future. In time, you'll be ready to battle like this, but you're still too injured for a battle of this caliber." Honestly, you wouldn't be ready for this kind of battle yet even if you were in peak health, but best not to say that.

She got off of me with some grumbling but still looked suspicious. Those suspicions faded when Kotetsu released her Pokemon, a Heracross.

This Heracross was similar in shape to the one I had fought a few days ago, but a male, with a sharper horn instead of the more spade-like one the females had. The other differences were night and day, however. He had a pale blue chitinous exoskeleton, battle-worn with many scars adorning his carapace. His yellow-ringed eyes burned with confidence, and there was a palpable feeling of power coming off of him that let me instantly tell how he was in an entirely different league than the wild one we had faced before.

I could tell Dun felt it too, a shiver passing through his scales. Nonetheless, he defiantly slithered forward, ready to fight. "Dudun!"

"Let the battle begin! Brick Break!" Kotetsu called out. By the time she had finished saying 'begin' I was already giving out my own order.

"Yawn then Glare!" Dun rapidly expanded as he took in air, releasing it in multiple clouds as the bug rushed towards him. Heracross dodged between the clouds easily, sidestepping and skittering low to close with my starter, and hit him with a quick chop. The blow sent Dun flying into the wall of the expanse we battled in, cracking it where he impacted.

"Dun!" I cried out, worried for a second, but despite the massive pain he must have been feeling, he managed to pull through, turning his prone body up from where he fell to Glare at his foe.

Heracross' body seized up, right as the three clouds turned and closed in on him. Yes! Once he's asleep we should be able to win, and Dun can hold out with Protect until it takes effect-

"Blow those away," Kotetsu called out, shattering my dreams as her Pokemon, despite being Paralyzed, managed to slam his claws together. The shockwave from the impact blew away all three clouds before they could reach him with their soporific effect.

"How-" I bit my tongue, forcing down any disbelief at the maneuver to focus on the battle at hand. "Air Slash, widespread." Dun narrowed his eyes but did as I said, even as I offered him an apologetic smile. With a few flaps of his wings, a wide screen of nigh-invisible blades of wind began cutting through the air.

He knows that I'm sacrificing his chance of winning this battle to focus on doing enough chip damage to make a victory possible with Miles. And even with that… Not needing a command from his trainer, Heracross once again began dodging and weaving around. From his, at times, awkward movements and footwork, I could tell it wasn't that he was so skilled or naturally evasive to dodge Dun's assault, but just a testament to the difference in speed and power between them.

Some of that speed had been curtailed by the Paralysis, however, which caught his forward progress at the right spot to let an Air Slash cut into his shoulder. Heracross hissed at the pain, but continued, dropping to all fours and Pouncing forward, his horn catching Dun and flipping him up in the air.

"Keep aloft and launch an all-out assault!" I cried out, and Dun shakily held himself up in the air, flapping his wings as hard as he could to push the air and keep himself aloft. As he did so, he screeched out a horrendous tone down at the bug beneath him. His Hyper Voice was pounding into Heracross, hurting our foe, but nowhere near as badly as the Air Slash had.

But he can't manage more Air Slashes while doing this. Honestly, it's a testament to how incredibly talented he is and how much he's trained that he can work on two Moves of different Types at the same time, even if they both use different parts of his body.

Kotetsu wasn't going to let this continue, however, and over the noise Dun was making I heard her calling out "Rock Blast!"

Heracross began ripping stone chunks out of the ground and hurling them at Dun with incredible force, enough that any hit would bring Dun down, and possibly even out. However, not one of the stones managed to land on him, his body weaving through the air around the stones. Once or twice it was close, but the slight lag as Heracross fought through Paralysis was enough to let him dodge the attacks until it was too late; a light breeze picked up to a swift stream of air pushing through the cavern.

I had no time to relish in Tailwind working in concert with the Hyper Voice combo, as Heracross had decided he'd had enough of this. With a mighty leap and the strength of his wings to push past the wind trying to hold him back, Kotetsu's Pokemon had closed with mine, unleashing a flurry of insanely fast punches, each hit a blur even to my eyes.

Dun was launched clear across the room, bouncing around before he rolled to a stop in front of me. Giving a small groan, he slumped down, defeated.

That's definitely going to leave some bruises, even after a stop at the Pokemon 'Center'. He didn't look permanently hurt, though, so I resolved to worry about it later. "Great job Dun, we've got this in the bag now," I said as I returned him to his Pokeball. In truth, I was a bit more worried about the match than I let on - We'll be lucky if we beat just Heracross right now. But I think, there might be a chance for that.

"Miles, I need you to go caseless for this battle, ok?"

"Bzzt but wh- ah, I see," Miles said, giving me a nervous smile before abandoning their preferred body and hovering in front of me on the battlefield. They had their lightning bolt-shaped plasmic 'hands' spread out wide, to best catch the wind that still swirled around them.

Ever so softly I heard Kotetsu click her tongue in frustration before calling out "Throat Chop." No wonder she's upset, both her STAB Types are hampered by Mile's Ghost Typing in their base form. That extra speed is handy too - with it, Tailwind, and her Pokemon not being as practiced with Moves like Throat Chop as he was with Close Combat or Pounce, Miles can just keep out of range.

Miles zipped around the makeshift arena, the wind at their back enough to let him avoid the far more experienced opponent. "Will O'Wisp, drift type, contained pattern."

It wasn't a combination we had practiced often due to its limited situational use, but Miles executed it well. As they raced away from the ferocious bug, they conjured and left behind many of the fiery whisps as they passed, leaving them in Heracross' path. The bug was able to avoid most of those, at least on the first pass.

As the two of them continued to zip around the enclosed area, Heracross had to start dodging the previous flames left behind and slowed down further. Then, he stumbled at the wrong time, the Paralysis slowing him down enough for Miles to easily pull ahead and the flames to Burn Heracross.

"Hex, take them down." Rotom's plasmic eyes gleamed and ghostly energy coalesced around the Bug Type, taking him down to one knee. Good, but… I should look toward the next battle too. Even if I doubt I can win, I have to do my best, for the sake of my Pokemon. All of them.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Gligar taking the battle in with rapt attention. It was an expression I knew well, seeing something similar in my face when I would watch high-level battles. The feeling when you see something so far above you… and know you have so much farther to go, to get beyond even that.

"Duplicity." Another custom tactic we had been working on, and one I only felt half-confident in. Necessity proved to be the mother of advancement, as Miles sprouted a wicked grin on their face as they split into two, literally. Then again, and another time after that.

Melding Substitute and Nasty Plot together works quite well. The Moves don't share a common Typing, but the nature of the Moves lets them work together about as well can be done. The creation of the Substitutes was about half of Miles max creation speed, and they got about half as much of a boost as they'd usually get from Nasty Plot, and it was so very worth it not to give the game away.

Kotetsu wasn't going to let us set up endlessly, however, calling out "Bullet Seeds, hit the last one created each time." Heracross puffed up his cheeks and began spitting out a hail of glowing green seeds, streaking across the cave like real bullets. Miles winced as one of the shots winged them, trying to dodge around while creating more Substitutes.

They kept on targeting the real Miles, and I had to resist the urge to grin as my strategy was working. Each shot that hit did hurt Miles, undoubtedly, and their energy was being drained by the repeated use of the hybrid Move. For every shot that glanced off Miles though, at least three more seeds missed. It was clear that this Move was not something Heracross was used to using on such a small target, so his aim was off. The Burn also sapped a lot of power he'd have from his attacks.

The Tailwind finally died down, presenting a shift in the fight dynamic. Kotetsu shook her head slightly as if saddened by the fact that I hadn't made good enough use of the opportunity.

"Megahorn, finish this." Heracross' horn gleamed with green energy as he jumped across the battlefield. I could see the wings on his back fluttering as he streaked across the air, ready to fly and dodge around any attack my Rotom tried to direct at it.

"It's over, Shock Wave!" Which is why I picked an attack that hit everything. Suddenly glowing quite brightly, a surge of electricity radiated off of Miles, zapping everything in the air around them. With nowhere to dodge, Heracross tried to punch through, only for his body to be struck immobile by the tremendous amounts of electricity surging through his body.

With one last cry, Heracross fell far short of Miles, collapsing down to the rocky ground below. That's what a 4.5 times Special Attack Boost will do to you.

Kotetsu returned Heracross to his ball and looked up at the Substitute Rotoms floating about in the air, autonomous enough to spin around in circles and make telling them from the real one now impossible. Though she didn't make a sound, and her face was impossible to read with that mask on, from her body language I could tell she was frustrated and possibly worried for the first time. As she should be. Miles got a massive boost to his damage, and the Substitutes can tank the super-strong attacks for him. We might actually have a chance here!

My opponent had re-evaluated and decided to change to a different Pokeball, one that when it opened seemed designed to crush my hopes then and there. Plated with heavy yellow ringed scales that clanged loudly, the large lizard-like Pokemon rose, staring dismissively at Miles (and their many copies) gathered before them. He even turned back to face his trainer, as if to say 'This is who you call me to fight? What a waste of my talents.'

He might not even be wrong. Kommo-o, a pseudo-legendary. Hardly unbeatable, but one as well trained as hers is going to be tough, especially since I don't have anything to take advantage of his Fairy super weakness. The small familiar almost Potion-shaped bottle that hung on a cord around his neck was almost as worrying as the Dragon Type himself.

"Clangorous Soul," Kotetsu called out cooly. Kommo-o began shouting and thrashing about, shaking his scales to add to the cacophony. As the horrible sound invigorated him, he also clutched at the Throat Spray around his neck and squirted it into his mouth.

"Hex!" I desperately called out, not willing to risk taking the time to set up such a Move with a status condition, just hoping that the drain of Kommo-o's Move and Miles boosts would be enough. With glowing plasmic eyes, ghostly energy began to close around our foe, seeming like they would trap him in a ring of pain and suffering. My hopes were dashed as the tall dragon blurred, leaving the shades that surrounded him in the dust as he practically flash-stepped behind Miles and hit him with a punch.

It wasn't even a Move as far as I could tell but nonetheless sent what he hit flying into a wall… where it disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Being able to transfer over the tells, the signs of using a Move to their Substitutes took a fair amount of work and is part of why Miles knows so many less Moves than Dun, but that work has paid off. They still have five Substitutes left. Shock Wave won't do much damage against a Dragon, but they can't dodge it. If we get lucky-

"Finish this, Clanging Scales!" The Fighting Type Trainer commanded, and her dragon was more than happy to do her bidding. Smashing his armored arms together and clover-like tail to the ground, I saw the air ripple towards Miles and all their duplicates, a wave of sound preparing to crash through them and all their Substitutes - only to be met by a transparent pale pink barrier holding out against the assault.

My eyes flashed up to the ceiling where I saw the notch-eared Carbink valiantly diving down, interposing themselves between Miles and the attack, just as the soundwaves pushed through the Light Screen the Carbink had conjured.

The powerful attack still wiped out all of the Substitutes and sent Miles reeling backward, but the brunt of it was heavily weakened by Light Screen and Carbink's natural immunity to Dragon-type attacks.

"What's this?!" Kotetsu hissed, and I ran forward (though not directly into the midst of the fighting), waving my arms and hoping to derail this before something bad could happen.

"Stop, STOP!" Kommo-o paused, holding off on unleashing a ruinous assault, while Carbink just looked confused, tilting their head/whole body at me. "We were just training, practice. No one is really hurt. Trainers battle with their Pokemon to see who's stronger and improve but neither side should be seriously hurt."

"Been a while since I fought someone that could take down even one of my Pokemon, but even with your friend here, you can't beat Kommo-o!" Kotetsu proudly declared, crossing her arms. I eyed that dragon up. Nice of her to give me the handicap but…

"Yup, you're right," I agreed, recalling Miles to their Pokeball, much to her visible surprise, even with the mask obscuring her face. Laughing, I added, "I like to think I'm good, but I'd definitely lose here. Better to keep some of my team able to fight than pointlessly get beat."

She nodded. "Smart choice. I guess you're strong enough to travel through here," She casually admitted, as if the strength her Pokemon had shown wasn't magnitudes beyond any of the Pokemon here. "If you ever come back to Kitakami, I'd like to battle you again, mystery girl."

"Oh right, I forgot to introduce myself," My cheeks were dusted with crimson from embarrassment as I realized that fact. Should try to be more polite than that. Looking at both Kotetsu and Carbink, I said "My name is Nemona Glitterati, and I'm going to be the best Trainer in the world!"

That got a snort from Kotetsu, though she sounded intrigued. Carbink on the other hand was looking at me wide-eyed, hovering over and bumping into my hand and arm. "Hey! Wha- what's up?"

They made more chiming sounds that I couldn't understand, and while I had gotten better at understanding Pokemon in general, I was failing at this limited game of charades.

Do they want me to catch them? Maybe, but I feel like something else is going on here. "Now that you know what battling is like, did you like that battle?" I asked, and the Pokemon eagerly bobbled. Ok, so they were curious enough to watch but didn't quite get how battling worked at first. I don't think they're familiar enough with the concept of being trained to have that be what they were looking for…

I saw them drift down to the ground, trying to draw symbols in the ground again. "Oh! You want to be a Diancie! Or to be more particular, you want arms," I figured out, to which Carbink gave an excited chime. Kotetsu chuckled softly, recalling her Dragon Type as she watched us interact.

"I'm sorry, but like I said, I don't know how Carbinks change into Diancies." At the sad look in their eyes, I added "But if you want to work with me, I promise I'll do everything in my power to help you achieve your goal. It'll mean training hard every day and lots of battles, but I hope those will help and-" My words were cut off by them tackling me in an enthusiastic approximation of a hug.

"Hrk," I grunted. "Yup, you'll fit right in." As I said that and hugged them, I heard Gligar scoffing. "Don't be worried, I wouldn't be prepared to call myself a Pokemon Trainer if I couldn't train a full team of six, at least. You'll all get plenty of training, and I think you'll be able to help each other grow."

Gligar looked skeptical as if wondering what a floating rock could do. "I'm serious, Carbink are incredibly tough, so they'll challenge how well you can manage battles of attrition, and they'll learn how to deal with more agile foes from you. It's how we get stronger together."

Kotetsu spoke up "Alright, enough of this sappy stuff. You fought hard and should have no regrets. Continue down that tunnel-" She pointed to one of the exits. "And you'll find your way out of the mountain." She tilted her masked head to the side "You should be fine in this cave, and most of the mountain, but try to avoid going too far North; your strength is insufficient for what waits there."

Her brutal assessment felt like a slap in the face, but I could find no words to deny it. While I haven't been there in this life, I remember seeing the kinds of Pokemon that roamed far away from civilization in Kitakami. Dusknoirs, Grimmsnarls, and more. Bloodmoon Ursaluna in the mists. That one hurt the most to miss out on. Reminding myself of the dangers I had warned Kieran of and how I should take those words myself, I simply nodded.

I gave her a small bow, thanking her for the match before heading down. There were several more shafts and long drops, the first one leading straight into a large underground pool. I used Miles (after healing them up) to drift down and to the side, avoiding getting soaked.

Most of the Pokemon were making themselves scarce, hiding in the shadowy corners of the tunnels. Oddly enough, I noticed many Ekans and Salandits hiding behind Clefairys and even Cleffas. Why are they- oh, right, Kommo-o was making some noise and a Fairy Type would be the best defense against that. Not that I think any or even all of the Fairies in this cave could manage to beat that monster. I can't wait till we get that strong.

Exiting out into the bright light, Gligar and I shielded our eyes, her hissing as if it was an affront to her very being. Carbink however just stared at it, unblinking. "Uhh, you sure you want to do that? It'll hurt to stare too long."

They just looked at me confused with their clear blue eyes. "...Or maybe not, different biologies and all." My attention was drawn up the side of the mountain as we heard Kieran and Carmine calling out as they raced down to us.

"Oh boy, you guys aren't gonna believe what happened!"


And it's another huge chapter! Fitting, though, for another Pokemon joining the team this chapter. I'm sure Carbink is a bit of a surprise, but I find them to be a fun Pokemon and they'll bring a different dynamic to the team. I hope no one is too disappointed though. There are tons of great Pokemon, especially in Kitakami that ultimately didn't make the cut. Fun fact: In the first draft of this fic, where it was a drop-in SI, not a reincarnated one, I started in Kitakami and actually had a Heracross as my starter.

I've had a ton of fun with this arc, but we've got other things to move onto from here (though we will revisit Kitakami some day). With this chapter, we only have one more update left in the arc, and it'll be an interlude.

Nemona's Current Team:

-'Dun' (Dudunsparce, Male, Normal Type, Starter)
- Tera Type: Normal
- Held Item: None
- Abilities: Run Away, Serene Grace
- 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, Tailwind, Roost, Ancient Power, Drill Run, Hyper Drill, Triple Yawn, Ice Spinner, Solar Beam, Lunge

- 'Miles' (Rotom, Genderless, Electric/Form dependent Type)
- 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, Substitute

- 'Gligar' (Gligar, Female, Flying/Ground Type)
- Tera Type: ?
- Held Item: None
- Ability: Hyper Cutter
- Moves Known: Poison Sting, Sand Attack, Harden, Knock Off, Fury Cutter, Acrobatics, Bulldoze

- 'Carbink' (Carbink, Genderless, Rock/Fairy Type)
- Tera Type: ?
- Held Item: None
- Ability: Clear Body
- Moves Known: Harden, Tackle, Guard Split, Flail, Ancient Power, Light Screen
 
Interlude VII - Kieran New
"Hey Kiki! Wake up!" Groggily I opened my eyes, pushing my sister off who was busy shaking me.

"Stooop it." Moaning, I pulled myself up, blearily looking at my sister who was already dressed and ready. Her bed was on the opposite side of the room, the sun streaming down and showing she had made it. "How can you get up so early every day?"

"Practice! Besides, aren't you excited at least for today? You get to drop off the mask and hopefully not get eaten by the ogre!" She exclaimed with a cheer that belied her words.

"Ugh, of course, I'm excited about that - not the getting eaten part, I mean not getting eaten I mean- argh," Huffing I tossed my sheets messily to the side and pulled myself out of bed. I'll be too tall for it soon. Carmine has to scrunch up while she sleeps to sit on hers.

My sister would complain endlessly about anything, but she never brought up the bed, and I knew I wouldn't either; it was one of the few things we had left from our parents. Dad never was too handy with crafting, not like Mom was, what with Grandpa raising her. Still, he wanted to show he could be handy too, since he worked so hard on these. The rest of their stuff from Unova just sits in a box in the attic.

After our parents were gone, we moved in with Grandpa Yukito and Grandma Hideko. We loved them and they took good care of us, but sometimes, I couldn't help but miss Mom and Dad.

Yawning, I stretched out before facing Carmine. "I'm excited, but also worried. After we drop off the mask, Nemona and Cyan are gonna leave." And before that, we'll have our battle, which is what kept me up half the night.

Carmine's face softened and she leaned down to pat me on the shoulder. "No matter what happens, win or lose, she'll still be your friend. I know how much you liiiiike her." A blush spread across my face despite my wishes.

"Aww shut up! Not like you haven't been pestering her to Ogre Oustin a ton." It was my sister's turn for her face to glow scarlet.

"Be quiet Kiki!" She stomped her foot and added "That was just to get a better handle on her skill, I can't have an outsider beating me! I've figured out her strategy and nearly tied up with her."

"Uhuh," I agreed without truly agreeing, something that faux-angered her to no end. Truth is, I think we're both going to miss her. Cyan too, though the older girl didn't spend as much time with us. We didn't have many other friends in town before her.

After I got changed and we went to the dining room for breakfast I admitted: "You're right."

"Ha! Of course I'm right," she crowed. "I'm right about so much so umm, what was I right about again?"

"Nemona. She's not going to be upset or want nothing to do with us after this." I mean, she could be lying about wanting to know our birthdays so she could get us presents, but I doubt it. Doesn't sound like her. "I just… I wanna impress her with this battle."

"And I'm sure you will, dear," Grandma said kindly, plating the fried Chansey eggs onto our plates with some pancakes and passing them to us. She poured a bottle of Moomoo Milk for us as well (human grade, not Pokemon grade of course). "Eat up! You'll need your energy if you're hiking up that mountain again." She shook her head, muttering something about not being sure where kids got such energy from.

"Argh, stop fretting already, Kiki," Carmine complained, the sternness of her tone slightly offset by the food she was shoving down her throat. Swallowing, she said, "It'll be fine, you've got that secret weapon, right?"

I nodded. Applin and I worked on that all day yesterday while Nemona and her family had been sightseeing. And not just the Move we worked on with Grandpa, but the one Applin surprised me with too! We're gonna give Nemona a huge shock, that's for sure!

Carmine continued "So you've got this in the bag… and even if you don't," She added, earning an instant frown from me, even as I recognized it was fair for her to be dubious about my odds when even I was. "If Nemona reacts badly or anything I'll make her swallow a Koffing whole."

"Sis… don't go scaring off her too." That's not really fair though, Nemona isn't like other kids. There aren't many kids our age here, and the ones here aren't big fans of us 'city kids' from Unova after we had to move here. Carmine made a big deal about loving Kitakami since but they didn't change their minds and are kinda brats regardless.

My sister hadn't stopped proclaiming how much she loved our new home since, not one to back down once she decided on a path. That's something I admire about my sis. I might be too afraid in public to be the same way about most things, but I'll stick up for the Ogre! She's so cool and strong, I'm sure of it. Maybe, maybe once I give her this mask, she'll think I am too-

"Kiki, what are you mumbling?" Carmine demanded and I realized I'd been thinking out loud, though the words were muffled by the food I was eating.

"Ahh, nothing, gotta go, get ready." Finishing up my plate quickly I jumped out of my seat and rushed out of the room.

"Kiki! Ugh, leaving the dishes for me to do…" Carmine groused as I went to the entrance hall. Slipping on my sandals I prepared to leave- before hearing Nemona talking with my Grandpa just outside. It was hard to hear everything from behind the door but I could make out a few things.

"...the truth, handed… you know it, don't you?" Nemona asked. I could barely recognize the words as her own at first, she sounded so different. Even when we argued about Gligar at first, she was vibrant and energetic about everything. Here she sounds… cold.

Grandpa didn't sound any happier, with a hint of anger in his voice. "Perhaps so. What do you want? You can't tell them!"

"I can. I will. Unless you do it first. They deserve to know, Kieran especially." Why me especially? What do I deserve to know more than Carmine, but she also deserves? Missing the context made it hard to figure out what they were arguing about.

"How would you feel if I offered to tell them all of your secrets?" Grandpa retorted fire in his voice. I'm not sure I've ever heard him sound so angry before. "I have no doubt you have plenty."

Nemona was completely undeterred. "Good guess, though the fact it's a guess shows just how little you know, or could use. Besides, as much as I might be upset if you spilled my secrets, this one isn't really 'yours,' now is it? It's just one you happen to know. The only one who's secret it is- well, she's not talking." There's a joke there, but I don't get what it is.

"They're too young! If they revealed it, tried to tell others-"

"I don't believe the town would take it quite as badly as you…" There were a few more words I couldn't make out.

"If you believed that you'd be telling everyone yourself. Why ask this old man to drudge up…" After a minute of silence, he conceded. "I was always planning on telling them eventually."

"'Eventually,'" she scoffed, clearly disbelieving him. "They might be too young right now, but you need to set definite times in place or 'tomorrow' becomes 'never,' ya'know? Tell them by the time they're fourteen."

"You're in no position to make demands-"

"Tell them by then or I'll do it. They might deserve to hear it from you, but if you aren't going to ever tell them, I'll put you on a-" I bumped against the door, having been leaning in too far to hear. It wasn't that loud, but Nemona immediately stopped speaking, so I opened the door quickly, trying to act like I hadn't been listening in.

"Oh, h-hey guys, what's up?" I asked shakily. Nemona and Grandpa were standing out in the front lawn, the sun shining bright as the smiles on their faces. If I hadn't heard them a second ago there's no way I woulda thought they were mad with each other.

"Just here to pick you guys up for our trip," Nemona said breezily, before stepping over to Grandpa and grabbing the mask in his hands. His grip tightened on it for a moment, and in a brief interaction I would have missed if I blinked, her eyes darted to me, his followed, and he let go.

"Thanks for making this, I'm sure the Ogre will appreciate all the hard work you put into this. Thank you." For some reason, those words made Grandpa sag, as if the wind had been taken out of him.

"Glad to," he croaked out before turning away. "Have fun today. And stay safe." I couldn't see Grandpa as he said that, my view was obstructed by one of the posts that held up the roof above the front porch, but he seemed to be directing that at Nemona.

"Of course," she said seriously before happily grabbing my hand with her free hand. "C'mon, let's get going! Hey Carmine!" She shouted.

"I'm coming, I'm coming, hold up!"

***

We made it to up the mountain to the passageway without incident, the climb tiring but not very threatening with Dun out. Nemona's starter was massive, and there was a certain presence to him that made me feel like there were few Pokemon in Kitakami that could challenge him.

That makes sense, Nemona says she's been training him for over two years now. I wonder if Applin can get that strong in that time?

"What are you thinking about?" Cyan asked, peering over at me. Lost in my thoughts, I'd been lagging on the last section of our hike up and I jogged back to catch up with Cyan. The mostly white-haired girl was herself trailing a bit behind Carmine and Nemona.

"Ack! Just… I don't know if I can measure up to Nemona, you know?"

To my surprise, the older girl nodded without hesitation. "Oh yeah, I get that feeling." At my startled stare, she laughed. "I'm not blind, my little sister is gifted. Sure, I have things I can do that she can't, and she always praises me for those or my efforts, but it's clear how much more she excels at. Look at this trip; I'm pretty happy with the Horsea I caught, and Nims was the first one to praise me. Went on and on about how strong my Horsea can be and the Type advantages when she evolves into a Kingdra... but my sister also caught two Pokemon of her own here."

"Oh," I stated dumbly, having not expected that. "Do you think I can win?" Given what she just said, I assumed she would say no, but instead she had a pensive look on her face.

"Not sure. I don't think you have great odds, would usually say no, but… Nims has once or twice mentioned that 'one day' someone will come along and push her to her limits. A true 'rival.' She's got a couple of other friends who are trainers too, but she never refers to them that way."

Could I be her rival? But I want to be her friend, like with the Ogre…

"Kiki, hurry up!" Carmine shouted at me.

"Cyan, don't be a Slow…poke," Nemona finished awkwardly.

I giggled a bit as we hurried up to meet them. Nemona can be so weird. Carmine too, but at least Nemona doesn't snap at me when I laugh about it.

Distracted and hurried as I was, I missed a step and started to lose my balance, slipping off the edge of the final narrow walkway to the Den. I don't have Miles to help me, we forgot about that. Was the one random thought that popped into my mind before I fell.

Nemona was there in a flash, grabbing my arm before I fell more than a foot. Gravity still caused me to fall a bit more before Nemona's grip around my bicep arrested my movement, shooting pain through my shoulder.

"Ahhh!" Crying out from the pain and fear, the grip on the mask in my hand slackened. I tried to hold on, but ended up just flipping it up for a second after dropping it, failing to grab it again.

"Miles! The mask!" Her Rotom blurred out from her pocket, streaking below. I craned my head to look before the strong girl said "Focus on me. C'mon, just get back up."

Anxiety was something I was used to, but fear like this was something new. My body was shaking and I knew that I might die, that Nemona might die too. Yet, as I looked into her amber eyes, I saw no fear. Concern, but only for me, despite how close she was kneeling to the ledge herself, my weight pulling her down.

Then she heaved, steadying herself with her free hand and yanking me up with the other. I could see the muscles on her arms bulging as she whipped me up and almost over her head, placing me down gently on the bridge beside her.

"You ok?" Was her first question. My eyes were blurry, tears starting to form from all the emotions swirling through me. I hate being a cry baby, but if I open my mouth, I'm going to start bawling, I just know it. So I nodded my head, biting my lip even as tears started to roll down my face.

Nemona smiled, relieved I was ok, then turned to see her Rotom hovering back up, carrying the mask above it with its plasmic limbs. Miles passed the mask back to me and I took it gingerly, inspecting it for any damages.

Luckily, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with it. The turquoise mask had light red-orange swirls on its 'cheeks' like a setting sun with a black beak painted open in a devious smirk. The shining crystal eyes and feathers sticking out to the side and curving up gave it the appearance of some great bird of legend, a powerful hunter.

"Th-t-thanks," I stammered out, holding it close. Helping me up, we walked together, slowly and carefully towards the end of the bridge, and I let out a sigh of relief when we were on wider ground.

"Sorry about that," Nemona said, and I looked at her as if she had grown a second head like a Doduo. "I should have been more careful about the bridge. We've just been exploring Kitakami so much, I got complacent and- never mind, I'm sorry." Why does she try to take responsibility for everything? It's my fault for slipping off.

I couldn't say anything about that as I was busy fending off Carmine, who had rushed over to me the second we got to more stable land and was fretting about me.

"S-stop it, sis! I'm fine," I mumbled out, to little avail. We took a few minutes break to compose ourselves after that scare, even though we were only a few dozen meters away from our goal. My eyes were still a little red as I approached the entrance to the Den, and I felt almost more nervous going in there than I did on the bridge, wondering how the Ogre would react to our mask. Wondering if, by some miracle, she'd be inside there, waiting for me.

Of course, things don't work out like that. When I entered, it was the same empty Den I'd seen a dozen times before. With a sigh of disappointment and relief, I placed the mask on the ground, along with a letter I'd written (with Carmine and Nemona's help) days before.

'Hello Ogre,

I'm Kiki Kieran, and I think you're super cool and strong. I saw the masks you had and I know this isn't the same, but I hope you like this mask too. Grandpa made it with the help of me and my friends. It must be lonely up here and one day, I'd like for us to be friends too. No matter what, I want you to take this mask as a gesture of good faith and hope it brings you happiness.'

One last look around showed me the cave was empty, so I stood up and exited back into the light. Cyan and Nemona cheered me on as if it had been some big deal, and even my sister was saying "Good job Kieran."

"It was nothing," abashedly turning my face away, I wiped at my eyes some more, to make sure I wasn't crying again. "Uhh, umm, anyway, we have a battle planned, right?"

"Here?" Cyan asked. The opening around the Den was pretty high up, but it was much wider than the bridge.

Nemona nodded. "This should be fine. Sis, would you referee for us?"

The girl in question shrugged, standing off to the side along with Carmine as we took our places. "This will be a one-on-one battle with no switches allowed. The battle is to incapacitation or forfeit. Any attempt to seriously injure an opponent or attack a trainer or bystander will be met with disqualification. Boundaries are to the edge of the bridge and the Den, and umm, let's say fifteen meters above the ground. Trainers, get your Pokemon ready."

"Ah, umm, okay!" I shouted out, panickedly trying to take all that in. Pressing the button on my Pokeball, I released Applin in front of me, to a chuckle from Nemona. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just you're a bit eager. It doesn't matter here since we both agreed to which Pokemon we're using ahead of time, but in other battles when you have a bigger team, whoever sends out their Pokemon last gets an advantage. The referee has the trainers hold up the Pokeball they're going to use, and then they both release them," She explained, pulling out Gligar's Pokeball and releasing her Pokemon.

The pink flying scorpion spun about in the air, drifting near her trainer. My brave Applin shivered in fear at the predator that had almost taken his life before, but he didn't hide in his apple case. Instead, he stuck his body out, defiantly meeting Gligar's gaze.

"Wowzers, real battles are pretty complicated, huh?"

"You'll get used to them," she said easily. "It's like-" the brash girl paused, thinking. "Do you know how to ride a bike?" I nodded. While there were trucks that came in and out of Mossui town, bicycles were some of the easiest ways to travel around town, and anything short of going past Kitakami Hall or the Paradise Barrens.

"It's like riding a bike. It seems complicated at first, and there's a ton you need to learn and do all at once, but then you get the hang of it and it's second nature." Nemona wore a contented smile, clearly proud of herself for that simile.

"Hurry up and battle already!" Carmine shouted, causing both of us to deflate, though our Pokemon both perked up a bit at my sibling's heckling. Guess they're ready to battle. Grandma always said Pokemon are naturally more aggressive than people, on average, which is why she gets worried whenever I venture too far out of town without supervision.

"Alright, with that out of the way," Cyan spoke loudly. "On the count of three, the battle will begin. Ready?" Nemona locked eyes with mine, both of us nodding, the same drive pumping through each of us. "Three, two, one… begin!"

"Withdraw!" I called out immediately, hoping to bolster Applin's defense before Gligar could start pounding him. It'll also set up our first attack.

Or so I thought. Gligar and Nemona blew me away, almost literally, with how fast they were.

"Acrobatics." No sooner had the word left her mouth and Gligar was across the battlefield, slamming down into Applin hiding in his shell, leaving cracks and ripping a few chunks of fruity flesh off with her pincers and teeth.

"You're not holding back, are you? Well, neither will we, Sucker Punch!"

"Get out of there!" Nemona called out, and while Gligar would now listen to her trainer and try to follow her commands, she was a bit slow to respond here. Too focused on ripping and tearing my Pokemon, she backed away a second too slowly to avoid Applin's head jutting out of the apple and hitting Gligar in the gut.

"Gar!" The Flying Type called out, flapping away. Nemona's lips quirked down for half a second, before wiping away any displeasure from her face.

"Poison Sting, keep your distance." Gligar followed obediently, rubbing lightly at where she had been hit before flinging a bunch of needles out from her tail, each one dripping with a violet liquid.

"Withdraw, defend more!"

The battle fell into that pattern, me defending while they kept their distance and launched attacks. Each strike is getting weaker, I'm sure Applin can take on anything else Nemona can dish out now.

Just as I thought that Applin gave a plaintive cry, his tail seizing and twitching violently as a purple discoloration spread throughout the few visible parts of his body. "Huh?!"

Nemona was looking down on me - not unkindly, but still - like she knew something I didn't. Which she did. "Your Applin has been Poisoned. One of Gligar's stings managed to get through." Looking carefully, I saw where one needle stuck in deep, having landed through one of the cracks Gligar had opened up earlier.

"Gaaaah. We can't lose like this. Uh, uh, Astonish!" I shouted desperately, trying to rack my brain for something Applin could do with his few Moves to hit someone flying above. And it worked! Applin stretched his whole body out, his tail and eyes extending far out of his shell, shocking Gligar and causing her to reel back in the air.

My opponent, however, was unfazed. "Drop down and Sand Attack." A swift dive to the ground and she was kicking and flinging sand from the rocky ground into Applin's exposed eyes.

The ground here was more than just rocky, however; this section of the mountain had a bit of greenery growing on it, which we could use with Grandpa's secret Move. "Grassy Glide!" Applin gave a weak but happy cheer at that, his tail drawing on more power from the plant life and extending that to conjure a bunch of grass in a line that he slid on, straight towards Gligar.

"Quick Attack to reposition, do not hit Applin!" Nemona responded rapidly, and Gligar had to adjust her motion at the last second, but she ended up shooting past Applin to the side, my starter missing her as she moved in a bright blur.

"Sand Attack again," Nemona ordered again, and Gligar once more pelted Applin with sand. He could hide his eyes, but that just left him blind, freeing her Pokemon to make even more room.

My attacks failed, nothing coming close to hitting her until eventually, Applin fell over, giving a small croak as he was defeated.

"Applin is unable to battle, Nemona is the winner!" Cyan called out as I slumped down trying to figure out what went wrong. How? I trained… so hard…

The victor had the presence of mind to apply a quick antidote to my Applin and a Potion to her own Pokemon, praising Gligar for her efforts. Then she walked over to me and offered me a hand up. "That was a great match, Kieran." She sounds so sincere but…

"I lost," I moaned. "We worked so hard, but we couldn't beat Gligar." Trudging over to Applin, I scooped him up. "I'm sorry."

"Ap… applin." He said wearily. Glancing over my shoulder I tried to see if Nemona could understand what he meant, but she just shrugged.

"It sucks to lose, I know that, but really, you did well today. While you might not have beaten the Gligar of today, I'm certain you would have beaten the Gligar that attacked you two back then."

"App?" The Pokemon in my arms asked and Nemona nodded fervently.

"Really. That Sucker Punch Withdraw combo had us changing up our whole battle plan!" Applin's already overly large eyes widened and he even gave a few cheers, as weak as he currently was. My feelings were more mixed.

It was nice to hear, and what we wanted when we first challenged her. Nemona encouraging us confirmed she was my friend, and I was so grateful for that. There was something to her gaze, however, as she looked just past me that confirmed that I wasn't the 'rival' she was looking for either. I wonder, if I get stronger and prove to her I can be that rival, if she'll tell me that secret she and Grandpa were talking about?

"I wanna challenge you again!" I shouted suddenly, shocking the others. Nemona though, was delighted.

"That sounds great! Maybe not today, we need to get our Pokemon looked at, and then Cyan and I have to head out, but I'd love to come back and battle you again someday." Turning to my sister she added "Both of you."

"Hmph, of course. Next time we face, you're going down!" Carmine declared haughtily.

"Like your Ogre Oustin score?" Nemona slyly teased.

"Yeah- hey!" We all laughed at Carmine a bit, but with Cyan being older, and Nemona being… Nemona, she turned her rage on me. "Stop laughing Kiki or I'll wring your neck!" She yelled, but I knew she wasn't serious. My big sis gets flustered easily, but she's always looking out for me.

A trait that seemed common to all big sisters as Cyan (who had less of an appreciation for Carmine's more 'extreme' comments) stepped in and said: "None of that. If she gets on your case, let me know."

Nemona quickly defused the situation before Carmine could get upset with her sister for that. "Yeah, we have to stay in touch! I'll send you guys tons of letters and you've got a computer at home too, right? We can email each other as well, and talk all about our battles."

"Ugh, is battling all you can think about?" The older girl complained. "You're going to corrupt poor Kieran just like you did Arven and that Amethio boy." I felt a small curl of something unpleasant in my gut at the mention of these other people in Nemona's life, but it was shoved to the side quickly as Cyan took out a notebook and gave me and my sister her address and postal code, with a second one written down beneath it.

"The first one is for the family home, and the second one is for Uva Academy since I'll be going there in a few weeks."

"Wowzers…" I looked it up online after Nemona mentioned it the other day, and that school is huge! The Pokeball at the top looks so cool too.

Carmine wasn't as impressed, snorting derisively. "Uva Academy is nothing compared to Blueberry Academy." A vein bulged noticeably on Cyan's forehead, but the older girl took some deep breaths and said nothing as my sister continued, now speaking to Nemona. "Kiki and I will be going there when we grow up, like our parents did. You should join us," she announced imperiously.

Nemona stood between the two older girls, caught like a Deerling in a Druddigon's eyes. "Aheh, well, I haven't actually decided my school yet. Oh look at the time," she said, for some reason holding up her bare wrist. "Let's hurry back down to the town."

Turning and marching away, the sharp-eared girl suddenly remarkably deaf to Cyan and Carmine's arguments for which school was better, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. This was super fun. Meeting Nemona Glitterati was amazing, and I'm sure that the next time I see her, she'll be even tougher.

Looking down at the Applin in my hands, his natural color returning to him, I saw the fierce, draconic gaze in his eyes. Which is a good thing, because we'll be so much stronger too, next time.

With a full heart, we waved them off at the bus stop. "Goodbye! We'll see you again soon."

"Oh, you bet!" Nemona shouted back. "I can't wait to see you guys and Kitakami again someday. Goodbye, for now!"

***

My first letter to her I sent only a few days after she left and it began like this:

'Nemona, you're never going to believe what happened. I went to check the Ogre's Den the other day, and the mask and note were gone! Do you think the Ogre found them? She must have, I'm the only one who goes up there regularly. I hope she liked them, Grandpa worked so hard on it...'


With that, the Kitakami arc comes to a close. Certainly won't be the last time we go there or see those characters, but for now there are other storylines to get to.

I'm curious what everyone thought of this arc. The chapters were a fair bit larger than usual, and it involved two new Pokemon captures in quick succession, and also what you thought of my portrayal of character canon to the games. Thank you all for reading.
 
Chapter 40 New
"I need your help, Nims!!!" Cyan's voice rang out from Miles' case in a shrill tone.

"Gee sis, how are you doing? We don't see each other nearly as much now that you're at school. Oh, calling to ask how I'm doing? Thanks, that's so kind of you-"

My sister cut me off, countering in an affronted tone "We talked just last week. Now, please will you help me train my Pokemon?"

I blinked, surprised by her sudden request. She hasn't mentioned anything like that in the past month she's been at Uva Academy. I wonder what changed? "Sure, I'd be glad to help. Just two questions: Aren't you stuck at the Academy and why are you suddenly looking to train up your team?"

She groaned "Ugh, don't remind me. The course load is super heavy at Uva. The teachers are trying to shove as much information as they can in our heads before we go out on our Treasure Hunt since that's basically a full term of class where we aren't guaranteed to be studying anything."

Maybe you shouldn't have filled up your schedule with so many courses then? She complains so much about me overworking, but I've seen every course she applied for. Uva was unusual in that it covered a vast age range, and had the aforementioned Treasure Hunt, so student schedules were far more flexible and varied than a Primary or Secondary school would have been in my first life.

Continuing, Cyan explained. "Mindy- well a bunch of other girls on my floor were talking about how much more successful they were going to be in collecting Gym Badges during the Treasure Hunt than me. Which is just ridiculous, she's just jealous that I did better on our chemistry paper than she did-" I tuned out the next part of her rant, well aware by now of how she could go on and on about little details like that.

"Alright, so you want to prove some mean girls wrong, I can get behind that. I could send you a training plan, but it would be better to see your Pokemon and train in person." I vigorously defended the advantages of guided training. Each pokemon has their own personal flaws which you then iron out slowly over time while bolstering their strengths.

Chuckling, my sister said: "You just want an excuse to show off your new battlefield to me again,huh?"

"Yup," I admitted shamelessly. It's so cool! I can't believe my parents got me a Conference tier battlefield for my birthday and had it installed while we were out on vacation! I mean, I can, in fact, canon Nemona had one in the game, which honestly was kinda weird just sitting there on the beach. "Huh."

"What's up?" Cyan inquired, making me realize some of my thoughts were slipping out loud.

"Just thinking up training plans," I fibbed, distractedly. It's odd, thinking about how something in the games might have felt odd in my last life but just feels awesome and perfect now. I guess it's just a sign of how I'm becoming a different person.

It was to be expected, everyone changed over time and circumstance, and I'd had plenty of changes to both. Some slight melancholy feeling still lingered, but I pushed it to the side to focus on my sister's new training, barely catching Cyan saying how she was going to cram her studies and skip dinner to take a quick flying taxi over in the evening. Then she hung up before I could chide her for skipping dinner.

"Rude," I said to myself. Technically, I was speaking to the Pokemon I had out with me, but…

Gligar was drifting along, upside down above the battlefield, completely tuning me out. Carbink on the other hand was floating a foot away from me, staring unblinkingly, with no sign they understood what I was saying.

Taking a step back, I clapped my hands together. "Alright! Cyan is coming over in a few hours, so let's try to get some good training in before then, how about it?"

The two newest Pokemon on my team seemed… at least interested in the thought of more training. "Let's practice some of the TMs I gave you. Notch," I said to Carbink, named after the mark on one of their ears (and a lack of resistance or reaction to any nicknames I offered). "Set up Reflect as quickly as you can. While Ace?" I tried, to Gligar's immediate disapproval. "Ok, we'll shelve that name for now. At the same time, you will attempt to break it with Psychic Fangs. Make sure to give them time to actually form the barrier, ok?"

She rolled her eyes and nodded as if I hadn't needed to tell her that three times in training so far. "After you two have done that enough to get tired, we'll switch with Notch attacking with Body Press while Gligar practices evasive maneuvers."

Both of them complained, Gligar shouting her name and stomping the ground hard enough to crack it, while Notch tilted slightly on their side. Given how little Notch emotes and how much Gligar overreacts, I feel like this is probably an equally large reaction from both of them. "We'll practice other things later!"

With the two of them still a little reticent, I explained. "Over dinner, Gligar can hold the new Toxic Orb, with a few Antidotes sprayed on her throughout the meal, while Notch can practice their Psychic control with the minerals they'll have. Good?"

They perked up quickly, with Notch's ears flapping up a little and Gligar… immediately latching onto Notch and sinking fangs covered in pink Psychic energy into their rocky body. "Dammit! What did I just say about waiting?!"

After a short lecture (to which Gligar did look at least a little chagrined, before eagerly switching back to her usual aggressive self), I watched their progress.

Notch was raising Reflect very quickly, able to surround themselves in a near-invisible barrier in a matter of seconds. The Move is very similar to Light Screen, which Carbink learns naturally and Notch already knows. They can almost summon Reflect as fast as Light Screen now, which will be good. Carbinks are naturally slow physically, but their minds are just as fast as any. Notch becoming capable of learning these mental Moves speedily will be a key factor in their success in battles, to make up for that issue.

Gligar herself had little issue keeping up even as her opponent used Moves at the speed of thought, however. Her natural speed let her zip around, twirling through the air before curving around and striking into Notch once more. Her small fangs ripped through the barrier surrounding the Rock Type and her attack left small gouges on Notch's body.

I've got to keep an eye on that, Notch doesn't understand self-preservation enough and has seriously pushed themselves in the past. Gligar is only piercing Reflect about seven times out of ten, and only half of the attacks break the barrier entirely, though she's getting good power out of the Move. That will be helpful for the future when she evolves.

Gligar could learn any of the fang Moves through Technical Machines, but she'd naturally learn all the elemental ones upon evolving into Gliscor. My hope was that Psychic Fangs would give her a good grounding in those attacks and also be something useful for the future.

My training method might have accepted using my family's money to its fullest, but I still had no desire to 'waste' any of it. Especially since my savings were massively depleted trying to get everything I needed to start our first round of training for my new Pokemon and to continue to up the power of my older companions.

Notch had been given more TMs to learn than I had expected after a bit of research had uncovered Body Press and what it could do. I only used Carbink in Gen 7, and they were great during my fairy mono-run in Ultra Sun, but a very defensive set-up Pokemon. Body Press is huge, giving us a way to leverage their incredible defenses. With that also came Iron Defense to make them even tankier, and thus hit harder. Reflect to round out the defensive barriers Notch could raise. Stealth Rocks for arena control, and finally Psychic, Notch's personal favorite.

I had nearly picked Dazzling Gleam in the checkout cart until Notch pushed my hand away repeatedly and made it clear there was a different Move they wanted to learn. It had still taken me some time to understand the fae Pokemon's intent, but after we went through the list of Moves they could learn, I eventually figured it out. In retrospect, it makes perfect sense that a Pokemon obsessed with wanting to gain hands would seek out a Move that lets them manipulate things telekinetically.

Psychic was a powerful Move, and would take a ton of practice for a non-Psychic Type to control it on a precise level, but I had faith in Notch. Glancing back at them, I saw the Fairy try to conjure up Reflect once more as Gligar dived down for an attack, but after half an hour of repeated assaults, the Psychic energy failed to manifest in time. Gligar clamped on and sunk her teeth in again, invoking a minute wince from Notch.

"That's enough!" I called out sharply. The two of them disengaged, awaiting my verdict. "Notch, keep your eyes open while making the barriers. A couple of times I noticed your eyes scrunched up a bit. That might help concentration, but in a fight, you'll need to keep your awareness on the battlefield. Otherwise, just keep working on the power of your Reflect, you've nearly got it mastered."

With the easy critique down, I turned to Gligar, standing patiently on the battlefield. "You're doing well with Psychic Fang, though I noticed you always latch onto the face before biting. Going for flyby attacks should improve your speed-" Seeing her shaking her head vigorously, I stopped.

"What's up?"

"Gligar! Lig. Ar ar." She said, mimed a swoop to open air, and then kicked with her legs.

"Oh, I see. A hit-and-run would slow you down or limit the power of the attack and you use your feet to kick off after landing on the foe to speed away." My guess was confirmed by her nod.

"Alright then, in that case, keep on latching but work to avoid landing on spots where the opponent has an easy time striking you back." Gligar gestured a pincer at Notch as if to say 'nuh-uh.' "Even Carbink's have natural defenses on their bodies. They can fire beams from the crystals on their bodies."

Gligar's eyes widened at that, whipping around to stare at her teammate. Notch closed their eyes and lifted their ears up in the approximation of a smile that I believed was far more sinister than it outwardly appeared.

"So for the future, when you latch on, try to avoid landing on the crystals on their body." With a shiver, she agreed. Not that Notch knows Power Gem yet, but it is a Move they're famous for.

"Also, just be careful about your partner while training," I lightly chided. Gligar looked downcast, a little guilty at that reminder of her last attack. "I understand your instincts will be to lunge in when you see a weakness, but you need to have the control to pull back if you see they're in danger."

"Li gar," she argued mildly. It was hardly as heated as our previous spats or disagreements, but it was clear she was still quite headstrong. With Notch it's the opposite problem, they won't speak up even if they're hurt or they think they have a better battle strategy or way to use a technique. Still, I should focus on the fact that both of them are improving in those areas, slowly but surely.

Speaking of that improvement, while I still couldn't understand Gligar nearly as well as I did Dun, I thought I understood the gist of her point here. "Yes, having drive is important in a battle, but with control, you'll be able to use the most of your power no matter what situation. If you let yourself get carried away, you could end up falling into a trap." Could also end up seriously hurting someone you don't want to hurt. Or maybe just someone I don't want to hurt, I've noticed those arguments don't work as well for her, and I have to focus on pragmatic reasoning.

Casting my gaze past the battlefield and over to the beach, I saw Dun and Miles practicing their own Moves perfectly, not needing my direct supervision at all. I know it's unfair to expect Pokemon I've barely known for a month to be as well-behaved and trained as them, but boy is this a lot more work. Still, I wouldn't trade my new friends for anything… even if they're driving me mental.

"Dun, come over here for a second!" I shouted, and they ceased slapping the waves with their tail, slithering over to my side. He looked eager as he slid over the battlefield. Happy with how his training is going, looking for a match, or just both? It was hard to tell sometimes who was happier with my birthday gift, myself or Dun, but it was clear he adored fighting on it.

The smooth surface of it is certainly nicer than the sand. Cooler too - even with the hot sun beating down on it, the battlefield maintains an even temperature that's only impacted by Moves. Even most of those, except for terrain Moves and the like don't last long, the field 'resetting' to base conditions over time. It's a marvel of engineering and I can still barely comprehend how all of it works.

Alongside the actual Battlefield, I got a hefty guidebook detailing its construction and how it worked. Most of any potential issues that could crop up the book said to call an engineer to fix, but I was tempted to try myself (even if I knew given how sturdy it was that it would take a lot of use for something to go wrong accidentally).

"Dun, I'd like you to use Tailwind to help Notch keep up with Gligar for the next part of their training, and to keep an eye on them as I check in with Miles." My starter nodded dutifully, even though I knew it couldn't have been his favorite job in the world. For her part, Gligar slumped a bit, recognizing that with the Tailwind boost, she'd have to work to avoid Notch landing a physical Move on her.

"After that's done, I think we might wrap up before dinner with a little two v. one. Dun versus Notch and Gligar."

"Dun dun dun," the land snake grinned viciously, while Gligar hissed in fear. She's learned to watch out for my starter. Well both of them have really, but it's hard to get a read on Notch. Even now they just stared at me, not reacting to the announcement at all.

With those two in good hands (or rather wings?) I went over to Miles. They were in their Wash Form, firing out jets of water into the ocean. There were no aquatic Pokemon nearby, however, and for good reason, as I saw one of the blasts make a large patch of ocean water around where it hit bubbled, steam rising above it.

"The new Drive the company gave you working well?" I asked, to which I got a cheerful buzz from them. They opened their washing machine front door to let out a far larger blast of cold water chilling down the water temperature before raising the hose that floated out the back and firing a scorching hot jet of water out of that.

Not all the ideas I pitched worked perfectly, but this one honestly worked even better than I thought. Miles has gained Scald in this form without even losing Hydro Pump! The theory the 'egghead squad' came up with is part of why it's so easy to add on is due to how regular washing machines can run hot or cold loads.

The experiments with Refrigerator eventually turned into a straight-up ice machine and snow blower. They weren't all bad, giving access to Hail and Snowscape, but unfortunately, they lost Blizzard in the process. Drone and Radio Forms still needed work, but I was happy to see some results already.

A crunching sound behind me drew my attention, and I pivoted to see that Notch had landed a nasty hit on Gligar's right-wing, grounding the FlyScorp Pokemon. If it's not one thing, it's another. "Hang on a moment," I called out, pulling a Potion from my bag.

***

Dinner proceeded as usual (Gligar needed three Antidotes and still nearly puked from the poisonous energies the Orb leaked out and Notch nearly sent a piece of Iron they were supposed to be eating through a window when their Psychic control slipped), with Arven regaling myself and my parents about a local youth soccer team he joined.

That's nice for him. I remember playing soccer when I was a kid in my old life, all the way to a young adult. It was fun, even if I never got very far with it. Not something I have time for here though, not with all my training. Speaking of that…

"You know Arven," I said sweetly, turning to the boy across the table as I finished my dinner. "We haven't done enough training recently."

"O-oh. I hadn't noticed," he said nervously, his green eyes not meeting mine as his gaze darted around the dining room as if looking for an escape.

"Yeah, it's been a shame, Dun and Miles have been a bit too strong for Maschiff… but luckily I've got two new Pokemon that he could play great with." The dog in question raised his head up from behind the table giving me a plaintive whine that I ignored. "Plus, Cyan is coming over for some training soon, so you can warm up against her."

Arven slumped as he heard me talking about this like it was a done deal. Billy and O'Nare cheered it as 'such fun' and made sure to ask me to let them know about future times my sister would be coming over. They must be missing her as well. Even if they're busy with their work and wouldn't have much time to see her, a few texts and emails a day aren't the same as seeing someone in person.

We left for the beach to see Cyan descending from the Flying Taxi. "C'mon, hurry up!" The white-haired girl called out, seeming just a tad manic. "We've only got a few hours of training before I have to go back."

"Are you alright?" I asked, a little concerned at how she was acting, which is why I was surprised when she ran forward and wrapped her arms around me. "Oh." Surprised, I made sure to hug her tight. "What's wrong?"

"'M fine, I guess. Just…" She disentangled herself from me. "I thought it would be fun, to have so many other kids to hang around. We always just had our tutors but never got to make friends. The people at Uva though, they're mean."

Arven gasped beside me as if that was the biggest accusation one could make, which surprised me until I remembered that he was eight. Cyan, for all her maturity, is only thirteen too. Still, I wonder if this is a sign of the bullying that would become rampant in a few years. "Not to sound like a cliche, but did you talk to the teachers about it?"

My sister nodded. "The teachers didn't care at first. It was fine at first, I was just getting used to things, but then this group of girls led by Mindy," she said the name with such venom I did a quick check to make sure she hadn't become part Seviper. "She started teasing me and calling me names, hating me just because of our family! Which was the only reason why the teachers cared when I eventually brought up my name."

Sighing, she looked out at the ocean. "Now they leave me alone, but everyone does. The rest of the kids won't talk to me and they'll still make comments in the hall, anything deniable they can say to make digs at me. Like how 'rich kids might start with powerful Pokemon, but they never get far in the Gym Challenge.'"

"And you want to prove them wrong. Well, it probably won't solve your issues with the other kids," I warned. She set her fiery gaze on me and shook her head.

"Maybe not, but it's a good sign of your commitment and drive regardless. And I just want to show off to them. I want to get five badges in my first Treasure Hunt!" She declared boldly. "I know you could do something like that easily, so will you help me?"

"Of course! I'll turn you and Arven into powerhouses the likes of which the world has never seen!"

"Leave me out of this," the boy moaned, unable to free his wrist from the iron-like grip I had it in. He had tried to escape during my talk with my sister but ~~prey~~ friends couldn't get away from me that easily!

"First off, let's release your Pokemon and start them with some warm-up exercises. Then we'll go over your strategies for taking on the gyms." Cyan released her three Pokemon, Popplio, and her newly given Quaxly from Uva were released on the Battlefield, while Horsea was let out in the water not so far away.

I released all of my team, directing Miles to keep an eye on Horsea in the water. I doubt she's in too much danger there, but if any of the ocean Pokemon tried to start a problem, Miles could deal with it. It does raise another issue, however.

Popplio and Quaxly were set to run laps around the arena while Horsea swam a small circuit in the ocean. Maschiff already had some training, so I told him to run on the beach for more resistance. "Alright, let's talk about the biggest hurdle first: You're a Water Type specialist."

"Is that a bad thing?" My sibling tensed up a bit, suddenly nervous.

"No, but it does present a slight problem in Gym Battles. Except for Water Type Leaders, most Gyms only have to have small sections of water on their arena. This limits the movements of some of your team." Looking out on the field, I saw that the blue-and-white duck-like Pokemon Quaxly was starting to outpace Popplio, despite her starter having been with Cyan longer.

"Even Water Types that can go on land like Popplio are going to be slower than they would be in the water, only a few like Quaxly will be just as fast."

The teenager grimaced. "I've heard rumors that Kathy is super tough to face too."

"Oh? I thought you'd go up against Brassius first since he has a Type advantage and all. Good on you for saving him for last."

My statement confused her because she frowned, and Arven chimed in with the same confusion. "Wait, why would she be facing Brassius last? And why is it better to face a Gym Leader with Type advantage early on?" As I turned to face him he mumbled "Thought that it would be tough to handle a Gym Leader with Type advantage when you don't have the Moves or experience to deal with it."

"You're absolutely right! Unfortunately, Gym Leaders get tougher at higher levels too. Facing an Eighth Badge Gym Challenge is always going to be tough, but it becomes incredibly tough when they have the edge on you. If you haven't had much practice then facing them early on can be like running headfirst into a wall and block out a lot of young Trainers, but with a bit of work they're like a small hurdle to hop over. Really, just having a coverage Move clears a ton of the challenge for the first badge."

"So, what should I do to beat my first Gym Leader, Brassius?" Cyan said without a hint of joking in her voice.

"Noooo! You were supposed to be the chosen one! Face on the greatest challenges rather than take the short and easy path!" My wails were cut off by my older sister poking me in the forehead.

"Dolt. If anyone is the 'chosen one' it's you. I just want to get as many badges as possible and shut up those girls at school. Now tell me how to win!" She demanded.

"Ugh. Well, there's no guaranteed strategy to win a Gym Battle or everyone would do it." Or rather, any strategy that does exceptionally well gets patched up by the leaders. However, if she's looking for a strategy designed to win as much as possible… With a sigh, I admitted: "You should face Brassius then backtrack through Mesagoza to face Kathy."

"Usually, most students start out in Mesagoza and loop around one way or the other across Paldea to complete the Gym circuit." Left unsaid in my explanation was that few Trainers actually made it all the way through on a loop. Which is part of why I think Paldea has fewer top tier Trainers - the Treasure Hunt style 'circuit' simply gives less time to take on the Gyms than other regions' circuits, even if theoretically our Gyms are open all year round.

Continuing to address my sister's question I said. "Brassius has only been the Gym Leader for a couple months, and he almost always has a Sudowoodo he Terastalizes into a Grass Type on his first Badge challenge. Your Water Types can force out that Terastalization early. With only two Pokemon for most of that level challenge, you can use Popplio and Quaxly who can both walk on land, and both learn Moves that Grass Types are weak to."

"As for Kathy, she's not quite as new, having trained under Kofu and having a year of experience already. Still, she'll be less used to the nuances of a second Badge challenge than a first, since most of the people that have faced her were first badge challenges, or were much later ones. She's likely to err on the side of caution and use a slightly lower challenge than she might otherwise."

Both Arven and Cyan were looking at me wide-eyed as I finished, my sister even having whipped out a pen and paper and jotting down notes. "Whoa, how do you know so much about Gyms and the like? I get that you're a battle freak but this is something else." Before I could answer she cheered "With this the Gyms are going to be super easy!"

Shrugging I responded "It's just a lot of analysis of different battles, and don't think it'll make every win easy - all Gym Leaders are tough."

"Where do you find all those battle videos?" Arven inquired.

"Poketube. Almost all Gym leaders post videos online of the different challenges they give." Though they tend to post challenges a few months out of date, changing up basic strategies every so often. But most Gyms gather large crowds who watch in person so you can find lesser quality but more accurate footage with a bit of searching there and on Forums like Pokemon Trainers Online.

I continued. "Plus, I hear some stuff from Hassel. Oh, speaking of which, make sure to say hi to Brassius from me. He's Hassel's friend, the one who critiqued our comic."

"He's that artist friend Hassel had? Huh." Cyan commented while Arven just looked a little lost.

"But back to the training - having a solid strategy for the future means nothing if you can't utilize it. We need to work on the strength of your team's Moves, and ways they can leave large sections of water on the field for Horsea to use. She'll be able to float once she becomes a Kingdra, but that's a long ways off."

With the warm-ups done, I started organizing the two children and eight Pokemon between us into their drills. "Here we go!"

***

"So this is Artazon," I commented as we stepped off the flying taxi by the southern entrance to the city. The barriers that defined it were more natural than man-made, with hills and cliffs rising along the sides guiding development inward.

The most notable trait of the city was how green it was. Even amidst a bunch of shops and stands in the center, there were massive flower beds and benches all around to let people appreciate the abundant nature around them. This extended to the roads, while some were brick, many others including some major pathways, were dirt paths, with large expanses of grass beside them.

Even the playgrounds had very nature-inspired designs, with flowers and vines painted on the sides of the wooden jungle gyms. Of course, the most prominent aspect of this was the new Gym Leader's latest art piece, 'The Surrendering Sunflora.' It was a statue carved of the named Pokemon, its body bending backward as if it cowered against some unseen force high above. I know from the games that it's supposed to be about Brassius' own struggles with his art, but I can see why people are currently speculating about it being some unknown Pokemon that's menacing the Sunflora.

The Gym Building was fairly easy to spot, the modern building sticking out like a sore thumb against the rest of the city's general architecture. It's taller than most of them too, with only the big windmill matching it for size nearby.

I was tempted to just head straight to the windmill, suspecting that Brassius would be hosting his battle in the arena in front of it, but since I couldn't spot him standing up there, I figured we had time to go to the official building. Plus I don't have an excuse to tell my parents why we'd go there first anyway. Not that I'd likely need an excuse, given how distracted they are.

The Glitterati couple were awed at the sights… of all the regular folks, doing regular things. Veggie dogs from a cart nearly left Billy hyperventilating, and I had to drag them along before we would waste too much time here. Cyan's match should be happening soon, she messaged us that she was just taking on the Gym Challenge.

She hadn't elaborated on what the challenge was, however, and my meta knowledge couldn't help me here. While Artazon had a thriving population of Sunfloras, both naturally and from the prior Gym Leader, Brassius hadn't made several Sunflora statues yet. In fact, there are quite a few empty spaces I can see around the city. No hedge maze, for one. I guess those must be places where some features the old Gym Leader built up were. I could see a few trainers measuring those plots and sketching the land out.

Stepping inside the Gym Building itself, I saw a number of citizens hanging around. Some were just there to watch the battles on the televisions inside, others were trainers (mostly students) waiting to challenge the leader, and a few others were people with requests to make of the Gym Leader.

Billy and O'Nare marched straight to the front of the line, and I followed in their wake, nervously stammering out apologies for my parent's actions. At the desk, Dad asked the receptionist

"Where is our daughter, Cyan? She's supposed to be battling the Gym Leader and we must see it."

"Excuse me, sir, but there were other people waiting-" the receptionist began, before a door leading to the back with 'staff members only' written on it, opened up. A green-haired man I'd seen once before in this life, and only over a screen in both lives appeared before us, dynamically striding forward.

"Mr. and Mrs. Glitterati? I'll be battling your daughter shortly, if you wish to watch, then follow me." He declared, stumbling for a second as he passed by my parents and saw me. "Ah, Nemona, it's good to see you as well."

We trailed after him, having to jog every so often myself to keep up with his brisk strides. "Good to see you too, Brassius. Congratulations on your artwork, and of course, on becoming a Gym Leader."

A soft chuckle came from the man. "I should be thanking you, the artwork you submitted to me helped inspire me to break me out of my creative rut. From there, it wasn't hard to take on greater challenges."

"You mean Hassel convinced you," I quipped, keeping my tone light even as my mind raced. Did I really-? No, no way. He would have become a Gym Leader regardless, with that same statue he made, even. I didn't impact that by sending him a few bootleg Spider-Man comics… probably. I can't be certain that this isn't earlier than he would have been Gym Leader, admittedly.

"Yes, Hassel did suggest this would be a good way to kick off my fresh start, and so far I have to agree. The challengers have already given me so many new ideas that I can barely keep up, especially with all the other duties calling to me as a Gym Leader." I couldn't see his face, but he waved an arm out at the scenery around us.

"Are the duties extensive? I noticed the Gym building was fairly large, even though you don't battle there."

He 'hmm'd.' "Somewhat. There's definitely been a learning curve. Most of the activity there is that of the Rangers, who use the upper parts of the building as a base. It gives them a place to stay when fresh out of the wilderness and helps us and the rest of the League coordinate with them if any situations should arise."

Huh. Hadn't thought of that, but it makes a lot of sense. The Rangers have alerts they send out to our phones every so often, for cases involving truly dangerous Pokemon nearby, or unusual situations. For more general updates on how things are going in the ecosystems beyond our little cities, having the Rangers connect with the Gyms would work well. Especially for if they need a bunch of proverbial firepower immediately, the Gym Leader can be on tap.

We reached the battlefield, a crowd already starting to gather around. Most of them were people native to the city, but there were a few tourists and enthusiasts from other cities. With the Treasure Hunt just starting, people knew that this was one of two Gyms that would be seeing tons of immediate attention, and many fans wanted to get the first scoop on who was going to perform well on this 'circuit'.

Brassius bid me farewell as he began getting in position, which entailed climbing up the windmill. The maroon jacket he wore must have a surprising amount of lean muscles because even with slightly jutting out bricks for a path up, it still appeared to be a tough climb.

My parents arrived, panting and out of breath from the brisk jog across the city. "Where did he-" O'Nare began to ask before she pointed at something on the other end of the field. "There!"

Turning around, I followed her gaze to see my sister, stepping up to the green arena, looking around confused. She was wearing a black checkered jacket over her Fall school uniform, the late Winter weather just brisk enough to justify it. Right as she saw us, her eyes widening in shock, Brassius leaped down, flipping through the air and landing in a three-point stance before the girl.

"Wh-what?!? Mom, Dad? What is going on? Nemona?!" My sister wailed, caught off-guard and trying to process all of this.

Our Parents decided to help by simply cheering Cyan on. "You got this! Show the world your Glitterati might!" "We love you, baby girl!" My sister just blushed, brushing the singular red lock of hair out of her face. The sound of Brassius' snapping whip brought everyone's attention back to him (though he didn't crack it anywhere near my little sister or else we would have had words).

"Miss Glitterati, are you ready to begin with your Gym Challenge?" He announced, his voice not raised but carrying loudly and clearly across the arena.

"I- yes! I'm ready to battle!" Her voice squeaked a little but there was a burning determination radiating off of my sister's Amber eyes. She drew her Pokeball and readied herself. Brassius stood up, mostly hiding a wince as his leg twinged. I guess jumping down like that isn't very kind on his knees, but he's probably fine. We see him doing that in the games, and that's years from now, so I guess he just gets tougher? Thank goodness for anime-tier bodies.

The Gym Leader and challenger took their places, each of them releasing their first Pokemon. Brassius revealed a small yellow and black sunflower seed-looking Pokemon, while Cyan chose her starter.

Popplio gave a proud cry as he slapped onto the arena, water already forming beneath his flippers. The Grass Type facing him shook their leaves dismissively.

"Let's begin!" Brassius declared, starting the battle. Cyan capitalized on this, her first command leaving her mouth almost before the Gym Leader had finished announcing the start.

"Aqua Jet!" Like that, Popplio was off, racing ahead with conjured water pushing him forward. A sharp note had his head surrounded by a bubble of water as he smacked into the Grass Type, knocking the small Pokemon up into the air.

"Good job keeping the initiative, but do you have the follow-up?" I questioned out loud. My voice was low, and with how focused my older sister was on the battle, I doubt she would have heard me even if I had been shouting, but she answered with her next move in any case.

Pointing up at the Sunkern in the sky, she shouted "Ice Beam!" Gathering pale blue energy in front of his nose, Popplio aimed at the falling seed. Just before they hit the ground, he unleashed the beam, and while Sunkern did their best to avoid the shot, lacking any means to maneuver mid-air, they were still hit by the ray of sheer cold, ice crystals coating their body.

"Hang on, Sunkern!" Brassius called out, and to my amazement, the weak Grass Type managed to tank the hit. They gave a defiant cry as they righted themselves from the fall, shivering as it was from the cold.

Brassius proved he didn't get the position of Gym Leader for nothing, following it up with a quick "Grassy Terrain!" Sunkern scrunched up their tiny black eyes and green energy radiated out of them, hovering just over the ground. They let out a small sigh of relief as it had already begun to heal their wounds.

"Icy Wind, wipe it away!" Cyan called out, and Popplio spread his flippers out wide, waving them hard, whipping up the frigid wind that washed across the field. Sunkern winced as it was barraged by it, more ice crystals forming on them, and all around on the field. It wasn't enough to wipe away the terrain effect Sunkern had conjured, but I thought I saw it fluctuate for at least a moment.

Well, I could hardly stop her from getting TMs and using them if she wanted, but I'm glad about the compromise we reached about making sure Cyan helped Popplio master most of his natural Moves too. While it didn't quite work out here, having Icy Wind as well as Ice Beam offers more versatility and should be useful-

"Sorry miss, what were you muttering?" A boy about my age asked, pulling me out of my apparently out loud thoughts. Glancing over at him, I saw he was wearing glasses and the same uniform my sister was. He had brownish-orange hair and before I could answer he was turned back to the battle, excitedly gasping at some of the attacks my sister's starter was unleashing upon Brassius' Pokemon.

Ugh, so embarrassing, just call me Midoriya. Still, there's something wrong here. How is that Sunkern standing? I wasn't one to dismiss a Pokemon just for being unevolved, but Sunkern were noted for being especially weak before they evolved. There were other factors, like the Grass Type having decent speed in enacting some Moves, but just sitting there a lot of the time and not having the power I would expect from a Pokemon capable of weathering those Moves Popplio was using. In fact, he's not using any attacking Moves at all.

The answer came to me in a flash, and I opened my mouth to shout it out, to warn my sister, before I caught myself. No, she needs to win this on her own. I've given her all the training she needs, if she can't beat an Endure/Grass Terrain combo, that will be on her. I silently prayed that she would figure it out before he managed to pull off the Bide that he had been subtly building up.

Thankfully, she did, cutting off her attack just as the seed Pokemon started to glow. "Sing!" Popplio popped up on his tail and began belting out an enchanting melody, the words causing a light mist to spread out through the air.

As Sunkern launched itself through the mist at Popplio, their eyes almost instantly shut, the first of Brassius' Pokemon crashing into Popplio from the inertia, but with much less force than he would have otherwise been hit with. Before Popplio could fully take out his fallen foe, Brassius recalled them.

"Well done. You impressed me with your artistic skills, both before and during your Gym Challenge, but now I see you're a capable battler as well," he complimented Cyan.

My sister blushed at the praise. "Thank yo-"

"But now we will find out if your skills are truly avant-garde!" Brassius dramatically shouted, catching my sister off-guard. "Go, Sudowoodo!" From another Pokeball, he released a Pokemon that looked eerily like a tree. I knew better, however, and that the thin brown Pokemon with green orbs on its 'hands' was actually a Rock Type.

My sister knew that as well, which is why the first thing she called for was another Aqua Jet. The musical sea lion Pokemon slid across the ground like it was a waterslide, but before he could connect with Sudowoodo, the opponent split into two, identical copies staring him down.

Popplio crashed through the fake, popping it into smoke as he slid on by. Before he could regain his bearings, Brassius shouted "Substitute, again!" Another fake appeared, and then they split off again, forming more substitutes.

"Ahh! Where's the real one? I-" I winced as Cyan froze up, it was painful to see my sister acting like this.

You know the answer to this, we've practiced it! "C'mon, big sis!" I yelled above the crowd. "You can do this!!"

Her eyes snapped to focus. "Right! Popplio, Hyper Voice!" Once more Popplio lifted himself up on his tail, but this time his words were no melody, but a discordant screech.

The sound created watery waves in the air, washing over the field and crashing through all of the substitutes, as well as the real Sudowoodo itself. The ace of the first badge challenge wouldn't be bested so easily and quickly righted itself.

"Avant-Garde, truly! But allow me to show you the fruits of my passion as well, Terastalize!" Pulling out a Tera Orb, he tossed it over his Pokemon, where it broke open and crystals engulfed Sudowoodo. When they shattered, the Pokemon was a Rock Type no longer, with a crystalline sheen coating its body and crystal flowers in a crown above its head.

"Icy Wind, freeze him in his tracks!" The wind bit harshly into the new Grass Type before they managed to lift some rocks out of the ground and use them as a barrier.

"Whoa! She reacted to the Terastalization instantly!" The boy beside me commented, frantically typing some notes on his phone.

"She should, we've been practicing it for a long time." At the wide-eyed look behind his glasses, I added "I'm Cyan's sister, by the way. Nemona," I introduced myself.

"I'm Hohma. This is so cool! I'm too nervous to battle Gym Leaders myself, but I love watching them. I can't wait to tell everyone online about this! I think she's going to go far."

I chuckled softly at that, not disagreeing in the slightest. She's come a long way, I thought as I saw Popplio level Ice Beams across the battlefield. Even as they were blocked by rocks and more stones were tossed at him, Cyan was unfettered.

"Aqua Jet through the rocks, then Ice Beam again!" Chaining Moves together for a combo, good. That saves on time in a battle and lets your Pokemon enact the strategy you need. From the flashing of Brassius' wild eyes, however, I saw that Artazon's Gym Leader was about to teach her the weakness of such tactics.

"When she breaks through, Wood Hammer!" Sudowoodo raced forward, its body wiggling weirdly with how tall it was with such stumpy legs. The oddity of its movements in no way weakened the power of its blow though, as it reared back, letting Popplio crash through the stone on a wave of water before hitting it with its arm. The arm was wreathed in thick green energy and came down like a hammer blow atop poor Popplio's head, sending the Pokemon sprawling.

Even Brassius grimaced a little, but he shook it off to say "Return your Pokemon and release your next- what?!" Everyone's attention was on Popplio, the small Water Type pushing himself back up. That would be surprising enough on its own, but he was also glowing.

In a flash, he grew drastically. His skin became a paler shade of blue, while the ring around his neck moved down to his torso, with several new rings joining it.

"Popplio…" Cyan breathed out, a grin slowly stretching across her face. "No, Brionne, Ice Beam!" Her evolved starter let out a cry of victory, unleashing a point-blank ray that burst out like a brilliant cone as it hit the Sudowoodo.

When we could blink our eyes clear of the icy mist that had exploded out from the field, the sight before us was of Sudowoodo trapped in a massive block of ice. There was silence, before slowly, Brassius started clapping.

"Congratulations Cyan. You have won, your first Gym Badge!" With that, the crowd went wild, and no one was cheering harder than me or our parents.


Cyan has earned her first Gym Badge! Most of her run is going to be glossed over what with her not being the main character and all, but I hope that was an enjoyable and informative snapshot of what it'll be like.



These next few chapters are going to cover a large chunk of time over the year before we get to Nemona's ninth birthday, so just know that some of it won't be perfectly in order with the previous chapters. I'm hoping to show you different little pictures of her life before we move on to the next big arc.



Oh, and because I forgot to put it last time (and it'll be a while before it shows up again), the mask that Nemona and Co. crafted is called the Highflying Mask. It turns Ogerpon into a Flying/Grass Type, turns Ivy Cudgel into a Flying Type Move and gives her the Super Luck Ability (as well as the 20% damage boost all the masks give). When she Terastalizes with it on, she becomes a pure Flying Type, with the Embody Aspect Ability increasing her Evasion by one stage.

Nemona's Current Team:

-'Dun' (Dudunsparce, Male, Normal Type, Starter)
- Tera Type: Normal
- Held Item: None
- Abilities: Run Away, Serene Grace
- 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, Tailwind, Roost, Ancient Power, Drill Run, Hyper Drill, Triple Yawn, Ice Spinner, Solar Beam, Lunge

- 'Miles' (Rotom, Genderless, Electric/Form dependent Type)
- 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, Substitute

- 'Gligar' (Gligar, Female, Flying/Ground Type)
- Tera Type: Flying
- Held Item: None
- Ability: Hyper Cutter
- Moves Known: Poison Sting, Sand Attack, Harden, Knock Off, Fury Cutter, Acrobatics, Bulldoze, Quick Attack, Psychic Fangs, Poison Tail

- 'Carbink' (Carbink, Genderless, Rock/Fairy Type)
- Tera Type: Rock
- Held Item: None
- Ability: Clear Body
- Moves Known: Harden, Tackle, Guard Split, Flail, Ancient Power, Light Screen, Reflect, Iron Defense, Body Press, Stealth Rocks, Psychic, Smack Down
 
Chapter 41 New
Tightening my belt one last time, I stepped out of the changing rooms and into the massive auditorium. I wonder what they use this place for when they aren't hosting national martial arts tournaments?

"Hey! Looking good Nemona!" Dendra called out from across the room, waving at me from the bleachers. Jogging over, I dodged around the other competitors getting ready and idling about on the outskirts of the tournament mats. None of the matches had started yet, but there was some unspoken tension in the air driving most of the children away from those arenas.

Each of us is waiting for this moment, to test ourselves and see how well we can do. If we've honed our bodies enough to- eww is that kid picking his nose with his finger? Oh god, he ate the booger, eww eww eww. Really hope I don't have to spar against him, I know we'll be wearing gear, but still.

So, not everyone was taking it quite as seriously as I was, but there was still a general feeling of excitement in the air. Especially from my 'fans'. I picked up the pace as Mom started cheering beside Dendra, somehow even louder and more enthusiastic than the teenager.

"I'm really glad you're here Mom, but you can probably save the cheering for when I'm actually in the ring," I said as I reached them.

"Oh, but you look so adorable in that 'gee.' Besides, with your father unable to make it I have to cheer twice as hard for the both of us." O'Nare countered and I consciously refrained from sighing. She's like this because she cares- well, no. She's like this because she's weird, but she shows support (however unusually) because she cares.

"Osu! She does look great in her gi," Dendra said, subtly correcting my mother's mispronunciation. "How ya feeling, champ?"

"Like I'm not the champ," I deadpanned, waiting for a beat to add: "Not yet, at least."

"Haha! That's the spirit." The older girl was excited, though with my quick eyes, I did pick up on how her gaze would dart down to my new green belt.

We've been training for over a year now, but given the master-apprentice style training we've been doing, we never focused on ranks before I entered this tournament. I actually had to talk her into giving me this belt rather than entering as a White Belt. Not that she needed a ton of convincing to accept that I was a cut above the beginner class. She needed a bit more for Green, since with how the competition range worked, this meant I could be facing other kids up to Brown Belt level, the level before Black Belt.

Gazing out at the other martial artists, seeing some of them practicing and stretching, I wondered how many of them were appropriately judged. In my world I know some schools would deliberately under-rank fighters for tournaments like this, just to try and win prizes, I'm curious how much of that is true here. Generally, I find this world to be so much kinder and more honest than my old one but… people are still people, and some are still willing to act cutthroat and cheat for a tiny bit of prestige, no matter the universe.

"We've got fifteen minutes before the matches start, let's get that blood pumping! Osu!" Dendra snapped me out of my thoughts, releasing her Meditite. The Psychic Type ran me through some of the stretches I knew by heart, but the familiar practices helped calm me down.

Touching my Aura helped calm me down, felt like lifting any burdens I held and tossing them aside like I could float on air. Which, I could. I made sure not to do so here, however. Good way to get accusations of cheating tossed around. Aura may not be widespread knowledge but Psychic powers are. Also, I don't think most of these kids know how to actively use their Auras.

Unconscious use was common enough amongst fighters, or even just very physically active people in this world, so I didn't try to fully tamp down on my Aura.I could do that, and it honestly felt odd and a little unsettling, both in how much weaker I was and how my senses were dulled, but also in that it felt like I was trying to hold my soul separate from my body. For this tournament, I just held the sense of it being there, feeling it without guiding the force in any way.

It helped settle my nerves, which was a good thing because there were delays, so the tournament took closer to thirty minutes than fifteen to start. Eventually, a slender woman in a sharp business suit stepped onto the middle of the floor, microphone in hand. "Welcome, competitors, friends, family, and fans, to the 137th annual Paldean Youth Karate tournament. I am Hannah So, and I'll be your announcer for the day."

There was a round of polite applause before she continued, outlining the different events. There were form and weapon rounds, and the different sparring divisions, divided by age and belt level. I'd be competing in the Green to Brown Belt under twelve divisions.

The brackets were posted up and I saw my name as the second match and began putting on my gear. The rules mandated us kids wear helmets, mouth guards, gloves, and footguards. The gloves were pretty light, with open fingers and padding that covered the wrist, going over the knuckles. The footguards were a bit like foam shoes without a sole and extended up the leg to cover just below the knees. All my protective gear (save the clear mouthguard) was black and shiny.

Longer hair sure is a hassle, I thought as I pulled my ponytail through a small hole in the back of my headgear. Maybe I should cut it? I don't have to keep with Canon Nemona's hairstyle, do I? I hope no one thinks I'm completely new just because of the gear and me not having participated in any of these before. The extra height from the growth spurt I'd recently had was appreciated, but the new rounds of clothing shopping weren't.

"It's over, three points for Lilah Evergreen!" The announcer called and I turned my eyes to the middle arena where that fight was taking place. A girl about my age stood victorious over a boy a year or two younger whom she had tossed down. The referee made sure the fighting stopped and motioned for each competitor to bow to each other, which the boy did slightly more begrudgingly after standing up than his victorious counterpart. Then they cleared the arena and it was my turn.

"Wish me luck," my voice was slightly muffled behind my mouthguard, but they both understood me. Mother jumped to cheer for me again, dusting my cheeks crimson. You can at least wait till the fight begins!

Dendra just said, "Break a leg, Osu!"

"Isn't that for actors?"

"Why would an actor need to shatter a tibia?" The confused martial artist asked, and I groaned, not sure if she was playing me or if she truly didn't get that saying.

I was saved from having to find out by my name being called, and so I walked up to the stage, directed to one corner by the referee. On the opposite side my opponent, 'Bill Watkins' stepped up to the stage.

"You're kidding me. You're under twelve?" Possibly a bit rude of me to ask, but he's like six feet tall! The 'boy' in question simply nodded, then after a second in a deep voice added: "I turned twelve right after the check-in last week."

Right, I remember that. It went by pretty fast, just a standard registration, and check for the weight ranges for some of the older divisions too. Something we unfortunately don't have here.

He was quite broadly built as well, and while it was hard to tell underneath his black gi, from the few signs I could see he was quite muscular as well, especially around his upper half.

I should aim for the legs then, those are likely his weakest area. I'd been unsure about the matches being point-based, but it might just work out in my favor now. If he's just a really big kid, he might not be that well-trained, his teacher's just relying on intimidation- The announcer's voice cut through my thoughts, dashing my hopes. "Our second match, we have the independent Nemona Glitterati versus the reigning champion, Bill Watkins of Eden Martial Arts!"

Behind Bill, a man with a tuft of hair and an eyepatch over his right eye, and a jagged scar enthusiastically cheered his student on. Spurred to action, I could hear my Mother and Dendra cheering just as hard for me.

The referee called the two of us to our marks, each of us giving a bow to him and then to the other. With that done we each took a stance, getting ready. Bill's stance placed his guard a little low, though given the size difference between us, it was probably a smart call. Could I strike at his face? Maybe, but not accurately or fast enough that he wouldn't block. I'll need another strategy.

The bell rang and the time for strategizing was over, the large boy moving in slowly. He sent a few punches my way, each powerful and clean, but no true commitment behind them. Doing the same myself, we tested each other out. Eventually, I went for a roundhouse kick against his thigh, only for him to catch it with a meaty palm.

With a chuckle he lifted my leg, likely figuring I'd be caught off guard or that he could throw me. Instead, I used it, letting him support my weight as I lifted my other foot and snapped it straight up, bypassing his guard and smashing the ball of my foot into his jaw.

He immediately dropped me and I broke my fall on instinct, slapping my arms palm down against the ground. Rolling back up, the referee called the point in my favor, stepping in between us and waving us back to our sides. Bill rubbed at his chin as best he could through his helmet, eyes watering a little.

He took a moment to shake it off, and once we both confirmed we were ready to begin again, the signal was given and he was back at it. This time he rushed in, sending a flurry of blows at me from every angle. Blocking as best I could, I tried to avoid letting him box me in, but that just led to taking heavier shots, his longer reach was able to compensate for any evasive maneuvers I pulled off. My arms are going to have some nice bruises after this, I winced as his punches hammered into me.

He wound up for a haymaker to finish up his combo, and I saw my opening. Ducking my head slightly I raised one arm and lowered the other, going for a double punch, one aimed at his head and one aimed at his body. In truth, only the body one had power behind it, but I hoped the head strike would get his attention.

Instead, he pivoted and moved his feet rapidly, changing what would have been an overhand strike into a straight that slipped past my guard and rocked my head back. Blinking back stars, I dimly heard the referee call the point.

God, that guy hits like a truck. Resisting the urge to 'shake it off' (fearing it would only make my throbbing head hurt worse), I calmed myself down, taking some deep breaths and refocusing. That stung, now it's time to get my head back in the game.

The next round was similar to the prior. I met him back with more aggression this time, but it just led to my bones getting rattled further. Striking low with a kick he simply backed up, avoiding the roundhouse and rushing in while I was turned. Spinning around with the force, I moved to meet him with a spinning back-kick.

Bill grabbed me by the ankle and roughly threw the leg aside, showing he had clearly learned from last time. Pulling back for a punch I raised my arms up to block on instinct… and he smashed my guts with the other hand.

Breath escaped me as I doubled over. My opponent was already walking away as the point was called. Swallowing back some bile, I slowly uncurled, nodding to the referee as he asked if I was still able to fight. Not entirely sure about that, to be honest, but- no, I'm not giving up here. I'll see it through to the end, even if I lose.

Calling on my Aura I centered myself, feeling slightly rejuvenated. It's no Roost, but it helps. If I used it more, I might- no, I don't need this to win. I'm not the best at 'seeing' Aura, but I think I could feel it if Bill had some significant power here. He's bigger and stronger than me, I can deal with that.

The referee asked again if I was fine to continue and I nodded sharply, getting back to my spot, an idea in mind. The bell rang once more, and this time I took the initiative, rushing in with my flurry of straight punches. Though deceptively simple, the sheer rush of very fast attacks caught Bill off-guard, especially with my 'combo' showing no signs of ending.

Pushed back, the large boy tried to pivot into a hook punch to get around my onslaught. In response, I instantly gave up on the punches, dropping low. Placing one hand around the heel to prevent him from stepping back, I rammed my shoulder into his knee. With nowhere left to go, Bill toppled backward, arms flailing outwards as he did so. With a vicious grin on my face, I rolled myself forward, over his body to lie half-sprawled on his torso, arm cocked back. Letting loose, I struck the still-dazed boy in the face.

"Break!" The referee called, pulling me off of him. 2 - 2, all tied up. This is the last point, either way.

"You can do it, Nemona!" "Go get him! Show that big dumb jerk what you're made of! Break his face!" The cheers behind me brought a smile to my face, and I readied myself. Can't let them down in my first match.

We squared up, circling around each other for a quarter of a minute, slight shifts in our stances countered by the other, before on a shared impulse, we each moved in. His punches were as fast and strong as ever, so I moved to deflect them, trying to avoid taking them head-on as I maneuvered him around me. Given the differences in our weight, it was more me pushing myself around him, but it still served the job of getting me around him.

He was no slouch in defense himself, at one point catching a hook punch of mine with the edge of his wrist. From there he launched an open-palm strike at my head. Catching his arm with my blocked hand, I pulled his forearm down, diverting the blow and shifting my body to punch with my free hand. While I had opened up his guard somewhat, Bill's other hand was free to slap mine and transition into another punch, which I maneuvered around by circling my arm to push off against him.

Whenever I had an opening around him, I tried to strike past his guard, however, any punches or kicks I attempted to land were blocked or dodged, as he'd react to my new placement and shift around almost as soon as I moved there. Then I'd have to deal with his nearly overwhelming offense once again.

Both of us were sweating and breathing heavily as the announcer called that thirty seconds were left in the round. Forget what happens if we go to the end of time in a situation like this. Whatever, worry about that later. Bill was looking to wrap this up as well, my fellow competitor pulling back for a big swing.

Fool me thrice- well that ain't gonna happen! Rather than be deterred, I step in, pushing ahead to where the blow would come from. My guard was still up just in case he pivoted, but he didn't have any real power he could throw behind it. Instead, he switched into a cross from his other hand, which I weaved under, moving in closer. As I did so, I let my arm drop into a hanging punch that caught him in the gut with enough force to crack a brick wall.

He simply wheezed a little, taking a step back. What is this guy made of? I didn't have time to ponder that as the referee stepped in and both of us shifted back on reflex. It took me a moment to realize what the man was saying, and what it meant. I scored the match point… I won! I won the match!!

I caught myself as Bill bowed to me and quickly returned the same, making sure to bow low to try and show respect and make up for getting distracted. I didn't think he noticed as he swiftly turned away. He stoically marched away, brushing past his teacher and fellow students before collapsing in front of a giant man in the bleachers.

"I'm sorry Daddy!" My defeated foe cried out, his voice still eerily deep as he wailed. The man in question simply hugged his son tight, telling him he 'did a good job' and 'fought well.' Right, easy to forget that guy is somehow, only just twelve.

Awkwardly, I shuffled off the arena, returning to my Mother and Dendra. "Osu! That was incredible! What a passionate fight!" Dendra cheered, pumping her fists up. When she saw me grimacing lightly, she asked "What's wrong?"

"My head is a little sore," I said, slightly downplaying the throbbing pain I felt. My sensei wasted no time in helping me remove my helmet, pulling out an ice bag and pressing it against my head. A small hiss of relief escaped me as I held onto it.

"I can't believe the nerve of that boy! To strike you so hard, why I should-" Before my Mom could utter any threats I tried to wave her down.

"It's fine! He fought well, it was a clean match." Looking over I still saw him clutching his father, and I frowned. "I should go thank him for it." Quickly leaving, hoping it would defuse O'Nare's overprotective streak, I walked over to him.

With the mats being used for practice or events I had to walk all the way around, getting a look at some of the other competitors. Some of them are using some pretty advanced techniques, I noted as I passed by a girl flashing a blunted sword around, the blade flowing like a whip through the air. Off to the side, I saw an older teenage boy pulverizing a couple of cement blocks his teacher had placed between two wooden stands.

I wonder how many of them are using Aura, knowingly or not? It was a difficult aspect to measure. At least for me. Some of them more than others would radiate an ever-so-slight sense of 'danger', but unless I saw the person sitting down, I couldn't tell if it was my Aura telling me that or just environmental cues. Or even then if I'm not just imagining the feeling and there actually isn't anything 'special' about someone.

Finishing my long route around, I climbed up on the bleachers on the other side of the room, walking towards Bill and his father. The boy was still sniffling, but the father turned to face me.

"Is there a problem, ma'am?" He stood up as well, his towering height covering one of the lights high above and shadowing his face so it was hard to make out the details, though I could see that his buzzcut hair was short and gray, a slightly lighter shade than his son's.

Tone is standoffish but slightly deferential. Maybe an undercurrent of worry? Probably recognizes who I am/knows who my parents are. I dressed pretty casually, so often people wouldn't recognize me, or wouldn't connect the Glitterati name with two of the biggest companies in Paldea. Those who did either tended to act fawningly or nervously.

Adopting a bright, child-like grin I chirped "I just wanted to thank your son for an incredible match! This is my first tournament and what an awesome way to start it!"

Bill stopped sniffling at that and turned around to face me. "Thanks. You did very well too." Then after a few seconds, he bluntly tacked on. "You need more confidence."

Keeping the ice pack on my head, I nodded. "Yeah, that's fair. Still a little nervous about all of this." We fell back into silence and I wracked my brain trying to think of something else to say, to leave it less awkward than this. Since he offered me some unsolicited advice I can do the same, right? "You might want to work on dealing with opponents that get in close," I offered.

"I will! Not many kids our age are brave enough to rush in like that." Not brave enough, or not reckless enough? Either way, I let out a laugh and felt Mr. Watkins relax beside us. We happily chatted a bit more before I left, heading back to my side of the arena.

***

The following matches passed by far less eventfully. There were out loud wonderings about if my victory was simply luck, but those whispers quickly died down as I won match after match.

A few competitors gave me some struggles, but my unique style and more advanced strategizing skills usually backed them into a corner. A few got a point off of me, and the wiry boy, Miguel got two with an aggressive style that matched my Vertical Run and other strikes, but in the end, I managed to eke out a victory with a duck and sweep as he went for a high kick.

"How do you feel?" Dendra excitedly asked me after I stepped off the podium and received my (comically oversized) trophy. The teenage girl was bouncing around, joy radiating off of her. I smiled, more in response to her happiness than my own feelings.

It's nice to win, definitely. But after all that work I put in, I should be feeling on top of the world, right? And I'm just… proud of my achievement. Whatever's bothering me doesn't matter. "I feel great! Thank you so much, sensei. I couldn't have done it without you."

The introspection could wait, I decided as I adopted a broad grin and waved at the fans, chatting with some of the other competitors. A lot of the other kids were interested in what I learned, and while I didn't have many answers for them about my previous styles, I was able to point them toward Dendra.

My teacher was swamped with requests and excited demands from energetic martial artist kids, leaving her a little overwhelmed. Good. It'd be nice if she gets some more students. She had Tulip and myself, but she's been too lonely for too long.

O'Nare boldly strode through the crowd declaring "Ah, my daughter, you shone so brightly today! True Glitterati brilliance flowed through you! Unfortunately, even shooting stars must pass by, so we have to leave." Grabbing my hand, she gently pulled me forward, cutting a path through the throng of people.

"Thanks, Mom," I whispered to her once we were near the exit. She saw how I was feeling and gave me an excuse to leave.

"It wasn't a problem at all, my dear. You did remarkably today, oh I'm so proud of you," She said, hugging me tightly, which I returned. "Oof, so strong now. Our little girl is growing up so fast. I'll have to show your father the videos as well!"

"Send it to Cyan too. I know she's in the middle of school, but hopefully, she'll have time in between her classes."

"I'm sure she will- oh maybe she'll have time to pop by for dinner tonight and we can watch it as a family..." My mind drifted as my mother eagerly gushed about how great the tournament was. I'm glad I won, but I feel like something is... missing? I don't know, probably just tired.

***.

I did feel a little better after I got home and sent messages to all of my friends about the tournament. All of them had tons of encouragement and praise to shower me with, which felt nice. The full night's rest and a large breakfast the morning after helped, too.

Also, it's just nice to realize how many friends I have now. Arven, Friede, Amethio, Lacey, Carmine, and Kieran… When did I meet so many great people?

Tulip saw the trophy in person, the model coming over to my house for our next training session. "Very impressive, you did quite well."

"Thank Dendra, she's the one who taught me." For some reason, I thought I caught a flash of red on the model's cheeks. "Some of those blocks against Bill would have been impossible without all the training she gave me… why didn't she compete in this tournament?" I didn't think about it earlier, but she could have competed in the under-eighteen contests.

"The coaches aren't supposed to be competitors." Tulip shook her head. "Don't worry about it, she's had more than her share of victories there. I'd say I'm glad the bragging is done with, but now she just brags about you." The elegant teen had an airy tone, but the small upward curve of her lips belied the enjoyment she derived from Dendra's exuberance.

"Uhuh. So, what's next, teach?" There was an ever-so-soft sigh, unhearable by someone with normal perceptions. Likely caused by the fact that she can pierce whatever facade I put on and feel all the emotions behind it. Now she's looking at me sharply, no with an odd expression- she's reacting to me reacting to her reacting me. Aghh.

"I was going to say we should begin with your Aura Sight, but you feel unbalanced right now." She sat down on the edge of the cliff we had been standing on, overlooking the vast ocean that stretched out to the horizon. Usually, it would help, and I suppose it still does, a little. Just not enough to make up for the rest of the turmoil I'm dealing with.

A lesson I'd had beaten into me several times was not to try Auric Techniques when in the wrong headspace. Even if my time with Tulip was limited, she would shut down a lesson if I was trying to push when I shouldn't. Something I'm grateful for, even if it can be frustrating at the moment.

While 'Aura Sight' was supposedly a common technique, as far as those went for Aura Users to learn, my attempts with it had been less than fruitful. Any enhancement I managed for my vision just extended my normal eyesight even further, let me pick out even more details. Handy, but not what I'm going for. To see the more esoteric invisible energies of this world is what the Technique should do.

I wasn't lying to Arven when I said it took a lot of hard work. Even with my prior breakthroughs, it felt like nothing else came any easier. I could at least console myself with the steady, if slow, progress I was making overall.

Sitting beside her, I just let the cool wind wash over me. "I've been making good progress with my air manipulation," I mentioned, raising a hand and letting a 'blade' of air shoot out in front of it. "About as sharp as a butter knife currently, but I'll make something like an Air Slash one of these days."

The teen beside me didn't prompt me or say anything, letting me come to things in my own time.

"Everything's fine. So why do I feel so…" I searched for whatever it was that I was feeling. "Constrained? Wound up?"

"Maybe you need a chance to spread your wings?" Tulip suggested, raising a hand, pointing up to the Wingulls above.

"Hah. Maybe. That trip to Kitakami was good, might do something else like that." Doesn't quite feel like the right answer, but that's all I've got for now.


And here we get to see some of Nemona's martial arts training paying off. This is a bit of a theme for this arc, wrapping up some of the stuff Nemona did before we move on to the next big thing, and I hope you enjoyed it.

Nemona's Current Team:

-'Dun' (Dudunsparce, Male, Normal Type, Starter)
- Tera Type: Normal
- Held Item: None
- Abilities: Run Away, Serene Grace
- 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, Tailwind, Roost, Ancient Power, Drill Run, Hyper Drill, Triple Yawn, Ice Spinner, Solar Beam, Lunge

- 'Miles' (Rotom, Genderless, Electric/Form dependent Type)
- 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, Substitute, Foul Play, Trick, Discharge

- 'Gligar' (Gligar, Female, Flying/Ground Type)
- Tera Type: Flying
- Held Item: None
- Ability: Hyper Cutter
- Moves Known: Poison Sting, Sand Attack, Harden, Knock Off, Fury Cutter, Acrobatics, Bulldoze, Quick Attack, Psychic Fangs, Poison Tail

- 'Notch' (Carbink, Genderless, Rock/Fairy Type)
- Tera Type: Rock
- Held Item: None
- Ability: Clear Body
- Moves Known: Harden, Tackle, Guard Split, Flail, Ancient Power, Light Screen, Reflect, Iron Defense, Body Press, Stealth Rocks, Psychic, Smack Down, Trick Room, Dazzling Gleam
 
Chapter 42 New
"Giratina went down to Zapapico, looking for a soul to steal. They were in a bind, they were way behind, they were willing to make a deal. When they came across this young lass on fiddle, playing it-"

"Why is Giratina trying to take someone's soul, bzzt?" Miles asked, interrupting me.

With a sigh, I said "Well, the cultural connotations of 'devil' don't exist in this world. Here it's just 'bad', an archaic phrase for what monster, what some people would call violent Pokemon in some regions back before they had Pokeballs or properly bonded with them. And that's just for general 'devils', not THE Devil, which has religious connections."

"Dudun?" My adorable land snake asked from the rock he was basking on nearby. Dunsparce and their evolution could regulate their heat, but Dun still enjoyed relaxing in the sun. I was quite content to let him rest after a hard day's training, and it gave me a good excuse to stretch my legs while working on songs.

"Well, not as such, no. I'm hardly an expert, but that religion I don't think explicitly ever said that the Devil ever stole souls. There was plenty of propaganda and related literature that claimed that he would do so, it became quite a popularized myth."

"Bzzt, those myths persisted for thousands of years, correct?" I nodded at Miles' question, wondering where they were going with this. "Why did no researcher ever study the Devil and find out the truth in all that time? No matter how elusive such a being is, it feels odd that they could interact with people enough for such stories to be formed about them without-" They stopped sporting a small frown at my laughter.

"Sorry, sorry, I just forget how different things are in this world from my own. From my first," I corrected myself. "Here, the legends and myths are almost all real. Pokemon you could, theoretically, reach out and touch. Some even work alongside or for Trainers."

Sure, there are plenty of crazy rumors on the PokeNet, different 'mythical' Pokemon that turn out to be a Bunnery with a smudge of dirt and covered in leaves or have no more evidence to back them up whatsoever. Most of the stories that get a big following, however, do have some proof, if often faint.

Continuing, I said: "Those myths and religions, they didn't have the hard proof you'd find of such things here. A lot of believers, and some of what they said definitely could be true but… nothing like a clear photo of an angel." That was a reference to a photo Turo had sent Arven and me not so long ago, caught from a setup he had placed in the lighthouse. While his son had been sleeping through a storm, a Kantoan Zapdos had indeed stopped by, caught in glorious focus with the lightning and rain raging around them.

We hadn't found any sign of it in the days to come of course, but there was no sign that the Professor had doctored the footage. I highly doubt he's the type of man to do that anyway. Besides, he's busy with his work down in Area Zero right now, that's something I'm still on a clock to deal with. Without answers for that issue, I decided to focus on my music, for the moment.

"So yeah, the Devil, and sometimes lesser devils, steal souls. There aren't a lot of Pokemon that have lore related to that, so I figured Giratina could work with their connection to Distortion."

"Gli li," Nightwing said, swooping above me. The Gligar was quite happy with her name after we finally settled on it. It had come about as a result of situations like this, where I'd explain to the full team details of my past life and world and she'd instantly latched onto that name when I brought up superheroes. Not that any of my explanations about why it didn't quite fit worked for her. Pointing out it was the name of a guy, of a superhero, one who was deeply connected with others, a contrast from her own more aloof tendencies, none of that matters. Well, if she finds it cool and likes it, good for her.

"Darkrai was a possible choice as well, but too sleep-focused," I explained. "Look, the song is about a music duel with your soul on the line and a prize of a fiddle made of gold. It doesn't have to make a lot of sense-"

"Gar," Nightwing said, rolling her eyes. Conveying both the messages of 'can sure see that' and also:

"How does Giratina play an instrument? Well, obviously they- well I- maybe in Origin Form with the tentacles-? Gah, forget it."

"Sparce, dudun." My starter said, flipping up to glare at Nightwing. It wasn't nearly enough to Paralyze her, and she even stuck her tongue out in response, but I also spotted how she started drifting a bit farther away from my starter.

"I appreciate it Dun, but she wasn't bullying me. It's just a bad song to adapt. Plus, I'd need to learn to play the fiddle, and I've already got my hands full with drums and piano practice on top of my guitar and singing." Which is a shame, it was one of the first songs I truly enjoyed when I was young. While my music tastes have grown plenty since then, and honestly country isn't one of my favorite genres overall, I'll always have a special place in my heart for that one.

With a heavy sigh, I pulled up the list of potential songs and crossed it off. There were several others alongside it for a variety of reasons. Most of them, like 'We Didn't Start the Fire,' just had lyrics that were very difficult to fit into a Pokemon world; songs had a lot of little cultural references to them, things I wouldn't have consciously noted before. Others were rejected for being too difficult, or not remembering enough of them.

I'm certain my memory has improved drastically in this world. I probably could have only remembered the choruses of a couple of these songs at most. Is that an impact of my Aura training? Increased studying from a young age? Or are humans here just built different?

These questions were hard to answer, especially with no way to make unbiased comparisons, but occasionally plagued me nonetheless.

Even with my enhanced memorization, it wasn't enough to recall every song perfectly, a few of them relegated to a scant line or two in my head. Going down the list of ones I felt I could recall (that weren't crossed off, or the few I had checked as guaranteed), I found some old favorites.

"Hmm, Back in Black is good, but a little odd for a first album. Lot of stuff by Metric and the Beaches here, but some of the content doesn't feel right for a little girl to be singing about… then again, I did put Eat Your Young here, and it took surprisingly little adaptation." The look on Hassel's face when he heard it was a hilarious mix of pride and incredibly disturbed. "What about Take me to the Kaptin?" I wondered aloud.

To give them context, I explained to my team "It's about someone asking to be taken away from their world, to explore the mysteries of space and other planets. We only barely had space travel in that world, not too dissimilar from this one, actually, but there was tons of fiction on the topic." I never asked to be taken here… at least, as far as I can remember from my foggy memories of when exactly I ended up here, but I can't say I'm dissatisfied with the result.

Notch, the quietest of my Pokemon in such discussions turned and blinked at me once before gazing back around at the seal off in the distance. There were rolling hills of grass, small pools where Woopers and Clodsires played in, and other aspects of nature. All of that would (and had) gathered Notch's attention, enraptured as they were with the outside world after eons of having existed in the same cave. The seal, glowing violet lines sticking out of the cliff face, ancient chains wrapped around the portal to constrain the Ruin within… I could see why my Pokemon had been so caught by it. Why Notch in particular was focused on it even after having come here a few times.

The Darkness that comes from it, it's almost palpable despite the distance and whatever arcane sealing method the ancient Paldeans used to contain the Treasures of Ruin. With a shiver that only was partly due to the cool breeze washing over me, I turned away from the ominous barrier and back to my music.

"Ok, this looks like a pretty good list." Nine songs were confirmed, some of them I had already made versions of, like 'Let Her Go,' 'Bones,' 'Eat Your Young,' 'Vienna,' (which would be called 'Unova' in this world), and 'Oh the Places You'll Go.' On the list of ones I had yet to make were 'Take Me to the Kaptin,' 'I Beg to Differ [It Will Get Better],' 'Live and Learn,' 'The Pretender,' and of course, 'Celestial.'

"Should I add something from Ok Go as well?"

"Ligar." "Dun, spar." Ehh, bzzt." Were the non-committal responses from my more vocal team members, at most indicating a desire to train more. Most of that coming from Dun. He was and is always happy to hear my music, but he had hoped that it might have helped him master Boomburst. Sadly, that hadn't been the case, with the Move still well out of reach from my adorable starter.

"Nah, I'll save that for a second album, if I make one. Maybe just post some of my other songs as singles." Plus I've got that other thing for the first album. There are no lyrics, but it should make for a kick-ass battle theme.

With a yawn, I stretched out on the grass, staring up at the clear blue sky above. I'm happy to be bringing these songs from my old world to life here, and my parents and Hassel are so enthusiastic about it, but it's been a ton of work, even with all of their help. Miles is chipping in tons too, with the overlaying of tracks and working out the synthesizer… And all of them putting in at least as much effort as I am makes me feel bad about feeling worn out with it all, but there's no denying I'll be happy when this album is done.

Miles started ringing and I groaned. "Is it another record label looking to sign me on?" It's not just the making of the music that's tough work, it's everything else. I've needed to find a publicist who's trying to set me up with interviews to promote my album, and there are meetings with record labels to see who will be producing my music, arranging studio time to record it, etc., etc.

"No, bzzt. It's Amethio," They said brightly, and my malaise immediately fell away.

"Oh cool! Haven't heard from him in a while, put him on." We traded messages back and forth every so often, but we hadn't had much time to visit each other recently. Can't even blame The Explorers for that, at least half of it is on me for my schedule. He wasn't too upset, understanding my situation, and had mentioned focusing on his training recently.

Turning around, Miles' screen showed Amethio, the boy staring at me intently with his purple eyes. "Nemona. I'm ready to battle."

"Oh cool, who you battling?" I asked.

"Wha- I'm battling you, of course!" He shouted, caught off-guard by my response.

"How was I supposed to know?" I responded, faux-innocently. "You didn't say any greetings or anything like that to me when you started this conversation."

His pale cheeks grew rosy, embarrassed by my call-out. "Ak- I- Whatever, you knew what I meant!" He accused, pointing a gloved finger from across the screen at me. While I couldn't see much of the background, it was clear that he was in the base.

Some fresh air would do him some good, I decided. Laughing, I nodded my head. "Yeah, I did. Hey, you should come over here so we can battle. I got a League standard arena for my birthday!"

The young Explorer was a little caught off-guard by the sudden shift in conversation but recovered quickly, used to me and my antics by now. "Ok. When are you available?"

"Whenever basically. You could come over now, even!" Battle battle battle battle- calm down brain. It was hard to remain unexcited when this would be the first time in almost a year since he had promised/demanded a battle from me. From the smirk tugging at his lips, I bet he felt similarly.

"Might take me a few hours to get Spinel to agree to let me use his Beheeyem, but yeah. I'll see you soon!" With that, he ended the call.

"Alright team, let's get ready! We've got a battle to win." That provoked cheers from all four of my Pokemon, even a few chimes from Notch. Best bring your A-game Amethio, because we've been working hard too.

***

The seal wasn't so far away from my house, but it still took us a while to trek back, and when I got there, I heard Amethio's voice coming from inside. Wow, that was fast, guess Spinel was in a good mood.

As I entered I heard him talking to Hamber. "...At least I won't ever need his help ag- Nemona!" Seeing his face brighten up at the sight of me was nice.

"Amethio!" I ran over and gave him a hug, which he returned eagerly. Probably a little touch starved over at the Explorers. I just wish I could convince him that they aren't a great group to be with.

"Ahem," my majordomo cleared his voice. "Please try not to track in mud to the house, Young Miss." He gave a significant glance at my shoes as he said so, which weren't overly muddy, but I had spent a long time outside with them.

"Aheh, sorry about that. Since we're heading out though, I'll just keep them on for the moment,"

I explained, stepping slowly back to the front mat while pulling Amethio along. "C'mon, let's go!"

We ran down to the back of the house where the Battlefield was on the beach. "Ta-da!" Throwing my hands out, I presented it to Amethio who said:

"I guess it looks alright." He tried to look unimpressed but I could tell he was jealous! Or maybe I just think everyone should be jealous of it, he does have training facilities like this in their base, I just like having my own so much.

"Speaking of looking only 'alright', how long are you going to rock the grunt outfit?" I asked as we walked down, taking our places on opposite ends of the arena.

He lifted his nose slightly. "I'll have you know that I'm very close to getting my own customized uniform. And stop calling them 'grunt' outfits! We're not an evil Team!"

"Uhuh, sure thing, can't wait to see what your customized Admin uniform looks like." I taunted, sticking my tongue out at him.

Amethio didn't rise to my bait, instead sneering and firing back "Whatever it looks like will surely be better than your sweatpants and t-shirt 'look.'"

"What's wrong with this?" I said, waving my hands at my outfit. It's comfy!

With a frown, he replied "It hardly says 'here's a great trainer.' It's not striking enough."

Drawing a Pokeball from my belt I responded "I'm glad you think I'm a great Trainer, haha." Inwardly, I did note that he had a point and that I would need a better style for when I became Champion. Though canon Nemona always did well enough with the school uniform, I suppose.

Turning my focus back to the battle at hand I asked Amethio "How many Pokemon and switches for this battle?"

The older boy thought about it for a second before saying "Two Pokemon, no switches." He held up his own Pokeball opposite mine. Less scratch marks or wear and tear on it. Probably Dreepy's Pokeball then.

The Pokemon I had chosen would be a good counter for either of his, so I wasn't worried either way. That didn't stop me from being a bit shocked as he released a far larger Pokemon than I had anticipated.

"Drakloak!" The Dragon Type cried out as he floated above the arena. He had four stumpy paws attached to his ghostly body and lower half, with a wide, angular face, akin to a fighter jet.

Chimes filled the air as Notch stared defiantly at their foe. Though given Drakloak's reaction, I think my Pokemon might have said something outrageous and/or offensive, rather than merely 'defiant'. A reminder about how Fairy Types and Dragons don't usually get along.

"So this is your Carbink," Amethio muttered, staring at the Fairy Type. "You mentioned catching them in Kitakami."

"But you never mentioned evolving your Dreepy! Good job." I can see why he felt ready for a rematch, pseudo-legendaries are extraordinarily hard to train. We've been working hard too though, and I don't plan on losing.

"Rotom, could you count us in?" Amethio asked his Rotom Phone, who agreed, floating over off to the side of the arena.

"Bzzt, on the count of three, two, one, begin!"

"Iron Defense!" "Double Hit!" Our first orders came simultaneously, but his Pokemon could enact them much faster, Drakloak zipping across the battlefield to slam into Notch with his oversized head twice. My Pokemon was battered around a few meters but stopped themselves before coating their rock and crystalline body in a steely sheen for a moment.

The Move might not show any lingering physical signs, but I knew that for the rest of the battle, Notch would be twice as hard to hurt. Not that this stopped Amethio from trying again, calling out "U-Turn!"

The Dragon sped across the field again, cutting across Notch's side before whipping around back to Amethio on the other end of the arena. "That's not going to cut it! Stealth Rocks," I told Notch while plotting out how the battle would go down.

His Drakloak is fast, but a Physical attacker. Carbink's defenses are just too good for Amethio to beat, especially since I don't think his Pokemon learns many Moves that are very effective against Notch. The only shame is that Body Press can't do anything to Drakloak, or likely much to his next Pokemon, who is the one we have to prepare for. It's his next Pokemon we have to worry about, which if I'm right, will be a problem. After all, if Amethio had put so much effort into evolving his second Pokemon, what were the odds he hadn't done the same for his starter?

"Phantom Force," Amethio had recovered and was going back on the offensive, his spectral Pokemon slipping through to the Distortion World for a brief moment to attack Notch from hidden angles.

I did not care, not in the slightest. "Keep on chucking out rocks, you got this." I encouraged, while also giving Notch our hidden code to switch to layering Spikes on the field, in addition to the Stealth Rocks they had already placed down.

Drakloak shot out of the ghostly world like a rocket, barely a meter away from Notch, slamming hard into them before slipping into another shadowy portal he conjured just beyond the Rock Type. The Move did more damage than any other attack Amethio had tried, a few minute cracks forming on Notch's surface, but I wasn't worried. They can take a lot more than this, and I'm getting a better idea of his attack patterns.

This continued for almost a minute before I felt that the preparations were complete. "Dazzling Gleam, there!" I pointed out to empty space, off to the side of Notch where I felt Drakloak was most likely to appear. My aim was slightly off, the Dragon Type emerging just a bit above where I pointed, but it hardly mattered. The wide range of the Fairy Type Move caught him in a sparkling pink blast that knocked him off course and sent him spiraling down.

"Get out of there!" Amethio shouted, the boy looking a little panicked.

"Psychic, don't let him flee!" I countered, a vicious grin on my lips. The telekinetic forces pressed down on Drakloak and began crushing them before they slipped through to the Distortion World once again.

Phantom Force doesn't let someone remain there forever, they'll get forcibly shunted back to our world soon. But where- ahh, doesn't matter. I'll just hit everywhere.

"Shine on you crazy diamond!" With that order, I thought I sensed a feeling of joy from my Carbink, despite the little facial signs I could read to gauge their expression. It was also hard to see anything else as Notch began spinning around, emitting Dazzling Gleam as they did so and doing their best impression of a disco ball.

Our foe appeared from a clever angle, striking from underneath and shooting up, even getting lucky enough to connect the blow against Notch. The hit wasn't nearly enough to shake my Fairy Type from continuing their assault and Drakloak ended up blasted by the Dazzling Gleam as they passed, sending him spinning away. With a harsh croak, he righted himself, staring warily at his foe.

Damn, he's still in the fight. I thought with how frail the Dreepy line was that would be enough, but I suppose that's the downside of Notch's top-tier defense; he just doesn't have a great offense. Still, we aren't in a bad spot here. It would take several more attacks to take them down, while Drakloak would fall with even a glancing blow from here.

A fact that Amethio seemed aware of as well, as he ordered his Pokemon to stay away. "Dodge around, Agility!" Not a bad plan, Dazzling Gleam, and Notch's other Moves can't reach all across the arena, and he'll be able to get across it in a flash to chip away at us. But we've got another option.

"Trick Room!" I crowed, revealing the final piece of our setup and my trump card. As the spectral Dragon began blurring around the field, an odd tile-like pattern slowly enveloped the entirety of it.

"Hex." At Amethio's command, Drakloak began rapidly gathering Ghost Type energy - only for the dark purple flickers to slow to a crawl as the Trick Room locked down fully. Notch casually floated out of the way of the attack, now moving remarkably faster than their enemy.

"Psychic, finish this." The telekinetic force slammed Drakloak against the ground once, twice, before tossing the unconscious Pokemon back to his trainer. Wincing, I tried to shake that off. A little brutal, but Drakloak shouldn't suffer any serious injuries from that.

There was a slight shake to Amethio's hand as he recalled his Pokemon, but the stoic young boy centered himself, staring us down. "I should have known this wouldn't be easy, but we aren't losing this! Go, Armarouge!"

The fiery Pokemon burst onto the Battlefield, his yellow armor shining brightly in the sun. The connection to his unevolved form was apparent, but there was also a drastic difference between the two. He stood almost three times as tall as he did before, taller than I was now, with his fiery 'hair' billowing out the top of his head like a ponytail. The yellow armor covered his torso and had two separate pieces forming bulky pauldrons that covered his shoulders and halfway down his arms, which I thought could turn into cannons.

Of course, the moment he hit the field, he was also pelted by literally hundreds of rocks and jagged spikes that were scattered around it. With a cry of pain, he fell to one knee, trying to shake off the surprise hit, his armor splintered in several places.

"Flash Cannon!" He called out, and my suspicions were proven correct as the pauldrons shifted down, forming twin cannons aimed at Notch, glowing with Steel Energy down the barrels. Of course, given how slowly he was moving, I had time to give my own command.

"Power Gem!" The crystals on Notch's body began glowing once more, this time shooting out a far more focused, clear set of beams at the Fire Type.

Armarouge twisted his body to avoid two of them, but a third struck true, cracking his armor further and eliciting a howl of pain from him. Pushing through the pain, he still fired his cannons, the Steel Type blasts smashing into my Pokemon and sending them hurling through the air.

Recalling Notch before they could land, I knew they had been defeated. "Impressive, you took Notch out in one blow." Admittedly Drakloak landed several shots before, but that one shot did the majority of the work. He's quite strong, not that it matters here.

"Go, Dun." My Dudunsparce landed on the field, and without any prompting from me, zipped across the field, charging toward his weakened enemy. "Aqua Tail," I called out as he neared the Fire Type, looking to end this while we still held the advantage.

"Dodge!" Amethio called out, to no avail. His Pokemon moved like molasses within the Trick Room, and Dun's tail, spinning and coated in water that did the same, drilled into Armarouge. Amethio's starter fell and couldn't get up, my own giving a proud victory bellow.

"Still so far to go…" Amethio muttered bitterly, before recalling his Pokemon.

"Hey, don't be upset, you did great," I said as I ran across the arena to him. "You evolved both your Pokemon and they were way stronger than before!"

His face twisted before he sighed, smoothing out his features. "I guess. You're just so far above me."

Awkwardly I scratched the back of my head. "I mean, I'm training up too, always getting stronger as well. But I don't think I'm outpacing you - I know I could have taken on both your Pokemon with Miles or Dun alone before, but I don't think that's true anymore." That elicited a real smile on his face, and when I offered my hand for him to shake, he accepted it.

"That's true. I worked so hard to evolve Drakloak…" he trailed off. I noticed. He was way stronger than Dreepy but I feel like he might have pushed too early for an evolution. Didn't feel as strong as some of the ones I've seen online or heard about from Hassel. Then again, it's not my place to comment on how another Trainer trains his Pokemon. If they're happy with him, then it's all good, and you don't get the kind of dedication they showed without them being at the very least content with their Trainer.

"Want to stay for dinner? It'll probably take a while for Spinel to teleport you back." I offered, and to my surprise, Amethio shook his head.

"I won't need his help anymore. I found an old Technical Machine for Teleport and taught it to Armarouge. Now that we've been here, we can come back whenever we want."

"Awesome!" I cheered, hugging the boy again and eliciting a small blush from him.

"Gah, get off of me," he said, but I noticed he made no motions to push me off. Still, I released him.

"That's great, we can train so much and hang out together, I think Arven would like to see you again too-" I began rambling before he stopped me with a hand held up.

"I'll be busy with the Explorers, but yes, we can 'hang out' more. But first, there's something I want you to tell me: What drives you so far? I know you want to become a Champion ranked Trainer, but there's something more than that driving you. I want to know what it is."

A bit much for you to demand when I don't get to know what you want with the Explorers. Still, it's not like I can't give him a vague idea. "There's something I wish to prevent, a calamity on the edge of the horizon. I don't even know if I'll need to fight against it if I might be able to resolve things just by talking to the right people but… if I can't, then I'll be ready. And if not, I'll be ready for anything else the world can throw at us," I finished, patting Dun's head.

"I see. Thank you."

"No problem, what are friends for?" The smile on his face was a memory I'd treasure for the rest of my days.

***

"... And those are all the songs I had planned for my album," I said, taking a deep gulp of water to try and soothe my throat after all that singing. Hassel nodded, having held most of his comments until I was finished.

"It will certainly be a diverse set of songs," the man said diplomatically, which almost caused me to snort.

"Yeah, that's fair. These are the ones I feel the most confident with though, so I'm gonna make those. Any… notes? Suggestions?" My music tutor had already heard at least parts of those songs and read all the scripts I had written for them, already giving me plenty of little tips and advice, so the question was just for any last-minute thoughts he had about them.

He shook his head and smiled. "No, everything I've heard so far fills me with high hopes. I think you'll be an excellent musician someday. It's a shame that I won't be able to help you on your path for a while, but truth be told, I don't believe you need much more help from me." Today was the last day Hassel would be my music tutor, mentioning other obligations. Reading between the lines, I thought it had to do with Brassius' newfound fame.

Being a Gym Leader makes you a national celebrity, and in many ways elevates your standing even on an international level. He was a famous artist before, but now must be getting tons of commissions and requests, which he has to juggle alongside his Gym duties. Getting a hand from Hassel will probably help ease his burden until he learns how to juggle it on his own.

"Please, I feel like I have so much more to learn, could spend my entire life just studying music."

"Then why don't you?" He challenged, firmly but not unkindly.

"Same reason you don't, I imagine," I fired back, meeting his gaze. "You're an artist, a musician,... but you still want to train Pokemon. An Elite Four, one of the best Trainers in Paldea. I heard you even went up in the rankings recently, jumping ahead of Dandylion."

He sniffed. "There aren't solidified 'rankings' for our League; all four of us are experts in our Types." Hassel then undercut his own point slightly by adding "I did defeat her in a private bout recently, admittedly."

"Hah! And you even have a slight Type Disadvantage against her Steel Types too."

"There are ways to train around that," he said, sporting a small frown before suddenly asking: "May I see your training?"

"Bwuh? I mean, sure, if you've got the time." He usually leaves promptly after a lesson, well, after giving me time for a few questions at least. Felt like I've learned almost as much about Dragon Types as I have about music from him.

We went outside and I released my team who looked expectantly at me and curiously at Hassel. Miles was fairly familiar with the man, since they helped with a decent amount of the mixing and song composition, and Dun would often hang out in my room while we practiced, but Nightwing and Notch had only seen him once or twice.

"Alright team, today we'll be training as usual, but uh, we've got a special guest this time. Don't worry about him too much though, let's just do what we usually do." None of them had any complaints (or if they did they kept silent about them), so for a moment we just stood there, awkwardly staring at each other until I continued. Gah, this is so weird. Usually, when someone watches us train, they at least take part in it themselves, or aren't a freaking Elite Four member!

"Let's start with our usual jog around South Province. Here we go!" I took off starting to jog along the beach, while most of my Pokemon took to the air. Dun remained ground-bound, but I knew he could fly if he wanted to, though he flew so slowly I would have outpaced him had he done so.

"You're going to run… the entire… province?" Hassel inquired, gasping a bit as he tried to keep up.

"No, no," I waved him off as I kept on running. "They're just making a wide loop, stopping before Mesagoza, no further than the marsh or the edge of the river separating us from Cortonado. We're just going to do a smaller one the that keeps them in sight,, we won't even go past Los Platos. Get ready to jump!" I cried, bringing his attention to the cliff we were approaching.



Bending my knees, I sprung up, vaulting over the four or so meter-high barrier with ease. "Haha! No ledge in the world can stop me!" I declared, exhilarating in my triumph over old game design that wasn't even relevant in my past life for the region.

Hearing a click behind me, I glanced back to see that my music tutor hadn't followed, only to see him rise from below the cliff atop the back of his Dragonite. "I'll follow from here," he shouted over the wind his Pokemon's wings kicked up and I nodded. Makes sense, he probably wouldn't be able to see my team from such a distance, and this is about seeing them in action. I wonder if they'll run into any trouble today?

It was rare, but venturing out further around South Province increased the chances of running into a territorial Pokemon. There were no issues this time however, no Pokemon disturbed - or at least none disturbed and fast enough to catch up to my team.

After our jog had gotten us warmed up (at least for all of us but Notch and Miles, who didn't experience fatigue in the same way), we met up back at the beach, the warm-up taking us about half an hour. I gave them their next directions as I went through a few cooldown exercises.

"Nightwing," I turned to the Gligar and tossed her the Toxic Orb from my bag (using the thick gloves Vance had given me to hold onto it). "Your endurance has improved a fair bit, let's keep it up. We're hoping for fifteen minutes before the Poison sets in, but don't worry if it happens sooner. Just work on fighting while carrying the Orb."

"Gar!" She eagerly drifted around, holding the Orb close to her body. Good so far, we'll see how well she can fight with it using Dual Wingbeat. It might be stronger than Acrobatics while holding onto the Orb, but I think there will still be a learning curb to using that TM Move effectively.

"Notch, practice precision with Miles. Psychic to pin Miles, while Miles uses Substitute to escape." They both 'nodded', inclining their levitating bodies then got to work.

"Dun, we're out of Throat Spray, so no Boomburst practice today." Dun pouted but didn't make any grumbling sounds… which might have only been because of Hassel's presence. "Help out Nightwing with her training. Use Coil and Roost to tank her attacks," I said while making a subtle swirling motion with my index finger. Dun got the message, grinning evilly for a second before wiping the smirk off his face as slithered forward to challenge Nightwing.

I waited beside Hassel, wondering if he was going to say anything, but he seemed content to just spectate passively.

Alright, just focus on my team. And speaking of which, it looks like Nightwing is feeling a bit too comfortable in the sky. "Hurricane." My command (and Dun's instant use of the Move) caught Nightwing off-guard, the Flying Type suddenly spinning wildly in the air. While she managed to catch herself, beating hard against the whirling winds whipping around her, the Orb slipped her pincers and began to fall to the ground.

Luckily the winds kept it aloft for a moment, so I was able to divert Notch's attention for a moment to grab it with Psychic. "Well done," I praised their control at holding it perfectly in the air without cracking it, before turning to Nightwing. Once Dun stopped his Move, the flying scorpion Pokemon dived down, snatching her Orb close to her body and glaring at me.

"You can't expect that it'll always be easy to hold on to. Expect constant changes in the environment and attacks in a battle." Besides, it's not like I wouldn't be the one out of pocket buying you a new one if you broke it. I doubted that logic would get me far with her, however. At least she didn't look keen to argue with me over it and just went back to attacking Dun (with a bit more gusto than before he had summoned up a miniature storm to rattle her).

The training continued like that for a while before Nightwing's wings grew a bit shaky and Notch and Miles were getting sloppier with their Moves. Clapping my hands together I announced, "Good job everyone, let's change things up."

I couldn't resist glancing at Hassel, the man still standing impassively in the background, not saying anything before shaking it off. He's just reserving judgment until the entire thing is done. Gotta follow my own advice and not worry about it.

"Let's play a little game of tower defense." Plucking a pretty seashell off the ground, I placed it at the edge of one side of the arena. "Dun, you're on defense. Don't use Protect, but any other Moves are fair game. Miles, Nightwing, Notch, you three have to work together to try and break the shell. But you only get a certain amount of time each run, if you haven't broken the shell before I call for time, you have to go back to the start. Finally, you only get to use one Move each."

Dun's tough, but even he needs an edge in a three-vs-one that favors the attackers so much. Plus, I can help the others train their newest Moves.

"Nightwing, you've got Gunk Shot. Miles, Shadow Ball. Notch, Stone Edge. That all sound good?" Not that I suspect there would be a problem, but it's good to check in with your team while training.

They all made noises of agreement as I stepped off to the side. "Ready? Ten seconds, go!"

The 'team' of three rushed ahead from the starting line, firing attacks in an attempt to overwhelm Dun. The nature of the arena made conjuring temporary garbage easy, Nightwing creating it and then smacking it across the terrain with her tail. Mile fired off expanding balls of shadowy energy and Carbink terrakineticly ripped up 'stones' from the ground in a line towards Dun, and the shell behind him.

My starter met the attacks easily, a Flamethrower deflecting the Gunk Shot before slithering around to reposition himself between the shell and the Shadow Balls. At the same time, he slammed the ground, the Earthquake rippling across the arena like a wave and breaking all the stones Carbink had tried to force up.

With a hiss of disdain, Nightwing zipped around to the other end of the arena, trying to land a quick Gunk Shot at the shell. Dun had no problem stretching out for a quick Lunge, which while ineffective, easily knocked Nightwing off course. At the same time, he revved up his tail, reversing course for an abrupt Drill Run that tore up the repeat Stone Edge Notch had used.

Miles tried to play it smart, firing Shadow Balls from above downward, making use of all three dimensions for the fight, but Dun was once again able to neutralize it with his body, each attack making a small explosion that barely scuffed his scales.

Shouldn't those attacks usually go through him- oh! He's using a proto version of Hex on himself! It doesn't have to travel far or aim the attack to intercept when he puts his body in the way. The meeting Distortion energies forced the Shadow Balls to explode, but his Normal Typing still makes him pretty much immune to that damage, letting him shield the shell quickly, clever.

"Time!" I called, not too awed with my smart not-so-little snake to forget about the time limit I had set. Both sides stopped, moving to their separate sides while the field fixed itself back up. When everything was ready, I called for them to begin, this time for fifteen seconds.

The three Pokemon got a little closer on their second attempt, almost forcing Dun to crush the shell with his own body, but he managed to twist out of the way at the last moment before time was called. It continued like that for a while, with Dun still in the lead but the others eking out a few wins. And only a few disqualifications for them trying to use Moves that they aren't supposed to, Nightwing is getting a better hold on her emotions every day.

"What's the point of this drill?" Hassel asked, startling me. After being silent so long I forgot he was there! "My apologies, while it seems like an interesting form of training, I'm curious as to what your goal here is," he explained.

"Well, it's not just one goal- ah there!" I exclaimed as Nightwing launched a Gunk Shot well over Dun's head. My first Pokemon, distracted by stopping the Stone Edge and Shadow Balls from getting too close dismissed it, not realizing that this time the three of them were working together. While Dun's Earthquake stopped the rocks jutting out of the ground from getting closer, the last one Notch had made rose quite tall and at an angle - perfect for the 'missed' Gunk Shot to bounce off of and down onto the shell.

"Teamwork," the Dragon Trainer surmised and I nodded. Giving the three of them a moment to cheer their victory I waited to grab another shell to go more in-depth with my mentor.

"That, and a couple other things. For Dun, it's a chance to see how much power he can bring to bear at once. His stamina is absurd, but he needs to be able to use that power in fast bursts for battles. It's also good training for any exploring we might have in our journey; sometimes I'll need one of my Pokemon to protect me or something for a few moments from wild Pokemon before we can flee or bring the rest of our team to bear."

"For the others, it helps them practice teamwork and timing, like you said. The time limit wasn't really helping them given Dun's stamina, but in these later rounds, they're learning how to time their attacks together better. Their plans are improving, but Dun is also using more Moves like Agility and Coil to boost himself up in between rounds."

That was something that caught Nightwing's keen ears who pivoted to glare at Dun. For his part, he just whirred his tail around, glowing with an ever so faint light pink energy, the only sign of his Agility. Must not be that strong if he's not moving with it, though that might be on purpose. Even Dun can't afford to spend the energy to buff up to the max every round.

"Oh, and this helps the others practice their new Technical Machine Moves, which they've learned not too long ago." Dun had a few new Moves he could practice as well that weren't suited to this exercise, but I was trying to hide those from Hassel. Besides, he's always been the best at picking up new Moves. I think he has strong offensive Moves from almost all the Types by now.

"... That is, remarkable," Hassel said after a minute of silence (during which I'd grabbed another shell and placed it back on the spot). "How much longer are you planning on training?"

Taking a moment to measure how winded my team appeared I replied "Another fifteen minutes or so." He gave a small, ill-timed sigh of relief right before I continued. "Then we'll do some meditating, take it easy for a bit. Some more Move training, mock battles with commands, and reflex training, then we'll cool down. Miles will play some highlights and battle analysis while I heal and care for them. A bit of grooming, that sort of stuff. Then we'll have dinner!"

"It's been almost two hours so far, and this sounds like this will go on at least two more hours," he said dully.

"Yup, that's about right." I chirped, before turning to my Pokemon ready to go again. "Alright, thinking thirty seconds this time, oh, and Dun? Feel free to use Last Resort now. Ok, go!"

Nightwing and Miles turned to stare at me in horror. Dun demonstrated why that was a mistake a millisecond later as he came shooting in, surrounded by star-shaped energy as he bashed into the former. Going on the offense, he zipped around, bashing Notch and Nightwing around while flying back just as fast to intercept any attacks sent towards the shell (mostly from Miles, who couldn't be hit by Last Resort in his Ghost form).

After the first round of Last Resort, they rallied back, and the score became more even, working together to take advantage of the unguarded shell if he got too daring. When I called for a stop, all of them were exhausted from their efforts.

"Great work everyone! Just find a place on the beach to relax and start cycling through Type energy of all the Types you can access. Don't hold onto it or try to shape it into Moves, just feel it and let it go." To be honest, I wasn't sure how much that form of meditation I'd come up with helped them, but it didn't seem to hurt or be tiring, so I felt it was a decent use of break time between the more active portions of their training.

Hassel cleared his throat. "It seems I underestimated your dedication as a Trainer, for that I must offer my most sincere apology." My attempts to wave it off were intercepted by him, the older man continuing. "No, this is a serious mistake on my behalf, as your tutor and a Trainer I have failed. The only means I can see to rectify that is by recognizing your potential in a manner only a Trainer can" Staring at me intently with his ringed yellow eyes he declared: "I challenge you, Nemona Glitterati, to a battle!"


Nemona would be in for quite the shock if she knew how much her offhanded actions had changed Horizons canon, haha. Armarouge may not be able to learn Teleport naturally, but it hasn't been a TM for a while, so I figured if that TM was around, it wouldn't be unreasonable for Arma to learn it. Hope that in any case the Amethio battle was fun, and we've got quite the dozy of a battle next time as Nemona prepares to face an Elite Four.
 
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Chapter 43 New
Unfortunately, we couldn't have our match right away. Hassel was busy and had to leave not long after he threw down the gauntlet. We arranged to have the match in a few days time, a week before my birthday. We also set out the ground rules: four vs. four Pokemon, two switches each, Terastalization allowed, and held battle items too (though given his remark about 'if I wished,' I felt like it was a handicap he was giving me here).

One good thing about the extra time (beyond the chance to rest up after that training session) is that it's given us the chance to prepare a few new tricks that Hassel won't be ready for just from having seen our training before. I just don't know if it will be enough. In the back of my mind, I knew it wouldn't; he was an Elite Four, and I had no (official) Gym Badges. I shoved such doubts down, refusing to focus on them. The only thing that matters is that we try our best.

Hassel arrived on dragonback, his Dragonite serving as his ride once again. Finally, I've had everything set up for the past fifteen minutes and just been fidgeting here, waiting. Which was more on me than him, as he was perfectly on time - I was just too excited to wait.

"Hello there, Nemona," he said, his words snapping me out of my thoughts. Inclining his head slightly towards me before dismounting onto the beach, he recalled his Dragonite. My parents and the staff knew about this fight ahead of time, but I'd asked not to have them crowding around; the battle at hand felt like it would be best suited without any peanut gallery gasping over us. Which just means they're watching us from the giant window up in the living room in my house, but that's fine. No one is out here to distract us. I think even most of the wild Pokemon scattered when his Dragonite dropped down.

"I've been looking forward to our match," Hassel began after I was silent for a minute, taking slow, steady breaths. "As your tutor, it's been my job to look after you and guide your growth. While I hope this match helps you improve, I think I'm going to put that focus aside and devote myself entirely to defeating you!" He ended his declaration by pointing out a finger at me with one hand, grasping a Pokeball with the other (distantly, I noted that it wasn't Dragonite's Pokeball he was leading with).

I couldn't help it; I flinched back. The sheer force his presence held was a stark contrast to the stern yet caring teacher I had dealt with before. Part of me wanted to avert my gaze from his, as if showing submission to the dragon before me might spare me.

But I didn't avert my gaze, my grin widening even as my hands shook. "Thank you. I can't wait to show you everything I have. I hope you're ready!" Pulling out a Pokeball with one hand, I grabbed a remote out of my pocket as well, pointing the latter at a boombox I had set on a rock nearby.

"Do you have some music to accompany our battle?" He blinked, his draconic visage flipping over to a musician's joy in an instant. Something about my expression must have given the game away because he guessed, "Is this a new song? What's it called?"

"Yeah, fun little bonus track I wanted to add to the album. No lyrics, but as for the name? Megalovania." I like Nemona's champion theme too, but… I'm not her. Not exactly. Admittedly I'm not Sans either, but hey, I figure the skeleton would be cool with someone being too lazy to pick their own theme. With a press of both buttons, the music started, and I released my first Pokemon.

Miles took to the field, lightning zapping off their refrigerator body. The music was good, but I couldn't appreciate it as much as Hassel was, my feelings more in line with Miles. Their lilac plasmic eyes narrowed in concentration as they stared down the foe Hassel had just released. I meant for this to be my battle theme that strikes fear into the hearts of anyone challenging me, but despite the music being on my side, I feel like I'm the kid about to have a bad time.

With glistening yellow-green scales and a red-tipped axe blade jutting out of his mouth, Haxorus gave a mighteous roar. His red eyes locked onto the form of his foe, and he snorted dismissively. But he keeps his gaze on us. Just a ploy to try and rile up enemies, or too well trained to let his feelings get in the way of ending matches quickly?

In any case, Miles didn't let that get to them, focused as they were on the strategies we had prepared. Haxorus wasn't the best choice for them to face, but hardly the worst. I won't use a switch right away then, only if things get bad.

"We will begin on the count of three." I wanted to grit my teeth at him giving me yet another advantage, but knew better than to complain. Especially when I know it'll still be an uphill challenge. "Three, two, one, begin!"

"Will O Wisp!" I led with seeking to cut the output of Haxorus's physical Moves down greatly. My opponent sought the opposite, calling for a buff.

"Dragon Dance." Skillfully, the Dragon Type weaved his sinuous body around the battlefield, moving between the myriad spectral flames Miles was conjuring while speeding up. And getting stronger too; I can't let him run away with the game like this!

"Blizzard," I called out, and Miles complied, opening his refrigerator doors to unleash a massive storm of ice down upon the field. Opening the doors also revealed the item I had given Miles and the reason for the power of their Move.

Over the howling winds and ice, I caught Hassel mutter "A Life Orb." The slight clenching of his hands at his sides was the only sign of worry he had as his scaly Pokemon desperately raced around, trying to avoid the worst of the Ice Type attack. The bad news was he succeeded, only getting a bit of frost coating his body and moving so fast that his Dragon Dance must have completed as well. The bright side was that he'd had to rush through some of the wisps and was now Burned.

"Close Combat," Hassel said, his calmness a stark contrast to the vicious glee on his Pokemon's face. Crapbaskets!

Ripping my Tera Orb out of its case, I hurled it out over the battlefield, where it burst into light and a massive crystal block encasing Miles. Haxorus didn't let that stop him, rushing up and smashing through the crystal to hit the Pokemon within, revealing Miles with a lightbulb crystalline crown above their head. Repeatedly, the Dragon slammed my Pokemon back with claw strikes, knees, and tail slaps in a frantic yet controlled manner.

"Ro-to-to!" Miles gave out a pained sound as they were pushed back. At least it wasn't as bad as it could have been with the Ice Typing defensively. But with Terastalization, I still get to use it offensively.

"Blizzard, don't let him escape!" Miles was more than glad to pay Haxorus back for the pain inflicted on them, blasting everything in front of them with a wide cone of cold. The speedy Dragon tried to dart past and slip away, but my second Pokemon had been learning from my fourth; they don't need to outspeed their enemies if they can catch them in the attack by just redirecting their bodies a little.

Haxorus was fast, but he couldn't cross the arena and get around Miles before they turned a bit to the left and released a storm upon him. The Dragon collapsed to all fours as the Move hit him directly, moaning in pain. But in a flash, where I barely had time to realize he wasn't finished yet, Haxorus had scuttled forward like a bug. When underneath Miles, he jumped up and slashed hard into the Rotom, sending them spiraling through the air.

By the time Miles had managed to control their flight again, Haxorus had once again run behind Miles. "Substitute!" I shouted a split second before the Elite Four member shouted "Dragon Claw!"

Miles split off, leaving behind a duplicate for the Dragon to tear through with his sharp claws. Turning, my Pokemon tried to track their foe, but he was already on the move, keeping well away from the frigid cold Miles could conjure.

"Substitute again." Once more, the Move saved Miles from an untimely end, and despite the burn sapping away at Haxorus' strength, the Dragon Type carried on relentlessly.

"Discharge," I called out, changing up the tactics. Despite the obvious weakness of the Move against a Dragon Type, Miles didn't hesitate, unleashing a widespread burst of electricity all-around, inflicting further wounds on Haxorus. With the Tera boost and regular STAB, the Move can compete even with Haxorus' Resistance. With this strategy, I'll be able to whittle him down while Miles can avoid the counterstrikes.

Haxorus jumped up to attack Miles again, claws gleaming in the sunlight. "Subsiwhoops," I said, watching as Miles was 'driven' towards the ground, away from the claw. As Haxorus' clawed feet began glowing with brown energy, Miles flipped around by the handle, smacking Haxorus in the back of the head with his heavy refrigerator body.

The force of the Foul Play sent the Dragon's head into the ground at about the same time as his feet hit, the Ground Type energy released through them shaking the whole arena in a massive Earthquake… which only hit its own user, Miles pushed up higher in the air, away from the churning earth. I know your game plan! I've had a (virtual) Haxorus before, I know they get Mold Breaker and Earthquake, we aren't falling for that one.

Haxorus was more cautious from the point on but didn't hesitate to push himself back up and maintain pressure. Without any more openings, we were forced back into the same Substitute-weak Discharge pattern.

A few more iterations of this passed, with Hassel occasionally calling out for Breaking Swipe or Dragon Tail rather than Dragon Claw. With a bit of direction on my end, Miles weaved around all those different attack patterns, zapping Haxorus with Discharge twice more.

"Your foe is weak; flood the field with dragon fire, Dragon Rage!" Hassel suddenly shouted, and I realized how right he was. Life Orb and Substitute have both been exhausting Miles, and Dragon Rage will cut right through their tough body in a second.

"Protect!" I instinctually countered, and it worked well. As blue flame poured out of Haxorus' mouth and began 'jumping', bouncing off the arena floor to hit everything, Miles conjured a honeycomb forcefield around themselves.

The heat was sweltering, and even from behind the arena's barrier, I felt myself sweating. For a second, I wondered if Miles could hold out, but then Haxorus' attack suddenly cut off, the Pokemon spasming. Paralyzed and Burned, here's our shot!

"Blizzard! Slipping around, Miles opened up the refrigerator doors once again, the ice and wind pouring out. Haxorus stumbled, trying to run away, but they couldn't possibly outspeed the cold.

… The recall beam from Hassel's Pokeball could, however, pulling Haxorus back and out of harm's way. "Switch. Your Pokemon is artfully trained, I can see that I'll need to change the beat if I'm to survive. Go, Baxcaliber."

The icy Dragon towered onto the battlefield, looking a little less sleek than the prior Pokemon but no less dangerous for it, the massive spine on his back promising a swift end for anyone impaled on it.

"Draco Meteor." Hassel's voice was casual, as if he was going out to get milk from the store. A drastic underemphasis considering Baxcaliber spit a flaming rock up high in the sky where it broke apart into several smaller meteorites raining down on the battlefield.

My momentary hesitation, caught off-guard by the special attack and the dramatic nature of the Move cost me. While I still called for "Protect!" It was too late, and Miles was struck down by the attack, knocked out.

Recalling Miles, I stood in shock, trying to plan out my next strategy. Ok, so I lost Miles and I used Terastalization up without taking out any of his Pokemon. That's fine, this is fine. I am ok with the state of things. I just need to deal with Hassel's ace. Nightwing is right out with double Ice Weakness, and Dun is good, but he'll have a hard time matching this guy physically… best tip the odds in his favor first.

"Go, Notch!"

The Carbink took the field, narrowing their bright blue eyes at the Dragon before them. Despite facing a foe that naturally countered them, there was no hesitation or weakness from Baxcaliber as Hassel gave his command. "A new song requires us to dance to a different beat, Iron Head!"

Lowering his ice-covered face, the Dragon charged at Notch, a steely gray sheen covering his head as he did so. "Trick Room," I called out, causing Notch to ignore the threat headed their way and focus on setting up the necessary Move. Right before he connected with my Pokemon, I heard a crunch sound and breathed a sigh of relief, glad that they remembered the drills we practiced before.

They were pushed backwards, with some significant cracks forming across their body. Nothing debilitating, however, all because of the green stain now coloring Notch's white mane. I knew he'd have some Steel Moves handy to deal with my Fairy. So glad I gave them a Babiri Berry for this fight.

I also knew that the effects of the Berry wouldn't last long, which is why I got worried when Hassel ordered his Baxcaliber "Again! Her tempo won't last." However, as the Dragon Type sped towards my Pokemon, just before he could reach them, the momentum abruptly slowed down.

"Dodge it!" I cried, and with the Trick Room now fully in effect, the distorted dimensions allowed Notch to speedily zip around Baxcalliber's attack. Well, they still both look like they're moving as fast as they regularly are, it's just that Notch is covering distance in less time than our opponent- ugh, Trick Room is weird.

Not that I wasn't grateful for its properties right now, as it turned what would be a losing match into a winning proposition. "Body Press!" Notch circled halfway around the Dragon before throwing their own body into his side, the impact leaving a sickening crunch.

"Back off, Icicle Crash," Hassel said, his lips pressed in a thin line as he glared at the psychic 'room' our Pokemon battled in, as if it had personally offended him.

"Power Gem, break through his attacks and pin him in." My words were easier said than done. In spite of Notch's best efforts, Type advantage, and the 'speed' they held here, the sheer power the Dragon had was enough to break through the Rock powered beams Notch was firing and even clip them a bit.

Still, they managed to hone in on Baxcaliber, moving to hit them again when- "Switch!" Hassel called out once more, using his last switch to save his ace Pokemon. His next Dragon had a deceptively flimsy-looking purple and brown body. It had two flippers/wings and a tail with a red crest on top of its angular head.

"I hadn't planned on using Dragalge for this battle, but you forced my hand-" He began, his soft words cutting off as he saw my glare. I appreciate the praise, and I'd love to hear it after the match, but right now, I don't want him looking proud of me like a student, I want him to see me as a challenge and face me with nothing held back! His eyes narrowed, and he did so.

"Water Pulse" was Hassel's first command, and his Dragalge carried that order out with remarkable alacrity, an unfortunate effect of the Trick Room I had set up. Notch still dodged the attack, only a bit of the rings of water their foe had sent at them splashing onto their rocky body.

I forgot that he had a Pokemon that slow, this will complicate things. "Psychic, keep the mouth away from you," I told Notch, who attempted to put pressure on the Poison Type. As the telekinetic field took a hold of them, the seaweed-looking Pokemon thrashed about, ultimately able to resist the power Notch could put out.

"Drown out their noise, Hydro Pump!" Hassel declared, and there was no dodging this time. A massive stream of water poured out of the Dragon's mouth, cutting across the field and slamming Notch back into the far barrier on my side. Rock and even a few slivers of crystal chipping off their body, drawing a sympathetic wince from me. It's hard to tell how much Notch actually feels about a lot of things, and I know the crystals can recover with time, but any time those get damaged, they get noticeably upset.

Part of me wanted to recall them right away, while the rest of me knew we needed more set up for the next team member to take over, so I compromised. "Light Screen!" There, that should help protect Notch against further attacks while shielding the next one to come in too.

Of course, Hassel had his own plans for that. "Toxic Spikes," he announced, changing from offense to match our set up. Shit! Do I swap fast before-? No, let Notch get the barrier up, then switch.

The moment the pink light of the nearly invisible Light Screen flashed into place, I was swapping out my Pokemon. "Switch! I choose you, Dun!" The instant my land snake hit the field, the poison-coated spikes rose up and shot into him. None of them penetrated deep, but from the purple discolorations growing on his scales where they impacted, I knew he was Poisoned.

"Get in close, Ice Spinner!" Dun rose up to his very impressive full height and began spinning on his tail, ice swirling around him as he approached Dragalge. Dun was unfortunately a bit faster than his foe, which meant for the time being, Hassel's Pokemon was able to outspeed him, dodging the attack.

"Venoshock," the Dragon Trainer's words heralding their counterattack. With a flap of its flipper wings, Dragalge shot out a barrage of pinpoint Poison energy into Dun, the attack reacting nastily with the Poison already in his veins. And that was with half of those shots stopped by the Light Screen. An Elite Four's Pokemon are no joke. But neither is Dun!

"Let the bodies hit the floor!" Dun took the command for what it was and let his whole three-segment body slam against the ground with resounding force. Hassel hadn't paid close enough attention, and his Pokemon was too close to dodge as the Earthquake rippled throughout it, chunks of the ground rising to smack hard into Dragalge.

With an extra little kick to the Move from the Expert Belt tied around Dun's middle section. Like all my other Pokemon, I'd given Dun an item to hold for this battle as well. After debating long and hard, I realized he needed an item to best make use of his diverse Movepool. Other items might have boosted the super effective Moves he could have used against all or most of Hassel's Dragons, but a fight isn't like the games where you can just spam the best Move over and over. Flexibility in how you attack plays a huge role.

Dragalge was hurt by the attack but hardly out of the fight, floating up much higher above the ground to avoid future Earthquakes. "Triple Yawn." With a deep breath, Dun released the clouds, one after another, to begin floating towards his foe. During that time Dragalge blasted Dun with streams of water that I was sure could cut through steel (and did cut small gouges in the arena), but he weathered the blows well. In part due to the screen, which will run out soon, but not before—now!

"Glare!" I shouted as Trick Room ended. The sudden change, slight as it was in their relative speeds, threw Dragalge off, leaving them open for the full force of Dun's terrifying gaze. They remained floating but shuddered in the air, caught for a moment by that Move, which was enough to let the Dragon Type be enveloped by the previous clouds Dun made.

Chancing a glance downward, I saw Hassel staring off impassively at the battle. He's not worried. Welp, that leaves me worried.

"Once more, with feeling, Venoshock!" He cried out while making a subtle downward motion with his hand. Dragalge obliged both, dropping out of the clouds and raining poisonous vengeance upon my starter.

"Protect," my command, letting Dun shield himself from the blow at the last moment, the venomous attack bouncing off his shield. Feels like a waste to not utilize the Light Screen while it's here, but all I have to do is not take any damage for a bit, and it's lights out for him.

Hassel then surprised me by giving an unusual command. "Smokescreen." Even as Dragalge's eyes were drooping and they drifted down to the ground, they coughed out a copious amount of smoke to cover their prone form. That's an odd Move. In high-level battles, you pretty much never see it; too many Moves can disperse the smoke or just hit everything in the area regardless. Plus, your Pokemon has to stay in the smoke for it to help them avoid any attacks as well.

There were some advantages I realized, especially with his Pokemon asleep for the time being, but it was still odd. Not that I let the strangeness stop me from shouting "Earthquake!" Right as the other Trainer whispered something that sounded a lot like-

As the arena shook from Dun bashing his body against it, a globe of nasty-looking purple liquid flew out from the smoke, arcing in the air to land straight on my starter. An agonized hiss was elicited from him and a frustrated one from me as the pieces clicked into place and I realized why Hassel was so unconcerned before.

Sleep Talk! None of the battles I've seen him in before showed that his Dragalge knew that Move! Shit damnit!

"Blow the smoke away, Hurricane! Then charge in and go wild," I told Dun, who started beating his six wings frantically. The heavy winds dispersed the smoke and picked up the sleeping Pokemon, crashing them against Hassel's end of the barrier. Still sleeping, they gathered a pulse of energy in front of them, the beam firing hard into Dun.

He was breathing heavily, panting as he raced across the field to the other side, Poison and prior attacks taking their toll. Drawing on that pain, he started thrashing about, destroying everything in his path (which was mostly just chunks of ground already torn up). Whipping his own body around, he beat the sleeping Pokemon hard, each hit eliciting cries of pain despite the slumber.

Dragalge was knocked out in short order, but Dun continued his attack. Though Hassel quickly withdrew his fallen Pokemon, Dun thrashed about, trying to utterly destroy enemies long gone.

"Outrage, a powerful Move, and I can't deny the strength of your Pokemon," Hassel quietly admitted. "But he lacks the heart of a true dragon to conquer the terrible anger within and wield that power fully! Go, Haxorus!"

I smirked, knowing we had a plan in place for situations like this. Without a single command, Dun began to settle down, curling in and flapping his wings down. Confusion is one of the tougher statuses to deal with. Just trying to 'push through it' can often lead to you hurting yourself more. But then we stumbled on the fact that when Dun tries to use Roost, he can't hurt himself! He'll just focus on healing up the damage Haxorus deals until the disorientation is gone.

Hassle however, had different plans than hurting us. At least, not immediately. With a sad shake of his head, the Elite Trainer said "Dance." His Dragon began going through a complicated power-up routine, but this time the dance was less sinuous with sharper steps, slashing around his axe-tusks violently.

Oh no. Ohnoohnoohno. That's not Dragon Dance, that's Swords Dance. "Earthquake!" I called out, desperate for Dun to land a Move. Hassel's Pokemon had pushed through the Burn, but was still severely weakened from the beating they had taken before. If I could land a good hit or two…

But it wasn't to be. Dun was too well-trained. He pushed out any outside disturbances while confused, brushing off what might be tricks of his mind in confusion and simply focused on healing himself.

Our opponent didn't give us much time either, launching into an attack as soon as his first Swords Dance was done. "Show her the power of a Dragon. Outrage!" With a mad gleam in his red eyes, Haxorus, stomped the ground, cracking it from sheer force as he pushed off, charging towards Dun. Slapping Dun aside with a vicious tail blow, the Dragon disrupted his healing, sending him flying through the air. Disoriented, Dun tried to recover while I shouted out different attacks for him to use, but to no avail; Haxorus continued the assault not letting up for a moment.

Haxorus ripped into him, his claws tearing apart what meager defenses Dun could raise and batting aside any offenses he tried with the axe-shaped tusks. My starter fell, defeated - and Haxorus instantly stopped. Oh sure, he stomped the ground nearby and roared in victory, but there isn't an ounce of confusion in his little red eyes! How did Hassel do that?

There wasn't time to wonder about that further, as I had to recall my starter and send out my next Pokemon. Haxorus was weak from the previous battle, but I knew that Notch wouldn't be a great choice here, unable to deal with the Dragon Type's prodigious speed and power (especially since I knew from past study that this Haxorus knew Iron Head and Iron Tail). With the Swords Dance further powering him up, there was only one choice that was able to deal with this mighty foe.

"Nightwing. Dig," I gave my order instantly as I released her, and it was almost too slow. She materialized, gem bouncing on the strap around her neck as she tore through the arena floor with her pincers, diving into the hole right before Haxorus trampled over the spot where she had been.

"Earthq-" Hassel stopped himself, and his Pokemon, who had one large foot raised, ready to stomp the ground, gently placed it back down, awaiting future orders. "Get ready for her to jump out at you, dodge it." Smart. Earthquake is a good Move for dealing with Pokemon that try to hide underground, even most Ground Types being hurt by the shifting earth as they burrow beneath. But that won't help you against her. Gligars are creatures of both the ground and the sky, able to traverse freely through the earth and any gaps between. He can't hurt us under there, but when she leaves...

And leave she did have to, tearing up the arena floor to lunge out at Haxorus. The Dragon Type was already jumping out of the way, having sensed her movement through the ground below, to which she gave an eager chase. "Acrobatics!" I shouted, and the gem on her neck cracked, breaking apart and becoming dust on the wind in response to her channeling the innate Flying Type energies she commanded.

The Dragon tried to attack, slashing at her with claws and his tusks, whipping his tail around. It was an impressive flurry of blows, and any one of which landing would spell disaster but miraculously, none of them did. Spinning around Haxorus in the air, Nightwing dodged his blows while dealing her own. She struck at him multiple times, tail and pincers battering him from every angle.

The Dragon hit the ground with a heavy thud, swaying once, twice, and then collapsing forward, defeated. Hassel returned his Pokemon, nodding appraisingly. "It seems our music has died down," he said with a gesture at the boombox, which had stopped (only having prepared one song to play to start things off). "But we can make our own noise, Noivern!"

A huge black bat-like Pokemon with purple tips on her wings and underbelly emerged on the field. It was hunched over, her wingarms touching on the ground as well as her clawed feet as she roared at us. I was less worried about the sound from her throat and more from the large speaker-like ears above her head.

"Boomburst." There was a faint frown on Hassel's face as he said the word, as if he felt sad that he had to use it. I couldn't think more about it, however, as a near-physical wave of sound washed over me, bringing me down to my knees and clutching my ears.

I used my Aura to tone down my hearing, fully blocking out any sounds for the moment while I recovered. Blinking my eyes open, I saw Nightwing doing worse than me, throwing up and collapsing on the ground. The barrier must have taken the worst of the attack from hitting me while she got blasted by the full deal.

I managed to gather my thoughts together and stood up while waving off the now very worried-looking Hassel. I gave him a thumbs-up to try and convince him further, hiding any more winces of pain, my head ringing. See, I'm fine. Wow, even Nightwing's fine, or at least getting back on her feet… and charging at the bat that just blasted her recklessly out for blood.

She tried to latch onto the Noivern and sink her fangs in, but the Dragon Type swatted her aside, rising up to fly over her.

"Switch!" I called out, my ears still aching as I recalled Nightwing. My former music tutor looked a little concerned, for both the state of myself and my Pokemon, but he allowed the fight to continue. At least Notch being a Rock Type will give him an excuse not to use that Move. I've got to be more careful with my Aura. At least I can use it to try and speed up my recovery.

Notch took the field, and thankfully none of the Toxic Spikes jumped up to hit them - unlike in the games, if too much damage was done to an area, such hazards wouldn't react to a new Pokemon entering, even one without Levitate or the Flying Type.

"Dazzling Gleam!" Then I quickly amended my strategy by shouting "Disco style!" As Noivern began racing around them, launching distorted spheres from her ears. She hissed in pain as some of the pink light struck her, speeding away as the Shadow Balls she had made rocked into Notch, chipping off more of their body.

Nevertheless, they persisted, even firing a few Power Gem beams off at Noivern as they retreated. Excellent initiative! They didn't do much, unfortunately, as the bat swerved around all of them with ease. That thing is way too damn fast. But Notch isn't in any shape to set up Trick Room… at least not do that and not get knocked out. If it gives a chance for Nightwing to win…

"Trick Room," I intoned duly. 'Sacrificing' a Pokemon to win didn't feel great to me, but it was the only path I saw for victory. My Aura had been cycling through me, helping me recover and feel better, but my hearing remained wonky for the moment. Because of that, I couldn't tell if Notch chimed anything at me, but they did glance back, and I could see one blue eye questioning the call, before hardening with resolve as they expanded their psychic energy over the field once more.

Hassel and Noivern weren't just going to stand by and let us, however. He gave some command to her, and she flew across the field, sinking her fangs deep (deeper than I would have expected) into their rocky body before tossing them aside. Flapping their wings furiously, powerful gales with Shadow Balls mixed within hammered against Notch.

Against the onslaught, they wobbled before hitting the ground, defeated. Just as I raised my Pokeball to recall them, I saw the Trick Room flash, pinky tiles settled into place around the arena.

"You did it. Thank you," I mumbled to them inside their Pokeball after recalling them. The challenge before us was still great, but now we had a shot. "Go, Nightwing!"

The Gligar popped out, still angry but no longer in the uncontrolled rage they had been in before. "Acrobatics!" She swooped in slowly, but much faster than the glacial pace Noivern was moving at. Viciously, Nightwing harried her foe, flying circles around the bat. Sniping at her wings and smacking her tail into the larger Pokemon's face, she brutally assaulted her, all while gracefully avoiding the Dragon's counterattacks.

Hassel gave a command, yelling something I couldn't make out. Whatever it is, it's probably bad news. Let's finish this before he can enact it. "Ice Fang" was my simple counter, along with the fact that it just took his Pokemon so much longer to react in the Trick Room than mine.

Already in close quarters, Nightwing latched onto the Noivern and began biting savagely, her fangs covered in an icy mist. The bat screeched, and I winced, holding my hands up to my ears as it fell, before Hassel recalled his Pokemon.

This… this is it! His last Pokemon. If he Terastalizes, he'll lose the resistance to Ice attacks, and if not… well at least we still have Acrobatics. I'm on a timer with Trick Room, but if I can whittle him down beforehand, maybe Poison him, we might win this!

Then his ace hit the field, and in an instant, icy shards shot out from his mouth, impaling Nightwing and taking her down. What- Ice Shards. What I would call a 'Priority Move', not that they call those that here. What do they call them ag- focus! While her carapace was heavily cracked all over, Nightwing struggled back to her feet, pushing through the pain to charge back in.

"Lunge!" I shouted, desperate to turn her reckless retribution into something that might turn things around. Nightwing was trained well enough to instinctively respond to my order, using the Bug Type move to pounce at Baxcallibur's shoulder, eliciting a grunt of discomfort from the Dragon Type.

The pain he felt brought a vindictive smirk to her face, and I knew she was back with me, no longer mindlessly lashing out. This was good as it was Hassel's chance to counterattack, and I dimly heard what he said.

"Let them behold the majesty of a Dragon! Jump over her!" Baxcallibur followed the command, performing an impressive standing backflip over Nightwing. The obvious Move is Glaive Rush here… except he know we're faster right now and will just dodge and counter when he's open, so clearly he's not going for that.

With a hiss, I called out "Protect." The Move wasn't great, especially when I was on a timer for advantage in the fight and not him, but I didn't have a choice. I knew it was a trap, but not which trap, so I didn't know how to counter it.

An instant later, and I was thankful that I had made that choice, as several icy spears were conjured from Baxcaillbur's dorsal blade and shot all around the area where Nightwing hovered, the Dragon Type continuing his flip over her head. The ice, which would have otherwise immediately taken her out, shattered as it met her Protect.

"U-Turn," I shouted out as the barrier she conjured faded away. Our foe was turning around from where he landed to face her, but she shot ahead, slamming into him and returning back. The odd, skittering motion of the Move, even in the air, let her avoid the retaliatory Ice Shards Baxcallibur spat out at her.

There was no Pokemon left for her to switch with, and no switches left either, but U-Turn still had some surprising applications in a fight like this for repositioning and unexpected movement. Such a trick would not work twice, however, so I called for another Lunge.

If we can weaken him physically a bit further then she might be able to tank another attack, or at least a glancing blow. Then- The same kind of barrier Nightwing had recently called around herself now encircled Baxcallibur, the Dragon weathering our latest assault… and waiting out the last of Trick Room, the dimensionally distorted space fading away.

"U-Turn, get out of there!" I cried, trying to think of how I could win. He's on his last Pokemon, victory seems so close…

"O great dragon, take this Tera Jewel as your crown!" Hassel dramatically declared, holding aloft his own Tera Orb and tossing it above his ace Pokemon. The crystals shattered to reveal the red and blue dragon-looking 'crown' now attached to the top of Baxcallibur's head.

With a mighty roar, his Pokemon leapt up, flipping in the air above Nightwing, before dropping down fast, faster than gravity should have carried him. She was already moving away from the blow, so his dorsal blade didn't land head-on, but even the glancing blow sent my Pokemon skidding against the ground.

This was the moment, I realized. As his Baxcallibur awkwardly lifted himself off the ground, I knew we'd have had a chance at winning the battle there, with an all-out assault launched when he was vulnerable. But there was no way we were making it through that attack, and he knew it too.

Slumping to the ground, I recalled my final Pokemon. I had lost my first battle against an Elite Four.

***

All in all, I was actually happy with my performance. Sure, I had lost (which I was a little upset with), but it was an epic battle! A fact that is a bit easier to focus on with my hearing slowly coming back to me.

The staff had been watching from the windows and ran down to check on me… and also to berate Hassel. I should probably help him out with that. Getting up and pushing aside the other maids and butlers, I walked up to the Elite Four member nervously staring down an irate maid.

"It's fine, Leah. Neither of us expected that Boomburst would cut through the barrier like that." My half-fib wasn't that convincing, but with a 'hmph' sound she stepped to the side, allowing me to thank Hassel.

Giving him a small bow, I began with, "Thank you so much for this battle. This was... Incredible."

He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are you sure you're alright? That attack hit you pretty hard, I'm so sorry-"

"No no, it's fine. I just have sensitive ears. Usually it's not an issue, but I'll keep that in mind for Boomburst. Did you know Dudunsparces can learn that as well?" He shook his head, looking mildly surprised. "We've been trying for a while but- well I can't wait till we reach your level."

Hassel nodded in silent contemplation, looking at me strangely and I couldn't tell what he was thinking. If he felt I was reckless, dumb, or had done well. When he offered me his hand I didn't hesitate to shake it. Then he started sobbing.

"That was- marbelous!" He wailed and I froze, not sure what to do as he kept on shaking my hand. "Sush fire, from sush a shmall dwagon!"

"Aha, thank you. You were incredible too," I complimented him while pulling my hand back. "I can't wait to battle you again." My slightly ringing ears picked up a groan from Leah as I said that, but I couldn't help myself. That battle was awesome! This, this is why I wanted to be a Trainer! Maybe not the Boomburst thing admittedly, and there were a few other decisions I'd make but-

Hassel cleared his throat, and I stopped mumbling my thought, realizing the man had recomposed himself as well. "I look forward to our next battle too. And as to what you said, I believe you shall indeed reach my level soon." There was an odd expression on his face, awe and pride mixed with anticipation and jealousy. I couldn't decipher it further before he finished with "Next time we battle it will be during your League challenge, and I expect that day won't be long from now."

Then, with a broad grin, he released his Dragonite, hopping on their back and flying off. "And I eagerly await the release of your album as well! Brassie and I adore your songs, Miss Nemona!" Like that, he was gone, flying off to the horizon.

Leah stomped up, tsking. "I can't believe how reckless that was. You best not be thinking of trying to fight him again right away, Young Miss."

Despite her stern tone, I couldn't help the broad grin on my face, the battle high still coursing through me. "You don't need to worry about that, I probably won't be fighting the Elite Four any time soon."

My words didn't reassure my maid, instead causing her face to grow pale. Grabbing me close, she started scrutinizing my head closely. "Did you hit your head? Have a headache?" Turning to the others, she shouted, "I think Nemona has a concussion! We need to get her to a doctor!"

Pushing her off, I groaned. "Leaaaah. I'm fine. I don't have a concussion."

Placing her hands on her hips, the young woman asked, "Then why are you not jumping at the chance to battle Hassel again?"

"Well, that's because-" I stopped, falling silent. There was no way to explain why I couldn't go on a journey yet. That I had future knowledge of certain events I didn't want to disturb.

The maid looked down at me, frowning, before she leaned down and gave me a hug. "I don't always understand why you know so much, what drives you, and why you feel you can't do some things. Which makes it all the more frustrating when I do understand the recklessness you display…" she muttered mostly to herself before getting back on track.

Looking me straight in the eyes, she said. "Whatever you want to do, we'll support you. Within reason, of course, but your family, the staff,..." She trailed off for a moment before saying, "I'll support you. I know you well enough by now little girl to know you won't give your reasons, but I think you're ready. Bright enough to go to school, skilled enough to explore the land, and strong enough to take on any challenge. The only thing holding you back now is you."

I openly gaped, caught off-guard. Don't know why I am, Leah's always been there for me. The rest of the staff too, but not as close as her. I saw the others behind her, acting particularly interested in the arena, not crowding in on the moment or reprimanding her for overstepping.

The only one who wasn't was Hamber, the majordomo, looking a little displeased about the situation but not saying anything. Worrying, but a problem for later. Could I really just go on my journey? There's so much more to do, so many things I might bump off the wrong course, changes I'd make that would ruin my future knowledge. I might change things for the better too.

"I will think about it." I promised. There was a lot to look at there, but even as I said it, I felt a call pulling at my Aura, my very soul. My gaze drifting over to the edge of the horizon and all the adventures that might lay beyond.


And so we have Nemona's first battle against an Elite Four, a nice capstone for the fiftieth update, and gives Nemona much to think about for the future. I think this was our biggest battle to date, so I hope you liked it, as well as the song she chose as her 'battle theme.'

I notice a lot of people here thought she was going to get bodied harder than she did - yeah, she lost, and it's clear that Hassel could have gone even harder, but Nemona is a fairly strong Trainer. The timeskips might not be clear here, but we're only a week or so off of her ninth birthday, so it's been a year since she met Notch and Nightwing, and three years since she's been training Dun.
 
Chapter 44 New
"So, I've told you all about my past and the possible future of this world. With that in mind, should I go to school?"

The four Pokemon in front of me looked a little confused before they all started speaking (and chiming) up.

"Ok, ok, calm down, one at a time. Nightwing, you first." I pointed to her, mostly because she was sitting to the far left of me in my room, with Miles on the right, and I felt I'd get the most fruitful conversation from them to go off of after hearing the rest.

"Gligar, ar, ligar." Nightwing said in a huff, looking off to the side.

"You're interested in getting to fly around more, fair." I didn't expect much more from her, and honestly, she's learned a lot of patience in the time we've been training together. But even so, it's in her nature to want to fly free. A part of me wondered how much that was true for my own nature, given my Aura.

Notch chimed out next, and I still had trouble understanding them, especially on such a nuanced topic. "You're saying I shouldn't go?" I tried, getting a low chime to indicate I wasn't right. "That I should be careful?" The sounds that followed after probably meant 'close enough.'

Before Nightwing could start an argument with Notch over that, I turned to Dun. "What are your thoughts on the matter?"

My starter frowned, flopping a bit on my bed, and said, "Dudun."

You trust me no matter what, huh? "I appreciate the support."

Miles was next to speak and began by saying, "I understand your concerns, bzzt. The threats in the future are real and, on a personal and public level, could have huge repercussions. But are they truly tied to you going on a journey?"

"Maybe? If I'm at school early, that might shift things regarding Penny and Team Star. Or I might miss out on them entirely if I graduate early." It was possible to spend longer at Uva Academy, with even adults being 'students', but the curriculum was vastly different for such courses, so I wouldn't have the time to be close to the canon characters. And it means leaving Arven on his own as well.

Notch looked confused at me, so I explained, "Most people go on journeys in Paldea during their time at Uva Academy. The costs of such trips are subsidized by the school during their annual Treasure Hunt."

"Sparce," Dun pointed out, which made me stop and think for a moment. Huh. I guess he's right that with my family I don't need to wait for that. Heck, Cyan managed to get five badges during her Treasure Hunt but was able to take Flying Taxis to other cities through her final term of the first year at Uva and just got her eighth badge.

"Ok, fair point, I could go on my journey now without going to school. There is still the question of if I should go to school or not. I could just travel the world for the next few years, but... I'd also like to learn more. And yeah, I'll learn through travel too, but there are a lot of subjects, especially scientific and mathematical, that I won't be able to learn about as easily outside of a classroom. My tutors have been great, but there's so much more I want to study."

"Dunsparce," Dun spoke up, which provoked some discordant chimes from Notch. Huh, wonder why that riled them up so much? If I'm reading him right, it's a legitimate question, even if I disagree.

"I get that idea, Dun, but I think we can't just say that everything will be butterfly-effected away. No, I don't care if it's called 'the Butterfree effect' here, this is talking about my personal timeline, so I'll use my original world's phrases!" Letting out an exasperated breath, I got back on track. "Grusha got injured snowboarding just like he would have originally."

"Could that not be a one-off occurrence, bzzt?" Miles pointed out, drifting back and forth in the air, their version of pacing in thought. "And even were that true, Grusha was someone whom you had never before interacted with. You could attempt to take early action even now and resolve the issues at Uva Academy."

"Like I've tried with Turo. I interacted tons with him, and he still seems set on the same path as ever, no matter how many subtle nudges I give him. And overt could be just as problematic.

"Gli," Nightwing expressed her displeasure, her tail angrily whipping about over my bed sheets.

"Hey! Careful with that, I don't want you damaging the bed." She looked entirely unimpressed with me. "Fine, yes, I'm needlessly worrying, but it's hard! Every bit of future information I spend, the less valuable the rest of it becomes. I- I'm just worried. I want to go on adventure, I want to go around Paldea as my first journey; it's my home. But the moment I begin, it's all going to feel... real. Every change I make deliberate, not just something that happened in the moment."

I've always been bad at starting new things, hesitant to change course. But I can't let those fears hold me back. I've already made changes to the world, and while they might not have paid off much yet, I can't act like they won't impact the future. If going out now means I miss out on being the student council president or being close to Penny during the Team Star stuff, I'll find ways to deal with things then.

Dun brushed up beside me encouragingly, and I scratched the top of his head. "Thanks for putting up with me, guys." Taking a deep breath, I said, "I've made up my mind! I'm going to go to school and go on a journey, even if it's early. Whatever problems might occur, I'll deal with them later."

"Bzzt, that's great to hear! We support that decision, but if you have any doubts, it's not like you have to go to Uva Academy right now? You could travel to a different region and study there for a while before coming back to Uva, bzzt." Miles offered, and I scratched my chin, thinking about it.

"Uva Academy is quite prestigious, but I'm sure there's plenty I could study at other schools. Let me look into that." At my words, Nightwing anxiously hopped off of me, tapping her foot on the wooden floor.

"Yes, yes, we'll still get some training in." The team had recovered well from their defeat at Hassel's hands, but within all of my Pokemon burned a fire to prove themselves. And that same fire is within me too - I want him to see just how far we've come.


***


After a few days studying, I'd narrowed my options down to two choices. First and foremost came Uva Academy. It had the advantage of being near home, but several others as well.

Uva Academy had been around for almost 800 years. A bastion of knowledge and a major reason why we still had details of the empires and kingdoms that had been around thousands of years before even it (though the exact figures could be scarce and subject to some guesswork in some cases). That might not seem like a lot from the perspective of someone in a Poke-less world, but it was a huge deal here.

Pokemon could help people rebuild from nothing, make grand civilizations… but they could also destroy them just as fast. Oftentimes faster, and people sometimes didn't understand (or didn't care about) the whims of Legendaries, god-like Pokemon that could and had utterly destroyed them in times past. It was also possible that such nations could destroy themselves, the greed of men pushing people against each other. Either way, such devastation tended to leave few records left for successor nations, and those nations often did not care enough to keep detailed records of the past.

Paldea was different, with luck tending to cause any cataclysm to avoid the stores of knowledge and great pains taken by the people of the ages to retain them. The works that the Academy had stored, reproduced, and then advanced on in all those generations kept Paldea at the cutting edge of academic and technical prowess. We might not be seen as incredible battlers, but there's a reason why students come from around the globe to study at Uva Academy. Few can match it for the level of education it can give. With that in mind, it wasn't surprising that we had three full Pokemon Professors within a single generation (Friede, Sada, and Turo).

A bit of checking had also shown that it wouldn't be that hard to make sure I would be close to Penny and the others when we got near canon. I could be a teacher's assistant instead of the student council president and intervene when the other kids tried to bully them. Hopefully, the details around all that were pretty sketchy in the games.

Given the prestige and proximity, there were few other schools, even in all the known regions, that could compete with Uva Academy. Blueberry Academy 'in' my birth nation of Unova was one of them, however.

If Uva was on the cutting edge, Blueberry was on the bleeding edge. It was a massive state-of-the-art facility that covered everything a student could need. They had a heavier focus on battling and technology than Uva, with less on history and arts, but both schools boasted incredibly in-depth courses on everything under the sun. I'd hardly be missing out in either area, though I couldn't deny that the battle opportunities there sounded tempting. Double Battles offer up so many more intricate strategies and combinations, I kinda wish more places had them. They even had their own Elite Four! Wow, that sounds awesome. Kinda weird that they have that though, since Unova has their own League too…

Looking into it deeper, I was able to piece together why. Blueberry Academy had been around for quite some time, but in a rather different form than before. Back a few decades ago, they were an ordinary, if advanced, school. Then they suddenly shifted, becoming more isolated from the League, building a new facility. With the help of scientists like Colress and others from Paldea, the new so-called 'sister school' of Uva was built not on Unova's shores but rather off of them. They had a submarine to shuttle them to and fro the main land, with most of Blueberry Academy existing underwater.

That's both incredibly cool and dumbfounding in scope. Underwater cities have often been an idea of science fiction, and with the power of Pokemon, I can totally see it happening, but still. Blueberry Academy is enormous! Their largest level is a vast multi-biome dome that's nearly the size of Galar's Wild Area!! What the hell? I mean, so freaking cool, but seriously, that must have taken so much work and money to make. And for the rest, they have tons of facilities to teach, learn, and live. Their own currency in 'BB points', heavy ties to another nation, their own Elite Four... If they had a Gym Circuit, they'd probably qualify as their own region in the eyes of the League.

I imagined that all of this was very intentional, even if no brochure or history book came outright and said it. What Team Plasma did terrified a lot of people. Evil Teams rose up many times in the past, and often with heinous goals, but none got as close to achieving them as Plasma did. None managed as much lasting, wide-scale harm. A lot of people and Pokemon were separated, and the Unovan League fell before N and Reshiram, even if he was stopped shortly after. It's clear that Blueberry Academy was quite unimpressed with this, and so they went out of their way to make themselves as independent as possible. Not completely splitting off from Unova either, I noted. There were likely a number of complex political reasons why people on both sides chose to retain those ties, but I couldn't discern them from a quick outside glance.

What I could figure out was that this was an incredible place. Possible civil strife aside (and even that was something I doubted would be happening imminently, with the knowledge that DLC I never got around to playing would take place there and doubting Nintendo would ever go that deep into such a complicated issue), it seemed great. Everything I could want to study there, and all the battles I could ever desire.

I didn't remember much of my childhood there, but I did technically have a dual citizenship in Unova, for however much that mattered, too. Not that I thought there would be any problems entering the academy from that end. The only issue was my age.

Today was my ninth birthday, and looking over the online application forms, I saw that Blueberry Academy did have an age limit. I'd need to be at least ten to go to Blueberry. For all of the fancy stuff to explore there, it doesn't give you the means to participate on a Journey/Gym Circuit while you're there. From what I had read, most students in Unova either did so before applying to the academy or after they finished.

"Young Miss," a knock came at my door, and I straightened up, closing my laptop.

"Come in." Leah entered, smiling at me.

"Look at you, all dressed. Are you eager for your birthday party?"

"Yeah! Are they all here yet?"

"Not yet, silly girl. They should be here by noon, though. And Arven has already arrived with-" She was cut off by my hug. "What's this all about?"

"Just wanted to thank you. I wouldn't have even thought of inviting Carmine, Kieran, and Lacey if you hadn't suggested it." I was going to talk with them online today, but it was Leah who pointed out that my parents could easily afford flights for my other friends to come over for my birthday.

"It's no problem at all, Young Miss. As I was saying, your friend is downstairs, and he's got Professor Turo on a call from Area Zero, looking to wish you a happy birthday."

Blinking in surprise, I quickly sped out of my room. "Best not keep him waiting then, thank you!" I shouted as I literally flew down the stairs. In the large living room, Arven sat on the sofa, his Rotom Phone extended out and hovering horizontally like a tablet.

"Hey Arven," I got the boy's attention, waving to him as I walked around behind the couch to see Professor Turo on the screen of the phone. "And T- Professor Turo, good to see you." While the man on the screen appeared just a bit too animated to be a machine, the background behind him was eerily familiar. The messy desk and scrawled diagrams on the chalkboards in the background gave me flashbacks to the game I played a lifetime ago.

"Nemona!" Arven cheered and turned to look at me while his father nodded his head and said the same.

"Happy birthday, Nemona. As is customary, I have a gift for you." He pointed at a plain brown box Arven had by his side. Cautiously, I held it up. What could this be?

Before I opened it, the man added, "Additionally, my son, I have something in there for you as well. The rest of the package is for Nemona, alongside a machine that should arrive at her house soon; however, the Pokeball is for you."

My curiosity piqued, I began ripping off the brown paper wrapping covering it and opening the cardboard box. Inside was an ordinary-looking Pokeball and several glimmering crystals, each one housed in a smaller glass case. Eighteen of them, to be exact.

"Are these Tera Crystals?"

"Indeed. While they have generally been considered merely a curious geological phenomenon-"

"You can use them to change a Pokemon's Tera Type!" I exclaimed, leaving Turo blinking in surprise.

"That is correct. How did you figure that out?" He questioned.

"Oh, uhh, I just kinda assumed. The Gym Leaders of Paldea recently have had a bunch of Pokemon with different Tera Types, to match their Gyms but also give Type diversity in battles. It was too common a trend to just be naturally occurring, and said natural occurrence of Tera Pokemon in the wild could be easily explained by the crystals that pop out of the ground all around Paldea." I 'explained'. Having the answers already makes it easier to work backwards and come up with the reason for why that might be.

The Professor nodded, his hand rubbing against the bristles on the side of his face. Looks like shaving takes a bit less of a priority down in Area Zero than all the science he's doing.

"Your hypothesis is correct. Technically, mere exposure over a long enough time will do for changing a Pokemon's Tera Type, but I've developed a machine that can streamline the process. All you will have to do when it arrives is place your Pokeball and the Type of crystal you want in the machine, and it should change their Tera Type. I've attached some instructions." True to his words, I saw a small booklet inside the box.

"Well, all I can say is thank you. This will be a huge boon when battling. Notch, that is my Carbink, had a huge problem with Hassel's Dragons and the Steel Type Moves they knew. I used a Nabiri Berry, which helped a bit, but if I could free them up for a different held item. Fairy Feather? Or maybe Lax Incense? No, Light Clay, if the screens lasted longer I could have done so much-"

My rant was interrupted by the sound of Arven's laughter, making me realize I was going off on a tangent. Professor Turo was smiling, and I felt an odd kinship to him. I always feel nervous when getting someone a gift and so happy when I see that I've gotten them something they really like. And I love this - my battle against Hassel was so tough because of the limited usefulness of my Pokemon's Tera Types against him. The double weaknesses that my two newest Pokemon have were especially crippling. The best I could do with either of them would have been removing one half of the weakness and not actually getting too much of a boost in damage against his Dragons.

"I'm glad to hear you like it. My battling skills are lacking, so I wasn't sure. Now, did you say you had a Carbink? Where did you find them?"

The man seemed oddly curious about my team, but I figured there was no harm in answering. "Kitakami. I went there on a family trip. Caught a Gligar as well there, actually."

"Ah, I see. I thought you might have found one here in Paldea."

Scratching the back of my head, I racked my mind. "That would be quite the find, wouldn't it? I don't think they're native here, are they?"

Turo's eyes lit up. "While I didn't believe so before this experiment, I've found signs that there might be Carbinks dwelling deep, deep within Area Zero."

"Where there are tons of Tera Crystals! I found the small pack of Carbinks in Kitakami right beside Crystal Pool, which has a massive Tera Crystal at the bottom of the lake! They said that the crystal came from the sky millions of years ago - or at least, that was as best as I could interpret from them. None of them had ever left their little cave in eons before Notch joined me."

"Fascinating. I wish I could explore that region to see if that is true and what implications it might mean for our own Area Zero." There's my chance, yes!

"I mean, who's to say you can't? Might be good to get out of Area Zero once in a wh- for a bit of a longer trip. You could even take Arven with you to Kitakami; the people there are quite friendly." Debatable on some of those points, but if he could just leave Area Zero...

To his credit, Turo had visited his son a couple of times in the past year. To his detriment, however, it was only a couple of times, and he never stayed long. I knew they would have phone and video calls fairly regularly, which was nice, but not enough for a growing kid.

The man frowned, pausing for a moment and even running a hand through his messy hair. Sighing, he said, "Unfortunately, I cannot. Not while I'm studying here, and there is still much to do. The League poured quite a bit of funding into this project, and I need to see that it pays off." Dammit! I know you're lying; the League doesn't want you researching time travel, they don't even know half the shit you're getting up to! Studying the crystals in Kitakami could totally be worked into a comparison with the crystals in Area Zero, and the League would be thrilled at whatever discoveries you could get on Terastalization, which is why you're down in that pit in the first place!

Holding back on screaming all that at him, well aware it wouldn't help, Turo continued. "I have made great strides, however, and in more than just those Tera Crystals. Open the Pokeball, my son."

Arven, who had been holding on tightly to the Pokeball, eagerly pressed the button on the red-and-white ball, pointing it at the open space in my large living room. Out of it popped a metallic-looking purple Pokemon. While I knew it could take on the form of a motorcycle, the swell of its neck and uncoiled lashing tail behind it showed the more draconic nature of the Legendary beast that had suddenly made itself known within my home. The barely contained electrical energy pouring out of it would have made the power this creature had apparent even if someone didn't already know this was one of the strongest Pokemon on the planet.

"Miraidon…" He's begun using the Paradox machine already. I thought I'd have more time, but I don't. He's going to bring in more Paradox Pokemon until-

"... Nemona, how do you know that name?" The Professor's voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I saw the usually composed man openly gaping at me. Usually I might have relished the look of horror on his face (and the joy on his son, ignoring us and utterly enraptured by this new Pokemon), but my mind was racing at ten thousand kilometers a second, trying to figure out what exactly I could say to cover this up.

"Uhmmm, they sure do look like a Miraidon, don't you think?" I tried.

"Well- yes, that is why I named them that, but how could-"

"So it makes perfect sense then!" I said brightly, hoping my bullshit could let me push past this conversation for the moment so I could come back to it more prepared.

Luckily, Arven swooped in to (inadvertently) save me. "You got me a Pokemon, Dad?!?" He screeched his question, forcing the man to refocus.

"Ah, yes. That is an incredibly rare Pokemon I found in Area Zero called... Miraidon, as Nemona 'deduced.'" The man didn't use finger quotes for the word (mostly because that would have required him to take both hands out of his pocket, something he almost never did), but I could tell he was thinking them really hard. "You mentioned how lonely things could be up there. I still haven't achieved my goal, but Miraidon has proven quite friendly, and I hoped they might help you feel less lonely."

Aww, so sweet. A shame that when he pulls the next one through, it's going to rip him to shreds. Or electrocute him? I don't actually know how the other Miraidon killed him, but it won't be pretty.

"Thank you so much, Daddy!" Arven shouted, the boy leaping up and opening his arms as if to hug him, then remembering he was just on the other end of the screen. "I'll take really good care of Myrideon and feed them all the tastiest foods. Oh, what does their diet uh subsist of?" It's cute to see him try and remember the words I use to explain that stuff to him. He cares a ton, and I think he'd make a great dietician or chef someday. Still, there weren't any problems with Miraidon in canon, so I don't think he'll accidentally do anything wrong in raising or feeding him here.

"I am uncertain as to the exact nature of their diet. Pokechow works just fine." Arven wrinkled his nose, and while I made no outward sign, I agreed with the sentiment.

Sure, it works 'fine,' just like ration bars work 'fine' for humans. Technically enough to get by on, but they'll prefer other food. Or at least some of the more specialized varieties of Pokechow. The bags that were divided by Type and/or by further characteristics got a lot more expensive.

Turo seemed to notice and offered, "Why don't you experiment? See what different foods they like and take well too, within reason, of course. You can tell me all about the results of your research." The small boy's face lit up at that, and I bit back a sigh. Of course Arven is happy to be doing something 'important' for his father, but I'll be the one making sure the reports he sends are properly labeled and detailed.

There was a slight fluctuation of light from Turo's side, indicating someone had entered the room down in his lab. Quickly, I asked, "If you find any Diancies or signs of them down by the Carbinks, could you let me know? I'm working on finding a way to induce the mutation in Notch."

"Fascinating," he said distractedly, but seeming honest. After turning to the other person off-screen for a minute (the sound muted during their talk), he said, "Apologies, children, but I must go now. There's an urgent matter that needs my attention. Goodbye."

With that, the call ended, and there was a flicker of a frown on Arven's face before he shook it off, vigorously slapping his own cheeks. "Enough of that," he muttered to himself before brightly turning to his newest Pokemon.

Said Pokemon was simply looking around the room with incredible curiosity. What was the world it was from like? Or at least, what memories do they have of them? I remembered reading a lot of debate online on the existence of the Paradox Pokemon and whether they were actually from the past/future or just figments of the Professor's imagination brought to life by whatever strange forces existed in Area Zero.

Pressing a Pokeball, I released Dun while simultaneously tapping for Miles to come out of my pocket. "Hey Arven, why don't we play some games? Get to know your new Pokemon, Miraidon."

Arven's sharp intake of breath covered the hiss my starter let off, recognizing this Pokemon for the sign it was. "That sounds awesome!"


***


We played some games, at first trying the indoor ones, but then going outside as Miraidon clearly didn't get the idea of Pokeoply or how one was supposed to play it.

To be fair, a lot of Pokemon are more instinctual and active about this stuff. Miles was the most 'cerebral' of my Pokemon, often doing crosswords and word games with me in the morning. Dun could do such activities and board games, but would only really do so for me and had more interest in physical games like sports or activities like training. Notch seemed to enjoy novel experiences above all else, no matter what they were, and Nightwing...

Gazing over on the beach, I saw my overly competitive Gligar diving down to 'tag' Miraidon on the snout before flying above the motorcycle Pokemon's head. Sticking her tongue out, she taunted the Electric Type, laughing at the Paradox Pokemon. Nightwing isn't the brightest Pokemon out there, enjoys physical activities the most, and is a sore loser. It made game nights a bit difficult for the first few months until I just asked her if she wanted to play with the rest of us, and she indicated 'no' and I stopped trying to force it.

"Behind you," I called out to Nightwing, who had turned away from Arven's newest Pokemon, assuming herself invincible. Her eyes bulged nearly out of her head as she saw the Legendary Pokemon changing forms. Pulling its body in, Miraidons back legs shifted to become jets, and it extended the electric streamers by its head into wide wings. Shooting upwards, it rocketed past Nightwing, sending her tumbling through the air as it brushed by.

My competitive flying scorpion didn't take that lying down, and after regaining her bearings, she shot off through the sky, chasing after Miraidon.

"Whoa! Did you know they could do that?" Arven exclaimed, pointing up at the aerial game of tag that was now taking place between our Pokemon.

"It's certainly surprising." My non-answer was a little distracted as I kept a close eye on them. I don't think there will be a problem between them, but the other Miraidon was quite territorial, and Nightwing can sometimes be a bit too aggressive. She'd improved a lot with that under my training, but she was always going to be a tad more aggressive than my other Pokemon.

Luckily, my fears were overblown with the two of them engaging in a bit of roughhousing but having a good time before they called their game quits, landing down. I got the feeling Nightwing had declared herself the 'winner' of their impromptu game, simply because she still had the energy left to do so, while Miraidon's eyes had dimmed and they gave off a few whines. Looks like the stamina training paid off. Also, the speed training too. I expected her to be more maneuverable in the air, which she was, but she also kept up or slightly outraced Miraidon in some of the longer stretches. Considering I vaguely remember that box cover Legendary being quite a fast Pokemon, that's a testament to her experience. Or his inexperience. Or both.

"Let's get this guy inside, shall we? They seem tired out, and it's getting close to our lunch time too." I offered to Arven, who eagerly took me up on that idea.

"Yeah! What do you think they like to eat?"

Hiding a sly grin as I recalled my future knowledge, I suggested, "Why not try making them a sandwich?"

"You? You of all people are suggesting I make a sandwich?" Arven asked incredulously as we strode inside the kitchen as if we owned the place, much to the shock of the chefs. Well, pretty common for us, less so with a large, overly curious Pokemon behind us.

"Sorry! Could we use some space to make Arven's new friend a sandwich?" I asked them, while Arven tried to ensure Miraidon stayed outside, giving up as they kept poking their head inside to smell the food.

Turning back to Arven, I said, "I have no problem with most of the ingredients in a sandwich; I just don't like mixing them together. Besides, that's just a personal thing, and I know sandwiches are common here in Paldea, so might as well give Miraidon a try with the local cuisine."

He thought about it for a moment, nodding sagely as if all of my reasoning made perfect sense to him. "Ok then, let's get to work!" He pumped a fist up in the air as he cried out before grabbing some ingredients. "Yeeeeeeart! Hwacha! Hyah!" He grunted as he worked, and I couldn't help but grin at the infectious joy that radiated off from him.


***


While none of our culinary masterpieces caused quite as large a reaction as seen from the in-game version of Miraidon eating the protagonist's mother's sandwich or a Herba Mystica sandwich, they nonetheless seemed quite happy with our results. He polished off at least a dozen of them before the doorbell rang.

"That must be the others!" I yelled as I raced across the house to open the door. Alas, for all my speed and Aura, I couldn't beat Leah's sixth sense for these things, arriving right as she was opening up the door.

"Happy Birthday!" Lacey cheered, the girl rushing past Leah and glomping onto me.

"Oof. Hey there," I said, hugging her back, then disentangling myself to see her properly. She looked much the same as before, wearing a pastel pink dress and her gold and green hair clips above her ears. She was also carrying a small gift bag in one hand. Behind her, literally popping into existence, Amethio appeared alongside his Armarouge.

The older boy waited politely to be let inside, returning his Pokemon to his Pokeball, before greeting me. "Nemona, it's good to see you," he said, looking down at me. Wow, he's out of that old grunt uniform.

Amethio was wearing a predominantly purple outfit, with a dress shirt and black slacks, each highlighted with a bright purple stripe on opposite sides. He had on dress shoes and small black gloves. He was much taller than last I saw him as well, probably having gone through a growth spurt. Well, I probably will have another one soon, or a couple of ones. I remember Nemona was one of the taller characters in the game, only beat out amongst the kids by Eri and-

"Are you sure you're going the right way?"
"Of course I am, shut up, Kiki! It's not my fault this land is so confusing."

Catching those two distant voices on the wind, I let out a fond sigh before telling Miles. "Hey Miles, could you go and guide the last two guests here? They should be about halfway in between us and the Lighthouse."

The Rotom floating beside me said, "Sure thing, Nemona, bzzt." Then zipped off out the door and up the path between mine and Arven's house.

Turning to Amethio, I said, "Sorry about that, just trying to wrangle everyone together." I gave him a quick hug, which he stiffly accepted, somewhat unused to the action. "It's great to see you again too, both of you. I'm so glad you could make it. Oh, and feel free to have your Pokemon out and about; we've made sure to make the house safe for them."

"More like safe for the artwork and expensive furniture from half-a-dozen children and their Pokemon." Wow, it's impressive how Leah can discontentedly grumble, all while keeping a beatific smile on her face. The maid gracefully stepped by us, grabbing the gift bag from Lacey as she did so.

Lacey cheered and released her adorable Drilbur as we walked to the kitchen, chasing after her mole Pokemon, who was eagerly sniffing everything out and exploring the new house. Amethio hung back a bit and shook his head. "Armarouge teleported us from a fair distance away, so he needs a bit of time to rest up." Then, in a smaller voice, he added, "Should I- I didn't bring a gift with me, I'm sorry-"

Waving him off before he could continue, I said, "It's fine. Really, I'm just happy you're here. If you want to give me something, well, you can owe me a battle later!" I said with a grin that was absolutely not 'too wide' or 'like a Sharpedo' no matter what my friends said.

When we got to the kitchen, Amethio and I bumped into Lacey, who had stopped, frozen. The boy turned to yell at her for that before stopping himself. "What is… that?" He asked, staring at Miraidon, standing overtop of a plate covered in sandwich crumbs.

"They. Are. Gorgeous!" Lacey squee'd, rushing forward to examine the Paradox Pokemon. "What's their name? I've never seen a Pokemon like this before, and Daddy battles all kinds! Are they a boy or a girl?" As she peppered Arven with questions, she turned her head to look closer at Miraidon, who turned their head in turn, seeming just as fascinated with the girl as she was with them.

"Uh, hi. This is Miraidon, the super cool Pokemon my Dad got for me! Genderless, I think?" Arven's answers just led to more questions from Lacey, only interrupted by delighted giggles when Miraidon stretched their head out and licked the girl lightly.

"So that's the kind of reach a Professor has. Miraidon…" Amethio muttered, committing the Pokemon to memory. Ah right, the Explorers might be interested in that. Hopefully not, however. While the Pokemon might be seen as strong and 'rare', it won't have any legends attached to it. There's no reason for the Explorers or any other nefarious group to try and take them.

I heard them marching through the house behind me, so I wasn't surprised when Carmine and Kieran entered the kitchen. "Hey guys," I waved at them as they crowded in the kitchen to the sight of Arven being hounded by Lacey, Amethio and I talking to the side, and Drilbur riding atop Miraidon's back. "Welcome to the party."

"What- oh, yeah, Happy Birthday, and whatever." Carmine said with a small blush. "We left you our gift with the maid. Can't believe you guys have maids here." She seemed a bit overwhelmed with the whole experience. Fair, considering her whole home could fit into our living room.

"Is this everyone?" My sister asked, entering the room. I nodded, and she said, "We've got some snacks and stuff set up in the living room; c'mon, let's go there so you can let the chefs work in peace."

"Chefs too? Wowzers," I caught Kieran saying quietly as we moved over to the living room. The staff had set up long tables to the sides, piled with everything from the fanciest of treats to dollar store chips. Most of the furniture, besides a few couches, had been moved back or out of the room to give us and our Pokemon plenty of space to hang out. There was still a television attached to the wall, so at my suggestion (and Cyan's groans) we started playing recordings of her gym matches on it.

"You got lucky with that evolution there," Amethio pointed out as we reviewed Cyan's latest battle, which only occurred a few weeks ago.

My sister scoffed, "That was just the result of all our hard effort!"
"Primarina!" Her starter cried out in support as well.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other. They really have worked hard together this past year, but that was the third time Cyan went against Thyme, and without that evolution there, I don't think she would have won her eighth badge. I didn't voice those thoughts aloud, however, simply taking in the enjoyable sights of all my friends and Pokemon hanging out together.

Cyan had her whole team out, which consisted of Primarina, her fully evolved starter, elegantly lounging behind his trainer. Off to the side, her Kingdra drifted about, sampling a few Pokesnacks from the bowls laid out. Toxapex was climbing the walls, hanging off the ceiling, and generally enjoying cheering on her past self in the fights on screen and lurking over Quaxwell sitting underneath, the duck-like Pokemon carefully brushing the top of his head with his wings.

Amethio sat across from my sister on the couch, his Drakloak floating by his side. The Ghost Type was content to just watch what was going on, joined by Poltchageist, Carmine's starter, who was mixing different drinks within its clay pot body. I will never get that, but then again, there are people who drink juice straight out of a Shuckle's body, which I find even more disturbing.

The Kitakami kids were sitting in chairs near the coffee table. Carmine would constantly poke Kieran, pointing out stuff that was clearly happening on the screen, while her brother barely gave a token effort to waving her off, clearly used to this behavior. At their feet, undisturbed by the siblings' antics, Poochyena and Applin lay, looking out the window.

Lacey, Arven, and myself sat on a plush chaise lounge chair. The other two children were getting crumbs everywhere, while I was trying not to, an attempt with increased difficulty as Miraidon kept on bumping into the seat. Not on purpose, just as a result of getting used to this environment and being distracted, conversing with Maschiff and Miles.

Notch hovered above us, glaring down at the Paradox Pokemon - because they were a Dragon or because of the meta knowledge I had shared, I didn't know. Thankfully, the new Pokemon didn't notice, too caught up with their surroundings and unfamiliar with Notch's subtle body language. I'll have to tell them to knock it off. Speaking of which..

Nightwing hung off the back of the chair, and I wondered if anyone else noticed how she would lightning fast zip out a pincer to grab food from any plates as people passed by her. I should teach her Thief, though she does already know Knock Off. Plus, with all the work we've put into mastering her Hidden Ability, we haven't had time for her to learn the more supporting Moves she has access to. Assuming she sticks around after I give her the gift I picked out.

"Does everyone in Paldea wear that uniform while battling?" Carmine bluntly asked my sister as the videos had transitioned to showing some other students in their Gym battles.

"No, that's just the student uniform. You're still supposed to wear it on the Treasure Hunt, and for the battles after I decided to keep it consistent." Cyan responded. My sister was wearing a skirt and tank top currently, happy to be out of the school uniform for summer. I don't really get that, it's not like the uniform is uncomfortable or that she has her own 'style'.

Style was something important in this world; famous people and especially Trainers were known for distinctive signature outfits they constantly wore, like Steven Stone's suit, Cynthia's black dress, or Ash's cap.

"Seems boring to have everyone wearing the same thing like that. We might have uniforms, but at least we get a greater degree of customization at Blueberry Academy."

Carmine's words caused Lacey to whip around, jostling Drilbur in her lap. "Did you say Blueberry Academy! Are you going there?!"

"We-well, not right now," Kieran stuttered. "But we'll go when we're older. Our parents went to Blueberry, so they would have wanted us to go, probably." His voice died down as he spoke, barely a whisper at the end.

If Lacey recognized any of the subtext or delicacy of the topic there, she didn't show it, trampling over the topic with the lack of care only a child can have. "That's wonderful! My father will likely send me to Blueberry as well in a few years."

Carmine grinned. "I knew you were a smart one," she said to Lacey. "Nemona should join us at Blueberry instead of getting stuck with Uva uniforms."

"Hey! Our uniforms might not be the best, but we have the best school in any region! We have the most Pokemon Professors out of anywhere!" Not exactly true, but it's true that more people who have become Pokemon Professors have studied at Uva than any other. Because Uva is so well known for it's education, the best and brightest are often sent here to learn before going back to their home regions.

Arven cheered alongside my sister, standing up from his seat. "Yeah! My Dad went to Uva, and he's the smartest man alive!" Debatable. Very debatable.

A glance over at Amethio had the older boy quirk an eyebrow before shaking his head. He clearly wants nothing to do with this, and fair. Homeschool boy doesn't have a horse in this race. Seeing the other kids standing up to match Arven, I decided to intervene. About as good a time for this anyway. Besides, Dun is glaring at them yelling over the battles he's still watching.

"I'm applying to Blueberry Academy next year," I said loudly enough to be heard over the arguments and videos. It shouldn't have been that shocking, but for a few seconds the room was so quiet that you could have heard a penny hit the ground. "I've been doing a lot of research, and Blueberry Academy looks cool for a variety of reasons-"

Before I could extrapolate on those reasons, Carmine started cheering, and my big sister groaned. "Ha! In your face!" The Kitakami girl jeered.

"Sis…" Kieran pulled at his sister's arm, hoping to get her to show a bit more tact. He was grinning brightly at me though, so he seemed pretty happy with the news too.

"I can't believe you're betraying us," my sister sighed dramatically, and I rolled my eyes in response.

"Oh, this is going to be so fun going to school together!" Lacey clapped her hands together. I mean, that would be fun, but...

"Uh, won't I be graduating before you go to school? Any of you, actually," I added, looking at both her and my friends from Kitakami. "The school can accept students as young as ten, but the usual age students enroll is fourteen to sixteen."

"But- I- we'll just go early too!"

"Are you sure? It's going to be a lot of work to study that hard." I questioned the tall girl, ignoring the fact that it wouldn't be all that much work for myself. Not that I plan on slacking off there, but there are going to be other things taking up my attention this upcoming year.

Carmine was undaunted; if anything, she was even more enthused by my 'challenge.' "As if I would possibly let my rival surpass me! Kiki and I will study day and night if we have to!"

"Aw man," her brother said, slumping his shoulders as he resigned himself to that fate.

"Your rival? If anything, she's my rival." Amethio bristled, the older boy making his presence known and reminding us all that he wasn't that much older than the rest of us.

"I'm gonna go all-out too! Let's go to Blueberry Academy together!" Lacey cheered.

The mood seemed like it might have cleared up, were it not for the sight of Arven out of the corner of my eye. The young boy stood there, his fists trembling at his sides and expression blocked by his hair, until he turned suddenly and cried, "No! You can't just leave like that." Looking into his eyes, I could see tears already starting to well up in them. "All of you going off to some foreign school."

Carmine frowned "Well, don't blame us, just come along too." She said insensitively, and I winced. The boy himself started crying too. I love Arven like a brother, but we both know that he's just not some super genius and especially has trouble with book learning. He won't be able to make it in such a course.

Amethio gave an attempt of his own, perhaps correctly intuiting that Arven wouldn't be able to enroll at Blueberry. "Don't get so fixated on this school stuff, you'll learn plenty outside of it."

"Hey buddy, it'll be ok-" I tried to reach out to him only for him to knock my hand away. The action was so shocking that I couldn't even stop it.

"Arven!" I said sharply, my raised voice causing Miraidon to move to his Trainer's side, growling lowly - and almost as instantly, Dun had interposed himself between me and the Paradox Pokemon, glaring up at him. Dun might not be the fastest of my Pokemon, but he's sharp enough to pick up on such growing tension and ready himself to intervene.

Arven continued, too caught up to listen to me. "No! It won't! You're just going to leave me, like- I won't let you! You still haven't applied yet, right?"

"Well no, there's a whole year I have to wait, and we can hang out a ton then-" I tried, but Arven stared me dead in the eyes.

"I challenge you to a battle! If I win, you have to stay here." The Professor's son declared, while all the other children looked on uncomfortably. There was an etiquette (as well as actual laws) to what you could demand from a battle, and anything more than pocket change was seen as crass at best.

And unbeknownst to him, he has the power of a Legendary on his side, albeit an entirely untrained one. Part of me just wants to reject this, that it isn't right. But the rest of me... for the rest of my plans, I'll need to face incredible challenges to stop the future. Possibly even face another Miraidon. And hopefully, just maybe, I'll be able to reach Arven through our clash.

"Fine, I accept," I said to the surprised gasps from the rest of the guests. "Let's go down to the beach; we'll fight there."

Arven blinked, as if he hadn't thought that would happen, before scrunching up his face in confrontation. Maschiff looked up worriedly at his Trainer's side but dutifully marched after the boy as he stomped off to the arena.

I followed, the other kids awkwardly trailing behind. I recalled most of my Pokemon, mentally preparing for the fight. On the surface, Nightwing and Notch are the best suited to this battle, each one immune to one of the Types that Miraidon has. However, Miles in Mow Form has double resistance against the Electric Type and a few Moves that I think will be better suited to win this fight.

Taking my place opposite Arven, I fiddled around with my bag for a moment, getting what I needed ready. I could hear the boy gulping, the weight of this match pressing down on him now that he had a moment to think. He believes this is hopeless, he's never won a battle against me before. But still, he's trying. He'll give it his all, so I have to do the same.

"Are you ready or what?" He asked, nerves getting the best of him as he snapped at me. While some small part of me was upset at his behavior, I understood all too well where it was coming from.

"I'm ready," I pulled out the lawn mower from my bag, tossing it up for Miles to shoot out of my phone and possess. The red lawn mower was surrounded by a green plasmic field as my Rotom took control of it. Miles looked confused for a second before its teeth settled into a jagged grin, recognizing my strategy. Facing our opponent straight ahead, I asked. "How about you?"

Arven hesitated for a moment, and I got worried that I might need to hurry him up for my plan to work before he put Miraidon up first. "Alright, Miraidon, let's win this battle!" When Miraidon, now fully recharged and back in battle mode, entered the arena, electricity danced all around them.

With a tap of my foot, I triggered the arnea barrier as well as an automated battle countdown to speed things up. Small speakers from the edges announced, "Battle begins in three, two, one, start!"

"Trick!" I immediately yelled, hoping it wasn't too late, and thankfully, it was not. Glowing a faint pink Psychic energy, the Toxic Orb within their body was shot out of Miles' spinning front blades. Miraidon was entranced, instinctively snatching it out of the air and holding it in their mouth.

"What?" Arven said, looking confused, before recognizing what the orb was. "No, spit that out!" Miraidon looked confused, like they didn't understand the command, still proudly holding it in their mouth. The Trick was indeed part mental trick, and it was hard for Miraidon to shake off, at least until it was too late.

After a moment, they did spit it out, but that was only in response to the pain, the virulent poison spreading from their beak-like metallic mouth. Miraidon whimpered, and I felt a little bad for the Pokemon, who might have never experienced anything like that before pushing those thoughts away. We'll heal them up later. Pokemon are naturally good at battling and dealing with stuff like this, none of this is going to be permanent.

As I rationalized, Arven recovered. "Whatever, just hit them!" He shouted, pointing at Miles. The Paradox Pokemon let out a burst of electricity that ripped through the entire arena, giving no room to dodge. The barrier flashed and wobbled slightly from the sheer force, and Miles winced as the electricity coursed through them, in spite of their resistances. Damn! I knew that they'd be powerful, but without any training... well, I can fight smarter, not just harder.

"Eerie Impulse." An odd sound was coming out of Miles, the electrical currents from the Terrain Miraidon had created reacting weirdly nearby. For the Paradox Pokemon's part, they began growling and shaking their limbs, like they were trying to brush off an unpleasant sensation.

"Shake it off! Use umm, Dragon Pulse!" Miraidon squinted their digital eyes for a moment before opening their mouth wide and letting loose a stream of multicolored yellow and purple-ish fire. Miles took this attack about as well as the first, wobbling in the air. Damn, my debuff strategy will only work so well, I need to put them off balance before trying anything else.

"Confuse Ray!" The glowing balls of light Miles conjured hit Miraidon smack in the face, leaving them dazed.

"Dragon Pulse, again! We're so close!"

Miraidon was still fixed onto my Pokemon, so I decided to counter with a quick call for "Protect!" It was close, the Dragon Type attack nearly hitting Miles before the shield came up around them, blocking the strike.

While we would have been open for a follow-up attack, Miraidon's gaze began to slip, darting all around the arena. Firing Dragon Breath up in a wide arc that completely went around us, I called out "Hex," thinking I could get some damage in.

We did, the conjured shades surrounding the Dragon Type and causing them to thrash about in pain. But that same pain freed them from the Confusion that had been ailing them and led to a fierce counterattack. Great gouts of dragonfire mixed with pulses of electricity, consuming the whole field.

Miles cried out in pain before I tried, "Protect!" The new forcefield held for a few seconds, but under sustained barrage from a Legendary, it broke and Miles was knocked out. Returning them to their Pokeball, I considered my options.

They're badly hurt by all that poison. I might be able to just stall them out by having Gligar burrow underground. "Go, Nightwing! Dig!"

"Stop them!" Arven desperately shouted, and Miraidon complied in a very basic manner. Bursting forward and scooping Nightwing up with their claws, they tossed her up in the air before they could sink beneath the arena.

"Dragon Blast" was Arven's follow-up 'command' and one that had me frowning. C'mon Arven! You know that's not a real attack. Miraidon understood it well enough to continue blasting dragonfire at Nightwing, who artfully dodged around the worst of the attack, only getting clipped here and there.

"Keep at it, just dodge them." While Miraidon could keep them from digging down, they couldn't do so and hit Nightwing with their shots while doing so.

Miraidon wasn't looking so great either, wincing more as the poison wracked their body with no recourse. "Gah, just- hit everywhere!" Arven's frustrated command led to Miraidon letting off a great burst of electricity, which I thought would do nothing… only for Nightwing to flinch in pain as the Shockwave hit her.

"What?!" My mind raced for answers. How did they- damn it, Pikachu managed to shock Ground Types too, they're a Legendary. Type matchup charts are merely a suggestion for them. And if they can hurt a Ground Type like that, then maybe...

With a reckless idea taking root in my head, I shouted, "Sand Attack! Tailwind, together!" Nightwing had fallen close enough for her to dive down and smack the ground with her tail, launching a bunch of sand at Miraidon's eyes while simultaneously flapping her wings furiously to kick up the wind behind her.

"Shockwave!" Well, at least he's calling out the correct attacks now. That was all I had time to think before the lightning sparked off the dust in the air, creating a massive explosion.

"What? What did you do?" Arven demanded, looking around in shock. Miraidon was shaking off the blow, only a little hurt by the attack and looking more confused than anything.

"It's called a dust explosion. A spark can trigger it when there's large quantities of dust in the air. Usually, this doesn't happen from Ground Type Moves, their nature neutralizing the effect, but Miraidon is so strong that they're actually overcoming that. I'm taking what you used against Nightwing and using it against you!"

"Stop it," he sniffled, and suddenly I felt bad about how smug I had been acting. "You and Dad and Mom, you're all so smart, and you keep on leaving me! It's not fair!"

My heart broke a little. "Arven, I'm not leaving you. We'll still have plenty of time to hang out during summer breaks, and we'll call and message each other tons too."

His sniffles dried up. "And you're not leaving for a year, right? We can play for all that time."

"We'll play together tons, maybe not all of it. I do want to go on my journey before I go to school-"

"Or you can just stay here and never go to that dumb school!" Ignoring Carmine's 'Hey!' in the background, Arven continued, commanding his Paradox Pokemon. "Take Down that- wait, where'd she go?"

Miraidon mimicked their Trainer, scanning the field but not seeing the Gligar anywhere. Then the ground it was hovering above shifted, causing them to look down for just a moment as Nightwing burst out of it, the earth and her body slamming into the Electric Type as she blasted up.

Miraidon let out a howl, following the Flying scorpion with some vicious blows, heavily beating into her. Outrage? Shit, they're pretty much grappling, too close for Protect, at least for Nightwing, she's not as skilled with the Move as Dun or Miles.

"Ice Fang" was my last ditch attempt to stop the onslaught, and it worked. Her Ice coated fangs sunk into the Dragon Type and caused them to recoil, falling back down. "Bulldoze!" I cried, and Nightwing swooped after the falling Pokemon, beating them into the ground.

With one last, pained screech, Miraidon collapsed, half buried under the ground, defeated. Arven slowly recalled his Pokemon before trying to send out Maschiff. Trying being the key word, as the small dog Pokemon shook his head, refusing to move forward. "C'mon, don't be afraid!" Arven tried to cajole him, but Maschiff still stubbornly refused.

"He's not afraid," I said calmly, causing Arven to turn around as he saw me walking across the arena towards.

"Hey, you're supposed to stay over there," Arven shot at me before turning back to Maschiff and stopping. He sees what I'm seeing. Maschiff isn't shaking in fear or hiding behind Arven's leg.

"With how much Miraidon beat her up, this is probably the best shot he's ever had against us, and Maschiff is giving it up. Because he knows this isn't right." Arven's starter nodded his head, barking in agreement at my words.

He looked up at me, crying. "You're not going to leave me alone? You promise?"

"I promise. You will always be welcome at our house, and I'll always try to make time for you, no matter how far apart we are. And besides, you'll never be alone, because you'll always have your Pokemon by your side, too." I gestured at Miraidon's Pokeball and at Maschiff. The dog leapt up to Arven - and started glowing.

All of us gasped as the dog grew in size, his fur becoming darker and shaggier. He also grew much heavier, nearly quadrupling in weight as he flattened the boy, knocking him down and licking the tears off his face.

"Oof! Oh Arceus, you're heavy now," Arven groaned, but there was still a smile on his tear-stained face as he tried futilely to push Mabosstiff off.

We all laughed a little, the mood of the group brightening as the situation was resolved. Nightwing returned to her Pokeball and I was just about to suggest we go to the music room so I could play some stuff for them when my phone started ringing.

After a second, I remembered I would have to pick it up since Miles was still knocked out and not possessing it. Pulling it out of my pocket, I saw the caller ID. "Oh, it's Friede. Probably just looking to wish me a happy birthday," I said, more for the benefit of the group than myself.

"Hey Friede. Oh, why could you be calling me on this da-"

"I did it!" He shouted from the other end, exuberance clear in his voice.

"Oh, umm, great for you. What is it exactly that you did?"

"Well, it's more like what we did- wait did I forget to acknowledge you on these papers? Whoops, I'll fix that," he said manically. "You gave me the inspiration and advice I needed to run a successful project to recreate a Hisuain variant of Pokemon!" Oh neat, I'm glad I helpe- "We have a new Hisuian Zorua!"

"What." My blood ran cold as my mind raced, thinking back to our prior conversations. I said it had the best Typing but I never told him how to- did he, did he actually torture a Zorua to death? Kill it and make it hate him so much that it came back to life as a Hisuian Zorua!?

I tuned out his meaningless exclamations of joy and self-praise, interrupting him to ask, "Where are you?"

"Oh? I'm over at this abandoned mansion slash Zoroark reserve; it's not far from Zapapico, I'll send you the coordinates." The phone 'binged' alerting me to the message I got with the location.

"I'll be there soon."

"Uh ok. No rush or anything, oh, and happy birthd-" I hung up on him, taking a deep breath.

"FUCK!" Yelling at the sky unfortunately, did nothing but cause all the other kids to fall completely silent. Racking my brain, I tried to think about how this could have happened.

Everything I've done to stop one mad Professor from messing with the future, and I go and help another revive past horrors to the world. Ok, stop catastrophizing; everyone is staring at me and freaking out because I'm freaking out. Just... take a deep breath and assess the situation. Which I can't do accurately from here.

"Are you alr-" I marched by my sister trying to reach out to me and stopped right before Amethio.

"I need you to take me here," I said, shoving my phone in his face. "Does Armarouge have any teleportation locations nearby there?"

"Wh- just Zapapico, which is several kilometers away... and you still want me to take you there, don't you?"

"Yes." I answered tersely.

"Wait, what's going on? We should go with you to whatever this is," Cyan said, still looking a little freaked out at me.

Lacey nodded her head. "If it's serious, we can come too and help."

"No, you can't," Amethio said, shaking his head as he released Armarouge. "That's a pretty far jump, even with just me and Nemona going there. We can't take the full group."

Arven had managed to push Mabosstiff off and gathered with the others, wondering what was going on. "Nemona?"

"Sorry everyone, I have to- screw it, I'll explain later. Let's go." Grabbing on to Armarouge's hand with Amethio on the other side, my last glance was of my friends' and sister's worried faces before we blinked out of existence.


Thank you all for being so patient with me as we (finally) start going towards the Journey part of the fic. This arc has been about Nemona moving past her worries, which I know plenty of people have pointed out weren't as big an issue as she was making them to be, but I know myself and that it takes me a while to start such large endeavors. Hopefully this extra large chapter... and the cliffhanger, makes up for that, haha.

Nemona's Current Team:

-'Dun' (Dudunsparce, Male, Normal Type, Starter)
- Tera Type: Normal
- Held Item: Expert Belt
- Abilities: Run Away, Serene Grace
- 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, Tailwind, Roost, Ancient Power, Drill Run, Hyper Drill, Triple Yawn, Ice Spinner, Solar Beam, Lunge, Flamethrower, Aqua Tail, Coil, Hurricane, Outrage, Smart Strike

- 'Miles' (Rotom, Genderless, Electric/Form dependent Type)
- Tera Type: Electric
- Held Item: Life Orb
- Ability: Levitate
- Moves Known: Astonish, Confuse Ray, Thundershock, Double Team, Hyper Voice, Protect, Thunder, Rain Dance, Will O' Wisp, Nasty Plot, Hex, Sunny Day, Substitute, Foul Play, Trick, Discharge, Shadow Ball, Eerie Impulse, Reflect, Light Screen

- 'Nightwing' (Gligar, Female, Flying/Ground Type)
- Tera Type: Flying
- Held Item: Flying Gem
- Ability: Hyper Cutter, Immunity
- Moves Known: Poison Sting, Sand Attack, Harden, Knock Off, Fury Cutter, Acrobatics, Bulldoze, Quick Attack, Psychic Fangs, Poison Tail, Slash, Gunk Shot, Dig, Ice Fang, Lunge, U-Turn, Protect, Tailwind

- 'Notch' (Carbink, Genderless, Rock/Fairy Type)
- Tera Type: Rock
- Held Item: Babiri Berry
- Ability: Clear Body
- Moves Known: Harden, Tackle, Guard Split, Flail, Ancient Power, Light Screen, Reflect, Iron Defense, Body Press, Stealth Rocks, Psychic, Smack Down, Trick Room, Dazzling Gleam, Rock Polish, Power Gem, Stone Edge, Protect, Spikes
 
Chapter 45 New
"Wait up!" Amethio called, trailing behind me already. With a glance behind, I shook my head.

"Just wait there, I'll be back." He cursed (impressively so for someone of his isolated living conditions. Personally, I blamed Coral) and gave up on following after me, unable to match my pace despite his longer legs. With Dun beating the air behind me, I surged forward, racing across the barren landscape.

Immediately upon arriving at Zapapico, I found my bearings and began sprinting across the mines as the fastest route to the site Friede was at. At least the fastest route as the bird flies, haha, I thought to myself, leaping over a ten-meter pit with ease.

The mirth on my face died quickly as I recalled why I was here in the first place. How could Friede, so friendly have- no, don't jump to conclusions. Just focus on getting there and then finding out what the heck happened.

It was a difficult prospect; my mind was constantly thinking about stuff, and at the moment, I found it hard to think about anything other than this experiment. Trying to replay in my mind if there was anything I had given, any clue I'd let slip about Hisuian Zoroarks and their specific 'creation' process.

And I've got Turo up to stuff too. I can't just ignore that problem any more or think I still have time. He's already begun pulling Paradox Pokemon into our time. Miraidon had been a wakeup call there.

Despite Arven not being at the top of his game when he battled me and not being as skilled a battler as me even when he was doing fine emotionally (though he'd improved quite a bit this past year), he had still nearly won. The other Paradox Pokemon might be weaker than Miraidon, but they're still plenty strong and very focused at what they do. I need to aim beyond just beating an Elite Four to match up to them, if indeed I do have to fight.

Part of me still hoped I could talk things out with the mono-focused Professor, but I was worried that he'd ignore or reject what I had to say as well.

Nightwing glided down, returning from where she had flown off to and keeping pace at my side. "Gligar, gli gli." She said over the wind racing in my ears.

"You couldn't see them? That's fine," I said, grunting as a high leap took me over the lip of the canyon and onto grassier terrain. "They're illusionists; they probably have something in place to stop Flying Types from catching them from above." Looking out at the forest, I said, "Let's go," and began marching through, looking for any signs of the camp.

***

It didn't take too long, though a fair part of that was the fact that I had the exact coordinates on Miles, who was able to check them against where we were. Without that, I might have been going around for a few hours, the well-crafted illusions leading me off-course.

Passing through the veil, my eyes took in the small grove. Where before I had been convinced a solid shrub blocked the way, I could see dozens of Zorua, the young kits running around, chasing after each other and making 'spooky' illusions to play pranks on one another. I don't think Tinkaton have that many fangs, i.e., any number higher than zero. Never seen a Flamigo look that demonic, either. I wonder why the illusions covering their home were of a higher quality than the figments they're creating here? Is it a result of them working together, or just the Zoroark leaders being that skilled?

The black-furred fox-like Pokemon ran about on red paws, matching the red tufts of fur on top of their heads and around their faces. Most of the Zorua had darker patches of fur around their necks. A few of their evolutions, the Zoroarks, stood by the main den, watching over their smaller family members. They had a similar coloring to the younger Pokemon, but stood on two legs and generally had a far more humanoid appearance.

Said leaders/parents noticed me the moment I entered, three of them looking over at me and beginning to bare their teeth. In response, I recalled my team (who had been running and flying by my side), gesturing a hand to the white tent set up off to the side, a few scientists exiting and walking to a nearby all-terrain vehicle. I could tell they were still wary of me, they were giving me a chance, seeing me by myself as not a threat to them. To be fair to them, they haven't seen Notch yet. They might get freaked out about a Fairy Type as strong as Notch being this close.

Probably also because my attention was caught by the thin but incredibly wide metal sheet that hung over the area. It was held aloft by some strategic loops of rope and the thick canopy overhead. Something about the dark gray metal felt weird, seeming to flicker in my vision even as I stared head-on at it.

"Nemona!" Friede's familiar voice rang out, the young Professor eagerly waving at me from inside the tent. "Wow, you look puffed, did you sprint all the way here?" His puzzled look was quickly replaced by the enthusiasm that seemed to be nearly bursting out of him. "Come inside! I can't wait to show you her!"

Not trusting myself to speak yet, I nodded, pushing through the flaps after him to enter the tent. Inside there were all kinds of spectrometers and equipment. Desks with papers haphazardly scattered as if they had been recently rifled through, the staff looking for something. The main focus of the room, though, was the Zorua standing on a scale, a video camera pointed at her. They really did it; that's a Hisuian Zorua.

While similar in size and shape to the regular Zorua, her coloration was a vivid contrast. She had pale gray and white fur, with tips of light red. Where the tips of the other's fur would be spikey, hers drifted about, as if caught on an unseen wind. The fur around her mane was thicker as well, puffing up like a scarf. Her eyes weren't the blue of the other Zorua's either, but a shade of amber almost identical to my own.

"What happened here?" I demanded, turning to Friede. He was wearing the same uniform as the other researchers here, save for the goggles pushed up above his eyes. His lab coat was plain, save for a symbol on the breast pocket of some geometric shapes looking not unlike a Tera Crystal cluster found in the wild. I knew it was the Exceed company, from what the man himself had told me, though I knew little overall of their goal here.

"Whoa, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Friede teased, a smile on his face. "I tried to tell you that you didn't need to rush over. The others are going back to the main lab to get some more equipment to test things, as we don't have all the answers anyway. She's the only one that turned so far, and they didn't have any clue why."

"Isn't this your research?" I asked, my brow furrowed as Friede scratched the back of his awkwardly.

"Well, yes, this is my project. I designed the experiment in its entirety - with the advice you gave me. Exceed might bankroll all of this, but they keep me busy with plenty of other studies as well."

"What advice!" Friede took a step back at my shouting, and I took some breaths to calm down. "I'm sorry, I'm just- today has been a bad day, and I have no clue on what is going on here or how this could have happened."

There was concern in the Professor's eyes, and he pulled out two chairs, sitting down in one of them. "Do you need a minute? Whatever's bothering you, we can deal with it. I just thought you'd be happy to know that your theory about Distortion energy and Hisuian variants - or at least Zorua variants - turned out to be true."

Blinking, I recalled the messages we'd sent on the topic almost two years ago. "They were? But that- possibly for others, I thought, but for Zorua, it should be different..." My voice trailed off as I tried to put the pieces together. Could I have been mistaken? I don't know for certain that everything in this world is the same.

Instead of taking the offered seat, I kneeled down in front of the Hisuian Zorua, who looked up cautiously at me. "Hi there. I know this might be confusing, but... did you die before you became like this?"

Friede shot out of his seat. "Nemona! What kind of question is-" Zorua nodded her head, the action small but unmistakable. "-That?" He finished, shoulders slumping as he took it in. "What- how could this happen?"

"I don't know. But I do know how Hisuian Zorua's were made in the past." Snapping his gaze away from the desks and monitors, Friede turned to me.

"You knew, and you never told me?!"

"You didn't let me know that you were even doing this!"

"I forgot!" We both stood silent for a moment before he looked away. "Ok, my bad there. But what is the secret? We've been searching for so long. Until she came along, Exceed was about to scrap the experiment."

Looking around, I asked, "Is this place secure? Anything being recorded here?"

Another concerned glance, and Friede strode about the lab, turning off cameras and other recording devices that might have picked up on our conversation. "What is it? What makes this so bad? Obviously, dying is one thing, but you're acting like it's something worse than just that."

"As you guessed, Hisuian Zoruas are created through death. But not just any kind of death. Back in ancient Hisui, the humans didn't get along with the Pokemon. They would see them as monsters and beasts, driving them from their homes, leaving them to starve. Killing them. The hatred of such cruelty would call the recently slain Zoroarks back into their bodies as-"

I was interrupted by some shrill 'yips,' the Zorua marching forward and shaking her head. "Wait, that's not what happened here? But you did die under their watch, correct?" Nods to both my questions, the second more shaky than the first, with her shivering slightly at the memory.

Sitting down, I patted my lap, inviting her to come up, which she did, quickly hopping up. I petted her, running my hands through her fur and suppressing my own shivers. She's cold to the touch. A sign of her Ghostly nature, I suppose.

While I did that, Friede hunted through some of the papers, his expression more grim than I had ever seen before. "Here it is," he said in a monotone, holding up a few papers and reading them aloud. "Subject 34 beta has shown signs of being sickly from birth, the runt of her litter. Nothing nothing nothing," he skimmed through a few pages. "Questions raised about her health under the synthetic Ghost Plate have been raised with no clear answers. Considered removing the subject from the experiment but suspended pending further approval… What further approval? I never heard about this!?"

Friede regained himself as he looked over at the Zorua snuggled up in my lap. "It ends with saying the subject- sorry, that she had disappeared for a few days before reappearing like this."

"Disappeared for a few days?" I know they're illusionists, but that feels odd to be unaccounted for for such a stretch of time.

With a sigh, Friede collapsed in the chair beside me. "When Pokemon are sick, they'll sometimes try and find some place to wait it out. Some small cave or burrow where no one else will find them. It's not exactly rational, but... it could explain how she died and no one noticed."

"It would make sense," I said, stopping my petting for a moment before the Zorua nipped me. "Ow!" It didn't really hurt that much, but still! I didn't like pets trying to bite me for attention before they were sentient creatures. Looking down at her big eyes, I sighed and resumed my petting, noticing something.

"Your fur is rather tangled; how did it get like this?" I asked, slowly combing it out with my fingers. She answered by crafting a shaky illusion in the air in front of us.

It showed a pack of Zorua playing in the fields, one of them trailing behind, getting tired, but the others would loop around and play with her too, occasionally. But then, as she got more and more tired, she found a small burrow and climbed down it, shivering. The whole scene faded to a blur of white before she emerged, but different; a distorted parody of herself as she was now.

Other Zorua would run away in fear, or when the few brave did play with her, they'd kick her around, too rough. Then she'd lash out and start battling for real before the (exaggeratedly massive) Zoroarks would come and break things up. Then some researchers come by and grab her up, taking her to the tent, where the illusion ended.

Breaking the silence first, I said, "First things first, you aren't a monster, you look gorgeous."

"Ua," she quietly barked, not quite believing me but happy I said it.

"Secondly, you're an excellent storyteller; thank you for sharing that with us. I think we have a better picture of what went on now. I don't think the other Zorua were trying to hurt you, by the way." Not the ones that didn't avoid you at least. I noticed she became more aggressive there too. Just a response to the reactions of her pack, or something to do with her new form? I might have been off the mark about the way Zorua could become Hisuian Zoruas, but I'm pretty sure their signature Move will still be 'Bitter Malice.'

She tilted her head up at me, and I said, "They're all Dark Types. Before you changed, you resisted Dark Type Moves, so a Bite here or there wouldn't be too much of a problem. But now Dark is the only Type you're weak too."

The Zorua still seemed a little confused, so Friede simplified it. "Basically, their attacks hurt you four times as much as they would have before." Her head drooped, and tears started forming in the corners of her eyes. "Whoa, hey, it's- it'll be alright."

"It will. While it's been unfortunate given your situation, your new Typing is really strong. The strongest in the world," I tried to reassure her. She didn't seem overly convinced, hopping off my lap to stare forlornly at the sounds of Zorua playing outside.

Releasing Dun, I said to him and Miles, "Hey, could you two keep her company for a minute?" They went off to cheer her up while I turned back to Friede. "So."

"So," he repeated, seeming just as lost as I did. "Where did you get this knowledge from? Some secret book, a traveling bard, some dark cult-" he frowned as I laughed before smirking and chuckling a bit himself. "Okay, maybe a bit far out there, but still. You gotta give me something."

Biting my tongue, I held back my immediate thought. I don't have to give you anything! "Does it matter where I got my knowledge from if it's right?"

"Is it though? You weren't wholly correct about how Hisuian Zoruas come to be."

Crossing my arms, I retorted, "Not that far off either. Are you going to continue the experiment if I don't tell you then? Killing them in different ways until you see what doesn't stick?"

"Fuck! Of course not." He got up, the motion pushing the chair back a little, the sound drawing the Pokemon's attention off to the side to us for a moment before my Pokemon distracted Zorua again. "I just- I was so hopeful that this would work. It seemed like a miracle, and now I find out it's the exact opposite."

Getting up, I patted him on the shoulder. "... I'm sorry. I was stressed out; my birthday party didn't go great, my best friend got mad that I'm going to a different school, and then you called, and I jumped to the worst conclusion..." I shook my head. "But that doesn't excuse my behavior. I was rude and confrontational to you. You didn't know, you aren't trying to do bad things here."

After a minute, I added "Arceus."

"What?"

"You asked where I got the knowledge from? I got it from Arceus." At my words, Notch popped out of their Pokeball all on their own. "Oh, hello there."

"What," he repeated, his tone flat.

"Notch here tends to get a bit curious whenever I mention Arceus or some of the big legends." At the look on his face, I snickered. "Sorry, sorry. But the long story short is that I did get a lot of knowledge from, as near as I can tell, Arceus themselves."

"Really now?" He crossed his arms, unconvinced.

"Yup. Or at least, knowledge enough to know for a fact that Arceus exists, and the severe doubt that I could have the knowledge I have if it wasn't allowed for by Them. Don't have proof though, and it's not a two-way line of communication here." In fact, the opposite really; I know enough to know that I won't ever be allowed to see Their divine llama-ness. "That is how I know things about how Hisuian Zoruas come to be, or how to evolve an Ursaring to an Ursaluna."

"You know- ah forget it." He waved me off, picking up some papers and stacking them.

"You sure? I'm sorry this didn't work out, and the Ursaluna trick doesn't involve anything terrible, just super obscure-"

"No, it's fine." He said in a tone that told me he was anything but. With the exuberance completely torn out of him, I saw just how deep the bags under his eyes were. "I doubt I'd get permission to run an experiment like this again after I kil- end this one. What am I even going to tell my bosses?" He wondered aloud.

I opened my mouth and closed it a few times, not able to find anything to say. Glancing over at me, he said, "Can I ask you for a favor?"

"Sure, any- I'll try to help."

"So guarded," he muttered, likely not realizing I could pick his words up, and I flinched. He's not wrong. There's a reason why I have few friends, and it's because most people pick up on the fact that I don't act like a child should. Hopefully I haven't driven away some of the few people who looked past that today.

"I really am sorry. If there's any way I can help with your work-"

"I was thinking of quitting anyway," he said casually.

"Huh? Why? Is Exceed a bad company-" The Professor shook his head vigorously.

"Nothing like that, they've been fine to me. Honestly, they treated me quite well considering my age and inexperience. Though I will have to be checking in on some of the supervisors who should have been reporting things to me."

He shook his head, pushing that aside for the moment as he continued. "Before I got word that this had 'succeeded', I'd been feeling like I was just going through the motions, you know?" I nodded my head, and he snorted. "Why am I not surprised that an eight-year-old girl would know that feeling?"

"Blame the llama God, not me."

"Llama, what- nevermind, don't want to know. I take it that's also why you think I should stay away from Professor Turo's research?"

"Yeah, he's already started some stuff that's going to go real bad - for himself and possibly everyone else involved. I've got an idea on how to stop him, though. Assuming I can't talk it out with him. I don't think he'll be as reasonable as you are, unfortunately." I offered him an appologetic smile, and he gave me a sad one of his own. Then he ruffled my hair. Like a jerk! I guess I'll let it go this time.

"Sounds like you'll need a strong team for that. Maybe one with room for a Pokemon with the 'best Type combination'?" He pointed a thumb to the Zorua in the corner of the room, doing different 'impressions' by transforming into Miles and Dun.

"Yeah, I'd love to have her on my team! If she's willing, of course."

"Ha, I think you've made a pretty big first impression on her, no worries there. And it'll make things a lot easier when trying to clear up this experiment if she's not around for any other scientists to try and get their hands on her."

"You sure you don't need any help? My family could definitely help you if you need to get hired by someone else." Laughing, the man gave me a sad smile.

"No, trust me, kid, I'll be fine. I'm just going to think of it as an extended vacation while I find myself." Hesitantly, I nodded, trusting him to have a handle on things if he said he did. I better message him plenty too. I'll make sure we stay in contact so he remembers me if he needs any help.

Walking over to Zorua, I said, "How's it going?" In a puff of smoke, she made the Dudunsparce illusion fade away (it was decent, but I knew Dun better than I knew myself, so even a slight discoloration of his blue scales was a clear sign that it was her to me).

"Zorua, zorua!" She cheered, and I smiled.

"Glad to see that you're having fun. We have to go soon, but!" I quickly added seeing a flash of disappointment in her eyes, and her lips pulled back slightly to show her teeth. "I was wondering if you wanted to join us?"

"Rua?"

"Well, it would entail getting registered to a Pokeball, and then traveling with us. I'm planning on becoming a Champion-ranked Trainer, that's one of the strongest Trainers in the land. So you could learn some stuff about battling too, if you wanted to do that."

She considered it for a moment before looking bashful, glancing over at my other Pokemon and the flaps to the outside. "Are you wondering how well you'd be treated?" She didn't give me a sign one way or the other, so I just continued, "I can promise you that while we might push you hard if you're going to battle with us, no one is going to pick on you, not on my team. I don't think other people will pick on you either; with how rare you are, I bet people will adore you."

Her eyes grew wide at that, and I could practically see the stars dancing in them. Scratch that; I can see the stars dancing there. Unconscious illusion effect? Cute, though something we might need to train her to avoid in battles.

That was all the convincing she needed to leap at one of the Pokeballs on my belt, knocking it to the ground and falling down herself since she both failed to hit the button, and it was Dun's Pokeball.

The land snake slithered up and gave her a mild rebuke, passing the Pokeball back to me with his mouth. Putting it back on my belt (and absolutely not squealing at how adorable Zorua looked with her face scrunched up and pawing at her nose after bumping it), I pulled out a spare Pokeball from my bag.

"You ready?" She nodded, and I clicked the button, the red beam of light absorbing her, the ball shaking for a few seconds as she got situated before clicking. "Alright, we've got a new teammate!"

***

After I talked to the Zoroarks (Zorua and I briefly explained to her parents what was happening and got their blessing to leave), I said goodbye to my Professor friend. Friede thanked me again for helping him and once more brushed off any offers to help, saying that he was going to spend some time in his hometown in Kanto and see some old faces.

Then we marched back to Zapapico, seeing Amethio on the outskirts. "Hey," I said, waving at him. He stood with his arms crossed, stone faced. "Umm, sorry about dragging you out here for this."

"What is 'this' anyway?" He spat out, still looking pissed at me. Fair. I don't want to get into the nitty-gritty with him, but I can probably give him a general overview. Not like I can hide her forever.

Pulling out Zorua's Pokeball I released her in front of him. "This is who we were helping." She looked at him, mildly curious and sniffing around at Amethio's feet.

"Who- is that a Zorua? I've never seen a Zorua looking like that before." His insensitive words pricked Zorua's pride, and she turned her nose up at him (a difficult task considering she barely came up to his knees).

"She is quite special, that's right. Because of that, she was having some issues back in her home, and so, to make a long story short, she's coming home with me." Don't ask any more questions, don't ask any more-

"Does she have a name?" His startled me, coming from a different angle than I expected. "Just, you give names to all of your other Pokemon."

"Uhh no, not yet." To the Zorua, I asked, "Would you like a name?"

"Zorua," was her reply, and I bit back a chuckle.

"I meant a personal name, just for you, not the same as your species name. Some Pokemon and Trainers like them to signify them as 'different' from wild Zorua. It's harder for people to get than Pokemon," I added on at her bewildered look.

"Personal names have different significance and meaning to them depending on what they are. I can tell you all about them later," I said as I saw how her body slumped and how tired she looked. It's been a long day for her already.

After I returned her to the Pokeball, Amethio asked, "Was it really worth it to ditch your own birthday for this? Arven's been messaging like crazy worrying."

"What? But I didn't get any messages." Because Miles isn't handling my phone and I didn't check, damn it! With a sigh, I shot off a speedy message to all my other friends and my sister, letting them know it was fine and I'd be coming back home.

"I didn't mean to cause anyone distress." As Amethio just stood there staring at me, making no moves to release Armarouge, I added, "Possibly. It was possibly worth it. I can't see what could have been, but it definitely helped to get here early."

It'll make it way easier for Friede to bury things so no ambitious and amoral scientists can figure out the connection between Hisuian Zoruas and death. Perhaps the metal plate simulating Distortion energy above them would be enough for any death, but perhaps it would only work on some, and my girl just got lucky. Or maybe she happened to have a sliver of hate in her heart at the time of her death, for her circumstances or whatever, and that was enough, and without that mental state it wouldn't work. No way of telling until it fails, so we best make sure no one tries again.

At my explanation, Amethio's expression softened. "Alright, if it was worth it then, I'll trust you."

"Thank you," I said with a bow. "If you ever need any help rescuing a Pokemon in a tricky spot, call me and I'll come running." The offer was impulsive and possibly reckless, crossing a line I'd put between me and the Explorers, but I couldn't bring myself to regret it at the moment. Amethio helped me, and I trust him, if not Gibeon and his lot.

"Hopefully I won't need anything like that, but I appreciate the offer," the older boy replied, releasing his starter. "Shall we go back, or are there any other disasters you need to intercede in?" The smirk on his face was infuriating, but I let it go, figuring he earned it for putting up with my demands earlier. Might call in that battle soon, though. Be funny to see the expression on his face as Zorua hits his Drakloak with a STAB Ghost Type attack and then is immune to any of his own.

With a flash, we teleported back in front of my house. Opening the door, the kids sitting in the living room scrambled towards us, a barrage of questions washing over me.

"Where did you go?"
"Why didn't you tell us what was going on?"
"Why did Amethio get to go with you?" ("Because it was my Pokemon that helped her get there!")
"You should have taken us with you!"

"Enough, enough!" I shouted, trying to get them to give me some space. I saw my parents and the staff behind the kids (and behind them, Arven, who hung back nervously), looking on worried about me, so I enacted plan #7:

"I'd like you all to meet my new friend. She's a little tired, so give her some space, but say hello to Zorua." With a flash of red light, she appeared in front of them, to instant 'oohs' and 'awws' from the gathered crowd.

"They're. So. CUTE!" Lacey squealed, rushing up to but not directly touching my newest Pokemon (no matter how much I could tell that she wanted to hug the Zorua). The illusionist was cautious at first but quickly warmed up to the pink-clad girl, letting her and the others pet and adore her.

"Sorry everyone, a bit of an emergency with Zorua here... and a bit of me freaking out too much, but I've got a new friend now. I didn't mean to make you worry, but I had to go there and deal with the situation."

"Oh, what a brave Glitterati heart!" Billy praised.
"But to make your dear parents worry so, how Un-Glitterati!" O'Nare scolded.

Then they flip-flopped, with Mom boasting about my initiative and Dad being upset at me throwing off the party.

"Yeah, sorry about that again, everyone." Even with teleportation, I made them wait over at least an hour for me. I tried to catch Arven's eye, him being the only kid not surrounding Zorua, but he averted his gaze. Shit, just another thing to fix.

"The party was mostly just going to be hanging out, but there are some activities we could do," I began to suggest after Zorua returned to her Pokeball, the enthusiasm of having people quite interested in her not being able to entirely counteract the fatigue she felt.

"Open your presents!" Carmine demanded. "We worked really hard on yours, so you better like it. Kiki's been talking about it all month." Her younger brother flushed, embarrassed at his older sister but not disagreeing with her words. The others were nodding along too.

"Uh, ok," I said, a little conflicted. I mean, I get it. On the one hand, that's kinda what this day is about, but on the other, it feels weird to focus on me after I made everyone panic.

We sat around the living room, the pile of presents pushed forward in front of me. As expected, Carmine bossed her way to having me open hers and Kieran's gift first. Ripping off the wrapping paper, I saw a small wooden box, and opening that up, I saw something gorgeous.

"Wow. Or should I say 'wowzers?'" I smiled at Kieran to let him know it was all in good fun before I donned the mask inside. It was turquoise with elegant lines sweeping across it, eyebrows like clouds, and eyeholes in the shape of lightning bolts. While not quite to the quality of the mask their grandfather made for Ogerpon and lacking any Tera Crystals to accentuate it, this is a remarkable piece of work, especially from two kids.

"You should wear it for the mask festival! If you can make it," Kieran muttered, and I grinned before realizing they couldn't see my reaction.

"Of course, I'll definitely find the time to hop over for that." Taking the mask carefully off, I placed it back in the box before opening the other gifts. 'Arven's' gift came from his dad, with the Tera Crystals I had already received and the machine I had yet to. Amethio owed me a battle, but knowing the boy as I did, he was probably analyzing these gifts and would find something nice in the same vein to give me later.

Lacey's present was a set of Pokemon bento boxes. Each one had a cute design on it and could keep the food cool or hot as needed. Practical and adorable, that's Lacey. I let my team (sans Zorua) out to inspect them, and Dun looked quite interested in something that might let us keep nicer food while traveling.

Cyan gave me a collection of books, many of them biographies of champions or collections of stories from famous trainers. "I know you like that sort of stuff; some of it seems unbelievable, like Professor Oak - the old one, not the hot one - meeting world Champion Ash back in time, but-"

"Oh, I remember hearing about that! I don't know any of the details though," eagerly I started rifling through the books to find it. I saw that episode so very long ago. Or was it a movie? Probably a movie, there were dozens of them about all the different Legendaries and Mythicals Ash ran into.

Then came my parents' gifts. Some of these I knew, since I needed their help to order them ahead of time, like a Lax incense large bag of the herbs it burned that would last my team a long time or the Razor Fang I specifically requested for Nightwing. Others were a pleasant surprise, like a set of five differently colored glass flutes.

"I heard they made sounds pleasing to Pokemon, and with your music career about to kick off, I thought you might like them," Dad said as I looked them over.

"Yeah, these look cool, I can't wait to try playing with them." Ok, honestly, kinda overloaded on instruments I'm learning already. Still, I am intrigued. I remember getting a Yellow Flute like one of the ones here in Pokemon Gold. It could remove confusion constantly for no cost. I remembered thinking that was an 'amazing trick' back then when I was not much older than I am now, if at all.

The real surprise, however, came from a small, light pink glass-looking orb. Within the orb was a familiar swirl. "Is this a Mega Stone?"

Mom clapped her hands together. "Indeed, it's a Mega thing! I found it at the auction house in Porto Marinada. It was going for quite the pretty penny." My sister and I blanched at her words, being the only children to get just how much it must have been for her to say that. This must have been millions, maybe even tens of millions of Pokedollars to win this! I get Mega Stones are great, but is it really worth that-

"I hope it's the right one; I heard at the auction that there were multiple kinds of them." My mother continued. "I don't know too much about battling, but I remembered you mentioning Diancie a bunch-"

"This is DIANCITE!?!" Notch whipped over at my shout, staring at the stone in rapt fascination. I had already been holding the stone carefully, but I now had it in both hands, presenting it to them.

"Wowzers… What does Diancite do?" Kieran whispered the second part to his sister, but I answered.

"With a Keystone you can Mega Evolve a Diancie. It's one of the only Mega Evolutions for a Legendary Pokemon!" Technically not true; Mewtwo and Rayquaza both Mega Evolve too, but the former isn't known about, and for the latter, their Mega Evolution is probably like a Hoenn region secret or something.

"Wait, how does that help with Notch? That's a Carbink, not a Diancie, right?" Amethio asked.

"They are, but Carbinks have close bonds with Diancies; packs of them are often led by the diamond Pokemon. There are old studies that say that Carbinks can sometimes transform into a Diancie, but they don't explain how. Mega Evolution is a temporary transformation."

Letting my words sink in for a minute, I got some rope from my bag and, using the survival training Amethio and I took together, made a very secure harness for the Mega Stone, using the rope to loop it around the top of Notch's body.

The Carbink gave the most delighted chiming sounds I'd ever heard, zipping happily around the room.

"Will that make them a Diancie?" Arven spoke up quietly, looking a little puzzled. "Or do you need a Keystone first?"

"No idea! Don't even know if this will do anything to be honest, but this is the first chance we've had to discover anything that even might be related to the phenomenon." To the others, I explained, "It's Notch's dream to become a Diancie, so this is just- amazing." Hugging Mom tightly, I squealed over my Pokemon's chimes, "Thank you so much!"

"Urk! You've got that Glitterati strength. Actually, I don't think any of the rest of us are this strong, can't breathe, dear." Letting her go, she took a deep breath. "Well, I'm glad that gift went well." Seeing all the gifts were now opened, she suggested, "Shall we bring out dessert?"

***

After some more delicious food, great conversation, and me playing a few songs for them, my friends had to leave. Amethio had the Explorers to get back to, and Lacey, Carmine, and Kieran all had flights to take to get back to their home regions.

In the end, I was left with just Arven, the unusually subdued boy, waiting till we had a moment to talk. "I'm sorry!" He blurted out almost instantly after the last maid left the room, cleaning up the party supplies.

"Sorry for what? This morning? It's fine, I get why you were worried."

Biting his lip, he said, "So you didn't leave because you were mad about our battle and me trying to force you to stay? You're not upset?" The boy's green eyes peeked out past his bangs, looking unbelieving at me.

To be fair, it was a little aggravating at the time, but it's over now. And like I said, it's easy to understand where he's coming from, and his age doesn't help matters.

"No, my leaving was just about Zorua. And like I said, I understand. I'm not leaving you forever or anything like that. We'll always stay in touch, even if we go separate ways. And besides, I didn't get to finish my plans; I'll be coming back to Uva after I'm done at Blueberry Academy."

"Huh? "

"I'll probably be enrolling at about the same time you are too," I offhandedly remarked with a grin, which had Arven wiping at his eyes.

"That's cool. I was worried, and then with you running off after I almost beat you, but I guess you had a really important reason to go, saving that Zorua."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. 'Almost beat me?' Ha! You're a hundred years too early for that," I boasted, sticking my tongue out to show I wasn't serious. Also, to hide my own guilt at making him feel bad. Leaving like that- I could have done it a lot calmer. I have to be better than that.

"Hey! You're the one who said Miraidon was super strong!"

"Haha, well, maybe not a full hundred years," I leaned back in the chair I was sitting on, staring up at Notch, still happily hovering around. "Your father has a pretty strong Pokemon there, but Maschiff evolving was huge too."

"Yeah," Arven replied back, scratching the top of his dog Pokemon's head. Mabostiff leaned into it, happily panting. "Though Miraidon is my Pokemon now, Dad transferred ownership already."

"You don't say," I said in a voice that was far too neutral for what I was feeling. Did I change things that much already? This means that Miraidon's Pokeball can't bypass the lock system in the Professor's secret lab! Getting the Apricorn Pokeball technology is an even higher priority now. I can't just have the Player Character with Miraidon as a safety net for beating the AI if things go really bad.

"How long do you think your journey will take?" Arven tentatively asked, and I shrugged.

"Not sure, still need to plan a lot of that out. I want to build up my team and train Zorua a bit. Plus, I need one more team member before I really attempt to take on the Elite Four and become a Champion. Though there's all the Gym Leaders to get through before that, if I can even make it that far."

The boy beamed, "Of course you'll become a Champion; you're Nemona." He explained it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Looking at his bright eyes, I could almost believe I could do anything too.

"Thanks. So, yeah, I won't just be flying from Gym to Gym, but it won't take a whole year. And I'll make sure to call you tons when I'm out, too." The young boy hugged me tightly, sniffling a little as I patted him on the back.

"Sorry again about thinking you were gonna leave me like Mom and..." He said as we broke off the hug, trying to wipe at his eyes.

And his father. He's still missing him. Turo is definitely making more of an effort in this world, but he's clearly still pursuing his Paradise, to his son's detriment. "Don't worry, I'm sure your father will be back for good soon." I'll make sure of that.

***

Gathering my team in my room that night, I told them my plan, mostly explaining things for Zorua's benefit. "So, I've had a vision- hmm not quite right. Let's just say I know some aspects of what might happen in the future. It isn't perfect, and I'm not able to predict what I might have changed already."

The fox-like Pokemon nodded, understanding the point that I was getting at there. I had no idea how a few comments to Friede were going to lead to what happened with her. Would she have lived happily if the experiment was never attempted? Or died anyway, alone and unknown? We'll likely never know. "With that in mind, I was aware that Professor Turo is attempting a dangerous experiment. Similar to yours, but with potentially even worse ramifications."

"Friede didn't know of the risks in his experiment. I'd like to believe that's true for Turo too." Those words provoked a dismissive scoff from Dun. "Yeah, yeah, I know. The guy has tunnel vision in the extreme when it comes to his Paradise Project. He doesn't know that it will lead to his doom, and possibly doom all of Paldea, flooding it with powerful Paradox Pokemon. Pokemon that can outcompete and push through even those that dwell in the Great Crater."

That got Nightwing and Zorua to stiffen up. I'd told all of them (sans Zorua) about this before, but my tone was far more serious now. Before, it had always been some far-off event that only Miles and Dun understood how seriously I was preparing for it. Miraidon being here today is hard proof of this.

"Rua, zor, zorua?" Zorua asked. I didn't understand at first until she showed me a crude illusion of me and Friede talking and smiling. The meeting wasn't all sunshine and joy, but I get the point.

"Turo is a Professor, like Friede, but different too. He's colder and more fixated on this as a goal. There's also signs he's growing more paranoid and less willing to accept what others say. He's built his entire life up to this goal. If we try to stop him, he may view us as enemies."

Glancing out my window I peered out into the night sky, where I knew Mesagoza was. Even I couldn't see it right now, but I knew the League headquarters were over there. "That's another reason why I have to become a Champion. To become strong enough to oppose him, if we have to, and to get more clout with the League to pressure him if need be." I so hope it doesn't come to that, though. I'd be forever tarnishing Arven's image of his father and how the public sees him if it comes to that.

"So with that in mind, I want to ask everyone again if they want to continue with me on this path. It could be treacherous, so I understand if you don't want to stay with me or if you don't want to be part of my battling team. I need to know now though as we prepare for our journey-" I paused as Gligar started pointing at the pile of presents I had.

"Oh, you want the Razor Fang. Yes, you'll get that no matter what, even if you want to leave." I saw a flash of hurt on her face, and she stomped the floor (thankfully without enough force to shake the house). "...You want to become stronger, to help me take on any of those Paradox Pokemon."

"Gli li, gligar!" She nodded. I think that was more 'I'll beat Miraidon on my own next time, and any other Pokemon too!' But I'll take it. As well as the lesson that I need to stop underestimating people, Pokemon, and humans alike. I have so many great friends supporting me; I have to have faith in them, like they've had in me.

Dun and Miles came forth, obviously showing their support for me as well. Notch floated by too, and while it could be hard to tell what they were thinking, from the way they angled themselves to let the moonlight streaming through the window catch on the Diancite resting on their mane, I knew they would follow me to the ends of the earth.

Zorua was last, more hesitant than the others, but she placed a paw on my knee. Looking into her eyes, I saw a fire that burned in them, one that might threaten to burn out of control if undirected. And that she trusted me to help her channel that rage and turn it into something that made her strong.

"Alright then, I guess, it's time. You've mastered your Hidden Ability, and while we need to work on your Moves more, that can come after you've evolved." With that said, I passed the Razor Fang over to her carefully.

She held it up to her mouth, and at the moment of contact, her body began glowing brightly. Everyone was looking at her, Notch in particular, enthralled at the changes that took place. Nightwing grew dramatically, her wings splitting off from her arms and spreading out wide behind her. Her arms grew skinnier, banded in red, while the pincers grew larger. The same was true for her stinger, which stretched out on her now lengthy tail. With a mouth full of far sharper teeth, she cried out, "Gliscor!"

She leapt onto me, grabbing me in a big hug and surprising me. Both with the force of her hug and how light she was. "Did you actually lose weight? But you're like, twice the size you were before! How is that possible?" I wondered, laughing.

She shrugged a clear sign of 'nerd stuff, not my problem,' and let me go, flipping around to land back on the ground. The others swarmed her, congratulating Nightwing while the bat-scorpion-like Pokemon spun about through the air (knocking over a chair and some stuff, still unused to her new body).

There were still all the worries of before, about Turo and the future, but seeing Zorua making illusions of Nightwing's old Gligar form and riding on the evolved Pokemon's back, I couldn't help but feel optimistic. No matter what happens, I'll do great with a team like this.


It turns out Friede was not some maniacal mad scientist, shocking right? Haha, ok, I know a lot of you predicted that anyways, but I hope the explanations here made sense and fit well. And now we have Nemona's fifth teammate! Zoroark is a really cool Pokemon and I've loved the Hisuian variant so I think she'll be a fun addition to the team. We've also got Nightwing's evolution too. Did you know that Gliscors are actually much lighter than Gligars, despite being bigger? It's wild. Anyways, thank you all for reading. Next up, an interlude, from a character that I think will surprise you.

Nemona's Current Team:

-'Dun' (Dudunsparce, Male, Normal Type, Starter)
- Tera Type: Normal
- Held Item: Expert Belt
- Abilities: Run Away, Serene Grace
- 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, Tailwind, Roost, Ancient Power, Drill Run, Hyper Drill, Triple Yawn, Ice Spinner, Solar Beam, Lunge, Flamethrower, Aqua Tail, Coil, Hurricane, Outrage, Smart Strike

- 'Miles' (Rotom, Genderless, Electric/Form dependent Type)
- Tera Type: Electric
- Held Item: Life Orb
- Ability: Levitate
- Moves Known: Astonish, Confuse Ray, Thundershock, Double Team, Hyper Voice, Protect, Thunder, Rain Dance, Will O' Wisp, Nasty Plot, Hex, Sunny Day, Substitute, Foul Play, Trick, Discharge, Shadow Ball, Eerie Impulse, Reflect, Light Screen

- 'Nightwing' (Gliscor, Female, Flying/Ground Type)
- Tera Type: Flying
- Held Item: Toxic Orb
- Ability: Hyper Cutter, Poison Heal
- Moves Known: Poison Sting, Sand Attack, Harden, Knock Off, Fury Cutter, Acrobatics, Bulldoze, Quick Attack, Psychic Fangs, Poison Tail, Slash, Gunk Shot, Dig, Ice Fang, Lunge, U-Turn, Protect, Tailwind, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, Night Slash

- 'Notch' (Carbink, Genderless, Rock/Fairy Type)
- Tera Type: Rock
- Held Item: Babiri Berry
- Ability: Clear Body
- Moves Known: Harden, Tackle, Guard Split, Flail, Ancient Power, Light Screen, Reflect, Iron Defense, Body Press, Stealth Rocks, Psychic, Smack Down, Trick Room, Dazzling Gleam, Rock Polish, Power Gem, Stone Edge, Protect, Spikes

- 'Zorua' (Hisuian Zorua, Female, Normal/Ghost)
- Tera Type: ?
- Held Item: Lax Incense
- Ability: Illusion
- Moves Known: Leer, Scratch, Torment, Hone Claws, Shadow Sneak, Curse
 
Interlude VIII - Riolu New
POV - Riolu
["Human dialogue is in brackets"]



"You know she's not coming, right?" A voice, a material distraction, came from outside the void. I ignored it, beneath my notice in all my otherworldly ponderings.

"Humans are like that, wrapped up in their own worlds. You see them on those little flimsy bricks all the time, totally oblivious to the world around them," the pathetic, ignorant voice continued, trying and failing to disturb my state of perfect oneness with everything.

"Probably for the best though, now you won't embarrass yourself in front of that girl and her handsome Dudunsparce again." My eyes snapped open, and I snarled at her.

"Oh, what would you know?! You sat around here and learned nothing!" Glaring up at my sister, who stood tall above me. Despite the small rock I was seated on, she still towered above me. That was mostly due to her evolution, Lucario staring her long nose down at me.

"I evolved, all because I accepted the bonds of our family while you went and ran off-" She began, before stopping at the sudden entrance of four feet lightly stepping into the corner of our glade.

Leafeon's presence was easily detectable before one could see him. And one could see him from fairly far away given how his body shined and the flower jewel glowed above his head. One might think that would make him easy pickings for a Flying Type looking to swoop down on his terrain, but even those birdbrains could feel the power radiating out of him, the connection to the plant life of all the rolling hills. I could feel it from a mile away. Or at least I could have if someone wasn't distracting me.

I opened my senses, scanning the Aura around me without letting distractions divert me, and found something very interesting. Still far off. Could just be part of Her usual movements, but maybe...

"Peace, children." Leafeon said, offering us each a berry with his tail, which we both took, eagerly devouring the literal fruits of his labor.

"Sorry Father," my sister began, and if she'd ended it there, that would be enough. But of course, it was her, so she just had to go on. "I just felt like explaining how my dear sibling here had wasted her time pining after-"

"I did not waste my time! Apologies, father, but regardless of whether the human shows up here or not, I've gained much in my time away. My power and skill have grown immensely." My pride was something I warred with constantly, and I knew that my last words would be something my sister would latch onto.

"Oh? Then prove it. Prove you're still so much better than us," she shot back with a smile that bared a few too many of her fangs. "Just a quick spar, father, I'll make this fast."

He sighed ever so slightly, more detectable in how the nearby trees swayed in a nonexistent breeze than the motion of his body. Still, our father was hands-off in raising us and more than willing to let us young pups duke it out if need be. The fact that we weren't that young, or even pups in my sister's case, hardly mattered.

Taking my headband off, I took a stance opposite Lucario in the middle of the field. Some of our siblings gathered off to the side, eager to see the outcome of our fight. None of them had made the jump our sister had and evolved, but I could see that plenty of them had grown a bit taller, as if their bodies were getting ready for that change. It makes no difference; I won every fight in our clan for years, even against the biggest and oldest Riolus. I'll win here as well.

That is why I wasn't worried about having barked off more than I could chew. Lucario stared down arrogantly at me, assured in her own superiority. "I'm going to show you just how strong I've become," she barked at me.

"You're strong, yes, but that strength has blinded you. And you still aren't stronger than me." At my taunt, she rushed in, howling. Her claws were raised and gleaming bright, ready to tear into my fur. She's much faster than she was before I left.

Of course, the distance between still meant that my jabs, which made shockwaves through the air. The blows struck into her, driving her to one knee and making an arm fall limp as they ripped into her joints.

"Your bones may be of metal, but the stiffness of them is not the advantage you think it is. Your defenses leave you frail and open to our basic techniques." You never did learn how to advance from Vaccum Wave into Force Palm, did you? At least not before evolving; that opens the door to many techniques previously unavailable, mother always said.

I saw the anger growing in her red eyes and knew my comment had hit its mark, as cleanly as all of my blows. My continued taunting was purposeful, not spiteful. I can feel them clearly now. I need her to use that Move before they arrive.

Pushing herself back up on unstable limbs, Lucario gathered energy in front of her uninjured arm. Aura swirled in a bright blue glowing ball, visible through regular sight and practically blinding to my senses. Aura Sphere, the mark of Evolution and an apex of power I can't reach on my own yet, in spite of all my training.

With a push, she released the Move, sending the orb flying at me, and distracted as I was by taking it all in, the shot clipped me in the shoulder.

Hearing her padded feet racing across the ground, I turned with the blow rather than pushing against it. Using the force, I dodged, her arm striking down at me, and then caught it. Hefting her up by that arm proved more difficult than I had thought, her larger body and heavier bones making it harder to lift her, giving my sister time to lash out with her free claw, cutting down the ridge of my face and onto my snout.

Pushing out the pain, I pulled harder, tossing her up and around in the air. I took a gratified breath as I saw her flailing helplessly through the air. Of course, the bigger they are, the harder my Circle Throw will make them fall. Still, I should make sure the landing 'sticks.'

With a powerful leap, I soared high in the air, reaching the peak of my jump as Lucario crashed into the dirt. She recovered quickly enough that she could have dodged my follow-up attack had she been looking up. Instead, she wasted her time, searching with her eyes on a ground level when she should have been feeling the Fighting Type energies gathering above her.

She had only begun to look up as my High-Jump Kick smashed down on her shoulder, cracking her collarbone. With a sound between a snarl and a yelp, she clumsily swiped out at me, tossing all restraint aside as she attacked, further aggravating her wounds.

All to no avail, as I casually Detected her Final Gambit, letting my sister fall to the grass ground beside me. Father quickly jumped in to ensure that no further conflict occurred and no damage that couldn't be fixed by a few days spent sulking over some Oran Berries.

Not that I would ever stoop so low, of course. Still, it is rather pitiful, such a showing while she's Evolved. I understand that such things aren't based on 'merit' but even so, I can't say my sister seems worthy of such a boon.

With one last glance at her prone form, I turned away, striding off to meet my real challenge, ears hardly twitching at the whispers of our siblings as I passed by. ["That was awesome! You looked really strong out there."]

The words came from a foreign tongue, yet easily understandable. Human body language can be difficult for some to understand, but the words are supposedly easy for most Pokemon to understand. Given the similarities of our frames and my advanced knowledge of Aura, it's even easier for me to connect with her.

The girl stood, happily waving at me, clad in an assortment of cloth garments to make up for her lack of fur. Her teeth were broad and bared, but I knew that to be a sign of happiness, not aggression from their kind. The same observations I made in my travels that told me that also let me know that she was a youngling, with much growth to still undergo before she reached her final stage.

I wondered briefly if Nemona's Aura would grow as much alongside her. While her Aura would be considered weak, a runt among the pack, for a human, she's blazing bright. I could pick her out with my eyes closed amongst the crowded press of the mega-clans that humans crowd themselves into. It had certainly grown much since we had last met.

The majority of my focus was drawn, however, to the handsome Dudunsparce slithering beside her. His scales gleamed brightly in the midday light, hinting at the muscles rippling beneath- slapping my cheeks I snapped out of it. Focus! This is my most important battle, no time to be daydreaming.

His Trainer continued, ignoring my lapse. ["Sorry about taking so long. We got distracted with a bunch of stuff, honestly. Again, really sorry about it taking us a bit longer."]

It was nice to have confirmation that I was not wrong and they had indeed taken more than one solar rotation to return for my fight. Part of me was upset, the taunting words of my sister lingering, but I ignored them in favor of appreciation for the human's immediate honesty.

While humans were not the majority of focus on my travels across the land, barely a blip even, I couldn't help but notice them a few times. And of those times, it was obvious to see how they were so casually dishonest. Over oftentimes petty things, like taking an extra slice of food or sleeping with a different mate.

["Do you need a Potion before our fight? Looks like you got scuffed up."] The human asked me, holding out the strange restorative bottle. Instinctively, I wanted to refuse; Dun was already looking away, bored. As if he'd measured me up and I didn't match up, and that burned. However, I remembered our previous fight, how much I had trained here in these hills, and how effortlessly he had crushed me. He evolved, and unlike my sister, didn't squander the newfound strength he gained, training even harder to reach greater heights.

Snatching it out of her hands, I began spraying the soothing liquid upon myself. Then I walked over and put on my headband before turning to face my opponent. Pointing at the Dudunsparce I shouted at him.

"You should prepare yourself, because here and now you face your greatest challenge! I have traveled all across the land, through the scorching sandy wastes, swimming through Dragon-infested waters, braving infested forests, and leaping over the Great Mountain! My training pushed me to my limits against all manner of other Pokemon, testing foes great and terrible. Not only have I endured rigorous physical trials, I have tested my mind and spirit as well. Seeking tutelage, I learned from the master of Ice, residing in the cavernous depths, and learned Moves beyond your comprehension! I refuse to lose to you once more, so here and now, I declare that I will defeat you!"

My outburst lacked the desired results. Rather than quaking and spinning his tail in worry, Dun rolled his eyes and yawned. At me?! How dare he!?

Nemona's reaction wasn't much better, the girl seemed a little confused but cheerful. ["Not sure what all that was about, but sounds like you're pumped up, awesome! Love the Focus Band too, looking great!"] She formed a fist with a thumb raised out, which I knew to be a sign of approval.

Then she turned to Dun, asking him, ["Do you want to use a Battle Item to make it even then? There's the Life Orb, and you've got that new Expert Belt-"]

"Leave it," he shook his head. "I'll hardly need something like that here." My fur bristled at his words, and I exhaled angrily. He thinks so little of- No, channel that anger. I won't demand or request that he rescind his words, I will make him eat them.

Nemona nodded at her Pokemon, understanding him more easily than she understood me. ["Alright then."] To me, she asked, "Do you mind if I release the rest of my team? I'd like for them to witness the fight as well."

I nodded sharply, maintaining my focus. My whole pack, even Lucario, had gathered on the outskirts of the glen to watch, alongside several other Pokemon that lived nearby, under Father's aegis. A few more bystanders didn't make a difference.

The Rotom floating by the human's side was known to me, but the three new Pokemon that popped out of her Pokeballs were new. Entirely foreign, in fact. I've met several other Pokemon in my travels but never seen any like these.

A she-bat-scorpion hovered above, barely flapping her large wings to stay aloft. She waited the battle with malevolent glee, chattering about how "It'll be nice to see Dun beat up someone else for a change."

This contrasted with the mysterious rocky creature, a number of gems sticking out of their body. They floated perfectly still, making some odd chiming sounds I couldn't understand. It was hard to see their face behind their fluffy white mane, but they appeared utterly indifferent to the proceedings to me.

The last one looked almost like a Zorua, I'd caught fleeting glimpses of those illusionists before. But this one looked off. The fur was the wrong color, and the pattern was slightly different too. Doesn't matter, she's hiding behind Nemona's leg anyway.

Across from me, Dun got ready, flapping all three pairs of wings lightly and rising up on one of his segments. In turn, I took a stance that was deceptively loose, hoping to strike first and gain the initiative I'd need to control the fight against a foe as handsome and powerful as Dun.

The Rotom counted us in, and on 'Begin!' Nemona gave a hurried order. As fast as she was, she couldn't beat me. Throwing my paws out instantly, I launched two quick Vacuum Waves through the air.

Predictably, Dudunsparce evaded the attacks, slithering towards me and weaving between the ripples in the air. Before he could make a melee attack against me, though, my next Move was ready. I lacked the sheer power to fire it off one-handed like my evolved sister, but I'd pulled my paws back so they were by my side, the right held above the left. Pouring in Aura between them, I formed a familiar orb of blue light.

"Aura… Sphere!" I cried out, shoving my hands forward and 'pushing' the sphere into Dun. The Move elicited a shout of pain from him and surprise from his trainer.

["You already know Aura Sphere? That's incredible! Okay, Dun, Triple Yawn, then Glare."] She fired off rapidly, mostly unfazed by my surprise technique.

Dun took in a deep breath and released it, one yellow cloud floating out at me, then two- I closed my eyes then, not willing to risk it any further and get Paralyzed. For another Pokemon, such a strategy might render them helpless, but I could sense Dun's inner energy. Nemona's Aura burned bright for a human but paled in comparison to the raging pillar of power that Dun had. It was so great that it almost blinded me to the same energy in his Moves.

Almost, but not quite. Dodging in between the clouds, jumping over one, I kicked off the ground, charging towards him. The verdant energy of the fields flowed into me, bolstering my speed- only to immediately leave my body as he crashed into me with an antithetical energy of his own.

My training had covered the Type matchups, so I knew that this was Bug Type energy that allowed him to plow through me, knocking me head over heels. The Move he used not only disrupted mine but sapped my limbs of their strength. I'm sure he took some damage from that clash as well, but I'm just sure he can take that damage better than I, even with my innate resistance to Moves like the one he just used.

["She won't look at you but can see where things are- oh, it's Aura sense!"] Nemona said aloud, realizing the nature of my superiority. My body may be hampered, but my spirit is unbroken. Some more Aura Spheres should- ["Use Earthquake! Really tear up the ground!"] Uh-oh.

I had a scant second to think, knowing that in a moment I would be doomed. The field is flat, and I know it by heart, that's what lets me maneuver even with my eyes closed. I might still be able to sense Dun, but if the ground is altered, I'll lose my footing as I try to fight him. Opening my eyes will leave me open to his Paralyzing attack.

With a snap, my eyes opened, blazing with cerulean energy as I foresaw the next few steps of the fight. Many possibilities lay in my defeat. Trying to jump up had me a sitting Pidove, cut down by blades of air. Trying to run away had the earth swallow me up. Forwards was the only path, and so I ran towards Dun, leaping ever so low in the air to avoid certain spots of quaking ground. My foresight also told me when to duck my head to avoid his terrifying gaze.

Skidding along the shifting ground, I made my approach and punched into his side, only to be met by a glowing barrier that stopped my attack cold. He glared at me from behind his shield, impervious to my assault but thankfully not able to launch a counterattack while it held.

Unfortunately, when it did, I was left with few good options. Retreating just put me in the same position as before, but being so close left me vulnerable to his physical might. I didn't see it fully, but I'll have to try copying that.

With a short jump backwards, I struck the ground hard with one of my feet, the impact sending ripples radiating outward from the point of contact. The ground rose up from them, knocking Dun up a meter in the air before he flopped back down.

["Earthquake? Impressive, but the power is lacking. Hyper Voice, then Body Slam!"] The human hadn't caught onto the trick I was using quite yet, but I had nothing to resist Dun releasing a loud wail so close. The pain debilitated me enough that I instinctually covered my ears, a mistake that led to me being crushed by the force of him landing on me.

My bones creaked from the impact, and I felt the headband tighten around the top of my head. Somehow, the extra pressure and slight pain helped me Focus, holding on when I otherwise would have fainted from the force. With shaking limbs, I snaked an arm out from under Dun, pulling it back and pounding repeatedly into his scales with Drain Punch.

He recoiled from the super-effective Moves, and I used that to shakily roll to my feet. My last attack had stolen a bit of vitality into him, but my muscles still seized uncontrollably. No! I can't let this end here! I need to push on, to win this fight, to prove myself!

My body ached, but I forced myself through a dance I knew well, stepping through the motions for Sword Dance. Nemona shouted out some sort of command, and Dun glowed briefly, speeding up as he zipped around the battlefield. I get stronger, and he speeds up. Well, two can play at that game.

Aligning my Aura the same as his, I focused the Psychic energies within me to boost my own speed. ["Copycat! That's how you did those Moves!"] Nemona crowed, a smile on her face as she realized it. No, the smile is in joy and greater understanding of the challenge ahead. Maybe humans do bare their teeth aggressively, and I just didn't notice it behind the joy they share as well.

Dun turned, drilling towards me. I knew from past experience that I couldn't dodge that Move, so I met it head-on, grasping around the base of the tail. The drill point was so long that I could feel it burrowing into my side, even as I held him back from striking through further. My headband tightened, and I hung on.

With a whimper shout of pain, I hefted Dun up, throwing him high up in the air. Such a toss would have carried him well over the hills and out of our vague battlefield. Of course, he quickly reoriented himself in the air, diving back down towards me. Aura Sphere would be helpful here, but I copied too many of his Moves and couldn't hold onto that one from my previous fight.

Nemona shouted something out, and while Dun closed with me, he glowed with ghostly energy, shades shooting out from the ground to surround me. Desperately, I dashed away, pushing my body past the Paralysis slowing me down.

We began trading blows at a distance. Vacuum Waves pelted into him as he wailed, his Hyper Voice feeling like his tail drilling through my brain. Somehow, I held on, scraps of fabric fluttering past my eyes. I ignored them, my focus only on the winged snake in front of me. He was panting, looking tired and beat up, but still fighting. Our eyes met, and we knew this would be our final clash.

His wings beat hard, whipping the air around into a flurry of sharp, cutting winds. I attempted to dodge before I saw the blades swirling around in an odd fashion, not just launched at me. This isn't Air Slash, it's Hurricane!

It was a technique I'd only seen the strongest of Flying Type use, and I could feel my younger siblings cowering in fear at its presence. Father shielded them - not that the fiercest winds got close, but even from him, I could distantly feel a tremor of fear in his being at such an attack. In any other situation, feeling that would be shocking, but here, I could only feel a sense of elation. There was my own terror as well, but that's just what made the giddiness bubble up to the surface. Yes! This is the battle I desired!

I was beset by howling winds on all sides, but there was a fluidity to my movements. I saw each dangerous gust, every sharp blade of air before me. When they threatened to lift me up, I gripped the ground with my feet and found the right path to have the streams push me forward rather than backwards. My quick Detect saw me through the storm, and I was standing before Dun, ready to strike.

He struck first, blasting ahead like a shooting star. The blow slammed into me like I'd been slammed into the Great Mountain - or maybe like I had a mountain dropped on me. Nonetheless, I Endured, my body aligned with my mind and soul for this desperate purpose. To win. To prove I haven't fallen behind my rival.

Dun was just starting to turn back around, realizing the opening he'd given me. Close Combat was the obvious choice to use here, but I saw him and realized it wouldn't be enough. If my strongest Move won't be enough, then I just have to go further!

Grasping onto his body, I threw a powerful kick into his side, followed by a wild haymaker down. Through it, I channeled all the pain I was feeling, all the injuries he had given me. And with one last cry of pain, the Dudunsparce was knocked aside and flopped over, defeated by my Reversal.

On wobbling legs, I remained standing, knowing if I collapsed here, I'd pass out, and I wanted no doubt as to my victory. With one paw raised in the air, I howled out my name, "Riolu!" I did it! The pinnacle of fighting skill a Riolu can achieve. I won

Everything got a bit hazy after that. Nemona tended to both her own Pokemon and myself, applying Potions and Elixers for us, which helped ease the pain. There was still some of it, and I would guess that my body would ache for many days after, but it was a dull throb, not the sharp, hot spikes of pain I had been feeling before, and I was grateful for the aid. Though I would have fought this hard regardless.

He seemed dazed at first by his loss, but Dun soon slithered up and said, "You did well. I… underestimated you." He hissed out, like it was painful for him to admit that. "It looks like I have a long way to go to become the strongest."

What he said struck a chord with me, my mind flashing back to our previous encounters. I was the strongest out of my litter, and soon, the strongest out of our whole pack. Unlike others, I didn't rest on my laurels; constantly, I would meditate and train, understanding that there were still those who could best me.

Most of those who could were fully evolved Pokemon, or much older than myself. The first time I fought Dun, I had been uncertain this outsider could best me, the rumors of Trainers and their Pokemon ringing false in my ears. Then he challenged my siblings and even managed to eke out a victory against myself.

The defeat stung, but I consoled myself with the knowledge that I would train and surpass him. When he showed up again, it was a surprise, but one I eagerly welcomed. I could prove myself and defeat him. But he was evolved, and more than that, he had just gotten stronger and more skilled than I had.

This was my chance to make up for that, to prove myself, and I did. It feels incredible, that validation of my worth, but... Glancing over, I saw the human and her Pokemon preparing to leave. A few of them teasing Dun over his loss or encouraging him, but playfully. Even Dun seemed more relaxed to have them around, despite scoffing off the taunts or encouragement. Why do I feel like I'm missing something?

Nemona recalled most of her team and turned to leave before she paused. Pivoting, she turned around and walked until she stood before me. "What?" I barked out as she stood there awkwardly, searching for her words.

["Hey, so I wanted to congratulate you again."] I blinked, realizing I must have missed it the first time. ["You were incredible, those moves were so skilled and precise."] She shadow-boxed the air a bit, mimicking my Moves, and I felt a bit of pride at seeing someone else appreciate my efforts.

She continued, ["Unfortunately, I'm not sure if we'll be able to battle you again, at least not any time soon. My team and I, we're planning on traveling across Paldea to face the Gym Leaders, some of the toughest Trainers in the land, and then the Elite Four and a Champion-ranked who are even stronger than them- basically a bunch of tough challenges. And after that, I'm going to school in a different land, so I don't want you to be waiting on us."]

Solemnly, I nodded. That's a little sad, but I don't sense any dishonesty from her. It's not like she's trying to run away from me or cut ties after losing. None of my pack had, but some of the other Pokemon in the larger clan that roamed these valleys would avoid me after I defeated them, not finding the same thrill in a fight as I had.

Nemona wasn't done, however, and what she said next surprised me. ["D-do you want to join us?"]

"What?"

She kneeled down on one knee to stand closer to my level, offering me her hand. ["I think you're strong and skilled. You have a drive for battle and improving yourself. I'm making a team of the best of the best. To be the strongest across all the Pokemon in Paldea, and I'd like it if you could be a part of our team. What do you say?"]

I said nothing, too shocked to formulate a response. I should just say no, right? It's flattering, but it would mean leaving home... though there are others who have already left, and I traveled around for a year already. And I was able to push myself further on that trip than I ever had here, grew so much...

"Show everyone that you're the best out there!" One of my siblings said, and I whipped my head around to stare at the gathered crowd, remembering they were still here.


"Go on, get out of here already." Lucario said, without the usual bite to her voice.
"I've heard Trainer's Riolus become Lucarios in no time at all." One of my brothers said.
"Yeah! Beat all those Leaf Fours and whatever!" Another sibling chimed in.
"We'll miss you!" As if it's a done deal already!


Father spoke as well, his deep voice echoing across the land. "Daughter, you've done well. Now make us proud."

Wiping at some condensation that happened to gather around my eyes, I nodded fervently. "I will, thank you everyone." Then, turning back to the human- no, to my new Trainer, I tentatively took her hand, sealing our bond.


And so we have our sixth and final teammate! Riolu has been a long time coming, thank you for your patience with this plotline. Thank you as well for your patience with this story in general as we (finally) reach the beginning of Nemona's journey, over 270,000 words in, haha.

But seriously, thank you everyone for all your support in this. As of this update, this is now the longest story I've ever written, and the most popular by a good margin. We've still got a long way to go, however. In the spirit of looking forward, what are you looking forward to seeing happen most in this story?
 
Chapter 46 New
Heading out on my journey did not happen immediately, not even with a full team of six. In fact, I had to cut down on training time to focus on finishing up some other projects and making sure we were stocked up before we could set off. Plus spending time with Arven, he's been practically glued to my hip when not doing that stuff.

Still, even with all that, I tried to spend at least an hour every day going over some basic training plans for my new team members and polishing up Moves my older Pokemon had yet to master.

"Notch, you've come a long way with your Fairy Type energy, but we still need to get Moonblast working during the daytime." They tilted up, glaring at the sun, ears lying flat, as if the celestial body had offended them personally. "Maybe try focusing on the fact that the moon is always around the planet, even if you can't see it?"

They gave a chime of agreement, mixed with maybe a slight resignation? Hard to tell when they hop to any order I give with the same effort. Oh, Misty Terrain first to try and boost your connection to Fairy energy, very good. I made a mental note to praise them for their initiative at the end of the session before moving on to the others.

"Ok, Zorua, practice your agility. Work on jumping backwards to try and avoid attacks, and see if you can weave in a Shadow Sneak as you do so." My little fox gave a quick yip and got to work, seeing it mostly as a game. Which is fair, most battling for her up to this point has been just a game. Even tournaments and Gym Battles are mostly just a slightly more serious and formal version of that.

Her attitude was not shared (or appreciated) by my newest team member, Riolu, who turned her nose up slightly. Nightwing stuck her tongue out at the Fighting Type, swooping over her head and causing the canine Pokemon to growl lowly at the mischievous Pokemon drifting above her. I just sighed at the all-to-common sight.

Riolu isn't overtly brash or mean-spirited to my Pokemon, but her attitude makes it hard for her to get along with the others outside of Dun. Which is unfortunate, as she's already a highly effective fighter. There's only a few areas she needs to work on personally, and those will mostly be polished out in time. What she needs now is to learn to work with others, getting a hang of how battling as a member of a team works.

Whistling, I called Nightwing down, pulling some plastic balls out of my bag as I did so. Passing two to her and two more to Nightwing, I said, "Okay, you two are going to practice juggling these two while going up and down the beach. Oh, and each ball you have to pass to each other. Got it?" The drill is mostly just to help Nightwing get used to her new body and speed, but hopefully it'll help Riolu get along with the others and learn how to handle their tempos.

Almost the instant that they began, Nightwing threw too hard and pelted Riolu in the face with one of the balls, her laughter eliciting a Vacuum Wave empowered shot back. Ugh, looks like we have a long way to go there. At least I didn't start them off with the iron balls.

"Keep at it, everyone!" I tried to call out encouragingly before whispering to Dun. "Keep an eye on them, please." He nodded, trying not to look too smug at not being the problem, Pokemon. "You ready, Miles?"

"DJ Mixmaster is in the house, bzzt!" Miles declared boldly.

I was surprised at their enthusiasm. "Sounds rocking, should that be your stage name?"

"No, in fact, please don't ever call me that." Raising an eyebrow, I saw Miles form plasmic blush spots. "I regretted it the instant I said it, bzzt."

Laughing, I waved the others goodbye as we headed to the music studio. With my 'growing talents,' my parents had converted one of our spare rooms into a room filled with musical instruments and recording equipment. It was quite the overhaul, but given Mom's contacts, it happened pretty smoothly.

"V-Star sent over the tracks, right?" I asked, and Miles confirmed it, heading over to the computer in the room to begin going over the audio file while I checked over one of the guitars.

"Bzzt, he did indeed!" They played the file for me, and I took it in. Hmm, it's good, really good. Guess that's too be expected, with all these incredible artists helping me.

When I was finally convinced to make an album, my parents were enthused and wanted to throw as much money and connections as they could at the project. I'd been hesitant at first, but as the prospects of how large a project it was loomed over me (as well as moving up my own timetable with the need to go on a journey), I conceded to their requests.

V-Star, E.X., Techno Color Group, and many other artists had been called on to help with the project. Not all of them had the time or the right flare to add to a song, but half the album had different artist names featured in it.

I still made sure to do my part in all of the songs though! I'm the one with the vision for what I want the songs to sound like, so it helps the more I take charge. Honestly, I hope that none of Hassel's friends felt I was too demanding. Money talks, and my parents had plenty of it, but Hassel's connections were invaluable too.

"Hey Miles, do you think 'I'll Grow Up Tomorrow' would be a good fit for V-Star?" I asked after the Rotom finished overlaying the tracks.

They blinked before buzzing positively. "I think it could work, but won't that mean you can't sing it yourself?"

I shook my head. "I'm just focused on getting the music out there. I think I did decently on this album, but hearing the skill all these great artists have... I'll never be that good."

Miles' plasmic eyes narrowed, and they got up in my face. "Don't say that, Nemona! I think you're incredible, and you've got plenty of time to become that good."

Their sudden vehemence was surprising, but I just smiled and shook my head. "Ok, ok, I'll stop putting myself down. But it's true that I'd need more work to be on their level, and I'm going to be pretty busy as a Trainer and exploring the mysteries of the world. And honestly, just kinda burnt out on this, I'll be happy to take a break once this is done. Maybe I'll get more into music later." It's funny; I have way fewer responsibilities from my old life, but I feel like there's so much more to do, so I have even less time.

With a wistful sigh, I sat down on the stool in the center of the room, pulling a microphone stand in close. "Bzzt, well, I plan on making plenty of noise still," they said with a wink, and I chuckled, getting the reference to their new Boombox form. "And I hope it helps to know that I think this is going to be great, bzzt." Rotom's praise wasn't as effusive as my parents, but it brought a smile to my face.

"It does. I'm also so thankful for your help, I never could have done this without you." There's that blush back. Do wild Rotoms do that too, or is that an entirely learned habit? "You sure I can't credit you as a co-writer or-" They gave an immediate negative buzz with a subvocalization of 'That's not right!' that I could only barely pick up with my enhanced senses.

"Nice copy of Lacey," I snickered before remembering I should probably send my friends advanced copies of the album once it was done. Another thing on the pile. "Still, you basically did at least as much work as I did on this, Megalovania was mostly made by you on the synthesizer."

Seeing Miles stubbornly shake their phone case body, I rolled my eyes, making a waving motion to indicate I'd given up on the argument and for them to get the recording ready. I can one hundred percent get wanting to stay out of the spotlight, but this is too much. I'll at least make a note in the album foreward of all the hard work Miles did.

"Ok, I think we're ready. It's been a long time coming, but here we go, final song." Miles grinned from behind the recording booth and electrokinetically flicked on the green light. I began strumming before singing softly.

"Keep you in the dark, and they all pretend...'


***


That was not the end of it though; it took at least another month, mostly filled with getting a drumming section from the Kubfu Fighters and much work done on promotional materials and hyping the project up. With it 99% done and ready to be released on Rotunes in a week, I was finally ready for my biggest challenge: Shopping for clothes.

There was plenty of other shopping I'd needed to do to get ready, stocking up on healing items, berries, general supplies and the like, as well as getting a few more Battle Items to match my new team's needs. That stuff was all fairly easy compared to the daunting task before me, especially with the 'help' I had.

"Are you sure this is necessary?" I asked once more, as my sister dragged me from boutique to boutique. "This is the weekend, you've got free time better spent on something other than buying me an outfit."

She giggled, as if I had said the silliest thing in the world. "But this is your chance to declare yourself to the world; 'here is Nemona!' Your outfit will speak for yourself before you even open your mouth, and you need something that says you're going to be a Champion. And I can hardly trust you to dress yourself," she muttered under her breath.

"Hey! I dress myself perfectly fine.

My big sister rolled her eyes, boldly pushing through the door to another shop. Making a quick beeline to the headware, she began pulling off accessories and holding them up in front of a mirror. "Yes, you dress 'fine.' There are thousands of people who dress fine; you need to dress fiercer than that."

"You didn't need any special outfit when you did your gym run." I pointed out, which only caused her to grip my hand tighter.

"Well, I had a school uniform because I didn't decide to not go to Uva, like a traitor," she said in a perfectly sweet tone. Placing a pink sunhat on top of her head and glancing at it in the mirror for a few moments, she put it in her bag and, with a delighted smile, added, "You should just be grateful I'm taking the time out of my day to help you."

I glanced over at the bag looped around her arm and all the clothes in there for her and how I still didn't have anything yet, but wisely decided not to point that out. To be fair, part of that is my 'fault' for being too 'picky.' Though to be even fairer, it's not as if it's my fault that a dress or skirt simply isn't going to do in a journey all across the land!

After a minute, I said, "I am happy, and I do appreciate this." Mostly spending time with her, but it's nice to have someone helping me with this fashion stuff. I'd like to look nice, but putting in all that effort to follow trends and everything just feels like too much.

"I'm glad to. Feels weird, like I'm going to be seeing you less just because you're going out on your journey, even though I'll still be in school." She said as we found another store, throwing a few clothes at me to try on. I took the jeans out of the pile (they felt too stiff) and marched to the changing room.

"Are you planning on taking on the Elite Four?" I asked while trying on the outfits.

My question provoked a groan from her. "No way; battling the gyms was way too tough. I'm just going to focus on studying this year." I remembered her being over the moon when she came back with her eighth gym badge and how determined she was to get it, even challenging Thyme multiple times over the summer to earn it. On the other hand, I get trying to just throw yourself into some goal, just wanting to get it 'done.'

Stepping out of the change room, I flapped the overly long sleeves of the sweater I was wearing. "Bit much?" She asked, and I nodded.

"Yeah, it looks like I'm cribbing Iono's fashion. But I like the pants," I said, sticking my leg out and looking at them. They were pretty simple black with a white lightning bolt-shaped stripe running down the outer sides. Cyan beamed, pouncing on the opportunity.

"Perfect! Here, I've got some more clothes for you." I groaned and tried them on, going through a long montage of outfits that were rejected either by myself or my sister.

Eventually we settled on the pants I liked, a white t-shirt, and a red and white hoodie designed to look like a Pokeball. There's tons of symbols and pictures of different Pokemon, but I think that something more general like that is a good 'image' to put forward. Though I do wonder why my sister is so worried about that.

"Cyan, I don't need many accessories, this'll be good." My sister pouted, pointing out something I hadn't considered.

"We need you to be wearing something gold, or Mom and Dad will pout." Grimacing, I nodded. They would, they really would.

"Ok, fine. Maybe just a gold necklace?" My sister waved her hand back and forth as if that were iffy. "And it can have a solid gold ornament on it. Maybe of a Dudunsparce?" It would have to be custom made, but honestly, that's not a big problem for us. All these clothes are going to be altered and fitted closer by tailors too.

She nodded, satisfied. "That should work. Make sure to get some golden hairbands for when you tie it off in a ponytail."

"Actually, I was thinking I'd get it cut short." Cyan gave off a shocked gasp that turned into a squeal of delight. I've been overly picky with my hair and style, wanting to keep it comfortable and close to canon Nemona, but it's past time that I moved on. And what better way to show your past something than a haircut?

I called Miles up to look into that, immediately getting sidetracked by the maps and routes I had pulled up before. Peering over my shoulder, Cyan said, "Wow. That's, uh, certainly a complex plan."

Looking at the different lines I had digitally drawn on them and all the different paths I could go through, I couldn't disagree. "Yeah, but I think this will give me a good challenge, as well as let me explore tons across Paldea." Well, I plan on challenging all the Gym Leaders to eighth-badge-level Gym Challenges, but I still think Kofu and Larry will give me the toughest challenge. They're the most experienced and toughest Gym Leaders right now, so I'll leave them for last.

Part of that was due to how many new Gym Leaders there were. Grusha had just taken over for Martha in the Glaseado Gym, with Brassius doing the same for Artazon. Katy only had the last year under her belts as well. Not that I plan on underestimating any of them.

She shrugged, "If you're sure you have enough time."

"Enough time for what?" Cyan can't possibly know about my plans to confront Turo or the Paradox Pokemon, right?

"To become the youngest ever Champion-ranked trainer in Paldea," she responded. "Isn't that why you're doing this now?"

Laughing, I shook my head. "Champion rank is nice, but no, I'm not aiming for that before my tenth birthday just to make a record. Besides, the time traveling across the land will be good for training too. Riolu is strong, but she still needs to evolve, and Zorua needs to get accustomed to battles and evolve as well."

"I hope she still looks cute when she evolves," Cyan mentioned, and I tried my best not to act suspicious. I think Hisuian Zoroark looks awesome, but 'cute' is not exactly the word most people would use.

My sister continued. "You sure you can't tell me where to get one like her? I know I'm aiming to be a Water Type specialist, but I can make an exception."

"No, you know that I signed an NDA and that she's the only one of her kind anyway." That was what Friede and I had settled on, and so far it seemed to work. "Besides, if you're looking for a Pokemon outside of your chosen Type, why not pick something that can learn a bunch of Water Moves?"

I don't know for certain what Moves Zorua can learn. Obviously she has a predilection to Normal and Ghost Moves and a decent degree of Dark energy she can use, but I'm not certain as to her full Move list. And I can hardly check the Pokedex to refresh my memory here since it's even more blank than I am on the topic.

"What Pokemon learn the most Water Moves out of Type?" Cyan asked, mildly curious. I knew that she'd become a bit of a celebrity among her other classmates and would now try and keep Pokemon tidbits I could feed her to impress the other students. Not that she doesn't know a fair bit herself. Even if I'm still more skilled than she is, Cyan worked hard to get those badges.

"Well, Smeargles, technically. They can learn every Move, potentially."

"Potentially? That feels different than your usual spiel about how 'every Pokemon can be strong if you just believe in them,' and 'don't let yourself be limited by whatever anyone tells you a Pokemon can or can't do.'" She mocked me, and I crossed my arms.

"I don't sound like that, but yes. See, Smeargles only learn Moves via copying them. But unlike something like Copycat, they can permanently copy a Move by Sketching it out, able to use it forever. You might actually like them; they're great artists, so you could get along great."

My older sibling scratched her chin, clearly thinking about it. "Interesting. Being able to throw Salt Cure around like Tyme did to me would be fun…" She trailed off, cackling maniacally.

"If you do get a Smeargle, let me know. I have certain plans involving one," I said, steepling my fingers in a totally non-suspicious manner.

Cyan frowned and replied, "I don't like that look on your face. It looks like you're plotting something evil."

"Oh, like you're one to talk!" I fired back, happily bickering back with her all the way home. The road beckons, but I'm gonna miss this too.


***


My alarm clock woke me up, and I snapped to awareness. "Today's the day."

"It is indeed, bzzt."

"I'm going to take my first step on my journey after the Professor gives me my starter."

"Bzzt, uhhh…"

Swinging myself out of bed, I marched over to my desk and looked at the Pokeballs laid out on top of it. "Oh, but who to choose? This decision has racked many a player's minds for minutes on end, until they just choose the Fire starter."

"Nemona," Miles said flatly, while the rest of my team, all standing behind me, chimed in.

"Rua!"
"Iolu."
"Li li li!"
"Dudun."
And even a few faint chimes ringing out from Notch.

"Okay, okay, I get it!" I said with a laugh as I turned to face my less than amused team. "I'm sorry, it's just so... surreal." I've lived here for years; I truly feel at home here. Yet at the same time, some part of me can't help but feel how strange it is, like this is the start of a game. But it's real, all the trials I'll face and all the adventures I'll- no, that we'll experience together.

"Alright, who's ready to take the first step on our journey?" I asked before my stomach answered, rumbling loudly. "...After breakfast, that is. And I guess I should get dressed too."

My new outfit had arrived, several sets of the same clothes that I had packed into my Silph Co. bag. I'd think it was excessive to have nearly a dozen copies of the same outfit, but if this is to be my signature look, I'll need extras to deal with the wear and tear of the road.

Breakfast was a long affair, with Leah pestering me with questions about everything I'd already packed and me answering in-between mouthfuls of food (though she did help me remember my toothbrush, which I was grateful for). There was also my parents and Arven busy hyping me up and asking repeatedly what I was most excited about finding on my journey. A difficult question to answer considering I haven't seen anything yet.

"Well, cool Pokemon for sure. Beyond that and hopefully becoming a Champion-ranked Trainer, though? Probably Grusha."

Arven's brow furrowed in concentration. "He's that snowboarding guy, right?"

"Yeah. I talked to him when he was recovering from his injuries, over a year ago. I'm curious to see how good he is now that he's a Gym Leader." Finishing up the last of my (quite sizeable) breakfast, I stood up from the table. "Alright, I think it's time."

We headed out the front door, standing (and posing for a few photos taken on Rotom Phones) in the garden. "I'll make sure to call you all as soon as I reach Cortondo," I assured Arven and my parents, not that it stopped their wailing.

"Oh, we'll miss you so much!"
"Such brave Glitterati stoicism, trekking out into the unknown!"

"I'm barely going farther today than I usually do for training!" But the day after that, and then further after that... I wiped away at the wetness welling in my own eyes. "I'll talk to you guys tons, and make sure to watch my battles!"

"We will!"
"Have fun out there!"
"Show em' who's boss!"
"Please take care of yourself, Young Miss."

More comments like that from the rest of the staff to go along with Leah, Arven, and my parents waving me off. Turning around with determined strides, I marched off, out the gate, and took my first steps on my journey.


***


Despite still traveling through the same familiar fields and hills I had often traversed in the past, my spirits were soaring well into the midafternoon. My stomach grumbled noisily, however, reminding me of physical necessities. "What do you think we should have for lunch?"

Phantasm, running by my side, yipped loudly, looking around at the river running to our side. "Zorua!"

Chuckling, I shook my head. "The fish in that river are looked after by the Psyducks and Marils there; they'd probably be upset if we took some. At least not without giving them something in exchange." Or perhaps a battle... nah, let's just stop at Los Platos and grab something from a restaurant. I don't think any of these Pokemon will even be a challenge for Phantasm.

She was the only Pokemon I had out right now, not wanting to frighten the local populace of wild Pokemon with my whole team and hoping to get her some battling experience. The few encounters we'd had against Fletchlings and Nymbles proved lacking, however. Phantasm was way stronger than them, and while the Marils could be a bit tougher, I knew they'd be no match for her either.

Settling in at an open cafe, I got some food for myself and my team. As I ate, I observed the interactions each of them had, the team dynamic having grown quite a bit more complicated with a full team of six.

Riolu sat closest to Dun during mealtimes or breaks but didn't look directly at him, an odd mixture of both shy and comfortable around him. Occasionally, she'd talk to Notch, asking the Fairy Type questions or getting into debates with them that always left her frowning slightly, meditating.

Not that they got into any of that, too busy with their food. Notch nibbled slowly at theirs, lamenting the lack of diamond dust in their meals now that we were leaving home. Still amazed, my parents agreed to that. A shame it didn't work out, but even in minute portions over six months, the amount of diamonds Notch ingested had to have been greater in quantity than any other Carbink would find in the wild. That's clearly not the path to becoming a Diancie.

Growling and hissing sounds drew my attention to Nightwing and Phantasm, the two of them fighting over Poffins. "We're in a restaurant for crying out loud, bzzt! Can you not behave?" Miles rhetorically questioned them. The two of them launched into a flurry of angry words that were likely them trying to blame each other.

The Rotom Phone hovered over them aggressively, electricity crackling in the air. "Bzzt, it doesn't matter who started it, I'm ending it." I like seeing how much more assertive Miles has grown. Then again, it was probably trial by fire with this bunch, or everyone would have walked all over them.

Thankfully, Pokemon in general recognized listening to someone stronger than themselves, and Miles definitely qualified, being stronger than everyone bar Dun. Then again, it helps for Miles to be a neutral leader that they don't try and steal food like Phantasm does.

The Zorua in question slunk away from Nightwing and her long barbed tail, flicking about around her bowl of Poffins. She ended up sitting down near Riolu. The two of them had been quite confrontational at first, until somehow they smoothed things out. Now it feels like Phantasm looks up to Riolu like a big sister. I hope that continues once they've both evolved.

Evolution was a dramatic change for Pokemon, both in body and sometimes in mind as well. I remembered how in the first anime Ash had a lot more difficulties with Charizard's behavior after his evolution. Riolu was cognizant enough (or possibly worried) of that to decide to forestall taking any name until after she evolved.

After lunch, I told Phantasm, "Since you're having so much fun with illusions, why don't we practice them in battle a bit?" She winced minutely at my allusion to her misdeeds at lunch, trying to take Nightwings food. A nice try, but she'll need more work before she can fool even my eyes, let alone a full-fledged Flying Type like Nightwing is. Then again, most of my team has pretty good awareness, Miles and Dun from all their training, Nightwing naturally, and Riolu with her Aura.

"Do you think you can conceal Moves?" I inquired, but she shook her head.

"Zo, ua." She barked out, giving an example by Snarling, a wave rippling out through the air around her. It wasn't dark in color, like the Move usually would be, and even looked nearly transparent, but the disturbance was still obvious, especially with the flashes of Dark Type energy that shone through, getting more apparent as the Move spread out before it faded out of existence.

The motion scared away a few of the wild Pokemon hanging out nearby the road we were walking down, but I spotted a few Surskits hanging out down past the road, walking atop a large pond.

"So you're saying it's harder to make illusions outside of your body?" She yipped an affirmation, so I continued. "Well, I know that your evolution can do things like that, so it would be good to get a start on things."

The Hisuian Zorua looked down at that, sighing heavily. "The foundation you build now will pay dividends in the future. That being said, baby steps." Pointing at the pond, I said, "I want you to spar against those Surskits. Don't try to conceal your Moves, but instead, make them seem larger or more numerous. You know, like your Double Team."

Flashing me a vicious grin, she zipped off, her stubby feet carrying her faster than I could keep up. She's going to be quite the speedster some day. Her and Riolu will make for solid sweepers.

As she got to work, challenging the Bug Types and unleashing a barrage of Swift stars upon them, forcing the small pack on the defensive, I considered team alignment and plans for larger battles. My battle with Hassel was one of the first large enough for Switches to be a deciding factor, and that's definitely something I need to consider. Baton Pass is a good Move, and even if it does cost one of my Switches to use it, the Move might be a good one for some of my team.

Phantasm's illusionary attacks were mixed with copies of herself spread out around the pond. Double Team usually needed quick movements to make, but with her illusion powers she could conjure them without any movement on her own, freeing herself up to attack. But it does make the images have a bit less fidelity, something that-

"Look out, above!" I shouted, and Phantasm heeded my warning, jumping away from an Air Cutter that sliced through where she had been standing. Hovering above, a Masqurain glared down at her.

The evolved Pokemon had come from over the cliffs looming in the distance. Why did they come from all the way over- oh, that must be one of the Surskits parents! Masquerain is tough enough to deal with the other 'Mons up there, but Surskits are rather standard Bug Types, so sorta weak to live up there. The parents must find spots like this pond to leave their Eggs so the babies can grow up with relative ease, but unlike non-Pokemon bugs, they still look after the kids, and Phantasm must have seemed like an unknown threat-

A loud buzzing took me out of my theorizing, and I saw greenish waves of noise battering my Pokemon. "Phantasm!" The Hisuian Zorua howled out in pain, her legs a little wobbly from the blow. "Remember what Riolu taught you, Aerial Ace!"

With a determined nod, Phantasm stood back up, glaring at the Bug flying above the pond. With a mighty leap, Phantasm jumped over the Masquerain, flipping around and stomping down on her with all four feet.

The Masquerain gave out a pained screech, falling down a bit before recovering and hovering lower to the ground. A Quick Attack on Phantasm's part brought her back to the grass and stopped her from landing in the water.

That Move should have done more damage for a Super Effective hit. Ah right, Intimidate. Masquerain was glaring over at Phantasm, an effect amplified by the eye patterns on their antennas. Well, two can play at that game. "Fake Tears!"

Phantasm pulled off the Move immediately, conjuring up faux tears with her illusion powers, but surprised me by going a level beyond that and in a flash turning herself into a spitting image of one of the Surskits quivering off to the side.

Masquerain for her part had been charging in before stopping, horrified. Her four wings let her pivot on a dime, turning around to check on her children and confirm that she wasn't actually about to attack them. That was all the opening Phantasm needed to conjure a Shadow Ball and fire it point blank into the Masquerain, the blast knocking her backwards and out of the fight.

The three Surskits were looking nervous as I approached but still bravely stood around their mother's body. "Sorry about that, we were just looking for a little practice. Here, have some berries," I offered, tossing them underhanded towards them, not getting too close to frighten them further.

Calling Phantasm, we headed up the slope away from the pond and started marching on the road again. "That trick with turning into one of the Surskits was diabolical."

My little fox looked down for a moment, the fur at the top of her head flickering agitatedly, the red patch growing a bit brighter. Whoops, didn't mean to make her upset. "That was awesome," I clarified, which had her lifting her head up, amber eyes shining, and teeth bared in a vicious grin. That kinda warms my heart, as I think she must have learned that from me, Zorua wouldn't really smile like we do.

With light hearts and the open sky above us, we marched on, each of us eager for the next challenge.


***


Despite that feeling, we didn't fight every Pokemon along our path - we still had to make it to Cortondo in a timely manner. And even with that in mind, I don't think we'll make it there tonight.

Hiking up the cliffs had been easy enough, especially since I didn't really hike up them but instead just used my Aura to levitate up. It was tiring in its own way, but it saved a lot of time climbing. This whole route will. There's a small overpass above the river that separates the South and West Provinces that makes for a much faster straight line to cut to Cortondo for anyone willing to scale these cliffs.

Riolu's family wasn't far from here, and I'd asked if she had wanted to take a small detour, but she shook her head. From what I could understand, she didn't want to return home so early - or so lacking in accomplishments. She set out to help us win Gym Badges and defeat the Elite Four, I doubt she'd want to return until she's done that. Also, stopping Turo.

She had been shocked at that revelation of my future knowledge, but she was eager to stop this catastrophe from occurring and/or to face these powerful Paradox Pokemon. She didn't have many more questions about it, aside from a few on if I had any knowledge of her personally. Which I denied - the only one on my team I might have had an inkling about was possibly Dun, and the knowledge that she had bested a future Champion ranked Pokemon had her insufferably smug for a few days. At least until Dun beat her in a rematch.

My starter and her had a bit of a rivalry growing (and if my scant Auric vision was to be trusted, a bit of a crush on her part), but thankfully she was disciplined enough to not let it take over her life completely… and only challenged him twice a week or so. Right now, she was taking the time to train alongside Phantasm.

The Fighting Type Immunity Hisuian Zorua's had made it perfect to help her train Detect. Riolu could throw out all manner of punches and kicks from unexpected angles, but even if they connected, they wouldn't hurt Phanasm. It also gave her an up-close experience with Fighting Type energy. Very useful, especially if she has to deal with a Dark Type.

Seeing the pathway looming up ahead, I called for a small break, just as Phantasm avoided a barrage of Vacuum Waves and a flurry of blows from Riolu. "Alright, good job you two," I said, kneeling down by Phantasm. "Riolu says that the Scyther is just on the other side of that bridge, guarding his territory."

The Aura Pokemon barked, confirming that the Tera Pokemon was indeed nearby. She had her arms crossed, looking dismissively out past the curve of the cliff. She's said that Scyther guards his territory much like Leafeon guards this one, but also that he's much weaker than him. Still, a Tera Pokemon should make for a good challenge for Phantasm and help me figure out if she'll be ready for the Gym.

My entire team was eager, but Phantasm in particular had been quite vocal about wanting to fight here, even if I was taking on the Gym at an Eight Badge level. I had some ideas in mind for tricks that might help her even the gap and maybe stand up against one of Katy's Pokemon, but even that would rely on her having a minimum level of strength.

Phantasm eyes blazed eagerly, but I saw some scratches in her fur and some panting. Some Potions and Ethers helped solve that problem for the moment. Together, we strode across the natural bridge, a dozen meters across over the river below. Wow, it looks so pretty, the water sparkling down there.

A rush of wind was the only hint I got, enough time for me to whip my head up and see the giant green Bug racing straight at me, arm blades raised. I tried to move away but knew I wouldn't be fast enough; thankfully, Riolu was there to step in.

Jumping up, she interposed herself between me and Scyther, kicking off from his body. She pushed him back and flipped around, landing defensively in front of me.

For his part, the Scyther was still angrily shaking his blades at us, but slightly more wary now, not approaching immediately. The Bug Type had a crystalline sheen to his body and a giant clear gem atop his head that looked like it would be unbalancing, but he zipped back and forth easily.

"He's a Normal Type right now; your Ghost Moves won't work," I reminded Phantasm as she stepped forward, growling defiantly. The Scyther sneered, looking down on her, but accepted the challenge, moving forward to engage, arms raised to slash down on her.

Slash? Or maybe Double Hit? Don't know, but it's not a Bug Type Move and probably Normal Type, she'll be fine then. "Wait for it, then Taunt."

My assumption was correct, and while Phantasm did attempt to dodge, the armblades swung through her form, her ghostly nature leaving her completely unharmed. Sticking her tongue out at the Tera Normal Pokemon provoked them into a rage, the Scyther swinging fruitlessly at Phantasm, his blades gouging the earth beneath where she stood. I'm glad this bridge is a lot thicker and more stable than that passageway in Kitakami.

"Swift," I simply called out, and my Pokemon conjured wave after wave of glowing stars to pelt her opponent. The blows stung and the Scyther hissed at them, but she wasn't enough to stop the wild Pokemon.

For a moment, I thought they might continue with those attacks even after the Taunt faded, but one of his blades gathered a dull green energy and cut into my Pokemon. She gave a cry of pain, and I worried for a moment but saw the blow hadn't landed too deep. But his follow-up might. Fury Cutter gets stronger each time it connects.

"Aerial Ace, then Detect!" Flipping around the slashing arms, Phantasm leapt up once more, striking down at Scyther and leaving a few paw shaped dents in his carapace.

The return attack as she landed down behind him was easily avoided, my Zorua rolling under one slash to jump over another, all without turning back to face him. Nice, she shouldn't get too cocky, though.

"Double Team and Swift." Duplicating herself all around the battlefield, stars began flying every which way at the Scyther, whittling them down further. With mad slashes and furious wing beats, the wild Pokemon set about destroying every image of Phantasm, only clipping the real one occasionally.

Each time she got tagged, she'd make sure to spend a moment slipping away before pelting him again. Slowly but surely, he was beat down, until finally, the crystals surrounding him shattered, indicating he was near defeat and had lost his Terastalization. Will it recover in time? Perhaps just by resting in this area, the land will fill him with... normalcy? Huh, I wonder what makes an area 'Normal' aligned.

Those were things I could look into later. "You fought well, but we've won." I said, gesturing at Phantasm, who had a few cuts on her, but otherwise seemed hale and ready to battle. "Now please, let us pass-"

Rather than calming down, my words (or possibly just my continued existence) seemed to enrage the Scyther, and the wounded Bug charged at me. Riolu was ready to intercept, but before she could, Phantasm let out a blood-curdling howl, dark tendrils of energy surrounding her, and then appeared around the mad Pokemon, assaulting him.

The power of the attack knocked Scyther off the edge and sent them tumbling down to the river below. A moment of shock hit me before I saw the Scyther, shakily flying away, obviously having caught itself before hitting the water.

"Well, I appreciate that, but try to be careful in the future. We don't want to seriously hurt anyone." The fox-like Pokemon sniffed and turned her head, looking relatively disinterested in that prospect. A problem for the future, but it probably only happened because of how vicious that Scyther was. Which is a shame; I like Scyther (and their evolutions). Still, I'll make sure to have her battle against a few Trainers nearby before the Gym, but for now...

"Phantasm, are you ready to take on your first Gym Leader?" The gleam in her eyes told me everything I needed to know even before her bark of agreement. Look out, Katy, here we come.


And here we go, the first steps on Nemona's journey (as well as wrapping up some other stuff). Next up, her first (official) Gym Battle.

Nemona's Current Team:

-'Dun' (Dudunsparce, Male, Normal Type, Starter)
- Tera Type: Normal
- Held Item: Expert Belt
- Abilities: Run Away, Serene Grace
- 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, Tailwind, Roost, Ancient Power, Drill Run, Hyper Drill, Triple Yawn, Ice Spinner, Solar Beam, Lunge, Flamethrower, Aqua Tail, Coil, Hurricane, Outrage, Smart Strike

- 'Miles' (Rotom, Genderless, Electric/Form dependent Type)
- Tera Type: Electric
- Held Item: Life Orb
- Ability: Levitate
- Moves Known: Astonish, Confuse Ray, Thundershock, Double Team, Hyper Voice, Protect, Thunder, Rain Dance, Will O' Wisp, Nasty Plot, Hex, Sunny Day, Substitute, Foul Play, Trick, Discharge, Shadow Ball, Eerie Impulse, Reflect, Light Screen

- 'Nightwing' (Gliscor, Female, Flying/Ground Type)
- Tera Type: Water
- Held Item: Toxic Orb
- Ability: Hyper Cutter, Poison Heal
- Moves Known: Poison Sting, Sand Attack, Harden, Knock Off, Fury Cutter, Acrobatics, Bulldoze, Quick Attack, Psychic Fangs, Poison Tail, Slash, Gunk Shot, Dig, Ice Fang, Lunge, U-Turn, Protect, Tailwind, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, Night Slash

- 'Notch' (Carbink, Genderless, Rock/Fairy Type)
- Tera Type: Fighting
- Held Item: Light Clay
- Ability: Clear Body
- Moves Known: Harden, Tackle, Guard Split, Flail, Ancient Power, Light Screen, Reflect, Iron Defense, Body Press, Stealth Rocks, Psychic, Smack Down, Trick Room, Dazzling Gleam, Rock Polish, Power Gem, Stone Edge, Protect, Spikes

- 'Phantasm' (Hisuian Zorua, Female, Normal/Ghost)
- Tera Type: Ghost
- Held Item: Lax Incense
- Ability: Illusion
- Moves Known: Leer, Scratch, Torment, Hone Claws, Shadow Sneak, Curse, Swift, Aerial Ace, Snarl, Double Team, Taunt, Bitter Malice

- 'Riolu' (Riolu, Female, Fighting)
- Tera Type: Fighting
- Held Item: Clear Amulet
- Ability: Steadfast
- Moves Known: Endure, Quick Attack, Feint, Metal Claw, Counter, Work Up, Detect, Rock Smash, Trailblaze, Vacuum Wave, Screech, Quick Guard, Circle Throw, Force Palm, Drain Punch, Swords Dance, High Jump Kick, Aerial Ace, Poison Jab, Copycat, Ice Punch, Close Combat, Final Gambit, Reversal
 
Chapter 47 New
A few days later, I walked into the Cortondo Gym Building. The stark, tall white building stuck out amidst the more pastoral houses and small shops that littered the streets nearby. Considering the Treasure Hunt hadn't started yet, the building was fairly empty, with only a few staffers walking to or fro (and a few lounging about).

Marching up to the front desk, I said, "Hello, I am Nemona-"

"Oh, aren't you adorable!" The lady in a suit behind the desk squealed, looking down at me. "Do you know where your parents are?"

Clearing my throat, I responded. "I am well aware where my parents are. At home, waiting to watch my match against Katy. Speaking of, could I please schedule a match against her?"

She blushed briefly, nodding as she donned a more professional demeanor. "We'll need to see your Trainer ID first." I took the plastic card out of my wallet, passing it to her. Miles has a copy on the phone as well, but I like the solid feel of the physical card.

The receptionist scanned it before frowning. "You're already cleared to use Terastalization, but you aren't a student. How-?"

"Professor Turo gave me a Tera Orb personally," I explained, and she was satisfied with my answer.

"Just give me a moment then." She passed me my card back and made a quick call before hanging up and turning back to me. "You're in luck; Katy is ready to test you right away. Ah, before you face the Gym Leader, you need to complete their Gym Tests. For you, that will be helping Katy out in her bakery."

Right, they really leaned into Gym Leaders having other interests in this game, almost seeming like them being Gym Leaders is almost a side gig. As I left and made my way to the Patisserie Soapberry, I saw that it was swarmed by townsfolk, all eagerly drooling at the sight of Katy's baked goods (or possibly the woman herself).

The crowd was thick enough that I would have had trouble pushing my way through it. Luckily, there was an open side window. Floating up, I drifted in, silently gliding through the kitchen before I landed by Katy's side. "Hello, I was sent to help you."

Her piercing shriek had me covering my ears before she recovered. "Oh? Where did you come from-" The sounds of shouting outside got her attention. "I best calm them down." Exiting to wave at them, she addressed them.

"Today, as an extra special treat, I have a helper." She gestured to me, and I walked out to the counter, waving awkwardly at the horde. "Please have some patience as we whip up something extra special, with some free desserts at the end of the day."

That got the crowd fired up, cheering her (and possibly me) on vigorously. I guess that's part of why Gym Leaders have these kinds of jobs outside of their duties. It helps them deeply connect to the community.

We went back into the kitchen and began work making some of the many incredibly sweet confections for the hungry customers outside. I was no great hand in the kitchen, but I wasn't inept either, so I was able to follow Katy's instructions and make a few dozen treats.

We didn't chitchat much as we worked, as I wanted to show that I was giving this test my all. The Gym Tests aren't that difficult, but failing them or giving the signs that you're not paying attention to them would give the Leaders an easy excuse to refuse a challenge. I need to focus and not get distracted... like I am right now.

After a couple of hours, we were finished for the day, and Katy tasted one of the cupcakes I had made. "Oh? This is quite nice, very impressive."

I bit my tongue, wanting to call her out on that as a lie. Technically, I don't know that. Honestly, it might be quite impressive for a nine-year-old. But she's not feeling overjoyed. My Aura sense could feel that slight twinge of disappointment. No anger or real sadness to go along with it, so I felt it was just that she had overly high expectations that I couldn't quite live up to.

She continued, wrapping up the pastries I made to give away. "You've passed the test. If you'll give me a few minutes, I can meet you on the Gym Court for our battle. This will be your first Gym Battle, correct?" I guess the receptionist informed her of my 'official' record. But I fought Clay at the fifth badge level years ago and went toe-to-toe with an Elite Four, that just won't do.

Rather than answer, I said, "I'm aware that my culinary skills don't hold a candle to yours."

She frowned and opened her mouth like she was about to deny it or give me an empty platitude as if I were upset. Why would I be? I'm not as skilled as a grown woman who has trained her whole life to do this? That just makes sense. "Battling is a different story, however," I continued. "Please, face me at the Eighth badge level, or this won't be a challenge."

That got a response from her, a steely glint forming in her green eyes. "Oh? Be careful you haven't bitten off more than you can chew," she warned. I said nothing, simply turning and striding cooly out of the Soapberry.

Or at least it would have been cool if I had a cape like I wanted! And if I hadn't forgotten I was still wearing the apron she lent me and had to head right back and give it back. Why can't life be cool like an anime? I fumed silently, slapping at my crimson cheeks as I tried to push aside that prior embarrassment.

It didn't take long for me to get to the Gym Battlefield. It was fairly similar to the one I had seen in Artazon when watching my sister's match, though there wasn't a giant windmill nearby. Also, far fewer people are about to watch this, but that makes sense. The Treasure Hunt hasn't started yet, so it'll mostly just be locals who happen to be interested.

Seeing a few more people heading towards me, all surrounding Katy, I pulled Miles out of my pocket. "I want you to record the fight for me."

"Bzzt, are you sure?" They said, recognizing that it would put me at a slight disadvantage. Not that great a disadvantage overall, though. Yes, Oven Form would be best here, but even without an appliance to possess, Miles will have the Ghost Typing, giving them resistance to Bug Types. Plus…

"I'm sure. Phantasm has come far, to say nothing of the rest of the team." After we had arrived in Cortondo, we headed back out to the surrounding fields almost immediately (at least after getting a hotel room and resting up). There were a decent number of Combee swarms and even a Vespiqueen for Phantasm to test herself against, as well as other Trainers on the roads.

The battles were fairly easy overall, but they helped us hone some techniques and practice strategies that I hoped would pay off here. Looks like we'll see one way or another now.

A League referee stood at the side of the field as the Gym Leader took her place on the other end of the arena, a strand of green hair sticking out from underneath her chef's hat and blowing in the wind. "This will be a five-on-five battle for your first Gym Badge, Nemona Glitterati. Each of us is allowed three switches and to Terastalize."

She leveled an odd look at me when she said that. Does she think that I just bought my way into getting clearance to use a Tera Orb and that I'm some rich brat who thinks that alone is enough to face her at full power?

The fact that it wasn't six-on-six made me wonder if Katy only had that many Pokemon at an Eighth badge level or if she had more for challenges beyond it. I'm leaning towards the former here; she hasn't been a Gym Leader all that long yet.

"Do you have any questions, challenger?" She questioned in a booming voice that carried over the field, and I shook my head. "Then let us choose our first Pokemon."

The two of us raised our Pokeballs, and, on the count of three, released them.

"Go, Lokix!"
"I choose you, Dun!"

With dual flashes of light, our two Pokemon appeared on the field, to much applause (mostly for Katy's Pokemon, but a few cheers for me too). The sleek, dark Bug Type stood proudly, looking down on the Dudunsparce before them. For her part, my Pokemon turned back, glancing nervously at me, and I nodded reassuringly.

"You've got this, just watch out for his range; those legs can flip out far," I warned her, and she turned back without a sound. Lokix is one of her weaker Pokemon for this level, and ironically isn't all that great for us to go up against first, but we both know the plan. This should still work.

The referee counted us down. "Three, two, one… begin!" The first command Katy was about to give died down as she saw what I was doing.

Pulling the Tera Orb out of my pocket, I activated it immediately, my arm shaking slightly from the force going through it. "Shine on with haunting beauty!" I shouted as I tossed the Orb over her head. My other hand was clenched in a white knuckle grip, as I prayed that this would work and would be convincing.

The crystal blocks surrounded her for a moment before breaking to reveal the shining Pokemon. They had a violet, ghastly figure attached above the head of the snake after a moment. Gah, there was a flicker there. Did Katy notice?

The Bug Type Gym Leader frowned from the other end of the arena before shaking her head. "Using Terastalization so early... I understand wanting to rush to dessert, but patience is necessary when baking any meal."

"Yeah well… Curse." I finished lamely, not able to come up with a witty response. Luckily, my Pokemon made up for it, a spectral nail stabbing through her body and conjuring a nasty pool of distorted purple energy beneath Lokix. The Pokemon clicked angrily at the status effect.

"First Impression!" With an odd skittering motion, her Pokemon threw himself forward at her command, trying to strike into the long snake. Yet somehow, the attack missed, my Pokemon pulling 'herself' away from the blow with surprising speed.

Honestly, just glad the angle was off. I think Phantasm is hiding her true self in about the middle of where Dun's body appears to be. If Lokix hadn't gone for the head, that might have connected, and given the gleam of his eyes, I think he has Tinted Lens. Those Moves will hit hard even with her resistance to Bug Type attacks.

"Lunge and get out of there." That was our codeword for U-Turn, and Phantasm launched into the Move.

"Pack a sour surprise with Sucker Punch!" Katy called out, timing the Move well to counter our own attack. Lokix used his back legs to flip out and launch him forward, but once again the Move 'missed'.

Katy blinked her eyes as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Which is fair; a Dark Type Move shouldn't be phasing through a Ghost Types head. In that moment, Phantasm had slammed into Lokix with her real body, disguising it as a tail slap before 'slithering' away. The pain from the super-effective Move was compounded with the ghostly pain ailing our foe.

"Swift and keep your distance," I called out, happy with how things were proceeding but still on my toes. She's not going to let this get her down so easily.

"Astonish!" Her Pokemon jumped, flashing his arms out to shock Phantasm, even as the stars she was commanding slammed into him. My Pokemon gave an overdramatic cry of 'pain,' but pushed through it remarkably fast, moving to keep her distance. That Lokix is much stronger than the Scyther we faced before; if we weren't fooling her with these illusions, we'd be toast. At least the Swifts are hitting them hard, though Lokix is pretty frail. With that and the curse dragging him down, Phantasm might get her first Gym Pokemon win.

Just in case, I added "Use Detect if he gets too close, and keep on firing Swift." Unfortunately, the command proved to be the tipping point, and seeing her Lokix writhing in pain from the invisible curse plaguing him, she recalled her Pokemon.

"Switch! Kofu taught me that variety can be the spice of life, so let's change it up. Go, Spidops!" With a press of a button and flash of red light, a green and brown upright spider-looking Pokemon had taken the field, and she waved her many arms menacingly at us.

"Hex!" I called out another code word command. She gathered a similar-looking, if slightly wild, ghostly energy like Hex would create. But this was more than debilitating spite of that Move, but a bone-chilling hatred, honed to cut through an enemy's very being and sap their power. Bitter Malice, her signature Move.

I frowned at seeing the top of 'Dun's' head glowing a faint red as she used the Move, the Illusion slipping a tad, but I couldn't draw attention to it for her to fix. Besides, Bitter Malice did its job. Spidops recoiled back in pain, launching out a bunch of webs that missed by a mile - or it might have seemed like they did, for someone who hadn't studied Katy's battles.

Sticky Web might slow my next Pokemon down, but Phantasm can slip around it for the moment. "Hex again!" I cried, and she went to work, trying to slam more ghostly energy into Spidops.

"Skitter Smack," Katy tried to turn the tide, her Pokemon dropping to all-eights and ramming past Phantasm, then into her from behind. The blow knocked her back a bit, but her Typing and the previous Moves she had used against the Spidops took away much of the sting from the attack.

Too close right now for another Bitter Malice, but I think we can trade in melee at this point. "Aerial Ace." This was a difficult one for Phantasm to pull off, as she had to mimic Dun's wings and flight rather than the acrobatic skills she was actually using to pull off the attack.

Katy's face lit up. "Silk Trap!" The Gym Leader gleefully cried out, and I realized my mistake as Spidops held up a thick web in front of it, catching Phantasm in it and absorbing the blow. Dammit!

"Caught like a bug in a web," she cackled. "Go for a Throat Punch!" Spidops raised back an arm covered in Dark energy, punching it forward... and going well over even the illusory body of Dun, who was stuck in place. Her and her trainer had wide eyes as they wondered how she could have missed a stationary target.

I didn't even try to hide my smirk as I called out, "Swift, cut yourself free, and cut into her. Then Hex." That Lax Incense is working wonders alongside the illusion; I really thought Phantasm might be beat there, or at least that we might have to use Curse again, which would knock her out.

Spidops valiantly tried to pursue, but his follow-up attacks were getting weaker and weaker, much to Katy's consternation, the Gym Leader frowning at the sight. Sighing, she called for a withdraw.

"I'll withdraw Spidops from the battle." Not a switch? Well, she already used one, and Spidops already slowed 'Dun' as well as set up the arena hazard, makes sense she might want to conserve those. "You are quite the vexing recipe, aren't you? But I think I've got just the right ingredient here to balance things out. Heracross!" Seeing the powerful blue-shelled Bug crying his own name out proudly on the battlefield, I knew it was time for Phantasm to end her run.

That Heracross might not be as powerful as Kotetsu's, but he's still a powerhouse. Still, doesn't mean we won't go without a bang! "Curse!"

Once more, a ghastly nail sunk itself into Phantasm, and though Heracross tried to race across the field, claws covered in Dark energy, it couldn't close the gap in time, the Curse hitting them and Phantasm falling right before they could connect the blow.

The illusion faded away, revealing the Zorua for a brief second before I recalled her, and Katy gasped, understanding dawning on her face. "Oh! So that's how you- I see, a secret ingredient." There was recognition now radiating from her.

She thinks she's seen the plan in full and respects the use of Terastalization there. Katy will be coming at me full force now, which is a good thing. While Phantasm has come a long way, she's still the weakest of my team by a long shot, and I'm about to show that here.

"Go, Nightwing!" The tall flying scorpion swooped out onto the field, even her long tail not touching the ground to get ensnared by the webs left there. She clacked her pincers together viciously, staring down at the familiar Pokemon. Right, I had her sit out a fight with a powerful Heracross over a year ago. Time to see how much she's grown.

Katy frowned, likely not familiar with Gliscors but easily recognizing her as a Flying Type and the weakness that presented for her Pokemon. Her hand dropped down to the Pokeballs at her side. "Swi-"

"Sand Tomb!" I interrupt, and Nightwing blurs forward, hitting the ground in front of Heracross with her pincers and tail. The force knocks sand into the air, which her wings beat into a whirling storm of sand around the Bug Type.

The red beam from Katy's Pokeball fails to connect with her Pokemon trapped within. With that option cut off, she just calls out "Stone Edge!" Heracross dutifully ignores the phantoms and abrasive sand scraping his chitinous body, dropping his horn low to rip some rocks out of the ground and send them spiking up at Nightwing.

The blows land, smacking her a tiny bit and causing her to idly scratch at her face, but leave little real damage. "Protect," I say, hoping to buy a little more time.

It worked, her skin turning darker purple spreading out from the Toxic Orb that rested on the cord around her throat. All the while, Heracross futilely ripped up more stones, the rocks shattering against the barrier Nightwing has surrounded herself with.

"Fling then Dig!" I shouted out as Protect ends. With a quick slice, Nightwing sniped her own necklace, hurling it around at Heracross, the Orb smacking into him with a crash, covering him in the noxious liquid. Then she burrowed down beneath the arena's surface in the blink of an eye.

Katy was quick to respond with an "Earthquake!" That has Heracross stomping the ground and shaking it up violently, such that even I can feel faint tremors past the barrier.

It did nothing to Nightwing, the Gliscor gal easily swimming through the churning earth; an opening in the ground had me see her lazily waving up at the Bug Type before disappearing from sight again.

All the while, Heracross is in tremendous pain. The Poison was building up as the sands refused to relent, all while shades hound his very being. Crying and thrashing in pain, he slammed around, trying to break free before falling.

Not bothering to worry about if it's a trick or not, I immediately call Nightwing back up. "End the Sand Tomb." My tone was entirely serious, and she responded, swiftly wiping away the storm and letting Katy recall her Pokemon. "Sorry about that, the compounding effects- I didn't-"

"Enough of that," she responds, her voice clipped. "A battle isn't a place for regrets."

"Yes Ma'am." Recentering myself, I wait as she chooses her next Pokemon.

Finally, she pulls out a Pokeball. "You're quite good. I think I'll have to roll things out a bit differently than I planned." The ball opened and out landed her largest Pokemon to date. A massive bear with brown fur, the pale yellow ring pattern on its torso was one of the few signs it wasn't just a regular bear. As well as the power radiating off of it.

My mind flashed through options, trying to think of how I might counter it. I know it can learn Ice Type Moves and has enough power to push through even Nightwing's prodigious defenses. Status conditions won't help if it has Guts, like I suspect it does. Maybe if I get it to- no, I'm overthinking this.

Drawing Nightwing's Pokeball, I return her. "Switch. Show 'em what you're made of, Notch!" The Carbink was released above the webs that littered the field. The damage to the ground made some of the arena hazard unlikely to catch them, and the few that did slid right off their crystal covered body.

Ursaring lumbered forward, raising a claw to slash down at Notch. "Metal Claw/Iron Defense!" Katy and I ordered simultaneously.

The blow hit hard, and I couldn't tell if it had hit before Notch had finished with Iron Defense or not, but the Berry they ate nullified a good chunk of the damage anyways. Part of me was tempted to keep on going for setup, but since the bear was so close...

"Body Press!" Twirling up through the air, Notch hung above the powerful Normal Type for a moment, like a wrestler leaping off the high ropes, before they dropped down. An elbowless piledriver smashed into the Ursaring, sending her stumbling back with a howl of pain. Her return swipe was with steely claws but found little purchase against Notch's body. Partly due to their defense increase, partly due to the fact that their blow had broken the Ursaring's arm.

Katy whipped out her own Tera Orb, not wasting time to say anything pithy, tossing it above Ursaring's head. From the crystals, Ursaring emerged, with two crystalline antennas above her head. With a frown marring her usually soft features, she called out "Fury Cutter!"

Roaring, the claws on her good arm were surrounded with a dull green energy as she attempted to cut into Notch, to little avail. Carbinks can be a bit confusing to fight if you don't know about them, and it does make Body Press weaker. Still, it's pretty obvious Notch is a Rock Type, so let's show her why Terastalizing into a Bug Type is a bad choice.

"Power Gem," my voice rang out over the battlefield, and Notch's gems glowed bright white before firing their beams off. Ursaring recoiled from the shots, but they didn't do quite as much damage as the Body Press earlier had.

"Fury Cutter, again!" Katy commanded, and I decided to stop her before she could build up.

"Protect!" The floating rock surrounded themselves completely in a spherical barrier, weathering Ursaring's blows until she ran out of steam.

Rather than try it again, Katy called out, "Switch!" Once more, she recalled her Pokemon and released the last one I had yet to see. Covered in steel shell, only a few red protrusions and their eyes were visible outside the Pokemon's defensive plating.

"Forretress, Gyro Ball!" Katy yelled, and the heavy steel ball-shaped Pokemon jumped up, looking to crush Notch.

Despite it being a Steel Type Move, I wasn't too worried - Gyro Ball was based on how much slower you were than your opponent, and Notch was only slightly faster than the Forretress. Do I let it hit and set up Stealth Rock a bit? Notch can tank the blows- oh, but Katy will just Rapid Spin out. Better Switch again.

Recalling Notch before they would be crushed, I tossed Nightwing back into the fray. We both have a switch left, so she can't just go back to Ursaring or whatever. Not that I think any of her Pokemon are a good match for Nightwing right now.

"Fire Fang," I ordered, and Nightwing gleefully obliged. Diving down on the Steel Type, her mouth aflame, she sunk her teeth deep into the creature's shell.

"Infestation!" Katy shouted, and out of the tough Bug's shell poured out an innumerable number of small actual bugs. Hopping over onto Nightwing, the pests burrowed into her skin, causing internal pain and discomfort.

She didn't let that stop her, landing in two quick Dual Wingbeats against Forretress' shell before going in for another fiery bite, only to chomp on empty air as Katy switched her Pokemon.

My hand shot to my belt to do the same until I remembered that the Gym Leader's Move left us stuck for a while. We're in a better spot though. For all the discomfort Infestation was causing her, it was offset by the Poison healing her as fast as she was hurt.

Katy's Ace took the field once more, the Terastalization holding through that time. "Ice Punch!" She called out, seeing her last chance for victory...

"Acrobatics," I responded, and she saw that chance slip away. Spiraling through the air, Nightwing struck as Ursaring was still pulling her good arm back, hitting the bear repeatedly as she flew by.

The mighty Ursaring stumbled, dazed, before the crystalline sheen covering it and the 'hat' on her head shattered. The bear fell over, unconscious. Katy stood, shocked for a moment, before she recalled her ace with a resigned look on her face.

"Your strength has risen nicely, like bread in the oven. But allow me to show you my own strength!" She tossed out Forretress, and the ball-shaped Pokemon began spinning about the instant it hit the field. "Rock Slide!"

Angling itself so its red spikes would tear through the ground, it continued spinning towards the Gliscor, the impact sending stones flying up to hit her. She shielded herself with her large pincers before swooping down. "Acrobatics," I began, before I saw the Bug Type below her begin to glow brightly. Evolution? No, it must be- Explosion!

"Protect!" I screamed, and right after, the Forretress erupted, blinding me for half a second. When the smoke from the Move had cleared, I saw that Katy's Pokemon was unconscious, while mine had a forcefield surrounding it. But she's hurt. All those scratches and bruises on her body, no way those would be there if she had gotten Protect up in time. I gotta get better at reading those things; Katy must have given her Pokemon some signal I missed to use that.

The Bug Type Gym Leader was taking her time to toss out her next Pokemon, likely waiting for the Infestation to do my Gliscor in. That won't work. Those bugs have almost run their course, and Nightwing's Poison Heal will keep on working.

She seemed to realize that her strategy wouldn't work or got tired of waiting, throwing in her last Pokemon. Lokix leaped into battle but couldn't match Nightwing's aerial agility. I ordered her to dodge around a bit, gaining time against our weakened foe as her own strength recovered.

"Finish this, Acrobatics!"

"Sucker Punch when they come close!" Katy tried, and to her Lokix's credit, he landed a solid hit on Nightwing as she came in. I'd trained my Pokemon to tank hits and Nightwing had been quite physically durable even before the regiment of training and vitamins I gave her, so she pushed through. In a flurry of motion, she beat the Lokix around with all of her limbs, smashing him into the ground.

For a second, he tried to get back up before collapsing down. We did it, we won! As soon as the referee called the match, I raced onto the field and scooped Nightwing up. "You did it!" I'll have to thank Notch and Phantasm too, as soon as they're healed.

Katy reminded me of her presence, clearing her throat. Looking over, I saw she had recalled her own Pokemon and walked onto the field as well. "You did wonderfully, if a bit savage for my tastes." Seeing my expression, she shook her head. "Oh? Don't mind me; I'd hardly want you to hide in your cocoon for my sake. Not every treat can be to everyone's taste. Please accept this badge."

Reaching for her hands, I grabbed the first (official) Gym Badge I had ever received. Unlike the other regions, all of ours are the same shape: a circle with a gold border and the Gym Leader's Type symbol in the center.

"So small, but so significant," I said as I carefully held the first physical symbol of my team's progress in my hands. Katy seemed to like that, smiling and offering me a handshake. I took it gratefully, grinning broadly as I shook her hand. One down, seven to go.


Nemona's first official Gym Battle was a success! Having all the rematch stuff available is nice, makes it a lot easier to plan these battles out for (which is good because we have a lot of them coming up in the next few arcs. Of course, the next Gym is going to be original, due to timeline issues, but we've got some exploration and other adventure stuff before that.

Nemona's Current Team:
-'Dun' (Dudunsparce, Male, Normal Type, Starter)
- Tera Type: Normal
- Held Item: Expert Belt
- Abilities: Run Away, Serene Grace
- 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, Tailwind, Roost, Ancient Power, Drill Run, Hyper Drill, Triple Yawn, Ice Spinner, Solar Beam, Lunge, Flamethrower, Aqua Tail, Coil, Hurricane, Outrage, Smart Strike

- 'Miles' (Rotom, Genderless, Electric/Form dependent Type)
- Tera Type: Electric
- Held Item: Life Orb
- Ability: Levitate
- Moves Known: Astonish, Confuse Ray, Thundershock, Double Team, Hyper Voice, Protect, Thunder, Rain Dance, Will O' Wisp, Nasty Plot, Hex, Sunny Day, Substitute, Foul Play, Trick, Discharge, Shadow Ball, Eerie Impulse, Reflect, Light Screen

- 'Nightwing' (Gliscor, Female, Flying/Ground Type)
- Tera Type: Water
- Held Item: Toxic Orb
- Ability: Hyper Cutter, Poison Heal
- Moves Known: Poison Sting, Sand Attack, Harden, Knock Off, Fury Cutter, Acrobatics, Bulldoze, Quick Attack, Psychic Fangs, Poison Tail, Slash, Gunk Shot, Dig, Ice Fang, Lunge, U-Turn, Protect, Tailwind, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, Night Slash, Sand Tomb

- 'Notch' (Carbink, Genderless, Rock/Fairy Type)
- Tera Type: Fighting
- Held Item: Light Clay
- Ability: Clear Body
- Moves Known: Harden, Tackle, Guard Split, Flail, Ancient Power, Light Screen, Reflect, Iron Defense, Body Press, Stealth Rocks, Psychic, Smack Down, Trick Room, Dazzling Gleam, Rock Polish, Power Gem, Stone Edge, Protect, Spikes, Stomping Tantrum

- 'Phantasm' (Hisuian Zorua, Female, Normal/Ghost)
- Tera Type: Ghost
- Held Item: Lax Incense
- Ability: Illusion
- Moves Known: Leer, Scratch, Torment, Hone Claws, Shadow Sneak, Curse, Swift, Aerial Ace, Snarl, Double Team, Taunt, Bitter Malice

- 'Riolu' (Riolu, Female, Fighting)
- Tera Type: Fighting
- Held Item: Clear Amulet
- Ability: Steadfast
- Moves Known: Endure, Quick Attack, Feint, Metal Claw, Counter, Work Up, Detect, Rock Smash, Trailblaze, Vacuum Wave, Screech, Quick Guard, Circle Throw, Force Palm, Drain Punch, Swords Dance, High Jump Kick, Aerial Ace, Poison Jab, Copycat, Ice Punch, Close Combat, Final Gambit, Reversal
 
Chapter 48 New
"Go, Crabhammer!" I shouted out. Nightwing, Terastalized with a water spout 'hat' above her head, slapped the riverbank hard with her tail, creating a tall splash of water up before it landed back down, joining the river stream. And she left a huge dent in the ground where she hit, very nice.

Dun smirked, using his own Aqua Tail to slam into the ground, making a mark just as large or slightly larger than hers. Nightwing glared, launching back into the training with renewed fervor. While not quite as bad as Riolu, she can be quite competitive too. Moreso, since her evolution.

I wasn't sure if it was some new instinct, but thought it might just have been her reveling in her newfound power, and that clashing with the existing might Dun had. The fact that even with her evolution and the Tera Type change she had undergone before we went on our journey, she still couldn't match up to him.

The two of them escalated, their attacks backsplashing onto me, even as I stood a good distance away. "Quit it, you two!" I barked out even as I called on my Aura to try and dry myself off. It wasn't great since I wasn't that skilled at air manipulation, or at least not in that manner. Aura really is a constant uphill climb. Speed and power for cutting air blades don't really help my precision or the temperature of the wind. And all of that doesn't relate to enhanced vision.

Or at least, none of it had for me. It was entirely possible that there were other, more naturally talented Aura users or with different mindsets that could learn it better. Tulip had mentioned some interconnectivity between her skills, but I couldn't tell if that was due to our different Auric Types or some other factor.

It would be interesting to study, though I do worry that any results I print might influence how others learn. If I say Aura works in one way, does it really work that way, or just for me because I think that way? I knew well that certain academic 'facts' could get entrenched in public perceptions long after they'd been disproven. It wasn't as bad in this world as it was in my former one, but there were still infamous 'Pokedex entries' that plagued the world.

Pushing that out of my mind, I called Nightwing and Dun back, the two of them having stopped splashing me but descended into a small scuffle themselves. Even without using Moves, I can feel the ground shake from the strength each one has.

"If you can't take training seriously, we'll have to go back and spend another day here before we hit the road," I said, jerking a thumb at Cortonodo behind me. That got both my Pokemon to straighten up and get back to serious training, particularly Dun. Honestly, we should probably head back at least for a moment to get the Tera Orb recharged. I don't think we'll need it before hitting Alforando, but better safe than sorry.

After a quick stop by the Pokemon Center to recharge it, we turned right around and headed straight back to the river. It ran around the edge of the city, and past it, a mountain towered above us. With several large flat sections, it felt more like a bunch of cliffs stacked on top of each other.

While not as famous as the Glaseado Mountain, it was still daunting enough that even I felt trepidation at the idea of trying to scale it. Which is why I wasn't doing that! Instead, I began gliding across the river, sliding smoothly through the air to the other side.

Dun was the Pokemon I had out with me at the time, and he flapped his wings hard, flying over the river as well before slithering beside me. We walked on the edge of a long drop to the valley down below, heading to a slim bridge of land where we could cross over. From there, a cave could take us through the mountain and around to Alfornada.

There was another pathway all the way around winding hills to go over the bridge way further down the road leading out of Cortonodo, only to then basically backtrack this way.

Looking down at the ground below, I saw the fields were thinner, with the grass often dead or dying. "Why do you think the plants here are doing so much rougher?" I asked. "The fields around Cortonodo are even flatter than here, so it's not like they're getting more sun. Maybe the Charcadets?" I theorized, but was throwing the idea out of my mouth as soon as I said it. Nah, I can only spot a couple of Charcadets down there anyway.

"Un," was Dun's uncharacteristically disinterested response. While he doesn't often get the point of the topics I bring up, he usually at least feigns interest. I wonder what's wrong?

Thinking so, I decided to ask him. "What's up? You haven't been yourself recently."

Dun responded by looking at me before rushing on ahead, charging towards a wild Arcanine that was lazing in the sun. So fluffy!

The lion-dog opened a lazy eye as my Dudunsparce approached, barking disdainfully. Dun hissed at her, prompting the fiery Pokemon to jump up, grass beneath her feet burning up in an instant.

Walking up, I held my hands up and open, saying, "Hey, can't we all agree this is just a big misunderstandi-" Both Pokemon disagreed, vocally. "Ok, so we're doing this." I don't get what Dun is trying to prove here. Sure, Arcanine is big and intimidating, but-

The two of them squared off, the wild Pokemon making the first Move, covering herself in flames as she charged ahead.

Dun made the last Move, surrounding his tail with water and spinning around. The Aqua Tail smacked into her, sending her tumbling to the ground with a loud crack. -she's no match for Dun.

Wincing at the sound the attack made, I cautiously checked on Arcanine. She'd be fine, but just so there were no hard feelings, I sprayed her with a Potion and tossed a Sitrus berry in front of her before moving on.

"So what was that supposed to prove?" I asked, glaring down at Dun. "I don't like wasting berries like that while we're on the road; our supplies are going to be more limited here."

"Dudun, arce. Un un unsparce." Dun wiggled and let out a loud sigh.

"It's the polite thing to do, to help out a Mon, especially if they didn't agree to a battle in the first place. And yes, I'm practically made of money, but I'd still feel guilty if I had to ask a courier to deliver something while we're out here." Shaking my head, I added, "That's still not answering what the point was.

My starter answered by having his tail to the lad around us. Huh? What is he trying to- oh. Looking closer, I could see all the wild Pokemon that could were scurrying away, not wanting to incur Dun's wrath.

"They're all running away, and all of them are a good deal weaker than that Arcanine." She wasn't Terastalized though. I wonder if that's because there weren't enough Tera Crystals nearby? Doubtful- but back on topic!

"You're upset about not being used for the Gym Battle," I surmised.

Dun shifted, his wings flapping slightly agitated. Agreement, but something more. About where we are? No, the Pokemon around here. "You're upset at not getting a challenging battle," I clarified, and Dun nodded.

I sighed, seeing his point. If it was just being jealous over not getting to fight while the others did, I'd be upset at him being so immature, but this makes a bit more sense. Still though, I put the team that way for a reason. "I get that, but the others are going to need to stand on your level if we're to take on the Elite Four, and well…" My voice trailed off as I looked back, past the city to the towering wall of stone and earth that served as a barrier for Area Zero and the rest of Paldea.

"Dun dun un." They replied resignedly. "Arce?" They asked, and I laughed.

"There are plenty of wild Pokemon you can battle up here that'll be challenging too. Honestly, we should face some pretty soon; the League just likes to keep these areas near Mesagoza clear of some of the more troublesome Pokemon." While you could technically start anywhere for your Gym run, a lot of the challengers are students, and thus heading straight from Uva to either Cortonodo or Artazon.

That perked Dun up, the land snake looking ahead eagerly, a pep back in his… slither. I continued, "And I'll put you in for the next Gym Battle, after Riolu is defeated."

"Ar," he comments, sharing a sidelong glance with me.

"Right, right, 'if' Riolu gets knocked out, then you're up." That was more just a reminder to be careful of my words around her, and not that Dun doesn't agree with me. Not to say that isn't strong; she is. But we're going up against a Fairy Type Gym, and will be facing the toughest team they have to offer. I have a lot of faith in Riolu, but I think eventually that will take her down. Probably not Dun though.

"I hope you're ok with going third in this battle, Miles?" I asked, all of us aware that it was unlikely they'd get much time to battle, if at all in this match.

"Bzzt, that's perfectly fine, Nemona." They rose out of my pocket to face me and Dun. "I was actually just looking up the routes, and there is another pathway to Alfornada, bzzt. If you take the lower caves, there's a long pathway up around the coast which ends up leading into the cavern and shortly through there to the city."

They flipped around the phone case and showed me the details. "Oh, there's even a travel advisory that there are much tougher and more territorial Pokemon here, so new Trainers should be cautious." The excitement in my tone didn't exactly match my words, but it did match the wide grin on Dudunsparce's face.

"Alright, let's go! If I remember right, I think there's even a Terastalized Eelektross roundabouts those waters."


***


There was not a Dragon Type Tera Eelektross off the southwestern shores of Paldea.

"Protect!" I desperately called out, Thunder striking down from the rainy sky upon Dun, doing his best to survive the onslaught from his foe.

What there was, was an Electric Tera Dragonair in the waters right outside the cave.

We had camped overnight outside the lower cave that cut a path straight through the mountains. It was an old thing, irregular in shape, likely due to being constructed by Pokemon. While relatively round, the middle section was elevated compared to the side, the gloom illuminated by a few packs of Salandits and occasional Salazzle spitting fire.

The outside hadn't helped in terms of visibility, rain pouring down heavily. Upon getting outside, Dun and I were soaked, and seeing no reason not to get further damp, we marched down the hills to the beach and then out in the water. But with the rain, we didn't see the clutch of Dratini we got near or the Terastalized Dragonair swimming beneath the surface, and now...

"Yawn, then Hex!" I called out, hoping that those Moves would work well enough in the water. When Dragonair burst out, we made to retreat back to shore, but a combination of a well-directed Surf and Wrap had the Dragon dragging us back to sea.

Their efforts were mostly on Dun than myself, so I was able to scramble to solid ground while Dun was struggling against the Terastalized Pokemon. His Yawn cloud was met by Dragonair surrounding themselves in a faint green spherical energy, a barrier not unlike Protect, but too diffuse to be that Move.

And yet Yawn doesn't seem to have made them drowsy. Hex, however, pierced through easily, the Ghost Type Move causing the slender Pokemon to thrash about, still hurting them.

As I saw the energy field remain around Dragonair without their continued effort, I put together what it was. Safeguard. No point in going for status Moves, and a lot of his Physical Moves are right out too. Fighting in the water was a very different experience for Dun, and one I regretted not practicing enough.

"Hyper Voice!" I shouted over the storm, and Dun's voice soon boomed out in response. Boomburst still eluded my starter, but the sound was enough to send Dragonair diving beneath the waves, their ear-wing things shaking at the assault. He's in a bad position, but Dun still has the strength to win this.

Of course, this was a wild battle, not a League-sanctioned Trainer one. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the braver Dratini's leading the charge to protect their stronger kin, the rest of the clutch trailing behind them. Sweet, but I do need to put a stop to that.

Releasing Notch from their ball, I said to them, "Go and keep the little ones from interfering - peacefully, if you would." Then to my starter, I said, "Coil while you wait, and when they get close, get angry!"

The crystal-encrusted Rock Pokemon floated over the waves before dropping down a powerful Reflect between the battling Pokemon and the group of Dratinis. The wall of force cut through the water like a guillotine, causing the small Dragons to look up and fearfully behold the Fairy Type above them. Despite the barrier not being wide enough to stop them from swimming around it if they really wanted, the Dratinis got the message and hung back to watch the fight.

Dun was doing his best to curl up in the water and still keep his head above the surface, and he did an admirable job of that, using his wings to help keep himself afloat. Dragonair sought to disrupt that, their tail lashing up and around his body, but Dun was prepared. Rather than resisting the pull underwater, Dun went along with it, thrashing into the Dragon with Outrage.

From beneath the churning depths, it was hard to make out what was going on, but the cloud overhead darkened, a lightning bolt striking down into the water and then… a stillness, before Dragonair burst out of the water.

Of course, I was less worried since I could see that Dragonair no longer had the light bulb Tera 'hat' above their head and was breathing heavily, their head hanging low. A few seconds later, Dun erupted out of the water. Though his scales were burnt and cracked in a few places, Dun screeched challengingly at the Dragon.

Slowly the Dragonair shook their head, turning and swimming away, gathering the rest of their clutch as they retreated.

"Woohoo! Good job, Dun! Now, can you get back here so we can get out of the rain?"


***


We traveled a good distance along the coast, not opting to go up the stone 'road' yet. The trek was by no means easy, however. Kilowatrels harassed us with their very presence, flying freely through the storm and generating vast amounts of electricity. The Bombirdiers, on the other hand, targeted us personally, dropping rocks from the cliffside down upon us.

Dun pushed through, blasting the troublesome birds away with Hyper Voice and Hurricanes. Few tried to push through one of his attacks, but the aerial Pokemon were plentiful here. The previous fight, as well as the storm, meant that these efforts were starting to sap even his prodigious reserves.

Luckily, towards the end of the path, there was a large opening to a cave. Finally. It's better than getting caught out in this weather, and I can see the road above would have taken longer to get to shelter, but it's still been at least a dozen kilometers.

Once we rushed inside, we saw that the cave didn't go very far but was quite open and spacious. It was tall and round, creating a nice shelter where several types of Pokemon gathered. Sableyes, Makuhitas, Gibles, and more powerful Pokemon, like Toxtricitys, Hariyamas, and a Gabite. Of course, the most noteworthy of these was a Hawlucha in the center, shining with the light of Terastalization, a set of bug antennas above his head.

Immediately upon seeing us, the bird-wrestling Pokemon spread his arm wings out and began Naruto running towards us with a piercing cry.

"Ughhhh," I groaned, looking to Dun. I asked, "You up for another battle, or mind giving Riolu a turn?"

Dun thought about it for half a second before shaking his head. He made no moves to go back to his ball, however, instead electing to remain out and puff himself up, challenging any other Pokemon that might think about coming close.

"Riolu, I choose you!" I shouted, aiming the Pokeball so my Fighting Type would emerge right in front of us. Which was good, because Hawlucha was only a half step in front of that.

Having heard her name already, even inside the ball, Riolu proved why she was possibly the most skillful of my team, using that short time and the slight surprise on Hawlucha's part to turn the Terastalized Pokemon's charge against him. Grabbing an arm one way, turning her body, and keeping her center of gravity low, she tossed him over our heads and into the edge of the cavern entrance, a picture-perfect Circle Throw.

Dun and I settled into the side, trying to get out of the line of fire and ensure that no one else could surprise us, placing our backs to the wall (though still decently close to the entrance if we needed to flee for some reason). Meanwhile, Hawlucha was tumbling through the air as he fell down, seemingly insensate. However, I saw the bird's eyes glint in the stormy light from outside and knew what he was planning.

"Dancing Sword!" I called out, and she threw herself into an artful evasion right as Hawlucha swooped down, diving almost faster than my eyes could see. She spun around his strike, foreseeing it and flashing her claws as she did so. Her teeth were bared in a vicious smirk as her eyes glowed, and I knew the Move had worked.

"Now, Aerial Ace!" I shouted, and she flipped, striking down with the heel of her foot at the top of Hawlucha's head. Despite making her leap as small as she could, her foe still moved swiftly, ducking out of the way so the blow only glanced off the top of his Tera 'hat.' Still did some damage, thanks to the boost from her new Move.

In attempting to speed up Detect and utilize it in the middle of other Moves if she needed to immediately dodge, Riolu had managed to combine it and Swords Dance. The Move only works now if they're using a damaging attack against her and only increases her attack by one step, but still, it's incredible.

Hawlucha disagreed, letting out a keening cry as they held a hand out and made a 'come get some' gesture. Crud, Taunt. That cuts out a lot of our combos. "Poison Jab," I called out, hoping to debilitate the Tera Pokemon in another way.

Riolu darted up, poison dripping off her small claws as she ran forward. The wrestling Pokemon smirked, dodging her first blow with his superior speed and clamping a hand down on her wrist. Flipping her up and around, she was thrown to the ground before he jumped atop her with an elbow drop.

My Pokemon yowled, in pain from the blow, barely managing to push Hawlucha off before he could grab her again - and clawing his face with her still poisoned paws as she did so. Rolling up into a fighting stance, she threw a few Force Palms at him as well, the blows hammering in but doing little to slow him down as he rushed in again.

"You can't Paralyze him! Vacuum Wave retreat!" I called out as I remembered one of Hawlucha's possible abilities. Jumping up, Riolu blasted the air, pushing herself backwards around the cavern. Hawlucha swiftly pursued, with the occasional wince of pain, the Poison taking hold.

The dodging tactic we employed didn't hold forever. While he had tried dodging the Vacuum Waves that propelled towards him at first, after a minute, he just tucked his head and started rushing through them. With his Bug Tera Type, they did little damage to him, and he swiftly approached the canine-Pokemon, jumping dramatically above her.

"Dancing Sword," was my order in response, the Taunt having worn off. Hawlucha tried to control his dive down upon her, but to no avail; she saw all his motions ahead of time and easily spun around his assault.

Hawlucha landed on the ground gracefully enough despite the miss, but it was still a huge opening. "Copycat!" My Pokemon proceeded to perform the same Move Hawlucha had just tried. The Tera Pokemon looked shocked seeing his Move so perfectly copied, and then he was slammed into the ground by it. Flying Press is a pretty cool Move. It's a shame it's so based on Hawlucha's physiology that Riolu probably can't permanently copy it.

My smile quickly faded as the dust from the impact cleared, and I saw that despite the Move being neutral Type-wise against the Hawlucha and all the power Riolu had behind it, our foe wasn't out of the fight yet. "Watch out!" I cried out, too late for her to dodge the green glowing claws that cut into her fur in an 'X' pattern.

Our foe sprung up, chasing after Riolu and began wailing into her with a punishing flurry of blows. I couldn't even properly make out what kind of Fighting Move it was as she was pushed back, trying her best to defend.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dun slamming his body against the ground, making an Earthquake to ward off a Toxtricity that was rearing up to spit poison at us. Dammit! Have to focus on Riolu's fight and just trust Dun has things handled.

"Detect," I tried, hoping that would be enough to get her out of the way. While not as useful as our new Move, it was faster and easier to use in a circumstance where Riolu was already being pushed back.

Unfortunately, even that wasn't to be, as Hawlucha Feinted right before going left, burying a fist in her gut. She doubled over in pain, and I was reminded of the frailty of my newest Pokemon. She's incredibly skilled, which is a strength she wields well, but she just can't tank hits like everyone other than Phantasm on my team can. Or maybe she can…

As her back hit the wall, I called out, "Endure!" Riolu snapped up a tight guard, weathering the blows that surely would have otherwise taken her out. I heard a cry of rage beside me as Dun was knocked off the Gibles, biting into him, and felt the cold as he spun towards them.

This is her chance! I thought as I saw Hawlucha panting, having finished his devastating combo. On shaky legs, Riolu still stood, much to his surprise as I shouted "Reversal!" Grabbing his own wrist the same way he did to her, she tried to pull him. With greater strength, the Tera Pokemon wrenched his hand back, but that was just what she wanted, the motion letting her secure a grip around his back. Arms around his waist, she pulled, leaning back to smash our enemy into the ground in a powerful piledriver.

That blow did it, and with one last cry of pain, the Terastalization effect shattered around Hawlucha, the Tera Pokemon defeated.


***


With the 'boss' of the area defeated, the other Pokemon backed off, unwilling to fight us but still clearly wary. That eased up a bit when I healed the Hawlucha alongside Riolu, our foe taking their loss in good spirits.

After a bit of charades, I was able to work out a deal with the Hawlucha, where we would get to sleep at a spot by the wall in the cave and the other Pokemon would leave us alone. Just in case, I left Notch outside the tent (after Miles in Heat Form had dried me off) to keep an eye on things.

My Carbink seemed quite happy too, the cave being a comfortable reminder of home for them while also being relatively new and interesting. There were many different species all living together in this cave and the rain outside, both of which seemed to fascinate Notch.

Upon waking up, I stretched, the hard, rocky ground uncomfortable on my back. Though I do have the tent, a sleeping bag, and a thick air mattress to sleep on. Honestly, I might have just gotten too used to the comforts of home. As I left the tent, I saw a few disgruntled Pokemon walking away from Notch.

"... What did you say to them?" I inquired, because they didn't seem aggressive or insulted. Some of those Gibles looked at Notch like you might look at a crazy person ranting on a subway - probably harmless, but not like you want to be near them.

They chimed in response, and I couldn't grasp the nuance, but Riolu nearby shook her head. She must have gotten up in the night and was doing some stretches in the early morning (it was still dark and stormy enough out that I wouldn't have been able to tell it was if I hadn't seen the time on Miles' case). She turned to face me and barked.

"Yeah, I can join you for some stretches," I replied, suppressing a groan. My body didn't want to, but I knew it was important to keep up with practice, even on the road. While the travel might keep me fit, there was something to be said for technique. I'm in awe of Riolu's form, even to this day.

It was humbling to see the kinds of rigors a dedicated Fighting Type would put themselves through. I admired Riolu in particular for her dedication to try and eke the last little bit of perfection on each motion as she went through her katas, constantly working on being the best she could. It's a large part of what lets her keep up with evolved or single-stage Pokemon that otherwise outclass her in terms of sheer power, speed, and resiliency, and part of what will make her a true nightmare to fight when she evolves.

After our stretches, she extended a paw towards me, and I nodded with an eager grin, the prior stiffness shaken off. "You'll have to go easy on me, but a spar sounds great." Riolu gave me a toothless smile in return, taking up a fighting stance.

We traded blows back and forth, dancing around the cave, a small circle forming around as Pokemon, interested in the practice (particularly Hawlucha). Riolu stuck to only defensive Moves and regular jabs and kicks, which was still more than enough to compensate for the reach I had on her.

"Good job," I said after calling for a break, half an hour later. "Dancing Sword is getting quite sharp; you're using the motions of your enemy quite well. I think you'll soon be able to use it and not even need contact with your opponent to pull it off."

"Olu," she responded, her chest puffed out a bit in pride. I could also see the happiness in her Aura. We discovered that Move together when we sparred in the past. When we tried testing out how fast she could switch from buffing herself up to using Detect to dodge and still maintain the effect. She started incorporating my punches into part of her dance, and we had a new Move on our hands/paws.

There were still some limits, sadly. Swords Dance was the only Move we'd found to be compatible with it. It was slower than regular Detect, and without an opponent attacking in close, the 'dance' wouldn't work to get the boost. I wonder if she could still use it sparring against a human that doesn't have their Aura unlocked; as she's mentioned, it works in part by aligning her Aura with her foe's. Though even unlocked, it's not like people don't have Aura, it just has less of an effect on the world around them.

I ran the rest of my team through some drills, with Hawlucha trying to show off as well, much to Riolu's annoyance. Sorry, bud, I don't think she's interested in who can throw the biggest rock around; more about the technique behind that rock throwing. It's probably why she gives Dun all those glances. For all that he can seem like a brute in a fight, Dun actually has incredible control and variation in the Type energies he can use.

Checking the weather, one of my phone apps said the storm would continue for most of the day, so I was surprised when I saw the rain outside suddenly stop just before noon. Not one to question the good fortune, I folded up all my gear and went to leave, stepping out into the bright light - only to have rain pour down on me, like a vast curtain falling down. What? Oh.

Looking over, I saw a large area where the rain refused to fall beside me and a Golduck looking curiously from the center of the dry area. Cloud Nine, Golduck's Ability must be stopping the weather around them. For a moment, I was tempted to ask them if they could help cover us in our trek before waving off the idea.

It's kind of selfish to ask that of them since it's a pretty long climb up from here to the cave that leads to Alfornada. Plus, stopping the rain would do nothing to stop the moisture on the ground, and I don't want to try climbing up a slippery, rocky path hundreds of meters above the ocean.

Trudging back inside, I released Miles into their Heat Form to dry me off once again. "This sucks," I commented as I slowly warmed up for the second time in two days.

"Is it really that bad, bzzt?" Miles questioned, surprising me before I remembered that we had installed vocalizers on their combat appliances in preparation for this journey.

"Well… no, I guess it isn't. We can do some training here, we aren't too far off schedule. And sorry again that you haven't had as much battle time yet."

"Bzzt, it's fine. And you're taking on Brassius after all of this, correct?" I nodded, so they said, "Just put me in against him then."

"I will. Hmm, Brassius... " I paused, biting my lip.

"What is it, bzzt?"

"I'm just trying to think which of your forms will be the best choice. Grass Types have tons of weaknesses, but that means he probably has a lot of counters ready as well." Brassius' high-level teams don't have tons of coverage yet, but I should probably use Heat; unlike some Grass Trainers his teams don't rely much on the Sun for his strategies, so I could possibly use Sunny Day. Though maybe that means that he has counters for it? If he has Rain Dance, that could shut down Heat Form. But if we use it ourselves with Fan Form, Hurricane could hit his team hard, Breloom in particular gets shut down fast by that. On the other hand…

Miles soft chuckles at my muttered theorizing brought me back. "Okay, okay, we can still spend our time here well. It's not that big a delay."

"Sounds good, bzzt. In fact... I think I'll try my hand at strategizing too! I'll try and pick out the Form I want to use for my battle against him. If that's ok, bzzt," they asked bashfully.

"No problem at all! Can't wait to see what you come up with."

In the end, we ended up spending a few more days after the storm had passed, waiting for the pathway above to dry out, as well as sparring against the wild Pokemon, both in the caves and outside. Mostly it was good practice for Phantasm to work on her illusions and generally getting faster and stronger (and learning a few sneaky tricks from the Sableyes in the cave), but there were some challenges even for my more experienced Pokemon. Nightwing was even defeated by a particularly skillful Cloyster, his icy barrage managing to take down my Gliscor.

After a second match, one my starter handily won, I asked if he wanted to join us, but the Cloyster was lukewarm on the idea before eventually declining when they realized how far we'd be traveling from the ocean. I didn't bother asking anyone else; the others seemed generally disinterested in joining us, even if they were up for training against us. The 'boss' of the cave specifically was quite eager to fight and practice alongside us.

Using my Aura Sight, as incomplete as it was, I got the vague impression of Bug energy radiating off the Hawlucha over our stay, growing stronger bit by bit. I think in a week he'll get his Terastalization back. Part of me was tempted to stay longer, but a larger part knew we had to get going. Phantasm has been getting particularly antsy, picking fights with some of the Gibles under illusion and getting the little guys to attack each other while she slips away in the chaos.

On the fourth morning there, I packed up my bags, bidding them all farewell and thanking the wild Pokemon for letting us stay there. There was a small hike up the hill, backtracking our way to the pathway up, which had fully dried out. From there (after a brief lunch almost using up the end of my rations), we had an even longer trek up the small winding stone pathway.

Before that, however, I spotted a boat parked on the shore to the North, where we'd fought the Dragonair. Hmm, no sign of the Dragonair or their clutch there; wonder what's up with that?

I had already spent enough time here, so I didn't bother to go back all that way. Something I was glad of as the sun beat down on me as we made our way up the narrow path. Phantasm was probably even more happy about it, given how she was panting from the tough climb. Hisui was much colder than Paldea. I wonder if that had some impact on her heat tolerance? Though, calling them a 'Hisuian variant' might actually be a mistake since it seems like it wasn't actually the land of Hisui but certain other conditions that caused the change.

"Just try and focus on Ice Type energy," I advised her. "We'll see if you can pick up some TMs that work with the energy in the city, but for right now, just focusing on it will help."

"Zor, orua, zor." She spat out bitterly, and I frowned.

"Hey, no need for that. I think Ice Type is good offensively, but defensively it's quite bad, while you have one of the best defensive Typings out there! Why would you think I'd want an Ice Type instead of you?" She sat down, turning her head away from me. Ugh, I want to ask where she gets this behavior from, but it's probably the rest of the team. I love em, but Nightwing can be a bit bad about getting called out.

Taking out a small bowl and pouring some water from my bottle in it, I gave her the chance to take a drink. Despite her refusal to look at me, thirst won out, and she quickly lapped it up. While she did so, I thought about what could have brought this on. "You're upset about the Cloyster thing, aren't you?"

She sneered at me, conjuring up a caricature of my face, sobbing melodramatically. I don't look like that. Do I? No, of course I don't. "I was not that sad about it. And catching another Pokemon doesn't mean I'm going to stop training you or the like."

My words didn't seem to convince her, and she growled, but I just crossed my arms. "C'mon, you didn't act this way when Riolu joined the team." Of course, when she joined the team, Phantasm was still new to everything, so it was easier for her to adapt to it. That, and we already knew Riolu before we knew Phantasm. Now she's entering a jealous phase.

Scratching the ground for a moment, she surprised me by taking a second to think about it and coming up with an answer, floating an illusory number '6' in front of me. Huh, hadn't expected that. Then again, she's smart enough to know that an overly emotional argument won't sway me, so she's trying to use logic (even if I don't think that's actually the reason why she doesn't like it).

"Yes, six is the maximum you can have on a team for official battles," I agreed. "However, every top-tier Trainer has more than that." Her amber eyes blinked, surprised. "Yup, it's true. No one sticks themselves with just one strategy, often switching it up. Gym Leaders and the like have to have more, to meet the different levels of challengers they face."

Her wispy fur at the top drooped, looking defeated. Oof, not fair, feels like losing even when I win the argument. "That being said, I don't plan on adding a bunch of Pokemon any time soon."

"Zorua?" She asked cautiously.

"Yeah, I do still need to focus on my current team's skills, so I won't catch too many more for the time being. But I hope that you can trust that I won't be neglecting you, even if I do find someone who's a good fit for the team and wants to join."

She barked her agreement out, perking up a fair bit. I hope that tiredness wasn't all an act… though maybe it was so good a one it fooled herself? She is a Ghost Type afterall, some physical exhaustion can probably be ignored.

I kept the discussion light and happy from there on as we continued going up and quietly noted that my hypothesis seemed correct. Her body kept pretty much the same pace throughout it all; the only tiredness Phantasm felt was connected to the mental fatigue of the complexity and size of illusions she crafted.

There weren't many other travelers on our path, but we did find one young woman in denim and a cowgirl hat who waved us down. "Hey!" I walked up to her, happy to meet someone new. "Let's battle! If I win, you have to buy my demo track!"

"Uhh," I could practically feel the sweatdrop on the side of my face. "Sure? Yeah, we can have like a Sky Battle."

"Sky what?" She cocked her head to the side, clearly thrown off kilter.

"You know, Sky Battles, where we both use Pokemon that can fly or otherwise hover."

"No, I don't have no flying Pokemon, just my good ol' Meowth. A regular battle will do us just fine, I reckon." She said brightly, and I facepalmed.

"A regular battle where?!" I stretched my arms out wide, my fingertips almost going past the edge of the pathway.

"Oh, right. Guess I just got a little excited. This is my first time traveling down this path, got a little overexcited. Same for my music career. I'm Mireia," she said with an embarrassed grin, and I shook her hand.

"Nemona." That caused her to gasp and grip my hand tighter.

"Oh treasure, are you the Nemona Glitterati?" She continued rapidly before I could answer. "Ohmygosh, I thought your voice sounded familiar!" She squealed, hitting a note high enough that I could entirely buy her making forays into the music industry. "I have your album, could you sign it?"

It was my turn to be surprised. "You bought the physical copy?" I didn't even know we sold physical copies of the album, I thought it was all just downloads online. I should probably have paid more attention to that stuff, but there was just so much of it, and I was gearing up for my journey…

Realizing she was still waiting for my answer (and worryingly, still gripping my hand), I nodded. "Sure, I can sign it." Thankfully, she let go of me to pull out the CD case from her bag. Pulling out a pen from my own, I signed it for her.

"Do you have any advice for someone trying to make it as a musician?" She asked immediately afterward, thus condemning me to further conversation. Taking a step back, I almost ended up slipping off the edge of the narrow walkway we were on, much to Phantasm's bemusement. Right, laugh it up. Though, I guess it wouldn't really be that bad for me, given my Aura, just tiring.

"Well, hard to say. I had a lot of help in producing it from my family. But um, I'd recommend maybe trying to release your music online first; you can reach a large crowd that way." Almost certainly larger than whatever you'd get by trying to force people to buy your music by beating them in Pokemon battles.

Mireia looked shocked and amazed by what I said, to the point where I wondered if she was distantly related to my family. Probably not given her business sense, but Mom and Dad have definitely looked just like that. "That makes a lot of sense! Wait, but why are you here then?"

I opened my mouth to snap at her about having other priorities before remembering my album had been released not that long ago. I guess most people don't have the same priorities as me. "I'm focusing on the Gym Challenge right now. It might not be as glamorous as going on a tour, but-"

"But think of how many people will see your battles and then check out your music! Of course! I've got to do the same!" With that, she rushed off past me, racing down the path towards Cortonodo.

Chuckling lightly, I shook my head. "Not what I'm doing at all, but whatever works for you," I said to myself before starting back on the climb, only to feel a faint but distinct buzzing from my pocket. "What?" I asked Miles.

"Bzzt, well, it kind of is what you're doing," they said. Floating up, they pulled up some clips from my battles, which my parents had posted online, making music videos with my songs.

"What?! But that's- oh. Wait, they're using The Pretender for my battle theme? It was supposed to be Megalovania!" I pouted. I mean, it's not that bad, Pretender is a pretty bangin' song too, and it does admittedly fit well for Phantasm's fights, but still.

With a sigh and a promise to talk to my parents about this later, I continued my ascent.


***


The sun had just started to set as we made it to the entrance to the Alfornado Cavern. I elected to camp just inside the cavern, the torches planted nearby giving light and the roof above us providing some shelter from the elements.

"Why do you think the 'detour' up to the caverns looks like that?" I pondered aloud, curious to hear what my team had to say.

Nightwing, predictably had very little, yawning sleepily as she was still waking up. She totally can operate during the day, but she prefers to sleep then and be active at night. Those nocturnal traits had only intensified after her evolution, so I'd often leave her out to keep watch then.

Of course, Miles and Notch don't need to sleep in the same way we do, so I like leaving at least one of them out as well. The latter had something to say on the matter, chiming softly, the sound echoing in the cave.

"You think Arceus made it that way?" Notch nodded, and I scratched my chin. "Well, the path certainly is a little unnatural looking; I'll give you that." Looking down at it, it did just seem sort of weird. Aside from this point connecting to the cave, the entire road was separated from the sheer cliff face it ran parallel to. Massive pillars of stone stuck out from the ocean to support the road, but without any sign that they had once been connected to the larger mountain.

"But I don't think Arceus micromanages every little thing. People can do things They don't approve of or would be bad, but only in the worst of situations do They get involved. And even then, it's just like Arceus sending down a human in the right time and place."

That got some curious looks, not just from Notch but also from Riolu, who cracked an eye open from her meditation. "Wha- no, nonono, I'm not talking about me." At least I hope I'm not. Theoretically, it could be that there is no 'protagonist' for this world to deal with Turo's plots, so I was sent in to deal with it, but I doubt it. That's not to say I can't try and fix things here, but…

"I didn't get any mysterious Arc Phone or the like. No mission from Arceus like the Hero of Hissui." No chance to reach the divine llama and get back to my old life either. In some of my worst moments, I could understand Volo's rage against the heavens. But that time's long past. I am truly happy with where I am and who I've surrounded myself with, I thought with a smile as I looked down at my team.

Kneeling down, I said to my Fighting Type "On that note, that makes me think of what item we might get for you. While we're planning on giving you the Expert Belt for this fight, in the future, we can try and find a Fighting Plate."

She cocked her head to the side, curious. "A Fighting Plate is a replica of the Origin Plates, the Plates that can be used to change the Typing of Arceus; or at least, change the Typing of Their Avatar on the planet. The Replicas just give a boost to Pokemon using those Types of attacks."

Riolu was interested, and Notch was practically frantic, chiming and hovering around. "Ok, ok, I'll put out alerts for a Rock Type one for you too." At some more chimes, I clarified, "Rock over Fairy because Rock is the Type for Diamond Storm, the unique Move that Diancie's get."

Progress had still been slow on that front. I had some other plans, but placing pink diamonds on their body to get them to 'grow' the differently colored gems had gone nowhere, as had attempts to get them to conjure diamonds from thin air. Notch can make rocks quite well now, but diamonds are just a step beyond what's possible for them, at least unaided.

"Bzzt, I've put those items on your watch list for the Porto Marinada market," Miles pipped up. I have a few other specialty items on that list, and thanks to my family's connections, we have someone that can bid on those if they show up there. But if I get the chance, I would like to check out the market myself, even if it's not really in the path of any of the Gyms.

"Thanks. Oh, what were we talking about again?"

"The alternate path to Alforanda, bzzt," Miles reminded me.

"Right. So, I think that this path was made by some warlord a long time ago. Well, probably on the orders of some warlord a long time ago."

"Dudun?" My starter asked, half-gazing over at us even as he kept the other eye peering out into the gloom, alert for any threats that might approach us from the dark.

"I don't think it was ever used by some warlord or rival clan or the like, but it's too unnatural not to be specifically constructed. Personally, I think that someone wanted to make an alternate path to attack Alfornada. Someone who was too powerful and important to be denied, but whoever made it didn't want to make something that could work. For whatever reason, be it a desire for peace or just not wanting to spend what it would take to create a viable attack route for an army to march through." The current pathway would leave any troops easy pickings for any Alfornadans defending themselves. Or even just riled up Bombirdiers or the like.

"Interesting theory," a new voice said, causing all of us to whip around to see a young woman with wild blue hair stepping out from the shade and into the flickering torchlight. She was wearing flared blue jeans and a pale blue western-style jacket with short red fringe. On her belt, she had a buckle in the shape of Lunala, and on her left wrist, she had a bracelet that looked suspiciously similar to Tapu Koko.

"Oh!" I said, with a surprised glance over at Dun, who was frowning. How did she sneak up on us? "Umm, Alola," I tried, doing the hand wave to go along with it, earning a bemused smirk from the pretty lady. "Uh, sorry if I made an assumption, just some of your accessories."

"Ah, yes, a few of them have ties to Alola. The stories from that land pique my interest, I must admit. The idea of having such a close connection to those long-lived figures. Oh, the stories they could tell…" She sighed wistfully before shaking her head slightly. "Sorry, I should introduce myself; I'm Raifort."

"Nemona," I replied, noting how her eyes trailed towards Phantasm. The Pokemon in question was sniffing rapidly, staring off past Raifort to the darkness of the tunnel. Isn't that tunnel a little too dark? And Raifort! She's the history teacher at Uva, isn't she? And I think I recall her having a Zoroark as well, though not too much else about her at the moment.

"You want your Zoroark to say hi? As well as your other friends." I offered, causing a small flicker of surprise on her face before she smoothed it out.

"C'mon out," she said, and the unnaturally silent and dark zone faded away, her Zoroark and several humans stepping forward. The Zoroark stepped up to Raifort's side, quickly greeted by Phantasm, who was all but jumping over one of her kin.

The humans were a rather rough-looking group, wearing sailor's clothes. Four guys and a girl, most of them with tattoos and few scars. I mentally designated them as 'Baldy' (a bald man), 'Shaggy' (a younger guy with a cap and shaggy brown hair flowing behind it), 'Shorty' (the shortest person of the group), 'The Girl' (the only girl of the group), and 'Middle Finger' (a man who's right hand middle finger appeared to have a large bite taken out by it).

"Where did you find a Hisuian Zorua?" Raifort asked, looking down at my Pokemon with wonder. This was contrasted by Baldy's leer over Raifort's shoulder at my team. He seems particularly interested in Notch and Phantasm.

"Can't say," I replied with a brittle smile. "She's the youngest member of my team; your Pokemon must remind her a lot of her parents." I added, just to dissuade her from the idea of some ancient secret Hisuian group.

"Did you all come from that boat?" I continued, trying to inquire where this suspicious group came from.

Raifort hmm'd. "My associates did. We're doing a bit of exploring of the lesser-known parts of Paldea. So many secrets hide within these tunnels, just waiting to be unearthed. Ah, you can forget I said that."

To quote a certain game company/series, 'Nemona will remember that.' But there are other things to focus on. Like: "Did you guys have trouble docking your boat there? There was a Dragonair in the area that was a bit territorial."

Shaggy snickered. "Wasn't too much of a problem. Honestly, a bit of a perk-" he began before The Girl elbowed him.

"It's fine," Baldy said in a gravelly tone. "Where did you find those rare Pokemon?"

Middle Finger muttered, "Some of them don't look that rare. Who even uses a Dunsparce?"

"A Dudunsparce, actually. He's evolved," I pointed out before Dun could Hyper Voice them for the affront. Not that I'd be too upset with that. "As for the others, I've traveled a fair bit."

There were some mutters about a 'pipsqueak' and 'rich brat' that they probably thought I couldn't hear. Before I could press them, Raifort spoke up. "Well, it was enlightening talking to you, but I think we best be on our way. So much to do, so little time." Her final sentence appeared to be directed more at them than me, as she turned and left.

I quickly scooped up Phantasm, so she couldn't follow after the Zoroark. And also because I don't like that look in Baldy's eyes and how his gaze lingered before following after her. Without any proof, I finished setting up camp but made sure to have Nightwing, Notch, and Miles all out, patrolling farther down the tunnel.

My precautions didn't make sleep come any easier, which meant when Nightwing swooped into the tent, I was instantly alert and awake. I sent her to go back and round up Notch and Miles while I focused.

Stretching out my hearing with my Aura, I was flooded with sounds of scratching claws and scuffling feet on stone, as well as general Pokemon sounds. What caught my ears was the familiar sounds of humans talking in hushed tones, and I focused on that.

"Should we really be doing this? Raifort told us to keep focused-" Shaggy was cut off by an unfamiliar voice.

"Shut up, wimp. What she don't know won't hurt her, like those Dratini's we snared." Probably Shorty, he didn't talk last time. "Sides, she's off looking for that thing, so we got plenty of time for a side gig."

"Just think of the payday we'll get for that Zorua! It looked so fluffy, I bet some old rich bitch will pay us tons for it!" The Girl squealed.

"What'll we do with the girl? Do we take her too?" Shaggy questioned. Middle Finger snorted.

"You getting soft, kid? We're gonna off her, of course!"

There was a grunt from Middle Finger as Shaggy retorted. "Oh, shove off! I just meant she might know where a bunch of other rare Pokemon are. Keep the Golden Sirfetch'd and all the Eggs it lays and all that jazz."

The Girl giggled. "Look at you, trying to sound all philosophical and junk. But really, do we keep her?"

There was silence for a minute, save for the sounds of them stomping closer before Baldy spoke up. "Nah, too much risk. We toss her body into the water below; anyone looking into it thinks it was an accident. But all you lot, stay quiet now," he growled. "We catch her sleeping, take her Pokemon, and do this cleanly. Let's not mess shit up here."

Oh. Oh fuck.


Some exploration, another canon character introduction and two fights against Tera Pokemon! What a fun chapter, right?

... Ok, so yeah, that ending is a bit of a cliffhanger, and a darker note than the rest of the story has been. Hopefully I've been successful in hinting at the fact that these sorts of things do exist in the world, albeit rarely. Which also means the fic isn't going to take a dive into darker territory after this arc is done. I just hope that people can wait to see the arc as it unfolds before jumping to any conclusions and have fun with the story as it goes. Thank you all for your support.
 
Chapter 49 New
Shit shit shit what do I do? Ok, first step, don't panic. A task easier said than done, admittedly, but the sight of Miles and Notch returning with Nightwing helped calm me down. Hypocritically, telling the enraged Gliscor on my team, "calm down," helped too.

She looked out for blood but gave a terse nod. A Pokemon attacking a person violently wouldn't be looked upon well, and I wasn't planning on just tossing them in the ocean below. Not that the thought isn't tempting. Gotta focus on a plan. How far away are they? I listened, but it was hard to pinpoint their exact position in the tunnel. Think I have a minute at least.

Releasing the rest of my team from their balls, I started enacting a strategy. "Phantasm, make an illusion covering," I whispered as we got out of the tent, standing off to the side. "Riolu, Dun, Miles, buff up." Riolu began her Swords Dances, while Dun Coiled around, and Miles smirked, a Nasty Plot forming in their head.

Pulling out a lump of Light Clay from my bag, I shoved it onto my Carbink's body. "Notch, screen duty." They waved their ears and began focusing on the Psychic energies needed to make a Light Screen and Reflect. Then I tossed the Toxic Orb to Nightwing, wasting a few seconds fiddling with the heavy-duty gloves to wrap around the Orb so I could safely handle it.

I wanted to give him more instructions, but my breath caught in my throat as I saw the poachers strolling down the cavern towards us. They were already releasing their Pokemon, a Hypno, Arbok, and Bisharp at their sides, quickly joined by a Butterfree and Beedrill.

Theoretically, Phantasm is covering for any sounds I make, but I don't want to make things more complicated for her. She looked quite nervous, and I wished I could reassure her. The Hypno was already giving odd glances our way.

"Dream Eater the girl in the tent and put her to sleep for good," Baldy ordered. I raised my hand up, indicating for most of my team to get off the ground if they could. The leader's face scrunched up, and he said, "What do ya mean she's not-"

"Earthquake!" I shouted, and all hell broke loose. Dun slammed the ground, shattering both the stones and the illusion that obscured us from view. Nightwing and Miles easily hovered above the shaking ground, while Notch lifted themselves as close to the ceiling as they could and Riolu jumped up.

A few rocks fell from the vibrations, clipping them, which was nothing on what happened to the poachers. The Bisharp and Arbok rolled on the ground in pain, with Hypno and Beedrill not far behind them. Only the Butterfree remained unscathed, but her trainer was not, The Girl having fallen and smacked her head against the ground.

Not wanting to give them a chance, I yelled out quickly, "Hyper Voice! Riolu, Hi Jump Kick the Bisharp, Nightwing Acrobatics the Butterfree, Notch Psychic the Beedrill-"

"Hypno, put those fools to sleep!" Baldy began, pulling out another Pokeball from his belt.

"Shadow Sneak Hypno!" I shouted out, and Phantasm, the only Pokemon able to use that Move, did so, outpacing the swinging of Hypno's pendulum and causing him to cry out in pain. Then everyone was crying out as a wave of sound battered the poachers and their Pokemon. Miles' use of the Move in particular left even my own ears ringing, and the others fared much worse.

Bisharp tried to get up and close with me, but a flying kick from Riolu broke his horn and smashed the Dark Type into the ground with a heavy clang. Nightwing viciously tore into the Butterfree, ripping at her wings, while Notch did much the same to Beedrill telekinetically.

"Don't beat them up too much," I tried to warn them, not wanting any fatalities on my hands. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Arbok, which had actually Protected itself, now slithering up and biting into Phantasm.

"Dammit, Nightwing, Bulldoze the Arbok," I tried to shout over the din of battle. Whether Nightwing had heard me or not, it was a moot point, as some powder flapped from Butterfree's wings had Nightwing's eyes drooping before she fell to the floor.

Some of the poachers were unconscious or insensate from the area attacks, but not all of them, unfortunately. Middle Finger yelled something unintelligible as he released a heavily scarred and bruised Feraligatr from his belt. Baldy stumbled around and clicked the button on his Pokeball to send out a Magneton as well.

The Water Type had a crazed look in their eyes as they lunged towards my fallen Pokemon, jaws stretched wide.

"Thunder!" I shouted, and Miles delivered, conjuring up a quick bolt to smite the giant alligator-like Pokemon, even underground.

While he did that, the Beedrill tried skittering towards us, despite the loss of his wings functionality, only to get Body Slammed into unconsciousness by Dun. I barely gave any attention to that as I focused on Phantasm's fight.

"Bitter Malice! Riolu, Aerial Ace as well!" Phantasm shrieked in hatred and loathing, the Ghostly energies assaulting the Arbok before they were swiftly put down by Riolu's heel striking the top of the snake's head.

Lightning erupted out all around from the Magneton, who had drifted into the middle of our group. "AhhHHHH!" I howled in pain as the electricity coursed through me for a second. The Discharge they had released was also zapping all of my Pokemon, as well as several of their Pokemon and even a few of the poachers as well.

It quickly cut out when Dun whirled around and unleashed a torrent of flame at the Magneton. The fire knocked the Steel Type to ground, its magnet ends spinning wildly as it whirred out in pain, until Riolu stomped the ground, shaking the earth around us. It rose up, particularly around the Magneton, and smacked them around, knocking them unconscious.

Riolu's Earthquake was much weaker than Dun's, but I still needed a minute to get back on my feet. So glad that Notch covered me with those screens they set up. Even with that, the electric shock still smarted, but I wasn't doing as badly as the poachers, many of whom were crying on the ground or moaning.

Not all of them, however. Shaggy had been a bit further back and avoided the worst of the area attack. Recalling his Arbok, he shakily released a Kadabra. Teleport? Like hell you will!

"Miles, Shadow Ball!" Then to Dun, I shouted, "Triple Yawn, put them all to sleep."

The last poacher standing proved my worries true, screaming at his Pokemon. "Get us back to the boat! Teleport!" Kadabra blinked, caught just a bit off guard by the craziness of the situation, which was a split second too long. The ball of Distortion energy slammed into the Psychic Type, exploding.

The force knocked Kadabra out and knocked Shaggy away from the clouds of drowsiness Dun laid down upon the group, putting everyone there to sleep in short order.

After the clouds dissipated, I marched up to Shaggy, the man slowly getting back to his feet. Seeing me, he tried to lunge at me, only to receive a boot to the face that knocked out at least one of his teeth.

"Now, what am I going to do with you?"



***


The rhetorical question/implied threat turned out to be harder to answer than I would have liked. The majority of my team voted for tossing them in the water like they had threatened to do to me, Phantasm and Dun in particular keen on that option. Riolu abstained, while Miles served as the only voice of reason and pointed out that we should take them to the authorities (while I pointed out that their votes were appreciated, but this 'was a dictatorship, not a democracy').

Calling the authorities still wasn't working, even when I stepped just outside the cave. They (or possibly Raifort) must have set up some kind of jamming device. That left me with having to use all the rope in my pack to tie them all up after confiscating their Pokeballs.

Most of them had two or three Pokeballs on their belts, but the balls had odd marks. Like they've been opened up and tampered with. Cracking the shells open along those marks revealed the alterations they'd done to the wiring and I felt sick.

It wasn't information you would find on the open web, but I had researched the dark web for all the ins and outs of the proprietary Pokeball technology. My research had been undertaken out of a need to make sure that my Pokemon couldn't be stuck inside their balls, no matter the situation, in preparation for Turo (and feeling like I didn't have time to go to Johto and learn how to make apricorn balls or the like with how fast the Professor was moving). However, my studies had shown me the reverse as well, techniques that criminals could use to manually 'hack' their Pokeballs such that they could only be opened from the outside.

Details like that made me question my commitment to keeping them alive, but only for as long as it took me to find Zorua's hurt face. Hate comes easy to her variant, but I don't want her to be consumed by it. In the end, hatred is going to hurt us a lot more than it hurts them. I was still dedicated to bringing them in to face justice, however, which meant waiting for them to wake up.

"What-?" Was the general sentiment shared by them as water was blasted onto their faces. "What the fuck was that for!?" Shorty sputtered out as I had Miles blast them all again with an extremely low-powered Hydro Pump.

"That was to wake you all up. Now c'mon, get up." I tried to project strength and confidence into my voice. I beat them; that should be enough to not be afraid, right?

Either it wasn't enough, or a nine-year-old girl's voice simply wasn't threatening enough to scare a bunch of hardened criminals, no matter how confident, as Baldy immediately scrambled towards me, hands outstretched to grab onto my neck.

He didn't get anywhere close, however, both because he was tied to the others in a line and because of Riolu. The Fighting Type had reached him in a single bound, her paw gouging into his ribs and leaving him doubled over and wheezing in pain.

"You, you little bitch!" He spat out while I stared down, unamused. The others tried the slightly smarter approach of reaching for their Pokeballs, only to find themselves helpless. A few tried to slip out, only to find the restraints to be quite tight. Thank you Explorer wilderness training. And Amethio said knot-tying skills wouldn't ever be that relevant, ha!

The thought of my friend clashed awfully with my current situation, but I decided to put that aside, knowing I could call them and laugh about this whole thing soon.

"Alright, we're going to start marching up this cave until we reach Alfronada." I tried again, only to be met with more resistance.

"So you can hand us over to the cops? Forget about it; you can't make us move if we don't want to." Middle Finger raised his one working digit of the 'name' I had assigned to him.

"You're right, I cannot physically drag five unwilling adults at once. However, you may notice that I'm not holding the rope." Gesturing through the dark, they could see the end of the rope connecting them all was tied onto Dun. "You can walk or be dragged, your choice."

There was more complaining, but I tuned them out. They wanted to kill me and take my team. Fuck them. A few of them did try holding things up, but they quickly found out that I was not joking and stumbled forwards as the rope drew taut.

Slowly, we made our way up the winding, rocky path. The light was dim, only a few torches interspersed on the edges to illuminate the path. Usually I'd have Miles or one of the others light up the way ahead of us. Currently I had Notch and Miles floating up and down the line, keeping the prisoners from trying anything suspicious.

Well, trying to keep them feels like they can't help themselves, I thought to myself as I saw Miles give a small shock for the third time as they tried to work together to undo their bindings. I can sorta understand why though; with how dark it is and some of the drops, if one of them slipped away, they might actually be able to get away.

The wild Pokemon gave us a decent berth, for the most part. Medichams led packs of Meditites far away, and only the most belligerent of Shelgons would attempt to confront us after Notch sent a Dazzling Gleam out.

Phantasm kept the rear along with myself, warding off any Pokemon that might try to attack us from the rear. Riolu and Nightwing searched all around, alerting us to any danger or obstacles in our way. Gah, this is so frustrating. I'd love to be exploring this cavern; it's vast with tons of nocks and cranies and huge shelves we could explore above… But now I'm tired and marching these criminals up to face justice.

That wasn't the only issue bugging me, however. The biggest question on my mind was: What is the deal with Raifort? I don't think for a second she hired these goons for anything other than something nefarious or didn't know what they were like. But she clearly has some other agenda she's pursuing here, not just opportunistic poaching.

My attempts to ask the poachers questions about Raifort had been met by jeers, requests to be set free, or stone-walled silence. I can't believe someone like that could become a teacher at Uva. Then again, she had some connection to the Treasures of Ruin, didn't she? I made a note to check my journals on the matter once I had some free time.

"Hey, can we get some water? You're killing us here," Shaggy moaned. While he might be exaggerating things, even I'm feeling pretty tired. My legs are burning, and I don't know how much further we have to go.

"No, we keep on going." I ordered, and the unpopular decision was met with little more than groans as they trudged forward. No matter how tired I get, we have to keep on going. The chances of them escaping skyrocket if they have a chance to regain their bearings.

"Hullo?" A voice called down, and I perked up. Squinting ahead, I made out the shape of a heavyset hiker.

"Hello there! I need-" I began as we approached, only for the criminals to scream over top of me.

"Help us!"

"The girl's crazy!"

"We did nothing wrong!"

"Please!"

As we came into the normal eyesight range of the hiker, I said, "Silence." Motioning subtly to Phantasm, they crafted a quick auditory illusion over the group, simply blanking out the sounds they made. I could still tell from the vibrations their voices made against the ground that they were still talking, but myself and the hiker were granted a blessed reprieve from their nonsense.

"What's going on here?" The man asked nervously and a little confused at seeing our strange group, a hand drifting down to the Pokeballs on his belt.

"These are a bunch of poachers that tried to attack me. I'm taking them in," I stated bluntly. My answer didn't seem to fully set the man at ease.

"You? You fought five adults and won? Sorry, but that feels a little unbelievable-"

"I fought Hassel four vee four and brought him down to his last Dragon," I snarled. Something in my demeanor or voice convinced him I was being serious as he shut up (and out of the corner of my eye I saw Baldy's mouth saying, 'Oh, fuck me' as it finally seemed to click that his group had been outmatched).

"Look, I just need to take them into town so the police or Gym can deal with them." Poaching is kind of a gray area for law enforcement jurisdiction, but I'm sure either group can deal with this. Assuming they believe me, that is.

"Ah, right. You won't mind if I go get them then?" He said, twitching as he stared down at Dun before averting his gaze.

"That would be great, actually. Please do," I said with a small sigh of relief as he scampered back up the cavern.

As we continued our ascent, I had Phantasm cancel the illusion she had placed over us, so I could hear them again. They're annoying, but I'd rather be able to hear what they're plotting, even if it means listening to them swear and moan. I think The Girl managed a good ten minute swearfest at one point there.

Luckily, it seemed the forced march had taken much of the wind out of their sails, as they had little energy to complain or try to escape as we neared the exit. Dawn's light became visible through the opening of the cave and I moved to shield my eyes as we exited.

Of course, this was when one of them made their move. Middle Finger pulled out a knife from his boot and swiftly cut the rope holding him in the line, as well as Shorty who was the final one behind him. Notch immediately whirled around and blasted Middle Finger with a Power Gem that knocked him down with a nasty crack sound.

Shorty grabbed the fallen blade, using it to free himself from his fallen comrade and attempt his own escape. Before I could even order Nightwing to swiftly hunt him down, Shorty found himself gripped by psychic energy.

Turning around, I saw a familiar face on the windswept plains before the city of Alfornada. Standing there, Tulip was frowning down at the situation, Florges at her side, the plant-like Fairy Pokemon holding Shorty in her telekinetic grip. "Nemona? What is going on here?"

"I'm so glad to see you, Tulip. Also, what are you doing here? Not that I'm not glad, just, I sent for the police or Gym… Wait, no way! You're working for the Gym?!" I squealed.

She gave me a smile that was an interesting mix of bemused and starting to be actually annoyed (and one that I had seen a decent amount of times grace her face). "Yes, I'm working as a Gym Trainer here. Dendra has been busy with her expanded classes, and she thought I should do something more with my free time."

Tulip had excellent control over her body and expressions, but I could pick up on a minute shift in her stance as she spoke. I'm thinking that she had one of her 'battle bets' with Dendra, and Dendra won. That's pretty hilarious considering what happened in the games.

"Hey, can you get us out of here?" Baldy demanded. "This girl attacked us, it was crazy, I should press charges-" He began before Tulip silenced him by raising a single finger. Is that Psychic Aura on her part or just her presence? Though maybe the former leads into the latter…

"What is going on here - one at a time!" She clarified before turning to me.

"These are poachers. I found them in the cavern, and they tried to attack me, saying they were going to kill me and take away my team." I took a deep breath, pushing away the tumultuous emotions that memory brought up. "I fought them, won, and dragged them up here."

"Is this all of them?" Tulip asked. Slowly, I shook my head.

"No, there was another person in their group. Raifort. She has long, wild blue hair and dark skin. Some interesting accessories… I met her before with the group before they attacked. She hired them for 'something,'" I said, putting as much implication into that word as I could. "She left to explore the cavern, then these five doubled back."

The teenage model nodded before turning to Baldy and the others. "And your version of events?"

"We were ambushed-"

"-Nothing wrong-"

"-I want a lawyer!"

"One at a time!" Tulip's voice rang out across the plains, and they all winced. That Hyper Voice really did a number on their eardrums. I should have Dun teach Phantasm how to use that Move; she has a good handle on her Ghostly energies, but her Normal Typing is important too.

A few shared glances between the criminals had Baldy talking on behalf of them. "Ma'am, I don't know what she's talking about; that's nonsense. We're just a bunch of Kantoan sailors who were exploring this lovely land when we were attacked by this girl. All our Pokemon were legally obtained; no poaching here." I mean, decent argument if the dude didn't sound like an axe-murderer.

"What about those Dratinis you captured?" I pipped up, earning a glare from Tulip. It also got the desired response from one of the poachers.

"What about them? We're allowed to catch wild Pokemon," Shaggy whined.

"So you're admitting you caught them?" Before Baldy could immediately deny me, I added, "You aren't denying that we'll find them on your boat, the boat that you have keys to." Tulip raised an immaculate eyebrow but allowed the question to go on, with the clear implications that she would be having words with me afterwards if this didn't go anywhere. Scratch that, she'll still have words with me after this is done; they just might be a little less cutting if it works.

"... Yeah, so what? They're wild Pokemon, we can catch a dozen unowned Dratini if we want. Heck, you're the only one taking Pokemon, you took all of ours!" He declared, giving me a crooked smirk.

"Well, for the first point, you're wrong. You can't catch more than one Dragon Type as a visitor in Paldea. And if you'd legally arrived, you'd know that." Technically, there are some exceptions for this, like Professor sponsored Trainers and the like, but that's not really relevant here.

That factoid had everyone, even Tulip, blinking in surprise. "Really? I'd never heard of that."

I shrugged. "That's probably cause you were born here. My family moved here from Unova, so I know stuff like that." Though honestly, I know that more from my talks with Hassel than remembering the Glitterati's moving to Paldea.

"Nemona?" Tulip questioned, her voice a little worried, and I realized I was spacing out, swaying on my feet. Damn, I'm tired. Aura cycling helped, but it has been a looooong day.

"Oh, right, the second point. Your Pokeballs?" I said, turning to the poachers and pulling out the bag where I had their Pokeballs and holding them up.

"Yeah, give them back!" The Girl shouted, her voice hoarse.

"These Pokeballs have been illegally altered to trap any Pokemon inside them." My words caused all of them to go pale, especially as some police officers who had been walking towards us caught the tail end of that. Damn, really am too tired. Should have just brought that up first, before the Dragon thing.

There were sputtered denials, but I knew we had them now. "Alright, if that's all, I'm gonna find someplace place to-"

"I'll need to get a more detailed statement from you, Miss Glitterati," Tulip said, for the police's benefit. Telepathically, she told me, <I'm going to take you to my home, ok? You can rest up there, and we'll talk more later>.

Sleepily, I nodded, the older girl tossing an arm around me as she helped me walk off to her house while the police took care of things.



***



I woke up from Tulip's couch in time to see the sun just starting to set over the horizon. With a yawn, I stretched before frantically checking on my Pokeballs. All there, all good. I breathed out a sigh of relief as I took in the room around me.

It was quite a nice, picturesque, cozy house. There were little tea cozies and floral-patterned cushions. Or rather, Floette-patterned cushions. Tulip's parents really live up to their namesake, don't they?



There was a note on the table addressed to me. 'Nemona, I've gone to the Gym to handle the poacher situation there. When you're ready, please head over so we can talk about it (and possibly schedule you in for a battle as well).

- Tulip'



That sounds like a good idea- my stomach grumbled, reminding me of an important intermediate step as well as drawing the attention of the owners of the house. Poking his head in a middle-aged man saw me. "Ah, Marjorie, she's up!" He shouted back into the kitchen.

"Hello, sorry to intrude," I began. He shook his gray and violet hair.

"Nonsense, dear, no trouble at all. Our little fashionista has had much to say about you."

"Only good things, I hope?" His smile wavered slightly at my question, answering it, even as he ignored it with his words.

"Please stay for dinner, why dontcha? Marjorie is cooking up a mean casserole."

"Thank you, Mr. Floette-"

"Please, call me Greg."

"Greg then, I really appreciate it, but I should probably get going. My team needs to be fed too." While I do have plenty of Pokechow in my bag, and it's the fancy Type specific types, I'd like to get something better for them. They deserve a reward after all their hard work yesterday.



Marjorie entered the room, looking quite elegant, if not having the effortless air of beauty to her that her daughter carried. "Are you sure? We have plenty of food for your team as well."

"I-" My stomach grumbled again. "Ok then, I mean, thank you." She smiled, and I soon found myself whisked to the dining room. It would be a little crowded to have most of my team inside with me, so I let all but Miles (who didn't eat food), outside to partake their meals, alongside Marjorie and Greg's Floettes.

"That's quite the team you have there. Our Tulip isn't one to hand out praises easily, and I can see she was speaking the truth about you." I 'mmhmm'd at Greg's words, both unsure of what to say and hoping to scarf down more of the delicious food in front of me.

He continued, "I remember going on a journey when I was a young lad, bit older than you are now. Thought I'd be Champion someday till Kofu stopped my challenge dead in its tracks!"

"I think there were some other reasons you stopped as well," Marjorie said with a pointed look at him.

"Ah, yes, meeting the love of my life had an effect on me as well." While they shared a look, I quickly directed Miles to send off some texts to my friends and family, letting them know I was in Alfornada.

"What was your team like, Mr- Greg?" I asked, in between bites.

"Oh, I had a fierce Croconaw and a Tinkatink to go along with my dear Floette. They aren't here," he added, seeing me looking out the window for them. "Hard to keep a full team fed when you stop traveling."

Instinctually, I wanted to grab my team and hold them close. "I don't plan on stopping traveling any time soon. Becoming Champion is just the first step for me." Sure, I know that he doesn't want to take away any of my Pokemon and that I won't ever have to give up my team even if I quit this instant with my family's help, but still.

"Oh ho ho!" He said it with a laugh, and Marjorie smiled kindly as well. They weren't looking down on me per se, but it was clear that they thought my dreams were childish. That I haven't met the realities of the world yet. How can people not understand how incredible this world is, how limitless? For people to just settle down and aim for mundane, boring jobs when there's such magic in the world… I don't get it.

"Is something out there?" Marjorie asked, and I snapped my attention back to her.

"Huh?"

"You were staring intently outside, dear."

"Ah, it's nothing, just thinking of all the places I want to go and all the sights I want to see." It's probably just a coincidence, but my gaze out the window there went to the Great Crater.

After we finished dinner, I helped clean up before they offered me the guest bed. Still feeling tired (but not so much so that I launched myself straight onto the couch like I had this morning), I agreed. It's easier than finding a hotel to stay at right now, but I should find a way to pay them back- Dendra?

I sniffed around and found her scent coming from the bed, despite also being able to make out that it had been washed recently. Ah, right, she'd probably be the one who uses this the most. It's odd having such a great sense of smell in this world. Or maybe it just feels odd that my sense of smell was so bad back in my past life.

Getting to sleep was a troublesome affair, not helped by the bad dreams plaguing me. Visions of my Pokemon being taken away from me danced in my head. No matter how much I tried to run after them, the faceless poachers grew farther and farther away until I fell to the ground. Then, my family - my first family - showed up, taunting me that I had 'abandoned them too.' I tried to refuse and-

Waking up with a start, I found myself pinned to the bed, Dun looking down worriedly at me. "Oof," I said mildly, trying to shift him to the side so I could breathe easier. He does make an excellent weighted blanket, though. "I'm fine, just need my nightmares to stay in their damn lanes."

The door opened up, and Tulip strode in. To the regular eye, she looked as poised as ever. Under my discerning gaze, I could see the extra makeup applied underneath her eyes to hide the bags that were forming. "Are you alright?" I asked immediately.

She arched an eyebrow. "I feel like I should be asking you that."

"I'm fine," I said instinctually before wilting under her glare. "I… will be. Just some bad dreams, they'll pass." Or fade away, just like the memories of my first li- bad train of thought all aboard the new train! Uhhhh is that breakfast I smell? Pancakes! Pancakes sound great right now.

A frown marred the model's face. "I wish I hadn't taught you to flicker your thoughts like that. It makes you hard to read when you go through emotions so fast," she grumbled.

"Heh, I think that's just part of how I work naturally. I tend to hop from idea to idea, really frustrates Cyan sometimes." Which isn't to say my Aura training with her hasn't helped me hone that as a skill.

Finally shifting out from under Dun, I got up. "Shall we get breakfast?" Surprisingly, Tulip shook her head.

"I've already eaten, and they need me back at the Gym. Can you drop by today?"

Nodding, I said, "Yeah. I'll be there after breakfast." The meal was a quick (yet tasty) affair, with me heading out shortly after. Gathering my things (mainly just my bag), I waved Mr. & Mrs. Floette off before heading out into the city.

Getting a good look at it, I was reminded of when I'd come here before to train with Tulip and Dendra and how unique it was. The city was unquestionably beautiful, with almost every building painted in bright colors and fun patterns, garden boxes, and benches on several streets.

All the artistry served as a contrast for the actual design of most of the buildings (sans the modern, sleek Gym Building I was heading to) in the city. From houses to shops, each of them had a very blocky, bulky design. When combined with the wall around the city limits, it gave the picture of the place once being like a fortress. At least until they decided to trade and connect with the rest of Paldea, after it became apparent that no one wanted to scale a mountain to try attacking them.

The thoughts of history and what might have been inevitably had my mind turning towards Raifort. Looking through my journals, I had noted that she was a 'suspicious character,' with the hints dropped in the game. The interest in the Treasures of Ruin was particularly worrisome, though I didn't think that was her goal here.

Unfortunately, I don't remember much more than that from the games. What could her goal here be? I don't believe it's as simple as stealing a Pokemon.

I also investigated online and found that Raifort wasn't a teacher. Neither was Saguaro, Salvatore, Miriam, or so many others. Jacq and Clavell were just listed as post-grads, researchers connected to the school, but no sign of them being teachers (or the future director). Tyme was actually the current Montevenera Gym Leader, her sister not having taken her place yet.

Will this change things so she doesn't become the History teacher at Uva? Then again, I don't think for a second that she was truly unaware of what those poachers were like, so maybe it's not too bad if we don't have her there. Then again, the current staff lets the bullies run rampant, so they aren't great either.

Without any leads to follow up on, I was headed to the Gym. The walk through the peaceful city did a lot to help ease my nerves, just by seeing the happy people walk through it without a care. I still had a bit of twitchyness after my encounter with the criminals, always keeping Miles out as we walked, but it helped. Not every shadow hides something nefarious.

While we walked, I had Miles take a few photos of the city and message my friends. Last night I had told them that I had arrived, but today I actually gave them a bit more of a status report. Mostly.



GlitterOnYouCrazyChampion: 'Feeling refreshed and rested now! The small scuffles behind me, I'm appreciating the beauty of Alfornada and the amazing view from the mountaintop.'

MasterChef: 'Are you gonna to chck ut the leaping Tower!?'

AmethystExplorer: 'What kind of scuffles are we talking about?'

GlitterOnYouCrazyChampion: 'Yes, yes, I'll look at the Leaning Tower. Probably after my Gym Match. The Olive Fields were alright? They make very big olives, but they're out of season right now.'

AmethystExplorer: 'Are you ignoring me?'

AmethystExplorer: 'Nemona??'

GlitterOnYouCrazyChampion: 'Aha, sorry about that, must have missed your messages.'

GlitterOnYouCrazyChampion: 'Just, some battles. Fought two Tera Pokemon down on the Alfornada detour; here let me send you some pics. [attached files]'

TooCute4U: 'Nemona, why does it sound like you're hiding something?'

GlitterOnYouCrazyChampion: ':sweatdrop. Umm… wait, Lacey, why are you awake right now? Isn't it like 5 in the morning for you?'

TooCute4U: 'Drilly had a tummy ache. No answer the question!'

TooCute4U: '*now'

GlitterOnYouCrazyChampion: 'Ugh fine. I fought some paochers and had to take them in and it was a long hike up the cavern, ok?'

MasterChef: 'WUT? NEMONA ARE YOU OK!?!?!?'

TooCute4U: 'oh nooooo!'

AmethystExplorer: '...Where are these poachers?'

CyanGlitterarti: 'Nemona, do you need help? I can leave school.'

Best (Worst) Girl: 'Good morning everyone.'

Best (Worst) Girl: '*scrolls back* What the fudge?!'

GlitterOnYouCrazyChampion: 'Sorry everyone, gotta go, entering a Gym Building which means I'll mysteriously lose all service for as long as it takes everyone to calm down.'

CyanGlitterati: 'How could that possibly be how Gyms work? It makes no sense'

GlitterOnYouCrazyChampion: 'That's why it's mysterious 😜'


Turning my attention away from that, I marched forward, through the sliding doors to the monolithic Gym Building in front of me. The lobby had quite an energy to it, no one moving frantically, but all of the League employees moving about swiftly, carrying documents or the like back and forth. The few police officers and lack of any civilians in the lobby also added to the pressure of the environment.

Tulip was in the corner and made a beeline for me as soon as she saw me. "Ne- Miss Glitterari, it's good to see you." She called over an officer and said, "If we could get your statement now, that would be appreciated."

I nodded, knowing I'd have to face the music. And being prepared means I know what tunes to play, hopefully. They took me off to a conference room to take my statement. The officer, a middle-aged woman, smiled kindly as she said, "Don't worry, dear, this should all go very smoothly. Just tell us what happened from your perspective." Well, hadn't expected them to be so nice to me. Then again, I am a nine-year-old girl, and they are a bunch of scary criminals.

"Well, I had just made it to the entrance of the Alfornada Cavern when this- this woman came down and…" I gave her a slightly truncated version of events. Telling the truth seemed like a solid strategy, though I skimmed over certain details. Like how I was able to hear the poachers talking about killing me and taking my Pokemon from so far away, and how much I may have threatened them to force them to move along.

She asked for a bit of clarification along the way, like details about Raifort (which I had little on), and some of the injuries the poachers had (which was fairly easily accepted as me just trying to stop them from escaping, especially given the stunt Middle Finger had pulled in front of Tulip). Plus, some of those injuries were caused by their own Pokemon or the necessity of battle happening in that enclosed of a space.

The biggest question they had was on how I knew about the Pokeballs being tampered with. "We only saw a few scuff marks on the side of the casing of those Balls. How did you know that they had been tampered with and in such a fashion?"

Right, probably shouldn't mention I've been trawling the dark web to know that. "I mean, the fact that almost all of them had those marks was a pretty clear sign of some kind of tampering. That and I took out the poachers before they could release their full teams, but none of the other Pokemon released themselves to help. Plus, they had Pokemon like Magneton, while Thunder Stones aren't that expensive, not for the kind of operation they're running. Clearly, there was a lack of trust between them and their Pokemon. At least, between some of them."

I'd bet good money that Middle Finger lost his namesake from that Feraligatr. Probably not when it was fully evolved, though. I could definitely see him stealing a regional starter when it was just a Totodile, and then abusing it until it was too scared to fight back anymore.

"Only some of them? Why do you think that?" The officer asked and I blinked.

"It was hard to see in the cave, but some of the Pokemon had scars and other signs of abuse. But others… that Hypno Baldy had-"

"Bald- you mean Mr. Moreau?" The officer asked, and I blushed.

"Uh, is that his name? They never introduced themselves, so I just gave them nicknames in my head." Both the officer and Tulip gave me bemused smiles at that. "Anyway, the Hypno communicated with him telepathically, and the Hypno had a well-brushed mane. Not like, a sure sign of anything, I just thought…"

The officer grimaced, and Tulip nodded. "The Gym can investigate as to any collaborators amongst the Pokemon." She didn't sigh out loud, but I could feel the exhaustion coming off of her. Right, as this is a Fairy Type Gym, she's probably the only Psychic specialist here to help deal with that communication. I hadn't delved too deeply into the law there, but Pokemon choosing to break the laws and work with criminals was a complicated subject.

"Alright, you've badgered the young lady enough now, don't you think?" A male voice entered the room alongside the man himself. The gray-haired man strode in imperiously, his manner aided by his immaculate pink suit and violet faux-fur trim cape trailing behind him.

Wow, his getup is just as 'extra' in real life as it is in videos. Then again, I think all Gym Leaders are like that. Katy had a baker's outfit on for our fight, though I noticed it wasn't the same as the one she used to actually bake with me, so it was probably closer to a stylized costume.

"Leader Oberon, good of you to join us." The officer said in a tone that implied the opposite. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but-"

"But what? We've already found outstanding warrants for the bunch. This young lady did us a huge favor in capturing those rapscallions." Turning to me, he said, "And I hear you're looking for a match against myself."

"That's right, sir."

He grinned broadly. "I see no reason to delay you further then. Usually we'd have a Gym Trial where you'd play Key-p away with some of the Klefkis; they can be quite vicious when it comes to defending their keys. But I feel you've been through enough of a trial in bringing these scoundrels to justice. I'd be happy to face you right awa-"

"Ahem," the officer cleared her throat. "While I can agree we have enough information from Miss Glitterati for the time being, I'd like your assistance in dealing with the criminal investigation. Particularly in investigating this Raifort character - she might still be around town and we have some questions for her." Her smile was sharp and even had Oberon wincing.

"Ah, perhaps in a few days, then." He offered me, and I nodded.

"That sounds good to me. Oh, and it should give you enough time to prepare your A-game, because I'd like to face your strongest team, sir." There was a flash of shock from both him and the officer, but Tulip just nodded her head.

"I'd advise you to take her on that, Oberon. She's a stronger Trainer than I am." Tulip's recognition got a serious nod from the Gym Leader.

"Very well. I shall let you know in a few days time when we're ready. And on that day, you shall face the might of Paldea's greatest Fairy Trainer!"


Journeying six years before canon leads to meeting some new faces (and old ones in different lights). In other news, this is the first chapter that was written in the second main google doc I use as apparently, they have a maximum character limit (who knew?). Though admittedly I move each chapter over to a separate doc when it comes time to post, editing it, giving my betas time to review it, and fine-tuning it, which actually adds a fair amount to the word count. If we'd been using those chapters in the doc, I would have capped out at around Chapter 45.
 
Chapter 50 New
With at least a few days before my challenge, I went to the Pokemon Center on the edge of the city to get my team checked out. I'd already tended to them with healing items after our battle with the poachers, but I figured it couldn't hurt to have a professional check them over.

Oh, how mistaken I was, I thought as the Nurse Joy frowned at her scans, then at me, then back at the scans. "Is there a problem?" I asked, trying to conceal any nervousness in my voice with a bright smile.

"Your Zorua… how did you get her?" She asked, and my smile froze. Shit. If it was just an unusual variant she hadn't seen before, I don't think she'd be asking like this. Does she know? I had theorized that the Joy clan might have had something to do with the disappearance of Hisuian Zoruas, so it stood to reason that some of them might recognize mine.

"I came across her not far from the Tagwood Thicket. When I asked if she wanted to join me in my quest to become Champion, she jumped at the chance. She's one of the newer members of my team," I added, holding a hand out for her to return my Pokeballs.

The Nurse Joy didn't seem happy about that, continuing to press. "Did you find any others like-"

"No," I interjected. "Don't think you'll have to worry about any others like her from there either." Ugh, this is annoying. I hope she gets the message that I didn't make her that way (at least not directly or intentionally) and that she doesn't need to worry about people going around torturing Zoruas. It's difficult to get that across though while also sending the message that I know how they are made while also saying that I'm not going to spread that information around. Because if I told her outright without confirming she knows how- just frustrating.

After a moment, she passed the Pokeballs back to me. Either understanding what I was trying to get across or just not having a legal reason to detain me further. Hopefully this won't be a problem later. The Joy clan hardly made up the majority of Nurse Joys in Paldea, but there were a few, and they were intrinsically tied to the Pokemon medical industry.

With my Pokemon back, I restocked my supplies before venturing out from the city, heading off across the plains. Gothitelles and Klefkis wandered about, amidst grazing Deerlings. Psychic and Fairy are weird Typings to place. What makes a location like this desirable for Pokemon like them? The more elemental or animalistic Typings are easier to understand by geographical features, but these can be more varied.

It took a good few hours to trek across the plains and up a few hills to make it to the monument I was heading towards. During that time, I messaged back the friend group chat, called my parents (and Leah), and booked a hotel room to stay in. Grand adventures and stories always miss these little things in favor of- "Whoa."

That was all I could think to say as I rounded the corner and faced one of the Ten Sights of Paldea. Water fell down from atop the cliffs high above, pouring down past the tip of a watchtower. The ancient gray tower was leaning at an angle, sticking out of the pool of water flooding its base, giving the impression that water was falling out of its top.

Off to the side, away from the secluded sight, I saw the rest of Paldea spread out before me. The winding hills led to the largest desert in the land, and past that, the titanic frost covered peaks of Glasedo Mountain. Cutting off my view of the rest of the land was the Great Crater, the rocky barrier between it actually lower than the heights I stood on but concealed by clouds so I couldn't peer in.

Ok, I can see why the tales skim over the boring stuff when you have sights like this to focus on. Releasing my full team, I gestured at the view with my arms and asked, "Anyone up for a picnic?"



***



After a nice relaxing picnic, we got back to work, spending the trip and most of our next few days training. There were plenty of Pokemon and a few Trainers to challenge around Alfornada, as well as hours upon hours of videos and forums to scroll through.

Unsurprisingly, a few days in, and I get a call from the Gym secretary. "Hello, Miss Glitterati, our part of the investigation is over for now." The last part of that sentence was said in a low tone, like one would try to ward off evil. Perking back up, she finished, "So the Gym Leader is ready to face you in battle."

"Perfect. I'll be there in hmmm…" Looking out, I gauged how far away I was from the city, as well as time to heal up and go over plans one last time. "Half an hour? Yeah, half an hour. Should I go to the Gym Building-?"

She shook her head. "You can go straight to the arena - it's the large circular building beside the Gym Building." She hung up without any further clarification, but I could understand why. It was a massive structure, visible from pretty much anywhere in the city, with a large spiral staircase running around the side of it, leading up to a flat top, with odd spiral beams sticking up and out and up, meeting in the center well above the already towering building.

Is it even a building? The outside is heavily decorated, but I don't see any entrances or windows for anything inside. While there would be some mechanical features just below the very top to maintain the battlefield, that still left plenty of space down beneath it.

Caught up in my thoughts, I barely noticed the martial artist beside Tulip as I approached the bottom of the stairs. "Dendra!" I cried out, running forward and tackling her in a hug. The brawny girl giggled, returning the hug.

"Up this way," Tulip sniffed, pointing a hand up the stairs. Rather than immediately go up, I went over and gave her a hug too.

"Sorry, didn't mean to leave you out. I've just been busy training. I really want to do well in this battle." She didn't acknowledge my apology verbally, but she did hug me back, which I counted as a win.

The Gym Trainer nodded. "That's good; there are many people excited to see your battle." At my confused head tilt, she added, "Word got around."

Listening, I could indeed hear a vast crowd chatting above us. Damn, I know the arena is big, but there must be a hundred people up there, and I'm sure the officials are keeping enough room for us to fight there. Looking down, I saw even more people drifting towards the base. Can't believe I missed all of them when I was walking here, guess I got a bit tunnel-visioned, whoops.

"Word about-?" Tulip shook her head before I could finish that sentence.

"Oberon just advertised that this would be an exciting match, not anything that would cause a panic." I nodded, my lips pursed tight. Poachers are a serious problem; I can see why that might cause unrest. Especially since Raifort is still out there. A sketch artist had made a very good copy of the woman, thanks to Phantasm making an easy illusion to sketch, but Raifort's own illusionist Pokemon made that a rather moot tool.

Reaching the top, I saw the crowds gathered there. They cheered louder at my arrival, though I noticed that most of them were cheering with renewed fervor for Oberon rather than myself. Still, I think I'm hearing a few people cheering for me, including a familiar voice? Not that familiar, can't quite place it.

Amidst the throng of people gathered around the edges of the arena, I saw someone familiar, though he didn't sound it. Dressed in a pink t-shirt and shorts, I saw a tiny Ortega, cheering on his dad at the top of his lungs.

The man in question stood on the other side of the arena with his back turned to me. "So you've arrived, young challenger. But dare you take on the King of Fairies, Oberon?" He whirled around dramatically, flourishing his cape with an extra swish of a bejeweled cane. The top of his cane was capped with a Tera Orb, proving it was more than just a fashion choice.

"I dare indeed, O King, and at the end of the day, we'll see who reigns supreme!" I can ham it up too, and I don't even need a cape to look dramatic. Though that was because I was using my Aura to whip a small wind and make my jacket flutter in the breeze I created while standing still with my arms crossed.

My proclamation had whispers rippling throughout the crowd, people wondering at how I could stand up and be so bold. Really, people? I challenged him; of course I'm at least going to step up to the plate. Then again, I vaguely remember the rap kid that challenges Rhyme in the games before immediately giving up, so I guess some people can get cowed easily.

I was not one of them, stepping up to take my place (after passing my phone for Dendra to record the match). The referee took her place on the side and confirmed we were both ready. Locking my gaze onto his pink eyes, I saw confidence. Strength. But deeper than that, there is a need to prove that strength. He's supposed to be the defender of this land, the lord looking after his people, and here comes an errant knight that does his job for him. When challenged to a duel, he'll pick-



***



["...And Oberon leads with Azumarill! Oh, this is gonna be a tough matchup for Blake. His ace, Baxcalibur, will have a rough time here…"

A foot tapping impatiently tore my attention away from the video playing on my phone, the commentators' words becoming white noise as I focused on my Pokemon. Riolu, for her part, seemed unimpressed with it, barking, "Iolu!"

"It's not a waste of time. Studying the matches gives us insight into our foes, which helps us strategize for the battles to come." Something that I imagine I'll be sorely missing once I become a Champion. Then every challenger will be coming up to me with a team I know nothing about while they've intensely studied me. "Besides, what else are we going to be doing here?"

The hotel room we were staying in was quite nice, plush, and richly accommodated. However, it did not make for a good workout room. Not to say that she couldn't go downstairs and do just that if she wanted, but I think we're all tired from today's practice.

"Riolu, luu." She whined.

"I'd be happy to meditate with you; training our Auras is just as important as our bodies. But first, watch this video," I said, rewinding it back a bit to just before she had interrupted. "What does it tell you about this match?"

She cocked her head to the side, staring at it intently before shaking her head, frustrated. It's like she's saying that this is just the same as all his other matches, wondering why I'm spending so much time on this.

"I know how invested you are in trying to make Aura Constructs. It's a useful skill, and one that will serve you well when you evolve. Training Aura takes time though; it rarely comes from just beating your head against the wall. I'm not doing that either, by watching all these videos. Deeper analysis gives us greater answers, which we can use to predict their plans."

Riolu's defensive look was replaced by a more curious one, so I continued. "Oberon is leading with Azumarill here, which shows he's nervous - usually, he leads with Klefki to disrupt his opponent. He wants to use the Huge Power Azumarill has to intimidate his opponents. That means that we should…"]



***



Two red flashes of light hit the field, coalescing in two diminutive bipedal forms. They both stood at about the same height, albeit with Riolu being far slimmer than his blue, long-eared Pokemon.

If the Gym Leader was surprised at me using Fighting Type to lead against him, he didn't show it, standing imperiously. The referee quieted down the crowd before counting us in. "The battle will begin in three, two, one… begin!"

"Belly Drum- wait, dodge!" Oberon tried to correct, but it was too late. The bunny-like Pokemon had begun beating his rotund belly with his paws and couldn't avoid Riolu's charge. She had surged forward that instant the referee's countdown finished, not needing to wait for an order from me to enact the strategy we'd decided to start the battle with.

Grass sprouted beneath her feet as she ran forward, slamming into Azumarill, knocking the heavy Pokemon off his feet. Oberon proved his Pokemon was experienced, quickly recovering, enough that I didn't feel comfortable trying to capitalize on the hit.

"Aqua Jet!" A good thing too, I thought as Azumarill angled himself towards Riolu, blasting water out from his feet and hands to propel himself forward.

"Quick Guard!" Riolu launched herself into the Move before I was finished speaking, which was a good thing as Azumaril rebounded off the brown-colored barrier that Riolu had conjured almost immediately after. I wasn't sure if the Belly Drum had fully empowered our opponent, but the shockwave from the impact had me worried and everyone in the crowd gasping.

The field quickly flickered away, but it was enough to throw off Azumarill, leaving an opening with our foe so close by. "Metal Claw!" I shouted, punching my hand out. She mimicked me, her paw shooting forward and burying her paw into Azumaril's body, causing the other Pokemon to recoil backward.

"Azu!" Oberon shouted, shocked at how much damage our 'Metal Claw' had done. Guess he didn't catch the poison dripping off the end of her claws. Well, the angle was bad anyway for him to have seen the Poison Jab.

He recovered his composure quickly. "Finish this, Play Rough!" The blue Pokemon bounced back, throwing himself playfully at Riolu, but we still held the advantage.

"Dancing Sword!" My Fighting Type aligned her energies and motion with Azumarill's. As the powerful Pokemon lumbered forward, she spun to the side, bopping the top of his head. He would lean over in a big sweep that looked almost like an attempt to scoop her in a hug but surely would have broken bones if it hit… only for Riolu to flip over the unbalanced Azumarill. So on it went for a few seconds, Riolu avoiding Azumarill's attack in an equally playful manner.

The unusual Move caught Oberon flat-footed, the regal manner looking flabbergasted, and I knew it was time to finish this. "Trailblaze, once more!"

So close, and already boosted from the first use of the Move, Azumarill had no chance of dodging the attack. Grass erupted from the ground as Riolu burst forward, driving her shoulder into Azumarill. Once more, the Water Type was knocked to the ground as my Pokemon ran past him, but this time, Oberon's Pokemon didn't get back up.

Everyone was silent for a moment before the referee shakily called out, "Az- Azumarill is unable to battle! Leader Oberon, send out your next Pokemon!" The crowd erupted into a mix of awed whispers and jubilant cheers for myself and Riolu.


"Wow!"

"I can't believe it! Never seen anything like that in all my years…"

"Mommy, can I get a Rolu too?"


Riolu herself looked unflappable, standing coolly with her arms crossed, not even having looked back at her opponent. The Expert Belt around her waist flapping in the breeze... If I didn't know her, I'd believe she was totally unconcerned with her image. But with the work we've done on Aura, I can literally feel how happy she is. That, and I had memories of her stubbornly focusing to stop her tail from wagging in joy whenever I praised her for mastering a difficult Move.

Oberon slowly lifted his Pokeball, recalling Azumaril. "I see you weren't joking about your strength. But my Granbull leaves even the mightiest Pokemon trembling in fear!" He declared as he released his Pokemon.

The large, pink, bipedal pitbull-like Pokemon growled, the noise sending a shiver down my spine. Riolu herself, however, remained unmoved, only shifting her stance to face him.

"Granbull, show them your adorable strength!" Our foe scrambled across the field, a deceptively happy grin on his face as he neared Riolu and prepared to break her bones.

"Dancing Sword," I called out, not missing the grin that slowly grew across Oberon's face as Riolu followed my command. She gracefully slipped around Granbull's attacks, empowering herself with her quick moves.

"Metal Claw," I called out again, with the same jabbing motion to let her know to use Poison Jab instead. I think that trick might have run its course after this time, however. Poison Jab doesn't have any hidden meaning or alternate plans when I called it out, so it shouldn't confuse her.

That was something I had eventually realized when training my team. Even when preparing specifically for certain battles, getting too complicated would end up just backfiring as my Pokemon didn't or only partially remembered the complex orders.

The Gym Leader understood the value of simple plans as well, countering by saying, "Keep on attacking! Don't let up!"

Granbull rushed ahead, taking the Poison Jab to the gut, but he pushed through the pain. With a joyous swing of his head, he slammed hard into Riolu with one of his lower fangs. The Fairy Type attack sent her sprawling, and she tried to acrobatically catch herself, but Granbull continued his pursuit, like a dog with a bone.

As she flipped through the air again, I saw our opening, as Granbull tossed her just a bit too far. "Earthquake!" I shouted, and as she fell to the ground, she readied her foot, gathering up Ground Type energy in it. As she reached the ground, she drove her foot into the ground, sending a wave rippling out from the impact.

The Granbull busy pursuing Riolu couldn't avoid the earth smashing into him in time, which gave Riolu a bit of breathing room. Not as much as I'd like though; even after two boosts, she's not hitting as hard as Dun could. Of course, he's been practicing Earthquake a ton recently, and she's also faster than him regularly. With the boosts from Trailblaze now…

When our foe got back up, Riolu had already darted halfway across the arena and was pelting him with waves of force emanating out from her paws. The glowing blue shockwaves struck at Granbull, lancing into him from different angles with each step he took towards her. As much as he tried, he couldn't close with Riolu, she kept on circling around him.

The distance between them as well as his Typing meant each shot did little damage, but that didn't matter. "Keep at it!" I shouted, waiting for our moment…



***



["Today, I want you to try fighting a Gothorita," I said to Riolu, pointing at some of the black and white diminutive Psychic Types roaming the fields.

She nodded, turning to face her challenger before I clarified. "Wait, there's more. You've already beaten tons of the Psychic and Fairy Types here. They've been a good opportunity for you to face off against those with a Type advantage against you and can hit extra hard when fighting you. You've also learned enough and know enough coverage Moves that you don't need to simply spar one again."

One of the even smaller Gothita's wandering nearby turned to glance at us, fixing me with a strange stare, unnerving Riolu. My Pokemon even started growling at her before I waved Riolu down.

"It's fine, don't worry about what she's feeling. Gothita aren't as Psychically developed as their evolutions, so she's probably just distracted by something else. Those Gothorita are going to be a bit tougher, however, which is why I want you to beat them, but only with Fighting Type Moves."

Riolu blinked, her red eyes narrowing as she stared at me before the spark of my idea reached her, and she barked eagerly. She's quick on the uptake when it comes to fighting, and after our talk last night, she's gotten better at strategizing.

Idly, I tossed around a name idea in my head, liking it. But that's for later; right now I'm waiting to see if she- yes! She already Paralyzed a Gothorita. Even an ineffective Move can be critical with the effects attached to it. Plus, she's just so much more practiced with those Moves that she can use them quicker. This will work nicely.]



***



One of the Force Palms took Granbull in the knee, causing the bigger Pokemon to fall down. I also didn't miss how the Pokemon tried to catch himself at the last second with his arms before his limbs spasmed out. He's Paralyzed!

"Quick Attack into Poison Jab!" I crowed, and Riolu hurled herself forward, blurring into a quick kick that cracked into the side of Granbull's head. Spinning artfully from the first attack, she jabbed down at him with a Poison coated claw.

Her opponent yowled in pain before biting down on instinct on Riolu's wrist. The Dark Type attack did little damage, but it kept her in place, leaving Riolu unable to pry herself free from the powerful Pokemon.

"Detect!/Play Rough!"

Oberon and I gave our commands at the same time, and each of our Pokemon reacted instantly. Eyes glowing blue, Riolu flipped, twisted, and turned as much as she could to avoid Granbull's onslaught. The big dog's grip on her complicated things as he shook her around like a chew toy. Funny when dogs do that to actual toys, but it's them acting on instinct of how they might kill prey.

Riolu wasn't killed from the attack or even close to it, but she was looking a lot worse for wear after it ended. With dodging and even deflecting a few strikes with her own paws, she had avoided the worst of it, but she still seemed to be on her last legs. And Granbull still has a grip on her… Damn, I don't see a way out of this.

"Switch!" I announced loudly, holding up Riolu's Pokeball and hitting her with the red beam, pulling her free from Granbull's grip.

"Challenger Nemona has used her first switch. Nemona, please choose your next Pokemon!" The referee called out. Since this battle is a six-on-six, we get three switches each, so I can afford to waste a few.

"Go, Notch!" I said, clicking the button to send Notch out onto the field, before immediately returning them. "Switch! Go, Riolu!" Once more, Riolu hit the field, giving a defiant Howl the moment she did so.

"What?" Oberon said, his voice echoed by the rest of the crowd. His jaw hanging wide open was probably also copied by them. Who would think to use two switches just to reposition, after all? Still, better make up for the lost boosts from before.

"I told her before this battle that I'd give her a good fight; so far you haven't shown that, so she's gotta keep on going." I taunted in an oh-so-disappointed tone.

"WHAT!?" The suddenly enraged Gym Leader screeched, snapping his own cane in half. Damn, guess he's stronger than he looks.

Clicking my tongue, I shook my head. "Sorry, just not enough for my adorable little battle maniac." She Howled again, and I said, "That's right! Cry your defiance for the world to hear!"

Oberon gnashed his teeth together before his gaze flashed to the field, where he saw Riolu glowing slightly, the power-ups from Howl having left a visible mark. "No matter! We know how to beat her now. Granbull, charge in and latch on with a Bite!"

As Granbull started tearing up the field, I called out "Swords Dance!" We need more than speed here, we need power.

Part of me wanted to back off from this strategy and try something else, but a fleeting glance into Riolu's large crimson eyes told me how much she would resent it if I did. And here I thought Notch could push things too far. Honestly, my whole team is full of battle crazed determinators. Still, I have faith she'll handle this.

The Fighting Type finished her dance just as Granbull latched on. "Show her who's the top dog in Alfornada, Play Rough!" Oberon called out, while I simply said:

"Tough it out." That brought some scandalized gasps from the crowd, and I saw a few parents covering their kids eyes (not Ortega though; that kid looked on gleefully) as Granbull thrashed Riolu around violently, beating her with her paws and against the ground several times, leaving cracks in it.

Riolu hung limp in Granbull's grip before his jaw loosened, and she began to slide down, her eyes closed. "Riolu is unable to-" Her eyes snapped open, blazing crimson.

"REVERSAL!" I shouted out, spreading my arms wide, as if opening a curtain to reveal a grand show. One arm shooting out to Granbull's good leg, she pulled it up while driving her shoulder into his hip. Flipping him up in the air, she grabbed him as he was falling and forced him down even faster. Slamming him into the ground so hard he left a small crater in the arena, she followed up with a snap kick that sent him rolling over to Oberon's edge of the arena.

"... Granbull is unable to battle, Leader Oberon, please send out your next Pokemon." The crowd erupted in cheers and exclamations, many of them even chanting out my Pokemon's name. Through it all though, one boy was booing at the top of his lungs, trying to be heard over the din.

"Boo! Booooooo! No way Father is going to lose to you! This is totally not fair!" He yelled, causing Oberon to chuckle.

"Don't fret, my son, I'll never lose. Certainly not while I have such an ardent supporter like you by my side!" His voice boomed over the arena, and I saw his composure return as he stared at me with steely pink eyes.

"Grimmsnarl, let's get this match really started!" He called out, releasing the hair-covered goblin Pokemon out onto the field. His Pokemon's mouth cracked open into a vicious, fang-filled smirk. Riolu stared up at foe, her legs tensed to pounce towards him.



***



["Alright, that's enough," I said, bringing an end to Dun and Riolu's sparring match. Riolu panted, giving us both a small nod before marching towards me and holding a hand out for a berry. With an apologetic smile, I shook my head.

"Sorry, but you've still got some more training to do." She looked surprised before narrowing her eyes. "Well, both of you do, but Dun's is about how fast he can fix himself up."

To my starter, I said, "Practice Double Edge against that cliff, then Roost as fast as you can. Focus on getting your healing efficiency up as much as you can."

"Dudun," he nodded dutifully, throwing himself against the rocky cliff in spite of the cuts and bruises Riolu had left on him.

Riolu herself was looking worse off, her legs shaking and breathing heavy, if steady. "For you, the goal is a bit different. Your strongest Move is Reversal, and that Move relies on you being low on health. That leaves you especially vulnerable, so the goal of your training will be not getting hit."

Pulling Phantasm's ball from my belt, I released her. "Rua?" The spiteful fox asked sleepily.

"Illusion training time. Try and pressure Riolu here with illusory images of some of the different Fairy Types we've studied; don't be afraid to go faster than you physically can."

With that, I stepped back, taking note of every time she got 'hit,' which was frequently. To be fair, she's fighting a foe moving at literally the speed of thought, but still. A single hit will take her out when she's like that, but Endure + Reversal is one of her better combos, so she needs to learn how to fight like that.

"Try not to rush in," I advised after I saw her get 'tagged' a few times. "When you're in that situation, you need to float like a butterfly, then sting like a bee. In and out, fast and hard, don't get caught up, no matter what."

Riolu took a deep breath, centering herself before launching a quick Vacuum Wave out and darting around one, two, three strikes before darting in when Phantasm paused, thinking of the next attack. While the counterattack slipped through the illusion, I knew it'd be devastating against a real foe.

"Good, let's do it again.]



***



"Force Palm," I said, and Riolu rushed to mid-range, readying her Aura to release a big burst at the Grimmsnarl. While I saw that, I also noticed the fibrous hair around Grimmsnarl's further back arm tensing up.

Before Oberon even called out "Sucker Punch!" I was yelling at Riolu to abort. She dropped into a roll at my words, narrowly dodging Grimmsnarl's fist, which soared over her head.

"Vacuum Wave, keep note of his range," I called out, and Riolu did so, pelting the larger Pokemon with a quick flurry rippling through the air.

He has an answer. As good as Riolu is, she'll get beaten if Oberon takes her seriously here. But if he's more worried about me… I took careful note of the Gym Leader's eyes shifting back and forth, the man thinking in a split second before calling out "Light Screen!"

Yes! The goblin Pokemon spread his arms out wide, crafting a transparent, slightly glowing screen around himself. It was fast, faster than even Notch could manage, but there was still an opening for us to exploit.

"Reversal! Grab him by the ears!" I shouted, and Riolu rocketed in, continuing her Vacuum Wave assault without missing a beat but instead firing the shots behind her to propel herself forward. Latching her hands onto his ears, she lifted her feet up, controlling her Aura carefully to keep a barrier between him and his hair, knowing how easily she could get caught up within the tangled mess.

Ignoring his howling pain, she pushed off with her Aura, a burst from her legs giving her the leverage to flip the Grimmsnarl around and smash him into the ground behind her.

"Give it up," Oberon called out, and the pitiful creature on the ground, with eyes watering, seemed to be pleading with Riolu to stop the onslaught.

So we obliged. "Detect!" I shouted sharply, knowing what this False Surrender would look like. Eyes glowing blue, Riolu got a clear vision of what that future would look like and hopped backwards, putting several meters between them.

The Grimmsnarl blinked the crocodile tears out of his eyes, seeming perplexed at how that had failed before lifting himself back up. "What kind of twisted tale is this? You're not supposed to be defiantly still standing," Oberon groused. "Blast her away, Dazzling Gleam!"

"Dodge it! Jump high!" With powerful legs, she shot up in the air, well above the deadly, sparkly laser beam Grimmsnarl fired at her. He didn't stop with one burst, however, redirecting it up to her in the air. "Quick Attack to avoid it!" I shouted, and she burst around in a few sharp bursts, evading the attack by a hair's breadth.

"Reflect," Oberon added, almost as an afterthought, his Pokemon quickly setting up another barrier. He's trying to set up for the next Pokemon he'll face, and he's right to; Riolu can't go on like this. She was fighting hard, but her body was shaking, despite her Auric control and focus.

"Get in close, finish this!" I shouted, chopping a hand down. She cried out, charging ahead one last time.

"I agree, it's past the point that we ended this farce. Break her spirit!" Covered in glittering energy, Grimmsnarl shot forward, smashing into Riolu. The blow sent her slamming into the barrier beside me, where she hung in the air for a second before I recalled her.

At the same time, there was a shattering sound around Grimmsnarl, his barriers breaking as he clutched his side where Riolu's Brick Break had cut in.

"Riolu is unable to battle, Challenger Nemona; send out your next Pokemon!" The referee announced. Placing my hand around Dun's Pokeball, I spoke up before calling him out.

"You did well; I apologize for what I said before. That was a good fight." Oberon smiled briefly before I continued, "That was a tough fight for my most recent catch." A bit misleading as to her overall strength, admittedly, but only slightly. Only Phantasm regularly loses to Riolu, in spite of all her skill. Though that might change when she evolves. However, there's one who will probably be a match even after that.

As his face grew pale, my grin grew wider. "Yup, I think you've earned the right to take on my starter." Drawing forth Dun's ball, I released him onto the field.

"That's your starter? How… common," he said with a sneer.

"I wouldn't laugh at him if I were you - but don't just take my word for it! Dun, show them what you're made of, Hyper Drill!"

"Spirit Break!" Grimmsnarl met Dun's charge with his own, but this time found himself reeling back as Dun tanked the blow and pushed the Fairy back with his drill. The hair around his body tried to react and tangle up Dun's tail, but he simply spun the drill too fast, tearing off any strands that got close.

"I see you're a strong one, but all mortals fall with time. Parting Shot!" Grimmsnarl turned himself into a bolt of Dark energy, striking at Dun and rebounding back to Oberon's side, letting him switch out Pokemon. The man frowned upon seeing his attack have no effect, however. Dun rose up, roaring in defiance and revealing the Clear Amulet around his neck.

"Not many Trainers are as proficient in Battle Items as you are," he muttered before shaking his head. "No matter, switch in, Klefki!" His keyring-shaped Pokemon burst onto the field with a jangling sound.

I'd seen plenty of these Pokemon out in the plains, and there was little to distinguish this one from them, save for a truly ancient-looking key that hung off its body, but I knew the Gym Leader's would be much tougher. Doesn't matter; the same principles will apply here.



***



[I wonder what the challenge would have been like if I'd had to take it. The Klefkis looked fairly peaceful, floating across the fields. The Pokemon outside Alfornada existed in a pretty stable environment, with the natural barriers keeping out other Pokemon that might disrupt the balance. Klefkis in particular had next to no natural predators here.

That being said, Pokemon were naturally competitive, and the Klefkis kept up with the others, fighting themselves and others to prove themselves. And sometimes, just to have fun. Watching one of them sneak up on a Bombirdier and jangle their keys violently beside the bird's head, causing it to drop the berries it was carrying in its pouch.

The Bombirdier shrieked angrily and attempted to attack the Klefki, but the Steel Type disengaged. As the bird tried to pursue, the Klefki unleashed a quick, targeted burst of lightning, causing the bird's wings to seize up and crash.

"Alright, we're going to practice against them," I told Dun, pointing out the Prankster. "Oberon has one on his top team, and his Grimmsnarl has the same ability. Their status Moves are going to go fast, so be ready for it and use a counter."

Dun furrowed his eyes, using a quick Hyper Voice to get the Fairy's attention. Chiming angrily, the Klefki floated over, gathering up electricity. As they floated down, Dun slammed his body into the ground, making an Earthquake to strike up at the wild Pokemon. He also took the electricity with ease, the attack not affecting him.

"Wha- oh, that's brilliant!" I exclaimed as the Klefki took a hard hit and began flying away. "You used the Ground Type energies of the Move to neutralize the Electric attack! We'll have to work on this, the timing will have to be perfect to use consistently, but that could work quite well."]



***



"Thunder-"

"Earthquake!"

"-Wave," Oberon finished, and while Klefki acted fast, it wasn't enough to zap Dun, or avoid the pillars of earth that rose up and slammed into the keyring Pokemon, knocking it around.

The Gym Leader made a 'tch' sound before calling out, "Magnet Rise, don't let him hit you with that again!"

"Glare," I called out, almost lackadaisically. Seeing the Klefki freeze a little from Dun's hate-filled stare brought a small smile from me. Usually Pokemon throwing out Thunder Waves are Electric Types, so we can't Paralyze them in turn, so that's nice. Still, better keep up the pressure.

"Foul Play," Oberon ordered (with an aborted motion to sweep with his staff before remembering he broke it). The Klefki dove in close, baiting an Earthquake, and as Dun raised his body to slam the ground, slapped my Pokemon across the head with their keys.

"Ignore it, use Flamethrower!" Taking a deep breath, my starter unleashed a gout of flame across the battlefield, scorching Klefki before they retreated.

"Gah! No fair, no fair!" Oberon whined before regaining a hold of himself and acting like the Gym Leader (and adult) he was supposed to be. "Magic Room and Switch!" Klefki followed his command, instantly setting up a distorted field around the arena, far faster than Notch could make Trick Room. Though this one only negates the effects of my items. Must mean he's looking for ways to debilitate Dun.

It was a decent strategy, and part of why I'd chosen to give Dun the Clear Amulet in the first place; he simply had trouble boosting his offenses up as fast as some of my other Pokemon could. The flip side to that is…

Oberon threw Grimmsnarl back onto the field, just before I tossed my Tera Orb above Dun's head. "Illuminate the path to our glory, Terastalize!" My chant (and the subsequent burst of crystals) drew shocked and awed gasps from the crowd.

Without wasting a second, I shouted, "Giga Impact!" The second he broke free of the crystals, Dun stormed forth, a green blur ripping ahead. …That Dun is strong enough to take you out without buffing.

"S-Sucker Punch!" Grimmsnarl followed the desperate command with the same fearful look in his eyes as his trainer. Lashing out, he got a good punch in on Dun's side before my Pokemon plowed into him and pushed both of them to the back of the arena. The barrier rattled out from the impact as Grimmsnarl slammed into it, eliciting a few worried exclamations from the crowd nearby before they saw that it held.

Oberon's Pokemon however, did not, falling unconscious from the powerful attack. Dun's head rested atop his body for a moment where they fell; my starter was too tired for the moment to even lift himself up and let his head flop to the ground when Oberon recalled his Pokemon.

The Gym Leader was clearly stressed out, tossing out his next Pokemon quickly, seeking to make use of Dun's temporary exhaustion. "Hatterene, Play Rough!" He shouted, his voice a little hoarse as the pink curvy Pokemon materialized right beside Dun.

Not wasting a second, she started wailing on him with her clawed dangle hanging off of her hat-hair. It beat into him, cutting a few lines across his scales as he slowly regained strength. Fearing a counter, Oberon switched tactics. "Psychic!"

Telekinetically picked up and hurled across the arena, Dun struggled until I called out-



***



["Ok, you see that Medicham standing there?"

Dun nodded his head.

"I need you to let him kick you around for a while and, uh, survive."

My starter gave me a baleful stare before sighing and slithering up to the wild Pokemon, slapping the Medicham with his tail.

Predictably, after getting over his shock, the Fighting Type kicked Dun across the field. But even as he tumbled across the ground, I saw my Pokemon perform the familiar flapping motion of his wings, as if trying to land, and already the bruise was narrowing in size.

There we go. Dun has such a strong recovery Move, combined with his natural durability, that if he can manage to use it in any situation, he'll be near invincible.]



***



"-Roost!" He settled down mid-air, letting himself be bashed against the arena walls. Despite the force Hatterene was hitting him with, we watched as his wounds started closing up faster than she could make them.

With one final, enraged screech, she let go of her hold on him, chucking Dun over to my side of the arena. He winced slightly as he shook himself off, the Magic Room effect flashing as it faded away. Darn, that last hit hurt his defenses before the Clear Amulet was back online. Whatever, we can still win this.

"Hmm, this is kinda boring; you can just take a nap for this part, Dun." With an exaggerated Yawn, Dun appeared to follow my orders, pretending to sleep. In reality, he was directing the Invisible Yawn towards Haterene, something we had discovered helped improve the Moves' accuracy while retaining its hidden nature. I'm 99% certain that she doesn't have her Hidden Ability, so if they take the bait, we've got this in the bag.

"You've done well, kid, but dismissing us is a grave mistake. Calm Mind," the Gym Leader barked out, and Haterene nodded, closing her eyes as she focused, meditating. She grew more and more relaxed... until her head started nodding and light snores could be heard from the Fairy Type.

"Hex!" I shouted with glee, and Dun's eyes snapped open, Ghostly energy surrounding him before it converged on our foe.

"Whuh-? Wake up! This is no time to be falling asleep!" Oberon exclaimed, to no avail, his Pokemon caught in a deep slumber. She thrashed about as the Hex hit, but even that couldn't wake her up, just causing her to act like she was caught in a nightmare.

"Ancient Power," I tried, hoping for Dun to get the omni-boost from that. The rocks conjured up from the ground pelted her hard, but unfortunately didn't trigger any amazing surges from him. The boost would be nice, but I can't risk fishing for it with the Special Defense drop she got, not even with his Serene Grace. Better to just win the fight.

While he launched his attack, Dun had also been moving closer to land more physical attacks on her. And we know just the perfect one. "Poison Jab!" Lashing out with his tail, he sank a deep blow through her voluminous hair, and from the way she shivered in her sleep, I was pretty sure she had been Poisoned too.

Not that it matters; we're finishing this here. "Hyper Drill!"

"Healing Wish!" Oberon fervently cried, and while I would have thought she'd been too deeply asleep to hear it, her eyes snapped open at the last second as Dun's drilltail spun towards her. There was a quick flash of light on Klefki's Pokeball on Oberon's belt, just before the Hatterene fainted.

The referee once again announced the switch, with the crowd sounding as shocked as ever at how this was playing out. You'd think they'd get used to it by this point. Oberon had the usually boisterous man glancing down, thumbing his unused Pokeball before snatching up Klefki's and sending them out once more. Wanting to make as good a use of his ace as he can, I get that.

Neither of us thought that Klefki would take out Dun, but he was determined to make it as annoying for me as possible, with his newly refreshed Pokemon instantly setting up a barrier around itself.

Light Screen or Reflect? Don't know; he'll set up the other one in a moment anyway. "Earthquake!" I called out, and Dun shook the arena once more. This time Klefki was ready for it, floating up fast, but they still got clipped by the attack before they hovered out of range, a dozen meters above the ground.

"Steel Beam!" I blinked in surprise as Oberon switched to such an offensive strategy. The Klefki unleashed a powerful gray colored beam that slammed into Dun, hitting hard and breaking a few scales.

"Flamethrower," I commanded, hoping to take advantage of the depletion that the Klefki would suffer from using such an attack.

"Light Screen," was Oberon's counter, the keyring Pokemon quickly raising the other barrier in front of themselves to blunt the super-effective attack.

With a heavy voice, Oberon called out once more, "Steel Beam!" So that's your game plan.

"Barrel Roll!" Dun had experience using that maneuver to avoid powerful attacks from Steel Types and once again managed to roll out of the way, dodging the beam. Depleted of minerals, Klefki sank to the ground, defeated.

Oberon just shook his head, almost disbelieving at how far I had come. I knew not to get cocky, however. As much as the odds are in my favor here, I've seen Oberon come back from worse. That's because his last Pokemon is…

"Go, Kingambit," he said softly, tossing the Ultra Ball up to release the powerful Pokemon over the field. She landed on her tail with a heavy 'clang' before waving her gold-plated horn and crying out her name. That was taken up by the crowd, chanting the same.

"Kingambit! Kingambit! Kingambit!"

"Earthquake!" My high-pitched voice rang out, and Dun shook the arena once more. Though the shifting ground hit hard into the Steel Type and she lost her footing, she scrambled forward, head lowered. That motion aimed her main blade right at Dun, and there was no way for him to dodge the blow, cutting a nasty gash in his side.

Kowtow Cleave, we can't dodge it easily, and based on the damage that was dealt, we won't out heal her like we did before. "Debilitate set." Dun followed the order, puffing himself up and sighing a few clouds that drifted towards the Kingambit. The enemy slashed through the air with her side blades, Dark energy lashing out from them to disperse the cloud before turning her face away from Dun's Glare.

Well, if she's going to turn away, that'll give us time to regroup. "Flamethrower, fighting retreat." Flapping his wings to propel him backwards, Dun slithered away while releasing a stream of white hot flames at the Kingambit.

"Protect," Oberon called out, his Kingambit conjuring a barrier that shielded herself from the fire and any other attack we could throw at her for a moment. In that time, Oberon pulled the Tera Orb off the top of the half of his cane he was holding onto. "Let your kingly might shine across the world, Terastalize!"

Throwing it over her, the crystal covered the Kingambit before bursting apart to reveal her sparkling new form, a pair of pink butterfly wings above her head as a Tera 'hat.' She spread her arms out and roared, a pink mist surrounding the field as she did so.

"Drop the debilitation; just go for damage, Hyper Voice!" None of those tricks will work while Misty Terrain is up. Dun screeched, and Kingambit shook her head, the sound waves hitting her hard.

"That's a nice defensive Tera Type you got there, but it exposes her to the Moves she resisted before," I taunted. Oberon removed his own hands from his ears to fire back.

"It's hardly just defensive! Shine resplendently, Dazzling Gleam!" Catching the sun's rays on her golden blade, she reflected a bright pink beam at Dun, eliciting a hiss of pain. I wasn't surprised by the Fairy Type Move she was throwing out - Oberon was famous for having taught his ace Moves they couldn't normally learn. Though I've never seen a video or reference of her using them when not Terastalized, so there might be a trick to it. Of course, he might also just save them for when those Moves would be at their strongest.

Even then, usually such a Move would be fairly weak, coming for the physically oriented Kingambit, but there was a surging strength emanating off of Oberon's Pokemon. It boosted all of his offense to a level of power beyond his natural might. Supreme Overlord, which is why Oberon always saves his ace for last.

Looking at my starter, I saw him wheezing, hurt. Scales were torn up, overlapping with blisters from the beams he'd been hit with, and he still had that nasty gash on his side. My first instinct was to recall him; no one would blame me. He'd done a lot and had been through so much. No one but Dun, that is. Because despite all of that, I can see that he thinks he can win… and I do too. I believe in him.



***



["Thanks for the match, Arven," I said, tossing him a few healing potions. The two of us stood on the beach, on the battlefield outside my house. A cool breeze washed over us, just as the waves did a few dozen meters away, carrying a sharp, slightly salty smell. Ahh, what a perfect day this is.

The young boy groaned, accepting them with lethargic arms. Geez, you'd think that with how he was acting, he'd been the one battling, not his Pokemon. Then again, I did have him join me for half of my warmup before this, so that might be it.

He quickly sprayed them over his Mabostiff, healing the Dark Type up. "I'm glad we can spend time together before you go on your journey, but does it have to be like this?" His starter barked out an agreement, cowering before Notch, who eyed the dog blankly.

"I mean, it helps keep my Pokemon in shape, so I'd have to be doing this anyway, so yeah. Besides, we still play tons of games and stuff too outside of this! And think how much it's helped improve your bond with Miraidon," I pointed out.

That brought a reluctant smile to the boy's face. "Yeah, Miraidon is pretty cool. Riding around on them is fun, and I can get to your house in only a few minutes!" He cheered before pouting again. "But why do you have to beat them up so much?"

As he said that, he released Miraidon from their Pokeball, the Legendary Paradox Pokemon unconscious from our fight prior. He started applying Potions and Revives to them to help heal them up.

"Hey, they give out as good as they get," I countered, applying my own medicines to Dun. "You've gotten a lot better at commanding Miraidon in battle, and they can still beat almost anyone on my team solo. And even Dun can't win against them and then against Mabostiff in a row. They're quite the special Pokemon." You have no idea how much so; I'm not sure even Professor Turo really gets just how strong Miraidon is.

"Ok, but if they're so special, how come we still can't beat Dun?" Arven frowned adorably, and I just laughed, a big grin on my face.

"Well sure, they're special, but Dun? He's one of a kind. The strongest Dudunsparce in the world." And one day, the strongest Pokemon, period.]



***



"Finish this off; cut a path to victory, Kowtow Cleave!" Oberon announced, waving his arms about dramatically.

"We're not falling here, Hyper Block!" Dun turned his tail to his foe, spinning his drill rapidly and raising it up to block the Kingambit's enormous blade. Sparks flew as they clashed, but despite her overwhelming might, Dun held off against our powerful foe. As he resisted, he also screeched, utilizing his three-segment body to twist around and blast Kingambit with the piercing wail he let loose.

"Keep at it!" Oberon commanded, and Kingambit tried again and again to break through, but each time, Dun resisted. Each time though, the blades got a bit closer, and as she started to swing in her side blades, I knew Dun would end up cut down if things continued.

"Ascend!" Was my counter, and Dun lifted himself up, flapping furiously to start climbing through the air. It was a slow process given his bulk, and he had to twist carefully to avoid her blades, but eventually she made it above the Kingambit. "Finish her, starfall!"

"Protect!" That's a smart play if I had to resort to Giga Impact to win here. However, we didn't. Dun was at his limit and instead plunged down, propelled by a star-shaped energy, bouncing off the forcefield Kingambit had made.

It might not be able to break Protect, but Last Resort doesn't tire Dun out either. "Hyper Drill, break through!" Drilling through the remaining fragments of her defense, Dun pierced into Kingambit, her tough exterior making a horrible screeching sound as Dun grinded through.

But it wasn't quite enough to defeat her; the barriers Klefki had made before falling flashed as they gave out, having reduced the impact of our attack. Our opponent grasped my starter, tossing him up and cutting down with her heavy blade. The blow cut down hard onto Dun, sending him reeling against the ground. With a cry, he fell… but managed to hold on, just barely.

Raising his head, Dun glared at Kingambit and Oberon, unwilling to go down. The show of defiance surprised them, but I knew that wouldn't hold for long. "Show them… show them who the strongest Dudunsparce in the world is! Giga Impact!"

With a quick shimmy backward, Dun then shot forward, the green glow surrounding him so bright no one could make him out as more than an indistinct silhouette. He hit Kingambit point blank, the force lifting her up and carrying her off her tail and into the barrier - before even that broke and she was pushed past the arena limits.

Thankfully, she fell short of the edge of the wide tower we were battling on. The barrier had taken the worst of the blow, and no one was hurt by the widespread attack, but there was still a shocked silence until: "Kingambit has fallen unconscious, Challenger Nemona is the winner," the referee said in a softer than usual voice.

That caused an uproar of cheering from the crowd, clapping and shouting while I rushed over to Dun. Hugging him and spraying my starter with as many Potions as I could, my starter basked in the adulation of the people. "You did great, Dun."

He gave a weak yet proud warble, bunting his head into me. Gazing across the field, I saw Oberon looking somewhat shell-shocked, like he couldn't believe what just happened. The little Ortega was crying loudly in a richly dressed woman's arms (likely his mother), one of only two discordant sounds amidst the enthusiasm.

What- something's wrong. It was hard to tell what exactly, but I couldn't shake that feeling. I was sure I heard a snickering sound, familiar, and the scraping of claws on tiles. An old, musty smell? Looking around, I couldn't see anything amiss, just Oberon walking over and recalling his Kingambit, clipping her Pokeball back on his belt with the other four Pokeballs. Wait.

Running across the battlefield, Oberon gave me a wan smile before puffing himself back up, trying to get in character. "Well, aren't you an eager one? I suppose it makes sense for the victorious knight to want-"

"Where's Klefki's Pokeball?" I suddenly demanded, not seeing it anywhere on him. Did he hide it? Conceal it away for whatever reason? I can't think of why, but it's better than…

At my abrupt words, he looked down confused. "It's right there on- what?" Most of the crowd was still cheering, not having noticed what was going on. But one person hitched their breath. Whirling around, I turned to face them. Despite the quality of the illusion making it so I couldn't see the Trainer (and the Pokemon creating it) standing there, I knew who it was.

"Raifort."


A nice big battle to cap off our fiftieth chapter... though I suppose with interludes and whatnot this a bit more than fifty, haha. Tried something different style wise here, with interspersed flashbacks to show some of the training and strategies Nemona studied in preparation for this match. Let me know what you think (though, like it or hate it, I probably won't do it again because sweet llama god, was this chapter way tougher than I thought it'd be). Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it overall and can forgive me for the cliffhanger I've left things on.

Nemona's Current Team:

-'Dun' (Dudunsparce, Male, Normal Type, Starter)
- Tera Type: Normal
- Held Item: Expert Belt
- Abilities: Run Away, Serene Grace
- 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, Tailwind, Roost, Ancient Power, Drill Run, Hyper Drill, Triple Yawn*, Ice Spinner, Solar Beam, Lunge, Flamethrower, Aqua Tail, Coil, Hurricane, Outrage, Smart Strike

- 'Miles' (Rotom, Genderless, Electric/Form dependent Type)
- Tera Type: Electric
- Held Item: Life Orb
- Ability: Levitate
- Moves Known:
Astonish, Confuse Ray, Thundershock, Double Team, Hyper Voice, Protect, Thunder, Rain Dance, Will O' Wisp, Nasty Plot, Hex, Sunny Day, Substitute, Foul Play, Trick, Discharge, Shadow Ball, Eerie Impulse, Reflect, Light Screen, Uproar

- 'Nightwing' (Gliscor, Female, Flying/Ground Type)
- Tera Type: Water
- Held Item: Toxic Orb
- Ability: Hyper Cutter, Poison Heal
- Moves Known:
Poison Sting, Sand Attack, Harden, Knock Off, Fury Cutter, Acrobatics, Bulldoze, Quick Attack, Psychic Fangs, Poison Tail, Slash, Gunk Shot, Dig, Ice Fang, Lunge, U-Turn, Protect, Tailwind, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, Night Slash, Sand Tomb, Crabhammer

- 'Notch' (Carbink, Genderless, Rock/Fairy Type)
- Tera Type: Fighting
- Held Item: Light Clay
- Ability: Clear Body
- Moves Known:
Harden, Tackle, Guard Split, Flail, Ancient Power, Light Screen, Reflect, Iron Defense, Body Press, Stealth Rocks, Psychic, Smack Down, Trick Room, Dazzling Gleam, Rock Polish, Power Gem, Stone Edge, Protect, Spikes, Stomping Tantrum

- 'Phantasm' (Hisuian Zorua, Female, Normal/Ghost)
- Tera Type: Ghost
- Held Item: Lax Incense
- Ability: Illusion
- Moves Known:
Leer, Scratch, Torment, Hone Claws, Shadow Sneak, Curse, Swift, Aerial Ace, Snarl, Double Team, Taunt, Bitter Malice

- 'Riolu' (Riolu, Female, Fighting)
- Tera Type: Fighting
- Held Item: Clear Amulet
- Ability: Steadfast
- Moves Known:
Endure, Quick Attack, Feint, Metal Claw, Counter, Work Up, Detect, Rock Smash, Trailblaze, Vacuum Wave, Screech, Quick Guard, Circle Throw, Force Palm, Drain Punch, Swords Dance, High Jump Kick, Aerial Ace, Poison Jab, Copycat, Ice Punch, Close Combat, Final Gambit, Reversal, Dancing Sword*, Howl, Earthquake, Brick Break

*Custom Moves
 
Chapter 51 New
Immediately, I started sprinting after her, Raifort running down the stairs in turn. My path was unfortunately blocked by Tulip stepping in my way. "Nemona! What is going on?"

"It's Raifort! She's right there!" I pointed at the stairs and slipped past the older girl. "I'm going after her," I shouted, ignoring her calls for me to stop.

"Nemona, wait! Let us handle it!" Tulip tried, but I pretended not to hear her, making it to the top of the stairs. I took a few steps down before shaking my head and throwing myself off the side, floating down with my Aura.

I know that there are adults here, but no one else can handle it. Tulip was completely caught off guard by Raifort, her Psychic Aura is not great for tracking that Zorark. With my enhanced senses, I can get a general idea of where she is.

The woman was just reaching the bottom of the stairs as I released Notch. "Dazzling Gleam, right there!" Pointing at where they were, Notch followed my order, unleashing a burst of light on the spot.

"Agh!" Raifort cried out, clutching her arm as the illusion broke. Zoroark stood off to the side, fast enough to dodge Notch's attack but hissing angrily at us for hurting her Trainer. "That was… surprisingly vicious for a little girl. Sure you aren't on the wrong side of things?"

"I'm certain. Now stop running and give me Oberon's Pokemon back." I ordered. The older girl held up her hands as if in surrender.

"That's fine; I wasn't planning on going very far. You can have them-" I tuned her out, paying attention to where I couldn't hear the wind whistling by.

"It's another illusion!" I told Notch and ran right through the fake Raifort, chasing after the real one. The thief and her Zoroark were running towards the Cavern, trying to get away.

As we ran, I recalled Notch, the Fairy Type a good matchup for fighting Zoroark, but hardly able to keep up with the speedy illusionist. If it was just the Pokemon I was trying to chase, I'm sure I'd be eating the dust already, and even with all my training and Aura, I'm having trouble keeping up with Raifort. The woman was clearly decently athletic herself and simply had longer legs than me.

The illusions had lost some of their fidelity. Either due to the speed they were moving at, being shaken by Notch's attack, or just having given up on trying to fool me after the fake surrender trick failed. However, as they entered the Cavern, I knew that it would be a lot tougher to track them.

The dim lighting and echoey nature of the cave system would make tracking her harder. To say nothing of the wild Pokemon. Nimbly, I jumped around a Deino as I ran, the Dragon Type snapping out with his jaws blindly. I love Hydreigon line, but this is so not the time.

Running down around the bend, I stopped as the cavern opened up in several paths and options. I don't know where they went. I've lost them.

Before anger could overwhelm me, I took a deep breath, calling upon my Aura training to calm down and think clearly. I shouldn't just pick a random direction and hope I run into her, even if I'm losing time. I need another way to pick up the trail. An image of hunting dogs popped into my mind, and the answer came to me.

"Hardly the same thing, but I don't doubt that Phantasm can track them!" I said aloud as I released her. "Hey, can you-" and before the words were even out of my mouth, she was sniffing the ground, picking up the trail.

Down the winding path she led, yipping softly as I followed - until we came to the edge. The path curved down to the side, but Phantasm had stopped at the ledge. Did she drop all the way down? It was a large drop, but she probably had more than just that Zoroark with her, and any number of Pokemon could scale down it quickly.

Holding Phantasm in my arms, I dropped down, floating to the bottom. When I set her down though, she couldn't pick up the trail, the Hisuian Zorua shaking her head sadly. Heightening my own senses as much as I dared while avoiding sensory overload, I tried to sense any sign of her, even an absence.

Unfortunately I couldn't; everything seemed normal down in the dark cave. Dugtrio digging, churning up the earth. Medichams leading packs of Meditites through the gloom, Toxitricity thrumming a few notes…

While I couldn't find any sign of Raifort, I did catch a faint jangling sound farther down. That's a Klefki! They only hang out aboveground usually, so that's probably Oberon's!

Running ahead, pushing through the burning sensation as I pushed my body, I found them. They were looking around confused and agitated, wailing out loud as they hovered over their discarded Pokeball. What? Why would Raifort take a Gym Leader's Pokemon, only to discard them right away?

Looking closer just to make sure it was his, I saw that it was indeed the same Klefki. Same battle-hardened body, same Aura, same two… keys… "Klefki, what happened to your third key?"

That set them off, more distressed jangling, and a few pitiful whimpers. Rushing over, I sprayed them with some potions from my bag. They helped stop them from worsening their wounds, but it would be best to get them healed up properly, so I returned them to their ball.

"Don't worry, we'll get your key back," I promised them, and the shaking of the Pokeball in my hands stopped, the Klefki likely drifting off into unconsciousness. "Now we just have to figure out where Raifort is…"

Scanning around the rocky cavern, I saw no further signs of the thief. "Did you understand Klefki?" I asked Phantasm who shook her head.

"Zor," she said with the same resigned tone she used when I asked if she could clarify what Notch said.

"I never realized how hard all Fairy Types were to understand," I muttered, and she gave me a flat look before responding.

"Rua, oru, orua, Zo." With the help of her illusions, she mimed a finger pointing at her head and swirling it counterclockwise.

"Well, Klefki just got robbed, it's understandable that they'd be a little hysterical." Though I'm going to be carefully reviewing all the times my Pokemon told me they 'didn't understand Notch' as more 'Notch is talking nonsense' and seeing what changes that makes. But after this is done.

There was a massive wall of stone in front of me, with paths on either side to walk. One way leads back up to the city, which also leads back down to the detour I took. Or the other way down to the main passage.

Raifort's words came back to my mind. "I wasn't planning on going very far…" I repeated her words aloud. Craning my neck up, I glanced at the massive outcropping that rose above me. It's not easy to reach, but it's almost directly under the arena, isn't it?

Opening Nightwing's Pokeball and returning Phantasm, I said, "Hey, can you get me up to the top there?" I might be able to climb/float up myself, but that'd be tiring and take a long time. Nightwing wasn't a huge fan of carrying me around, but they knew how serious this was and didn't raise any issue, picking me up and ascending immediately.

Utilizing my Aura, I made myself lighter and pushed her up even more, and soon we had reached the top. The outcropping jutted out far from the cave edge and was close to the ceiling, with plenty of Pokemon, particularly Bagons and Shellgons roaming about here.

More importantly, I heard Raifort's voice, the thief apparently having forgone the need to try and hide at this point, thinking herself safe. Racing ahead, I found her standing near the ledge along with her Zoroark. As the two turned to face us, I pointed at the key in her hand and shouted, "Nightwing, Knock Off!"

She swooped forward, smacking Raifort's hand hard with her large pincer, forcing her to drop the key. Clamping onto the ancient key, Nightwing flew back to my side, the Zoroark surprisingly slow to react. Odd, she's been pretty quick. Maybe tired from all those illusions.

"Ahh dammit dammit!" Raifort cried out, cradling her hurt hand. "Starting to get… really annoyed with you, kid. Did you really have to hit me? Twice?!"

"Haven't taught her Thief yet, so Knock Off had to do. Hardly complaining at seeing you get yours, though."

"That's a shame, it's a good Move; it was so handy for Zoroark in grabbing that Klefki's Pokeball after your match." She was starting to regain her composure, smirking at me.

"You let them go afterwards. Why?" I demanded keeping my eyes locked on her.

Despite being cornered, Raifort smiled, shaking her hand out. "I think you know better than that. If it was, why would I have let the Klefki go?"

"So, working with those poachers was all for this?" Nightwing passed me the key, which I held up. Something about the small raised circular portion she's standing beside feels weird to me; it doesn't look quite natural, like the rest of the stone here.

"Essentially, but so much more than that. Those poachers would have made a useful patsy had things gone to plan." She said casually, as if stealing from Gym Leaders and betraying hardened criminals was just everyday business. Maybe it is for her.

"So then you waited for me to beat Oberon so you could steal that key, when Oberon was weak and distracted. All to unlock… something." As I spoke, I gestured at the unusual platform she was standing beside.

She started doing a slow clap before cutting off after the first beat as her hand obviously still stung. "Very astute." That smug tone really bugs me, like she thinks she has the upper hand. "That 'something' is an ancient vault that has belonged to Oberon's family for generations. Just think of the history stored within!"

"And you thought trying to steal from a Gym Leader would be better than, say, asking him?"

She snorted. "Oh, I've tried."

"Surprised he didn't recognize you when we described you, then." I pointed out and she just kept on grinning.

"Much like the poachers, Zoroark here disguised me when I went to him. Why, even with your unusual ability to track me, I but you can't say that this is what I really look-"

"It is," I interrupted her spiel. "You put way too much detail into this, and Zoroark is exhausted. You aren't wasting their energy trying to fool me again like this." That, and I know what you look like from the games, and you look almost identical, only a bit younger really. That got a scowl from her, but she let the point drop.

"Oberon is hung up on some family oath to not open the vault, despite all the treasures it has to hold. Even with his fortunes turning up dry, he'd rather hook up with a nouveau riche rather than open this." She gestured at the dias beside her as she spoke. "There's even supposed to be a Magearna inside here."

"Really?" My voice slipping out and foot stepping forward happened without thought, and I stopped myself with a glare. Raifort's laughter echoed in the cavern, showing she hadn't missed it either.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter. I've got the key, so you can't open that vault." I shot back even as my mind was still whirling at the idea.

"No… but you could. No one else is here; who's to say that you didn't arrive a bit late? We can investigate the vault together, plunder its secrets- oh don't frown!" She seems pretty sure of herself, despite how dark it is. Could she have Aura? I don't actually know if Dark Type Aura would let her see through this, but I'm having trouble even with my Flying Aura. Bird-like senses only go so far.

She continued. "I wouldn't take much, just want to study it. And I wouldn't say anything if a certain legendary Pokemon found its way to your hands, either." Raifort chuckled darkly before adding, "Then you can go back a hero! Return Klefki to the Gym Leader, everyone wins. What do you say?"

I said nothing, remaining silent for a long minute. Wish I could say I'm not tempted, but I am. Magearna is incredibly rare, an artificial soul that pilots a mechanical body, much like a prototype Rotom. Even if it was just an empty body, there's so much I could learn from studying it, to say nothing else of the rest of what could be sealed away in that vault, like Raifort wants. To study the history of this world up close, to open an ancient vault…

"No," I whispered before shaking my head and saying louder. "No, I won't do it."

"Huh?" She said, her composure slipping for just a moment. "Why not? Could the potential I saw in you be wrong?" The last part she muttered more to herself than me.

"You ask, who'd know? I'd know, and I'd have to live with that. And as tempting as it is, there are some things better left uncovered. If Oberon was so committed to keeping it sealed, he probably did so for a reason." As I spoke, I released Phantasm, and then Notch and Miles as well, joining Nightwing and me.

Raifort wasn't idle while I did so, releasing a Scizor, Haunter, Grumpig, and Seviper as well, joining the Zoroark on her side, before putting down her final Pokeball without opening it. "No place for Finneon anyways."

"Really? A Scizor? Would have thought a girl like you would have gone for Kleavor."

My words seemed to baffle her. "What? You know how to evolve a Scyther into Kleavor? I should have expected given the Hisuian Zorua-"

I interrupted her. "Everyone knows how. Blueberry Academy discovered it like, two years ago." To be fair, they're still the only ones who know how to manufacture Black Augurite, so anyone wanting one has to go hat in hand to them, but it's not that difficult a process to get them to evolve a Scyther, from what I've heard online.

"Ahh, I don't really concern myself with current events," she sniffed.

"Yeah, I got that," I snarked at her. "Guess there's no point in asking you to come in quietly, huh?"

"Indeed not, you aren't mad enough to try that. Too smart to be a tool and too self-righteous to be a partner, you really are the worst, aren't you?" She asked rhetorically, moving her hand in the darkness.

"Worse than a thief that works side-by-side with poachers? Don't think so."

"Your team is strong, but you've just been through a Gym Battle, do you really want to do this?" I stepped forward defiantly, and she sighed, an angry edge to it.

As we bantered, I kept my eyes peeled for any of her Pokemon trying something but didn't see any movement, until suddenly there was a sensation of claws on the back of my neck.

Whirling around, I saw nothing. What? But- gah! Pivoting back around, I saw Raifort and her team still there. "I detest the idea of going to jail, and while you seem familiar with the idea of using force, I'll spell it out clearly - I won't be the only one going down if you come after me."

"I won't give you the key," I managed to spit out, words failing me as my breath grew short. Don't panic; keep it together!

"Figured that was a lost cause." She started stepping towards the ledge, and her Grumpig's eyes glowed in the dark, along with the barrier she made to step down off of it. "Enjoy your win this time, hero girl."

My mind railed at me, screaming at me to 'do something!' To find some way to stop her, something that wouldn't overly risk my life or… anything. My Pokemon even glanced at me from the corner of their eyes, ready to spring into action at my command. But I did nothing, standing frozen in place until she had descended out of sight.

Why couldn't I think of anything? Everyone says I'm so smart, and look at me! Such an idiot, a loser! A coward.

Cautiously, I stepped forward, looking to see if it was a trick, and she was just waiting to spring back up, but no. They had disappeared into the depths. With the jammers she set up still unfound, it'll take a while for anyone to try and catch her trail.

Looking over at the dias, I saw the key slot in the center, with circular grooves all around. Probably would make a staircase that rises up and connects to the big building above. Must look pretty cool.

With a heavy sigh, I recalled my team, turned on my heel, and started marching back the way I came.


While the cavern does run under Alfornado and there is a large shelf that's hard to reach and the Gym Platform is weirdly large and tall with no sign of entry on the ground level for how big and ostentatious it is, there are a lot of things I made up for this. There is no mystery platform on the shelf in the cavern (it's just kinda empty) and there's no mention of Ortega's parent ever having been a Gym Leader, no mention of what Raifort was looking into/doing before she got caught as a criminal and offered a position at Uva and being monitored there in leu of jail time, etc. I thought it was fitting enough with the pieces we had from canon, and cool though, so I decided to give it a shot.

This was... an awkward one, I'm well aware. There's no big battle or climax to wrap up this arc. While Raifort's story isn't over, we aren't going to see her for a while. You can probably tell that this was definitely where I was reaching my burnout point back when I was doing twice a week updates, huh? I feel like if I'd taken more time back then, I might have been able to polish it, make certain things clearer (definitely know I screwed with something because originally I had the next interlude happening right after this chapter instead of having a chapter in-between to wrap things up). Overall, I still don't feel it's bad enough for a rewrite; while it's awkward, the major points are hit and we can move on from here without it negatively impacting the rest of my story, but definitely not my best work. Still, that's just my thoughts, what do you all think?
 
Chapter 52 New
After we returned the key to Klefki and the Pokemon to the Gym Leader, I excused myself to get my team looked after. There were a bunch of people wanting to talk to me about my victory and about Raifort, but Oberon shooed them off.

"Let her look after her Pokemon; they're the most important part of a Trainer's life." His voice was subdued as he held onto Klefki's Pokeball as if it were made of the most fragile crystal in the world and could shatter at the slightest impact. "If you would, Nemona, please return after. I'd like to talk to you."

Something about the way he says that makes me think this is about more than taking my statement. I wasn't in any desperate rush to leave right now, so I agreed before going to the Pokemon Center.

When my team was taken in by Nurse Joy, however, there was an unexpected problem. "What did you do?" She demanded, sharply.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

She pointed at the monitor, and I craned my neck over to see the readouts. As the machine healed my team, it showed the amount of injuries in red shading. Phantasm is fine; I didn't even use her in any of the fights! So what's- ah. Following her finger, I saw that Riolu's ball was colored deep red (Dun's was pretty bad as well, but he hadn't fainted and I'd healed him up before our wild chase after Raifort).

"Ah. Will she be alright? She fought hard, but there's nothing permanent, right?" I asked nervously in the face of her glare. She has to be fine. Oberon saw her, and he didn't have anything to say. He's a Gym Leader, he would have called the match if it was getting dangerous, I'm sure of it. Plus, she seemed fine to me—knocked out, but fine.

"I'd like to keep her overnight for observation," she said and I narrowed my eyes.

"That… isn't an answer to the question I asked." I stared hard at before she turned away. Before she could say anything, Riolu popped out of her ball, barking angrily at the Nurse.

"Lu! Olu!" She stumbled backwards, caught in the tight space of the desk and Pokemon Center equipment.

"Wait, you wanted to take her away from me?" I asked, shocked as I translated Riolu's words.

The woman straightened herself out. "I was just trying to help! You pushed her too far-" She cut herself off at Riolu's growl.

"Did I actually?" The question was more for Riolu than her; I couldn't trust her words. My Pokemon turned to me and I said, "Hey, you did a great job out there. You took out two of Oberon's Pokemon and crippled his Grimmsnarl; that was half of his team!"

"Ri, Rio," she responded, puffing out her chest with pride and joy.

The Nurse Joy scoffed. "That's all Trainers seem to worry about. If it had gone a bit further-"

"But it didn't. Besides, she's the one that pushes that far." If anything, my strategy pulled back a bit from some of her more reckless plans, like how far she pushed against Dun right before she joined the team. But is that enough? Should I be keeping her in check more?

Riolu had stopped advancing on the Nurse, now backed into a corner and she straightened herself out. "I apologize if I caused any undue distress. As a medical professional, I simply worried about the care and well being of your Pokemon."

"Olu," the Aura Pokemon snarled, and I got her meaning, especially as she gestured to Phantasm's ball. I'm glad she can pick up on those things Nurse Joy is feeling, my Aura Sight isn't good enough to distinguish between the flurry of emotions she's feeling.

"And back to Phantasm. You really think I would-? Forget about it," I shook my head angrily. With a gesture, Riolu hopped back over the desk, carrying her Pokeball, staring daggers at the Nurse Joy.

The medical professional pursed her lips, but said nothing as we left. Well, that could have gone better. Riolu placed a paw on my hand, to reassure me. "Thanks. How did you know to jump out then?"

"Iolu," she replied with a stifled yawn.

"Ah, my suspicions. Well I'm glad you did, but you don't need to worry about everyone that I'm suspicious of being as bad as the poachers." She gave a small sniff, not dignifying that with a reply, but I was sure she understood. We're all stressed out right now after all of that.

Noticing the fatigue she was carrying, how she couldn't quite bring herself to keep up with my longer strides, I asked, "You want to rest?" She looked hesitant for a moment so I continued. "I'll be fine. You and Dun fought super hard in that Gym Battle, you've earned a break."

With a sleepy nod of her head, she agreed, pressing the button and returning back to the Pokeball. The healing machine helped her recover incredibly fast, but she'll still be tuckered out after all of that. Dun might not, but that's because of his insane stamina.

I distracted myself, thinking of random trivia like that as I walked through town, hoping to wait until Riolu was too deeply resting to pick up on my agitated mental state. Great, in addition to Raifort, looks like I've made an enemy of the Joys. The latter is probably worse; I don't think Raifort has any reason or backing to come after me.

Despite that, the historian had scared me more. "How did she do that?" I softly wondered aloud. "I've faced on all sorts of threats but that… that scared me." Was it some trick with Aura or some other supernatural element? Or just the honest fear of knowing you're facing down someone willing and able to kill you and knowing you can't stop them?

Sure, if her Zoroark had made good on that illusory promise and ripped me open, my team would have done the same (or worse) to her, but it wouldn't change what would have happened to me.

Guess it doesn't matter what the reason behind it was. The facts are, I was too scared to stand up to her. I just… need to get braver. Riolu's ball shook lightly at my side, and I rubbed it soothingly. Easier said than done.

Shaking those thoughts loose I tried to focus on the positives of today, which was actually just as easy said as done, for once. This was in part due to all the people recognizing me, pointing and whispering, talking about my battle against Oberon.

It is kinda nice to have people looking up to us, thinking we're cool and strong. I didn't think I was too vain of a person, but having the vast majority of people look down on me because of my age got old fast.

One man who likely never would again was Oberon, the man's tense shoulders relaxing as we walked up to the Gym building. He motioned us to follow him, and we did, heading through the back of the building then up the stairs.

Oberon walked to his office, opening the door with a bang that went unremarked upon by any of the staff walking past, tearing off his cape and throwing it on a plush couch on the side of the room. There was a small coffee table nearby it, and a large bookshelf covered one wall with elegant portraits and a large TV . hanging off the other.

The man slumped down in the plus chair behind the expensive-looking desk, motioning for me to take a seat in the slightly less luxurious seat planted in front of it. The cheer and energy from our match had completely drained out of him, and he looked tired. More than that, haunted. Despite how someone as tired-looking as him would probably slump down over their desk, he leans back, his hands hovering over his Pokeballs.

"First off, I want to thank you dearly for helping return Klefki to me. They've been with my family for generations, and to think I was so careless as to lose them... He trailed off, and I awkwardly looked to the side as the man seemed on the verge of sobbing. Don't really know what to say here. Hmm, yeah, those portraits do look like they could be of his ancestors, and there is a Klefki floating beside that knight-looking guy. I wonder if clues like that are how Raifort figured out about his vault?

"I'm sorry," he said after a moment to compose himself. "I will do better in the future in guarding them. My performance today, both against you and after, was shameful."

Shaking my head, I said, "No. You did fine; I studied up a lot and well… I'm pretty strong too. Besides, Raifort was waiting for an opportunity like this. It's why she hired those poachers. All so she could get access to the key to your family vault."

My words caused the man to stiffen up. "How did you-?"

"Raifort told me when I confronted her underneath the cavern. She had discarded Klefki and their Pokeball after taking the key; I think the vault was her sole interest." He still seemed a little stunned, so I gave him a minute to take that in.

"That was quite chatty of her. I take it from the fact that you didn't drag her up that she got away?"

"Y-yeah." I fell silent, shame flooding me as I remembered how I was too cowardly to chase her. I'm sure if I told him, he'd be happy, or at least approve of what I did. Try and tell me it was the safe thing to do, sensible. I don't really feel like being comforted right now. I made a mental note to duck out of town before Tulip or Dendra could corner me, knowing they'd want to do the same and be more perceptive than Oberon was right now.

"Well, that was in our favor at least. It will give us a better idea of what that thief," he spat the word out with vitriol. "Will try to go from here. If you can, please give me any other information you have on her." Then his face fell once more. "Though, perhaps you should give it to my replacement."

"What?"

"Look at me! Criminals ran rampant, and I failed to do anything to stop them. You faced my toughest team down easily, and couldn't even catch that scoundrel! How can I call myself fit to defend this city when I can't even defend my Pokemon?!" The man was practically bawling by this point, so I reached over the table to pat him on the shoulder.

"It's-" Fine? No, not really. It'll be ok? True, but he doesn't want to hear it... but I don't have anything better." It'll be ok. Nothing bad ended up happening, so just use this as motivation to work harder in the future. I don't think anyone even knew what happened." Which feels kinda bad, but so long as we get the information about Raifort out, it'll probably be fine. Causing a panic here when she's long gone doesn't seem great either.

That calmed him down, and after a bit I added, "Out of curiosity… how bad would it have been if the vault had been opened?"

He blinked his red eyes and frowned. "I don't know. That key has been in my family for centuries. When the Gym Circuit was being constructed, we lent the top of it out to the city for the Gym, but no one has been inside it for so long. Legend has it there's a rare Pokemon resting inside, waiting for the day when it will be fully recovered."

"Whoa. When is that day?"

"They were supposed to sleep for five hundred years, and it has been… three hundred and ninety-seven." Hah, maybe I'll see a Magearna someday when I'm super old.

Oberon fixed me with an intent stare and said, "I greatly appreciate what you've done for me and will think on what you've said. I hope I can also trust you to keep my family's vault a secret?"

"Of course," I nodded instantly.

"Thank you. I owe you, Miss Glitterati." He extended a hand out, and I shook it firmly.

"Actually, there is something you could do." With a click of a button, I released Notch. "I didn't show them in the battle, but I have a Fairy Type too! We've been trying to turn them into a Diancie. Do you have any ideas on the subject?"

"How wonderful..." he muttered, captivated by Notch, who stared blankly at him until he refocused. "Ah, turning a Carbink into a Diancie?" He scratched his chin. "I've heard their related but never heard about anything like that, sorry." Figures, even as a Fairy Type specialist, this is still a Fairy Type not native to Paldea.

"No worries. Though on that note, we've been trying to learn Moonblast. They're strong enough to do it; it works when the moon is up, but other times…"

"Ah, right. Yes, that's a tricky one to master. The best advice I can give you is to focus on the idea that Notch is summoning the moon themselves. It can be tempting, given Fairy's connections, to think of them drawing power from the moon, but it's more…" He clicked his tongue, trying to find the words. "It's that they are the ones controlling the moon, no matter how vaster it is than them."

"That physics is more a suggestion than a requirement. Their rules are more binding than the laws of the world; reality is theirs to shape as they see fit," I muttered. Oversimplifying it, obviously, but this is very useful. From what I've read and what we've tried, this should be quite handy for my experiments to get Notch to transform.

He offered to demonstrate the Move for me a few times outside, to which I readily agreed. Right before we could leave the building, I was accosted by a small boy trying to beat his fists against me. Thankfully, Ortega was so slow that I was easily able to recognize him and evade his blows. For just a moment there, when I saw someone about to attack me, I was ready to conjure a blade of wind to strike back. That would have ruined the good reputation I made with Oberon.

"Stop bullying, daddy!" Ortega whined as I knocked a blow aside with the palm of my hand. The smaller boy spun off-balance until his father gripped him tightly. From behind his mother, a well-dressed lady sharing his distinctive hair color ran up, looking quite annoyed with her progeny as well.

"Ortega!" He barked out, and the boy wilted, looking confused. "Don't be so rude!" Let's see if I can smooth things over; I don't want one of the future leaders of Team Star mad at me.

"Hey Ortega, was it? I'm Nemona. I wasn't bullying your dad, we were just talking, and I think he's a really good guy." I held a hand out for him to shake, and when Oberon let his son go, he stopped trying to attack me.

He wasn't quite willing to shake it either, staring at me suspiciously. "But then—why'd you beat Daddy?"

"That's just what happens sometimes when a Gym Leader battles - the point isn't for them to win but for them to put up a good challenge for the Trainer and he did just that." My simplified explanation convinced the emotional young boy, and he shook my hand quickly before walking back to his mother.

With a quick goodbye to his wife (who seemed more aware of the situation than their son had been), Oberon and I left. Once out of regular auditory range, I picked up on Ortega's mother beginning to verbally tear into him for his rudeness. He was always the brattiest of the Team Star kids.

Since the Gym was on the edge of town, it was easy to walk over to the fields nearby, where he released his newly healed Hatterene. "I have to thank you again, Miss Glitterati, for diffusing the situation even if it called for a falsehood on your part." At my curious look, he added, "The lie of me giving you a challenge."

I shook my head. "That's not true; you pushed Dun and Riolu quite hard. Even if I had other Pokemon left on my team, it was still good training for the ones that did battle. And I learned a lot! Had to use up two switches to get Riolu out of Granbull's hold."

I could afford it here, but we need a better solution to that problem. Grappling is hardly a common tactic, given how open it leaves the grappler to hits in Pokemon battles, but it isn't unheard of either for tankier Pokemon. Riolu will deal with that better once she evolves, but she'll also probably face tougher foes as well.

The Gym Leader's chuckling snapped my attention back to the moment, and he waved me off. "I could practically hear the gears turning in your head. How long did you spend analyzing my matches?"

"At least a dozen hours," I admitted. Probably closer to thirty. I had a fair bit of down time to use on my travel here, and then in the few days I spent resting up in the city, I hyper-focused on him and his strategies. Honestly, while it was helpful here, I should probably try to avoid doing that in the future, so I don't get thrown off by someone realizing that and deciding to act completely differently.

"Let's not waste any more time. Hatterene, if you would. Moonblast," Oberon ordered, and above us, despite the sun shining brightly in the afternoon, another celestial object glowed above our heads. The hair-covered Fairy Type seemed to absorb the moonlight before letting it out in a pinkish energy ball that traveled a dozen meters before exploding over the brown grass.

Notch studied it intently before focusing, their ears lying back flat as they conjured their own moon above them. The shine was less bright than Hatterene's, but it was enough for Notch to conjure their own pink ball of death and send it rolling through the air.

"Impressive, to figure it out already. You must have been close to a breakthrough." He said to my Pokemon while recalling his own. "I think you'll do quite well from here on out. I look forward to seeing your eventual challenge against the Elite Four." While he had regained some of his imperious bearing, I could sense the man was still a bit off kilter internally.

"Thank you, I'll come back to visit after I'm done." Mostly for Tulip and Dendra, admittedly, but also to see how he's doing. I wonder if this changed things, if Tulip will still be the Gym Leader in the future now?

I didn't know, and there was no way of knowing but waiting to see how the future would turn out. With a wave, I turned and headed out further across the plains while he marched back to the city. A quick message Miles sent had a Flying Taxi heading over to us as soon as I gazed out over the land from atop the high cliffs.

I don't want to focus on the bad stuff that happened, but I want to have an answer to fix it in the future. I mean, I suppose it's unlikely that I'll come across her again, but still. I need methods to protect myself in battle while leading my Pokemon, ways that won't cost me too much effectiveness when my team is battling multiple Pokemon…

My musings were interrupted by the Flying Taxi landing down beside me. I tried to step towards it, only to find my feet stuck to the ground. There wasn't anything I could detect holding them in place, but each step forward felt like I was wrenching myself ahead.

Taking a step backwards, however, was as effortless as anything and revealed what my problem was. Or should I say, who my problem is.

Turning around, I saw a Gothita standing there, staring intently at me. On the ground, her shadow stretched out, latching onto mine. Shadow Tag, that's a rare ability. She reached out, pressing her ribbon-like feeler against my hand.

They learn Fake-Out too, don't they? With that and her ability, I could use her to trap any poacher or criminal. Then I just need to get someone who can learn Follow Me and use them to protect me and- I stopped myself, wincing as I realized what I was thinking. Pulling away with great effort, I marched over to the Flying Taxi. Thinking of 'using' a Pokemon, like they're just tools. What's next, calling myself a Pokemon Wielder?

"Take me to Mesagoza, please, East Entrance."



***


I felt terrible as I marched through the dusty canyon, and it had nothing to do with the scenery, Pokemon, or dry air. Ok, maybe it has a little to do with the air, I thought as I coughed and took a large swig of water from my flask.

After my flight and a day of hiking through the canyon, I found myself regretting how quickly I had left Alfornada. Sticking around and getting some help with my feelings would have been better than just leaving like that.

I'd messaged Tulip and Dendra as soon as I was flying away that I was fine and explained my departure and the bare bones of what had happened when I confronted Raifort. They had both sent relieved (and enthusiastic in Dendra's case) responses back, but there was an undercurrent of worry from both of them, with encouragement that implied they were worried about me.

Part of me feels like I should go back and reassure them, but that would probably also mean that I should return home and tell my parents and Leah all about my woes. I'd definitely be late to the Artazon Fair if I did that, and I agreed to meet Cyan there.

Phantasm bumped her head against the side of my leg, shaking me out of my recriminations. "Thanks," I said, and she gave a small yip sound before a Spoink hopping by caught her attention.

"Try not to be too rough on them!" I called out as she chased after the pig like Pokemon. The battle ended swiftly, with Phantasm's shadow slithering across the ground until it rose up around the Spoink, defeating the wild Pokemon. I tossed them a few berries as we passed, holding back a sigh.

None of these Pokemon are a challenge for even Phantasm, let alone Miles or the others. It's hard to get in good training here. That being said, I could still work on fundamentals. Releasing Miles, I asked, "Can you help Zorua with Hyper Voice? I think she's got the vocalization down, but Dun isn't as great at explaining the Type energy." Probably because of how naturally it comes to him.

"Bzzt, certainly," Miles responded, zipping off to help my youngest Pokemon. The two of them began practicing, Phantasm having to learn not to rely on her illusions for this Move since they couldn't cause the damage it needed.

Both of them being Ghost Types helped them practice as they could fire the Move freely on each other without fear of hurting the other, but after Miles declared her to be proficient to a certain degree, she had to go back to testing Hyper Voice on other Pokemon. We need to see how much damage the Move does after all, though from the way that Stantler is flinching, I'd say it works.

The Stantler tried to charge back at Phantasm, but his Stomps landed without effect, passing right through her. Eventually the screeching noise had the deer-like Pokemon wobble and collapse. She gave a cry of pain as Phantasm wailed at her again.

"Phantasm! That's enough!" I called out sharply. Her red, floaty patch of fur waved angrily above her before she simmered down. Her aggression has gotten worse since Alfornada, but I think that's my fault. She's upset at my discontent - well, all of my team is; she just has the least experience to cope with it.



"Good job on the Hyper Voice, you mastered that Move quickly." The praise helped take the sting out of my previous admonishment, so now she just looked down guiltily. "I get how it's easy to get caught up in a battle, but you don't need to hit others once they're down."

I scooped her up in a hug, and she nuzzled in close. Does she weigh more than before? She's growing quickly. It wasn't always a sign of Evolution about to happen (and there were no studies on her variant species I could call on to help fact-check that), but it was somewhat common.

Turning to the Stantler, I reached around in my bag for berries, only to come up empty. In my rush to get out of Alfornada, I forgot to stock up. "Whoops. Uhh, I could use some Potions to try and heal you?" I offered, and the Stantler reluctantly turned her body to face me so I could spray some Potions on her, which helped.

She got back to her feet, still looking disdainfully at me, though too tired (or too wary) to use the black orb in her antlers to scare me away. "Sorry that I don't have anything better to offer you… Oh! I know, I could tell you how to evolve!" Unlike with people, I don't have to explain how I would possibly know this.

The confused and disbelieving look the Stantler gave me said otherwise, but I chose to ignore it. "Ok, this evolution will make you become part Psychic Type, so you need to focus that Type of Energy around your horns, like a Zen Headbutt. Do you learn Zen Headbutt naturally?"

A quick check of my Pokedex confirmed she could. "Awesome. So make it like a Zen Headbutt, but spread the energy out around you, like a barrier or shield you're using to ram into someone. Oh, and then you have to do that really fast, ok? Once you've mastered all of that, you should be able to evolve!"

I was subject to one of the most deadpan looks I had ever received, which was impressive. Ok, I guess saying 'just master a difficult move, alter it significantly to make a new Move, then do it in Agile Style' is a bit much. "Hey, I don't make the rules," I said with a shrug, to which she rolled her eyes and pranced off.

Continuing to walk across the winding earthen paths, we navigated the canyon. As we trekked across the land, I handled little things like staying in contact with my friends, who had been eager to hear more about my battle. Apparently, people online are saying good things about me overall.

I knew I would get too involved in things if I looked up what they were saying about me, so I tried to stay away from those details. I'm sure that there are detractors too, but it's nice to hear that some random people across Paldea believe in us.

A tune popped into my head, and I began humming it, softly singing some of the words.


"I wanna fly high, so that I can reach the highest, of all of the heavens.

Somebody will be waiting for me, so I gotta fly higher.

Gotta keep going, everything is a brand new challenge for me.

I will believe in myself, cause this, is only the start for me."



"A new song, bzzt?" Miles asked, and I laughed.

"You could say that. It was the theme of your namesake in one of the games. 'Believe in Myself.' Speaking of-"

"I'm ready." They said simply, with a plasmic smile on their face and determination in their eyes. Look how far you've come.

"Excellent. So you've decided what Form you'll be using for the fight?" I'd had ideas if Miles needed them, but they had asked to decide on their own.

"I will use the Boombox Form," they declared, and I raised an eyebrow.

"Interesting choice. You'll need to fire Hex off fast for that, but you're pretty sharp with that Move."

"It'll also help with Hyper Voice, and my other sound Move, bzzt." True, it'll let them output more damage- oh!

"Haha, that's brilliant!" I laughed as I realized their plan. "Guess you won't need a Lum Berry or Safety Goggles after all. When did you master that Move?"

"After you passed out when arriving in Alfornada, I snuck off to practice. Didn't want to disturb you, bzzt." I frowned at that.

"I appreciate the effort, really, but please don't head out all by yourself when there are dangerous criminals about." They and I both knew it was very unlikely that Raifort or anyone would have targeted them, but they meekly nodded, accepting my concern.

Accepting that, I said, "Alright, looks like we have a good plan then. Brassius won't know what hit him!"

"You won't know what hit you if you don't get out of the way!" A shrill voice behind me said, and seeing the Cyclizar galloping towards us, I quickly dodged to the side, rolling on the ground.

Dusting myself off as I stood up, I saw the teenager sitting atop the Cyclizars back had come to a stop in front of me and turned around to face me. He had reddish-orange hair and was wearing an Uva Academy Fall Uniform. "What was that you were saying about Brassius?"

"Oh, just that we're headed to the Gym to challenge him-"

"Ha! You've got a long way to go before you can take on Brassius, squirt. I fought him last year and couldn't win, but I've got two Pokemon this time!"

There was a moment of dumbfounded silence as I just stared at him. He can see all the Pokeballs on my belt, right? I have way more Pokemon than that, and the number of Pokemon you have is hardly the only factor of whether you're strong enough to beat a Gym Leader!

Deliberately looking past the boy, I said, "I mean, not that far away. The road winds a bit, but I can see the Pokemon Center right over there." Pointing past the hill, the red and white Center was indeed clearly visible.

"Gah! That's it," the rude boy said, dismounting from the Cyclizar. "I better teach you some respect. Besides, it'll be a nice warmup before my match," he held a Pokeball out, and I sighed.

Might as well; maybe he'll surprise me. "What are you feeling for, Miles?"

"Bzzt, I think they say this is a dish best served cold."

"Ha, I hardly think he's worth revenge, but sure thing!" The schoolboy had been getting annoyed with me momentarily ignoring him, but that irritation turned to shock and dread as I heaved the refrigerator out of my bag, tossing it in the air.

Miles zipped out of my phone, possessing the refrigerator and hovering in the air. They waved their purple plasmic limbs menacingly for a moment, but the boy shook it off after a second.

"Refrigerator means Ice, right? I know my Types, that means they're weak to Fire! Go, Fuecoco!" He released a small, fiery crocodile-like from his Pokeball and I had to resist the urge to openly gape at that. Seriously? He lost to Brassius with a Fire Type?



Apparently, I spoke aloud, as the boy's face became almost as red as his hair. "Shuddup! He had a Sudowodo! How is that fair for a Grass Type Gym Leader?" He didn't give me time to explain either, simply shouting "Fuecoco, Ember!"

The first stage starter drew in a deep breath, preparing to pelt Miles with fire, something I wasn't going to let happen (even if the risk to them from this Pokemon was minimal). "Discharge."

Before the Fuecoco could release his fiery breath, the canyon around us was bathed in electricity. The bolts zapped all around, striking at the ground and air and many times into Fuecoco. Despite the spread, Miles had enough control to stop the bolts well before myself or the other trainer.

When the electricity cleared, both of us could clearly see our enemy lying on his back, insensate and motionless, save for the few twitches of his body. "Wha- how did you do that?! Ugh, ok, fine, go, Azurill!"

He recalled his starter while releasing his next Pokemon, a small blue ball like Pokemon, bouncing on the end of a tail almost the same size as their body was. Azurill, not a Water Type and looks too sleek and fit to have Thick Fat, so we could use Blizzard, but I want to try that new technique we've been looking into.

Miles hadn't had the same skill with new Moves like Riolu or Dun had, but recently we'd come across an interesting combination that I felt should work well. "Confuse Wisp!"

Opening their fridge doors, a chill slipped out, alongside a multi-colored ball of flame, drifting towards the Azurill.

"Dodge it!" He cried out, but his Pokemon was caught, entranced by the rapidly shifting lights the ghostly flame gave off. Instead of running away, the Azurill flipped itself over, lying on their head, and bouncing the tail end up over their body. This did nothing to help them against the flames as they connected, the Move Burning them.



"Foul Play," I called out, wanting to wrap this up but worried about how a stronger Move might end up seriously hurting the beginner Pokemon. The Burn and their own thrashing about doing some damage as well, until Miles swooped down and grabbed the end of Azurill's tail. Pulling away, they stretched it out before letting it snap back, the ball end smacking them in the face and knocking them out.

"Looks like we're done. Unless your Cyclizar wants to battle too?" I offered. Apparently, with a bit too much menace, as the reptilian ride Pokemon whipped their head back and forth, as if looking for a way out, before running away towards town.

"Hey wait, that was a rental!" The teenage boy cried out, chasing after the errant Dragon Type. I chuckled, watching him run off before I heard a sound above me.

Looking up, I saw a Flying Taxi overhead - hardly an unusual sight. The girl that had just jumped off it riding on the back of a Kingdra, however, was and a familiar familial sight at that.

"Bullying little kids? Tsk tsk tsk," my sister faux-mocked as she descended towards me.

"Cyan! You made it!" I flew up, grabbing her in a hug.

"Oof. Forgot you could do that," she muttered as we floated down, her Pokemon drifting off to the side to greet Miles. "Your battles looked incredible; I'm glad I'll be able to see them in person. Plus, I've got a surprise for you in the festival."

"Oh?" I asked, but she wouldn't say any more (no matter how much I tickled her while casually dodging her counter attempts), so we finished our journey to the city.

It was much the same as it had been the last time I was here; very green, very flowery. One big change, however, was all the streamers and banners hung about the place. Food carts and attraction stands lined the roads, with townsfolk and tourists milling all about. Apparently it's some kind of centennial event, and Brassius decided to help celebrate.



In honor of that, there were many pieces of art on display as the main attraction around town. From elegantly shaped topiaries to paintings to statues and more. The star feature was the 'Surrendering Sunflora' which Brassius had crafted after getting out of his funk, right before he had become a Gym Leader. For the festival, he had made dozens of duplicates of the and placed them all around town.

"I'm gonna go on ahead and try and schedule my Gym Trial in early," I told Cyan. "If that guy I fought was any indication, there's going to be a huge influx of school kids trying to cramp my style." She gave me a light shove but nodded her head.

"Sounds good. I'm gonna grab some friends, we can meet up once you're done." I feel like she's planning something, but not sure what. I didn't have time to ask as she ran off one way while I started walking towards the big circular path in the center of town.

Barely three steps in, and I found myself almost walking into a tall man dressed in maroon. With a distinctive whip at his side. "Brassius?" I asked, surprised.

"Ah, Nemona, it was fortuitous to run into you. Are you here for the festival?" The Gym Leader asked.

"Well, yes, in part. But also here to battle you! I was just about to schedule a match."

He frowned. "The challenges are supposed to be closed for the festival." The artistic man pulled up his phone and clicked his tongue as he saw no mention of that in the online information. "How vexingly imperfect," he hissed. "My apologies; I still find myself floundering in my responsibilities. I was sure I had told the staff to mention that, but it must have slipped my mind."

"No worries, we can have our battle after. The festival is looking really fun; I'm curious to see if I can spot all the 'imperfections' on the 'fake' Surrendering Sunfloras." That's a game the city advertised for the festival. Apparently there are minute differences on the replicas of the original statue, and there's a fun prize for anyone who can find all the statues and find all the differences.

Brassius was silent for a moment before saying, "I'm sure you will. But first, I think I will battle you; the art our clash will create is certain to be a worthy addition to this festival!" With that grand declaration, he turned on his heel, striding towards the heart of the city.

"No Gym Trial? I asked as we walked towards the arena. Brassius shook his head vigorously.

"I would usually have a Trainer be tested artistically, in the hopes that by pushing them creatively in the arts, they'll be pushed creatively in battle!" Ah, guess that explains Katy's reactions back then. I was rigid and by the book in baking, so she probably thought I'd be the same in battle… and then I threw Phantasm disguised as Dun at her.

He continued. "But you and your sister have already proven yourselves artistically! That comic book you entered in the festival has such bold vision! The striking colors! The dynamic action, palpable with each turn of a page, it is truly Ava-"

"She entered it!?" She didn't mention anything about that to me! Guess that must have been her 'surprise'.

"-ant garde," he finished lamely, clearly thrown off a step. "Is there an issue with that?"

I stopped to consider it fully. "Well, no, I guess not. I just wish she had asked me first; we haven't had a chance to remaster our old work." Haven't had nearly as much time together in general with her at school, even if we do stay in touch and got to meet up here.

The green-haired man chuckled. "Ol' Hass mentioned how much of a perfectionist you were." My face grew red at that, but I didn't have a rebuttal. It is true, I tend to overthink things and want every plan to work out perfectly.

At the edge of the arena, Brassius stopped, turning sharply to face me, looking me dead in the eyes with a sense of seriousness that wiped away my embarrassment. "Hass also informed me of your talents. I know you requested an eighth badge level challenge, but from what he's said, I honestly feel that I would not be able to challenge you with such a team. My personal team may be lacking compared to some of the more experienced Gym Leaders, but with your permission, I'd like you to face off against them."

Interesting, Oberon's eighth badge team was his strongest. Is Brassius underestimating himself or did the 'Fairy King' really let himself slip as a Gym Leader? It was a question to ponder for another time, however, as I had a far more pressing one on my hands.

A team I haven't seen before, haven't prepared fully against? Even stronger than the best performances I've seen from him? My eyes lit up as my cheeks strained from the smile that widened on my face. "Yeah, let's go!"


We wrap up the Raifort Arc and are back onto the Gym Challenge with some familiar faces. It's interesting how stories develop as you go on. In my first drafts, Cyan had a much smaller role in the story and wasn't as close to Nemona (even as far as when I posted the very first chapter). That quickly changed over time, as well as the Pokemon she'd have with her. A lot of characters and team rosters have changed as I've written this, but of all the changes, I'm most happy with how I've seen Cyan's development go.

Nemona's Current Team:

-'Dun' (Dudunsparce, Male, Normal Type, Starter)
- Tera Type: Normal
- Held Item: Expert Belt
- Abilities: Run Away, Serene Grace
- 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, Tailwind, Roost, Ancient Power, Drill Run, Hyper Drill, Triple Yawn*, Ice Spinner, Solar Beam, Lunge, Flamethrower, Aqua Tail, Coil, Hurricane, Outrage, Smart Strike

- 'Miles' (Rotom, Genderless, Electric/Form dependent Type)
- Tera Type: Electric
- Held Item: Life Orb
- Ability: Levitate
- Moves Known: Astonish, Confuse Ray, Thundershock, Double Team, Hyper Voice, Protect, Thunder, Rain Dance, Will O' Wisp, Nasty Plot, Hex, Sunny Day, Substitute, Foul Play, Trick, Discharge, Shadow Ball, Eerie Impulse, Reflect, Light Screen, Uproar

- 'Nightwing' (Gliscor, Female, Flying/Ground Type)
- Tera Type: Water
- Held Item: Toxic Orb
- Ability: Hyper Cutter, Poison Heal
- Moves Known: Poison Sting, Sand Attack, Harden, Knock Off, Fury Cutter, Acrobatics, Bulldoze, Quick Attack, Psychic Fangs, Poison Tail, Slash, Gunk Shot, Dig, Ice Fang, Lunge, U-Turn, Protect, Tailwind, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, Night Slash, Sand Tomb, Crabhammer

- 'Notch' (Carbink, Genderless, Rock/Fairy Type)
- Tera Type: Fighting
- Held Item: Light Clay
- Ability: Clear Body
- Moves Known: Harden, Tackle, Guard Split, Flail, Ancient Power, Light Screen, Reflect, Iron Defense, Body Press, Stealth Rocks, Psychic, Smack Down, Trick Room, Dazzling Gleam, Rock Polish, Power Gem, Stone Edge, Protect, Spikes, Stomping Tantrum

- 'Phantasm' (Hisuian Zorua, Female, Normal/Ghost)
- Tera Type: Ghost
- Held Item: Lax Incense
- Ability: Illusion
- Moves Known: Leer, Scratch, Torment, Hone Claws, Shadow Sneak, Curse, Swift, Aerial Ace, Snarl, Double Team, Taunt, Bitter Malice

- 'Riolu' (Riolu, Female, Fighting)
- Tera Type: Fighting
- Held Item: Clear Amulet
- Ability: Steadfast
- Moves Known: Endure, Quick Attack, Feint, Metal Claw, Counter, Work Up, Detect, Rock Smash, Trailblaze, Vacuum Wave, Screech, Quick Guard, Circle Throw, Force Palm, Drain Punch, Swords Dance, High Jump Kick, Aerial Ace, Poison Jab, Copycat, Ice Punch, Close Combat, Final Gambit, Reversal, Dancing Sword*, Howl, Earthquake, Brick Break

*Custom Moves
 
Interlude IX -Billy Glitterati New
POV - Billy Glitterati



Shrugging off my suit jacket, I tossed it onto the coat rack and rolled my shoulders. Glancing down, I saw that the staff had put out my golden loafers, and I slipped off my shoes and into them. So nice to have people who know what you need.

My darling wife's purse also hung off the coat rack, letting me know she had arrived earlier than me. "Oh, most wondrous light of my life~!" I dramatically declared arms wide as I entered the living room.

I had practiced a trick where my eyes would look close and be almost shut, but I was still paying attention and could see. It was handy for telling what business rivals and contemporaries would think of me after a bold statement. For many, it was incredulity that I'd act this way, or simple exhaustion. Some had derision, but enlightening to see the ones that smirked and thought they could get one over on me.

Here, it let me see for a brief moment O'Nare Glitterati, slumped over on the couch. Her hair was done up as usual, but a strand or two had flopped out of her usual bun. The shades she wore sat on the coffee table amidst a pile of papers.

That vignette didn't last long, for as soon as she recognized my presence, she was leaping up, a delighted smile on her face. "Ah, but it reflects off your brilliant shine!" She returned, greeting me with a kiss. "The day has been long without you."

So a frustrating day at work; nothing more serious we need to get into. What had started as mere attempts to explain the burning passions in our hearts to each other had turned into a sort of secret language shared between us. Though nonetheless true for it. My heart feels as lifted when I see O'Nare now as it did the day I met her.

"The same, my love. Things at the factory are going well." They were indeed. Not necessarily in terms of increased profits, but the Rotoms had generally been much happier about their new living conditions. Some of them liked more shade and gloom, but shutters on the sides of their ground-level living space gave those plenty of shade to rest and plot in, while the others were free to enjoy the brighter, more open living space. The reviews we've gotten about the phones have been slightly better too, with customers noticing an uptick in responsiveness from them.

The sound of a throat being cleared announced Leah's presence in the room. Turning, I found the young lady standing there, her head respectfully bowed. "Glad to see you return, Master Billy. If it pleases you both, dinner is ready."

I'm pretty sure I didn't miss her when I entered the living room, so she must have stepped in silently after my arrival. And to arrange things so everything is ready as we return from work, she's stepped up her professionalism. I wonder if she's after Hamber's old spot or just a result of her duties being freed up, no longer having to keep a Braviary's eye-view on our most troublesome daughter.

We entered the room, first greeted by the scent of a well-cooked roast. A few butlers finished setting aside the other dishes, stuffing and steamed vegetables, and a few bread rolls. With their task finished, the staff left, save for Leah and one other maid waiting off to the sides of the table (in case we needed anything during the meal).

The table itself was a long, elegant thing, and I made sure to sit near the top side, my dear wife taking her place at the head of it. A busy day of work made for a quiet meal as we both eagerly dug in, something O'Nare commented on about halfway through.

"It's gotten so quiet in here."

"Hmm. It's funny; Hamber was never a very loud man, but his departure so soon after Cyan went back to school does leave the house feeling a tad empty." Though we both know that isn't the real reason. Still, we do need a new Majordomo.

"Oh!" Leah said softly, looking mildly embarrassed at her outburst as the two of us turned to see her looking at something on her phone. "I just got forwarded the video of the Young Miss's latest Gym Battle." That had both myself and O'Nare jumping to our feet, the scrumptious half-eaten meal forgotten in the blink of an eye as we crowded around Leah.

"She's taken on another Gym already?" I asked incredulously. We only just finished uploading the final videos from her first battle.

"Ah, she has such an incredible Glitterati spirit! Striving ahead constantly," my wife added, her eyes watery. I felt the same way, so proud yet so lonely with our children already out and taking on the world.

"Yes, that, definitely. Why don't you go back to the table and we can watch it as you eat?" She all but begged us, and we readily agreed. Moving our plates so we were sitting side-by-side, our headmaid placed her Rotom Phone in front of us (and herself behind us, almost as eager to see the footage as we were).

The video showed a decent crowd gathered around to watch our baby girl. The Gym Leader she faced, Oberon, was a man we knew well. He and his wife often ran in similar circles to ours, and we had seen him at a few cocktail parties. I always thought of him as much like Clay. I wonder if he'll give Nemona as much of a challenge as the Unovan Gym Leader did?

We always believed in our little girl, even when she made that bold challenge to Clay, but there were moments towards the end of that fight… Before Dun evolved, I would admit if pressed that I was worried about her winning, no matter how good a show she had put on before.

One difference with this fight was that I was never nervous, even as she still put on a tremendous show. This sentiment was shared by my wife and Leah.

"To go so far with a Riolu, that's ins- incredible," the head maid breathed out.

"Oh?" I questioned, not willing to turn my head away from the screen for even a moment.

"It really is," she reaffirmed. "Unevolved and with a Type disadvantage, yet she's fighting so well."

"Ah," I said distractedly. Nemona's always had a better head for that stuff than the rest of us, though Cyan proved herself to be a quick study as well. Our most troublesome little girl, however…

I recalled Oberon boasting about his might at a party once, cowing a Delibird Presents upper manager when the other man had accused the Fairy Type Gym Leader of 'getting soft.' I hadn't seen someone get beat so fast before that, at least not until now. Our little girl has grown up so quickly.

"I miss her too!" O'Nare wailed, clutching onto my side, her head still glued to the screen. Must have said that last part out loud.

Before I could commiserate, Nemona's first Pokemon had fainted, and we were all brought back to the fight as our girl made a proud boast and sent out Dun. We watched in silent awe as her first Pokemon proceeded to annihilate the rest of Oberon's team.

The video ended somewhat jarringly after the victory announcement, but I barely noticed. Leah was the first one to break the silence again, letting out in a tone only a hair higher than a whisper, "I think the Haxorus might have been less dangerous."

All three of us started laughing at that, at so much of what we had done. Attempting to give a six-year-old a Dragon was, in retrospect, not the greatest idea we'd ever come up with. Nemona had been acting so oddly since we moved. So serious, but always convincing us she was fine, asking for so little, so when we knew what she wanted, my wife and I were determined to give it to her.

Thankfully it didn't come to pass. O'Nare and I greeted her as we returned home on her birthday to find our littlest one hugging tightly to an innocuous, bulbous, yellow, and blue snake Pokemon. "The two of them have always been close; they've both grown so much." Physically, but mentally as well. Nemona always seemed so far ahead of where I was at her age. O'Nare has said the same, and if she's smarter than my brilliant wife…

It was hard to believe at times, but the proof was in the pudding. Or record label as it may be. That sparked an idea so bright I wouldn't have been surprised if there was a Rotom above my head. "Music!"

My sudden shout had the two women around me looking confused before they caught onto what I was talking about. "Ah, how sharp you are, like a Glitterati diamond! We need to make the next music videos so we can dazzle the world with our daughter's work!"

Leah turned to the other maid. "I believe the masters are done with their meal. Let's clean up the table." The staff set about handling that while we raced to the computer room, downloading the file and setting about crafting the final product online. We could easily have the staff do this, and I think we'll get one of the more tech-savvy butlers to come in and double-check this before we upload it, but we enjoy doing this personally.

Listening to her music as we overlaid clips of it on certain sections of her battle was a joy indeed. As was seeing the comments and 'likes' when the footage was posted. Not all of it is positive, but the majority of viewers seem to like it, and as Nemona would say, 'don't pay attention to the trolls.' What a funny phrase.

In addition to her brilliance, our daughter also had moments where at times she just didn't seem to fit in. Most people wouldn't notice, and it lessened as she grew up, but just little things. Like how she hardly ever uses sayings about Pokemon or uses them in her songs, despite how much she adores them.

At the time we were finishing putting the first 'short' together, my wife's phone rang, the caller ID showing it was our other beloved daughter. "Cyan honey!" She answered cheerfully. "How are you? How is school?"

"Uhh, pretty good. It's going fine," she responded in that way only an awkward teenager could. Despite being younger, Nemona was more mature in some ways than even our firstborn, and I doubted she'd be that particular kind of awkward, even as she got older.

"Did you guys see Nim's latest match?" Cyan continued, and we eagerly nodded.

"Yes, we were just about to post some of it for the world to see! Her performance was a shining example of Glitterati might and cunning!" My precious daughter rolled her eyes at that display, either thinking I was too caught up to notice or not caring if I did. "Though it is a shame she didn't have to use her new Rotom Forms."

It was perhaps understandable given she hadn't had to use Miles at all in her Gym Battles yet, but the boys and girls in R&D were itching for her to showcase their inventions to the world.

"She did pretty well. I was worried she'd be shaken up after-" Cyan clamped up immediately, but it was too late.

With a steely gaze and a deceptively sweet voice, O'Nare said, "After what?" It took a few moments of squirming before Cyan replied.

"She had some issues with the wildlife nearby. A disturbance to the environment of a wild Tera Dragonair and her Dratinis. Nims solved the issue, but it was difficult. Still, it impressed the Gym Leader enough that he counted it as her Gym Trial so she went right on to challenge him."

O'Nare gasped beside me. "How bold! Going out and tackling issues without being asked, she has true Glitterati initiative."

"And good of Oberon to recognize that." I've seen him a few times at galas and the like, and he seemed like a good sort. Unafraid to let others' opinions color his actions, like so many of our 'peers'. Nemona is much the same way, it's part of something that worried us.

When we had first moved to Paldea, Nemona had few friends, and her dazzling brilliance unfortunately drove most others away. We had at first assumed she was just getting used to things here and would bounce back, but she never did. Not exactly, at least.

Slowly but surely, she made more friends, and while she'll hardly ever be a social Butterfree, the friendships she's formed with those few are tight. And that's just her human friends, her Pokemon, well she sometimes feels closer to them than us!

That thought sent a slight pang through my heart as I realized something. "Do you know when her next Gym Match is?" I asked Cyan. We haven't gone in person to attend any of Nemona's yet, while we were all there for Cyan's first. Not that I think it bothers Nemona, but still, I'd like to show our support more and possibly reassure her.

"She can be kinda sporadic with her schedule, just taking her journey at its own pace. I did talk with her about meeting up for the big festival in Artazon at the start of the Treasure Hunt."

Clicking her tongue, O'Nare shook her head. "What terrible misfortune! I have an overseas conference then." I could see her debating in her head about canceling it.

On the other end of the screen, our eldest daughter saw it as well and shook her head. "It'll be fine; we know you guys are busy and stuff." Despite, or perhaps because of, how easily she said it, the words felt like an arrow through my very being.

"I'll keep in contact with her and try to arrange a time for all of us to meet up. Maybe when she hits Levincia or Montenevera? But try not to smother or worry about her too much, ok? I know Nims wouldn't appreciate that."

I wanted to laugh at how foolish that idea was; she was a Trainer with a full team and had proven herself capable of handling all sorts of situations even I could barely dream of. I was still worried somehow. I worried about my eldest even as I looked at her, sitting there in her neat room at Uva Academy, dressed in a sharp uniform.

Rather than voice those thoughts and weigh down my daughters unnecessarily, I said, "So, how has Uva Academy been treating you so far?"

"Umm, good, I think. Yeah, it has been good. Not friends with any of the girls who tried to pick on me last year, but some of their hanger-ons are at least nice to me now. And I think I even have a fan club? A small one, but it's crazy. Apparently, they thought I did pretty well in my Gym Challenge last year. That was exhausting though, so not doing it again this year. Not really sure what I'll be doing for this Treasure Hunt yet, still weighing my options…"

Smiling, I leaned back and listened as Cyan regaled us with the events of her life, and I relaxed just a little, gripping my wife's hand. Parenthood has been an intense trip, but like taking my chance with O'Nare, I don't regret it one bit.


A small glimpse at how things are going at home after all that excitement. The Glitterati's are pretty interesting characters and their inclusion impacted a lot of the early story and my thoughts about Nemona's development. I like the idea that for all their goofiness, they have hidden depths as well. I hope you enjoyed this too and are having a good day (and if not, we're getting back to the journey soon).
 
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